.
Search
 Email this articleE-mail this story  Discuss this articleWrite letter to editor  Discuss this articleOrder a classified ad  Print this page

Growth policy

David Ryan
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 10/07) - It's not often that an office doubles its staff in one day, but it happened when one Northern company opened its doors after the holidays.

Arctic Insurance Brokers had six new staff on the payroll on Jan. 1 after staff members of Aon Reed Stenhouse's Yellowknife branch merged with the company, said Arctic Insurance chief operating officer Randy Stafford.

The company had been looking to expand and when Aon Reed considered transferring some of its Northern business, Arctic Insurance put an offer together to take over the business, he said.

To gain six skilled and experienced workers in Yellowknife is a big step for Arctic Insurance, he said.

"We have a lot of respect for the Aon staff," he said.

"They've done a lot of the same work. This is a good fit."

Aon Reed Stenhouse will transfer some of its group business clients to southern offices, but Arctic Insurance will maintain a number of accounts from the former Yellowknife business, he said.

Arctic Insurance will continue to offer all of its same services, and the company is still looking to grow in the city, said Stafford.

"We want a continual presence in Yellowknife," he said.

"The company believes that you live where you do business."

In order to make room for the new staff members, renovations have been underway for a number of weeks at the company's office on Range Lake Road.

New desks have been brought in and a number of the old offices have been redesigned, he said.

The transition from Aon Reed Stenhouse to Arctic Insurance has been almost seamless, said former Aon employee and personal lines supervisor Wendy Meek.

The client file database was easily transferred from company to company and Arctic Insurance offers most of the same types of insurance that Aon offered, she said.

Being part of a Northern-based company is also appealing for Meek.

"We have a bit more direction and structure here," she said.

With more staff and more tools at their disposal, the newly expanded company should continue to grow, she added.

"We hope Arctic Insurance will grow in leaps and bounds," she said.