Written by Allen Lehman
Instead of becoming a major league umpire, Ed McCall chose to help his father build an insurance empire.
Ed wasn’t sure what his life was going to be until he joined McCall & Associates in 1995. The university didn’t give him answers. So while working as a bartender, he decided to move south to Florida to become a professional baseball official.
But before Ed could enroll in the minor league umpire development program, his father, Robert, approached him with an offer. “Will you join me in business? Let’s build an empire,” Robert asked.
Ed said yes, and the independent insurance agency’s book of business has since grown to $125 million in premiums across three locations. After holding the title of president and serving as a partner with his father, Ed became CEO and changed the company name to Mackoul Risk Solutions in 2018.
Not everything has changed. McCall’s leadership still believes in treating employees right.
That philosophy earned the Long Beach, N.Y.-based agency a 2024 Gold Award in the Eastern region of Insurance Journal’s 2024 Best Insurance Agents to Work For survey. In anonymous responses to the survey, 54 McCall employees praised the company for fostering a supportive work environment that emphasizes recognition and recognition.
Many respondents said they felt valued and provided opportunities for professional growth.
“This agency genuinely cares about its employees,” one person wrote. “Ed once said, “Customers don’t put me first, and neither do you.” I’ll never forget that. Our management team really has our backs. Masu.”
By helping people and competing within the industry, Ed fell in love with insurance when he started working at an insurance agency. The vast majority of the agency’s books focus on co-op and condominium insurance. Staff also work with customers to secure homeowners, auto and business insurance.
Ed credited Robert with instilling a desire to prioritize the well-being of his employees. “Our culture comes from our father,” Ed explained. “(He) really instituted a lot of the things that we still do today, but some things changed, like we added. Our employees come first. He is the absolute reason.”
Mackoul Risk Associates operated on a hybrid work basis until COVID-19 surfaced in early 2020. Since then, if employees choose to return to the office, we have provided 10 workstations in our main office on Long Island, and our staff can also work fully remotely. Productivity increased, employee satisfaction increased, and the agency hired more people.
“The management team is really rooting for us.”
“I just couldn’t see any reason to come back,” Ed McCool said. He described his employees as “very loyal” and trusted them to work remotely.
“Even though we work remotely, Mackoul Risk Solutions still feels like family,” said one employee in a survey response. Another said remote working was “incredible and will only help us all be happier in our roles and achieve a great work-life balance.” A third employee added that working remotely “doesn’t compromise management’s ability to foster a family-like work environment, making daily communication easier and enhancing workflow.”
Ed McCall said he was thrilled when he heard his agency had been nominated for the award. Mackoul Risk Solutions has received several awards over the years, including being named a Top 100 Independent Agent by Insurance Journal in August. “This is even more meaningful,” McCall said of the “Great Agency to Work” honor. “Being nominated by the staff means they are happy. And in the long run, that makes me very, very happy.”
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