Renaissance Insurance Group came in at number 21 in its debut in the Insurance Journal’s 2007 Top 100 Property and Casualty Independent Agencies listing. There were 20 new agencies debuting in the list this year, with Renaissance Group being the largest of the new listings. Renaissance President J. Bruce Cochrane said, “We’ve been growing quietly but explosively from year to year. While we knew we had grown to national stature, it was exciting to see that we placed within the top 25 percent of the nation’s largest firms.”

Renaissance Insurance Group is a Wellesley, MA-based company that is listed as having generated $300 million in property-casualty written premium and $37.6 million in property-casualty revenue in 2006. The firm has 72 employees. Some of the criteria for the list are that agencies must be privately held and business volume must be primarily retail rather than wholesale. The list appeared in Insurance Journal’s Vol. 85, No. 7 five regional print magazines, on April 9, 2007.

Posted by Renaissance Group at 8:53 AM | Permalink

J. Bruce Cochrane, CIC, was named Pacesetter of the Year by the Massachusetts Association of Insurance Agents (MAIA) at the Association's Annual Convention & Trade Fair in November. The award, which represents the insurance agency industry's highest regional distinction, was inscribed: "In recognition of your many years of dedication, service and commitment to the insurance industry, particularly to your fellow independent agents, and your foresight, inspired leadership and diligent efforts as a Board Member, Officer and President of the Massachusetts Association of Insurance Agents and its predecessor organizations."

The Pacesetter Award is named for former MAIA president and staff member Henry F. Barry, Jr. During his career as an insurance agency principal, member of the association’s professional staff, and in his personal life, Barry set a pace of hard work, perseverance, compassion and charity at a level matched by few in our industry.

For coverage in The Standard, which includes details on Cochrane's long-term involvement in the insurance industry, see: Setting the Pace

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Where Necessity Meets Opportunity: New Avenues Open for Agents
By J. Bruce Cochrane, President, Renaissance Group
Reprinted by permission, The Standard, November 3, 2006

An old adage asserts that out of crisis arises opportunity. Not all crises come paired with their own solutions, but a unique confluence of forces affecting Massachusetts’ independent insurance agencies is setting the stage for both a profitability crisis and the means to overcome it. Agencies that successfully weather this storm will be those who can foresee it, recognize the opportunity, and mobilize swiftly enough to take advantage of it. [ continue reading PDF ]

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