Local Agency
Is Featured In Nat’l Mag.

When the national trade magazine "IA," which circulates to independent insurance agents, wanted to publish a story about new independent agents, it looked to Bethel, Vermont.

Even in the "current soft market, opening new insurance agencies still has a lot of appeal for the right people, those with "entrepreneurial vision and vigor," declared the article by staff writer Russ Banham.

The very first example he gave was Bethel’s Mel Washburn, who switched from selling cars to selling insurance at age 50, then opened his own agency four years later. Formed with his son Matthew, that agency is Washburn & Wilson.

"This is a great industry," Washburn says in the article. Banham notes that one in 10 independent agencies is five years old or less.

"New agencies like Washburn & Wilson continue to sprout," he wrote.