On the Road Again and 9 Questions with “DJ” Jay Larsen of Nationwide Insurance
Question 1:
Where did you grow up, Jay?
Jay:
I grew up in a rural area of Northern California in a small town at the time called the Napa Valley. It was a wonderful place to grow up as a young farmer and rancher.
I continued to live and work in Northern California for the first 10 years of my career in the insurance industry.
Question 2:
How many years have you been working in insurance?
Jay:
It's been 24 years now that I've been in the insurance industry.
I joined Allied Insurance in 1997 and later became a “Nationwider” in 1998 when Nationwide acquired Allied Insurance making it Nationwide’s independent channel distribution arm of the company.
Question 3:
When you were young and working on a farm, did you ever imagine you’d grow up and work in the insurance industry?
Jay:
No, that was not on my mind at the time as a young farmer and rancher. We raised hogs and cattle, had hay fields and orchards, and did all those things that you do when you're in 4-H as a young person.
I was introduced to insurance and the principle of indemnity by a Nationwide company. Years before, I think when I was 10-years-old, I bought an animal mortality policy from CalFarm Insurance for one of my grand champion hogs.
Coincidentally, Nationwide acquired the CalFarm Insurance company in 1999, and that led to Nationwide becoming the largest agribusiness insurance company in the United States.
It’s definitely safe to say, I wasn't thinking about the insurance industry. But even at that young age, insurance was there to teach young people, like me, about the importance of managing risk and the need to seek protection solutions.
Question 4:
Are you moving again?
Jay:
Yeah, we've moved several times for opportunities that suited both Nationwide and my family.
My family and I have been adventurous and taken calculated risks for the right opportunities. Most recently, we’ve moved to the Columbus, Ohio area, which is the home office for Nationwide. We've never lived there, but we've been around the country and we've gotten to see a lot—coming from California to Florida a couple of times and the Midwest a couple of times and even the Northeast.
I've been part of some acquisitions, led some acquisitions as well, and had a few really great business experiences that led to wonderful life experiences.
Now, we're on to the next one!
Question 5:
Let's talk about the relationship between Nationwide and AgencyKPI. What's happening there?
Jay meets Fern!
Jay:
The problem statement that agencies have, particularly in the aggregated agency space, is that they're better together, but don’t always have enough transparency between the carrier, the agency network, and the individual networked agency.
It's a recognized problem without a clear solution across the various agency management platforms.
I've called on agencies all over the country, and sometimes it takes so long to get to the same point in the conversation because we're not all looking at the same information. AgencyKPI was created to address this as a core network agency solution. Nationwide supports the concept that transparency of information is good for everyone.
AgencyKPI was born as a concept in Trent Richmond’s barn down in Kerrville, Texas. It was a very cool thing to get to be there from the very beginning to support Trent and the AgencyKPI team to develop into what it is today. Nationwide has really been there from the very beginning, supported the concept, supported it with time, resources, and effort to really help influence a common industry view of agency data.
After all, it's the agent's data that the carrier is providing, and that's how Nationwide's looked at it from the very beginning. AgencyKPI, at its very core, said, "Help us get to a common view of it and allow us to have transparency in our organization—and with the carriers." That's very refreshing to hear as a carrier.
I'll go one step further and say that we want to do business with agencies that seek transparency. That want to know how they're doing. That want to know how to leverage their organization to do better—and do better for a customer. That's in all our interests.
You all have assembled a great group of folks that are solving an industry problem. Really, when we can identify a problem together and create a solution, that's what we're all about.
Nationwide is a technology-enabled protection company, and AgencyKPI represents a technology that we're very proud to do business with and to support independent agencies with tools that help them accountably run their business, help them manage their carrier relationships, and ultimately lead to a better outcome for a customer, our member.
Question 6:
Are new technologies like AgencyKPI vital to Nationwide's future?
Jay:
Yeah, the insurance industry of the past was slower to embrace technology. I think that has changed in recent years.
Insurance carriers—large organizations—don't feel compelled to have to be the inventor of the technology themselves. It's okay if it's invented elsewhere.
As long as we utilize it to the advantage of our customers, the intermediaries, agents, advisors and consultants—and to the benefit of a consumer—we're very interested in that.
AgencyKPI, in my view personally, is the closest thing to blockchain that exists out there for an independent agency that's networked. Being able to see across their agency management systems is really essential for them to do business and leverage the value of being in an aggregated partnership.
We do business with many of the aggregated agencies out there, but there are nuances between them. For those that seek the capability to understand what's in their wheelhouse and be experts in certain SICs and programs, and that want leverage what's in their inventory to place it with carriers that can match their expertise and do the best job for a customer, AgencyKPI is outstanding.
It's a great technology. It probably could have been solved elsewhere in the industry and it didn't happen. AgencyKPI stepped forward and has created a solution that Nationwide believes has meaningful value.
Question 7:
Can you tell us about your family's background in wine?
Jay:
We're pretty humble about it, because I'm fourth generation from the same farm. Like I said before, it was a farm and ranch, and we came into wine production by observing the market back in the late '80s. We could see vineyards coming in and around legacy farms like ours.
We have 25-acres. That's not a huge farm, but it actually produces quite a bit. Probably 150 tonss of grapes. I don't recall how many cases of Chardonnay we produce. We sell the produce to a vendor that does the bottling and labeling. It's lower maintenance for a small family farm.
Question 8:
You have an RV. Do you mind telling me about your RV and where you've traveled and favorite places you've driven?
Jay:
Oh yeah! We bought an RV a couple years ago. I grew-up camping with my family and have enjoyed carrying on the tradition, albeit now it’s more like “glamping” with all the modern amenities. We like to explore places with water where we can hike, fish and ride bikes.
Tahoe is a great place. Being from California, we really enjoy that environment. We've been to Sandestin in Florida, and the Outer Banks in the Carolinas.
I'm a three-day weekender when I can get an extra day on a weekend. The great thing about it is you can load-up pretty quickly and shoot out to your destination.
There’s no better investment than getting the family together. You know, a lot of camaraderie happens around campfires and on those fishing and walking journeys. When we get the time, we really enjoy it.
Question 9:
You're Jay Larsen with Nationwide, but I was doing research and I discovered there are three other Jay Larsens. Two of them spell their last names differently than yours, but we'll keep them in the game.
There's a Jay Larsen who is an electronic dance music artist.
There's a Jay Larson who's a professional comedian.
And there's a Jay Larson who's a master plumber in Minnesota. He's owned Jay's Plumbing for 20 years.
If you had to trade places with one of them, who would it be, and why?
Jay:
Oh, my gosh.
Question 9 (repeat):
Electronic dance music, professional comedian, or master plumber?
Jay:
You know, I don't think the master plumber. Crawling under the house from time to time is not on my wish list of things to do.
I'd say the electronic DJ. That sounds pretty exciting. I can be a bit of a night owl and rock it out with the best of them. I think the family would enjoy that too. I am all about learning the new technology.
