Origin of Excel & Y Insurance Services features renowned Alberta brokers

Lundgren & Young Insurance is forming a new Alberta brokerage, Excel & Y Insurance Services, as a result of a partnership with Excel Insurance Group Inc.

“We remain an independent brokerage wholly owned by myself and my family,” said Robyn Young, CEO of Calgary-based Excel & Y. Young is also president-elect of the Insurance Brokers Association of Canada.

This means Excel did not buy Lundgren & Young, nor was there a merger.

The partnership took effect Feb. 1.

Excel & Y has two Calgary offices, plus one each in Camrose and Edmonton.

As a result of the new partnership with Excel & Y, Excel Insurance Group will now independently operate 17 brokerage offices in Alberta, plus three in British Columbia – Burnaby, Richmond and downtown Vancouver.

One of Excel Insurance Group’s founding partners is Treasures Insurance & Risk Management Inc., whose CEO, Scott Treasure, is a past president of IBAC.

With the new Excel partnership, Young anticipates her brokerage can gain knowledge and best practices from its new partners, Young said Thursday in an interview.

“There are probably some things we can be doing better and there are probably things we are doing that other brokerage can learn from as well. That is the benefit of partnership,” Young told Canadian Underwriter Thursday.

“We kept all of our options open and we explored other opportunities – partnerships potentially with some other brokers – but a lot of those deals would have required us giving up some equity in our business and we really wanted to remain an independent broker, ” said Young, when asked how the deal came about.

Excel does not take an equity stake in its brokerage partners. Excel’s services include risk advisory, contract management, surety, bonding and regulatory compliance, among others.

At the moment, most of Excel & Y’s business is in personal lines, with about 25% in commercial lines for small to mid-sized business, said Young.

“We would like to expand in our commercial lines offerings and the partners in Excel group, being primarily commercial lines – with the exception of a couple – will help us gain some knowledge and experience and help us grow in that space.”

But Young does not anticipate her brokerage will expand its commercial offerings to large businesses.

“We are not looking to get into anything too complicated. We are just looking to expand our mix of business. We are not looking to be a specialty broker at this point.”

Lundgren & Young was initially known as Jack Lundgren Insurance Services when it was founded in 1983 by Jack Lundgren.

Thom and Val Young joined the brokerage in 1989 as partners. This was two years after the Young family moved from Winnipeg to Calgary. Thom and Val Young bought Jack Lundgren’s share of the brokerage in 2000. Then in 2014, Robyn Young and her brother A.J. Young bought the brokerage from their parents.

Thom Young, the 2018 winner of the Dale Rempel Award of Excellence, was a long-serving member of the Alberta Insurance Council board and past director of the Facility Association.

Robyn Young is a past president of the Insurance Brokers Association of Alberta and a board member of the Centre for Study of Insurance Operations.

“Much of Robyn’s work is grounded in service,” Excel Insurance Group said in a release, noting she is a past president of the Association of Alberta Registry Agents and has leadership roles with local not-for-profit charities.

Feature image via iStock.com/EtiAmmos