Huggins Insurance has been honored as the 2009 Business of the Year by the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce. This award was bestowed on Huggins due to their commitment to their clients and the community.

Widely recognized as the best experts in the insurance marketplace, the staff at Huggins is involved with non-profits all over the community. President Dawn Bostwick summed it up by saying, “Our goal is to help our clients be prepared for emergencies and to help our community become the healthiest in Oregon.”

Huggins Insurance was presented with the Showcase Award for January 2008. Below is the transcript read at the presentation.

Huggins Insurance was started in Coos Bay in 1919 by the Huggins family. The Salem branch opened in the late 40’s and was operated by one of their sons, Chuck, until a couple of years ago.

T.J. Sullivan was an underwriter for Safeco, but was looking for a way to get on the agency side. Huggins had a great reputation and he saw an opportunity there. He joined the agency in 1998. He and Dawn Bostwick, who had been with the agency since 1992, bought the business in 2005. They have kept the Huggins name as a brand that stands for quality. They recently bought the building and are currently in the planning stages of a serious remodel.

They think of themselves as an insurance boutique, selling a little bit of everything and are very good at it. They insure cities, school districts, small businesses, regional businesses, as well as personal home, auto, life, and medigap insurance.

There are nine people in the office, all of whom are licensed to sell. Both T.J. and Dawn have many ties in the community which generate leads for their agency, many of which they send back into the office and pay the staff to sell it. They have always invested in technology and in their people, enabling them to work smarter and therefore accomplish more.

TJ has served on the Chamber Board since 2000, focusing on Governmental Affairs. In 1998, when Salem was going through some serious budget issues, Mike McLaren asked him to serve on a Citizen Oversight committee looking for ways to fund the work of the Salem Senior Center. As a result, he was asked to serve on the Friends of Senior Center board to help raise private money for their work. He served 1999-2005 and calls it one of his best experiences. Although he was the youngest board member, he made many lasting friendships. He learned how a variety of people pulling together in the same direction can actually accomplish something. This gave him confidence to run and be elected to the Salem City Council in 2005 at the tender age of 29. He also is, or has been, involved with the Keizer Rotary, Salem Academy, Salem Alliance Church, the Planning Commission, and the Board of his Neighborhood Association.

I have had the personal pleasure of working with Dawn in the Downtown Rotary and on the Red Cross Board. In Rotary she chairs the Tree of Joy project that collects Christmas presents for children and patients at the State Hospital. She also keeps track of all of the gifts, and accompanying awards, to the Rotary International Foundation. Dawn has served as Red Cross Willamette Chapter Board Chair and as the chair of the Red and White Gala, a ball and auction fundraiser, which by the way is coming up February 9 (please see Dawn for tickets to this premier Valentine’s event). She was also a founding member of the No Meth Not in My Neighborhood effort.

TJ and Dawn are also good neighbors to their local schools and neighborhood associations, and make time available for their staff to serve in the community as well.

With some of the great projects going on in Salem, TJ sees this as a Golden age for our city, and a Golden Age for their agency as well. They are growing in the double digits, but have just about reached the limit of what long hours and staff discipline can accomplish. They are actively planning to meet these challenges for the future.

To summarize Huggins Insurance, I would say they take good care of their clients, their employees, and their community. They are the kind of people that, when you know all they do, you can’t imagine your community without them.

After recent articles in local papers, many parents are contacting Huggins Insurance and making the move to Teensurance for their teenage drivers. For more info click here to contact one of our agents.