Two insurance agencies with names familiar to the Kingston area have merged.
Ryan and Ryan Insurance Brokers Inc. has acquired Reis Turck Associates”™ insurance portfolio, its second acquisition since Ryan opened two years ago. The deal increases the firm”™s annual sales by 25 percent, with an insurance portfolio that now covers some 1,100 clients.
The principals say the combined company will offer more insurance options for small and mid-sized businesses and they also plan to develop a niche for micro-businesses, which proliferate in Ulster County”™s rural environs.
Donald J. Reis, principal of Reis Turck on Maiden Lane, will move to Ryan and Ryan.
The acquisition also adds Preferred Mutual of New Berlin to the 13 insurers Ryan has on its roster of companies.
“With this portfolio of underwriters, our firm retains its focus as being a resource for health, life, auto, home and business insurance, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses and individuals,” said Robert J. Ryan Jr., president of Ryan and Ryan.
Ryan was named insurance “Rookie of the Year” in 2010 by Erie Insurance in recognition of his startup company, but he actually has an established track record in the insurance field.
In 1985, he joined his father”™s firm, Robert J. Ryan Inc., an insurance brokerage that was the second largest in Ulster County. The business was sold to Ulster Savings Bank in 2000 and continues as Ulster Insurance Services Inc.
The Reis name became familiar in local insurance circles with the growth of the firm founded by Frank Reis. Donald J. Reis joined his cousin”™s firm in 1981, leaving in 1992 to start his own agency that bought the Turck agency a year later and was renamed Reis Turck Associates.
With Reis and his associate Ann Dippel joining the brokerage, Ryan & Ryan begins 2011 with the equivalent of nine full-time employees.
The company is doing outreach for micro-businesses. “They are a major segment of Ulster County”™s commercial landscape, but are underserved by insurance agents and brokers,” said Ryan. “Their needs are a bit more complex than those of an individual consumer and their policies are a bit smaller than those of more established businesses.”
