Today we’d like to introduce you to Joe Messina.
Joe, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I grew up in Chicago as a first generation Italian-American with parents from a small village in Sicily. My father was a carpenter and came to the United States for a better life for himself and his future family. I graduated from the University of Chicago – Illinois in 1992 with a degree in finance. During my last two years of college I interned at Northern Trust Bank, but my true dream was to become a trader. My attempts to find employment didn’t go so well, so I decided to take a job with the bank and immediately go to graduate school.
Prior to graduation I did go on one interview with Continental Insurance Company. I was not really looking to take the job, but I was inspired by the enthusiastic interviewer and decided to give it a chance. Their training program would help put me through MBA School. I fell in love with the business soon after starting, but my passion kept bringing me back to the trading world. In 1995.
I received my master’s degree in international business from St. Xavier College. I decided at that point to pursue a position in the securities world. I reached out to all of my clients to let them know I would be resigning soon, but one client had other plans for me. He convinced me to take a position at his firm before exiting the insurance industry. Moving to more of the sales side of the industry was different, but I knew early on I wanted to do this for the rest of my career. I loved the competition and the rewards associated with the business.
I stayed with this firm for a couple years, and we enjoyed great success. I discovered early in my career that I was very stubborn and that I liked doing things my own way. In 1998, one of my largest clients agreed to support another partner and me in starting our own firm. Timing probably was not the best. I was 28, and my wife was expecting our second child, but I had to seize the opportunity. We opened up our doors in August and started out in a small, rented space on Wacker Drive. I can’t say it went as planned or that we had immediate success. I did not have a non-compete agreement at the time, but my former employer filed a lawsuit against me in an effort to drain any capital we had. We eventually won the case, but financially it was a huge drain. My clients were very loyal, and they all stuck with us as we slowly grew. In 1999, we started adding staff and we moved in to an actual office.
We continued growing fairly rapidly until 9-11, an event that turned the insurance industry upside down. In the beginning no one realized how much of an impact it would have or how many insurance companies we would lose due to the wide spectrum of losses. Terrorism insurance was developed after that, and many new carriers were formed in Bermuda to help fit the missing capacity in United States. The market eventually stabilized, and we continued on our growth track.
I had a minority partner in the business until 2003, when we decided it was best to part ways. I took over rest of company a year later and we renamed firm Maximum Independent Brokerage. If we fast-forward to today, we now consider Chicago our headquarters with offices in St. Louis, Tampa, Philadelphia and satellite offices in Boca Raton, Omaha, Jacksonville and Milwaukee.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Honestly, no. It has not been a smooth road, and I think anyone who owns their own business would probably tell you the same. Owning a business is 24/7, and you have to be aware of so many other things going on than just the business itself. Economic conditions, competitive products, new technologies and more are factors in running any business.
In 2002, one of our largest clients ran into some legal issues. We had to work hard to replace all of that lost business. Over the years, our industry has experienced a significant amount of consolidation making it more difficult on the smaller, true independents to survive. I was always told, “Be the hardest worker in the room. If you do that, everything else will work itself out.” I have been doing that my entire career. I try to lead by example and not by managing. I could not be prouder of how hard our staff works. They know most of the time we are the underdog to some of the larger competitors, but they always rise to the challenge. That is our why our tagline is, “Take it to the Max.”
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Maximum Independent Brokerage story. Tell us more about the business.
We are an independent wholesale insurance brokerage firm. We are on the excess and surplus lines side of the business. Simply put, we help fill the gaps when standard insurance companies aren’t able to cover insureds. We mostly handle commercial property and liability. Licensed in all 50 states, we target tough-to-place accounts, and we access over 160 insurance companies. www.maxib.com.
I am most proud that we have grown the firm organically over the years. Our culture is representative of how I always envisioned it 20 years ago. We work on a team basis, and we truly feel that is the difference between Maximum and our competitors. We have been approached many times to sell to larger firms, but I really feel we would lose our identity if that ever happened.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
For me, my company’s reputation is the most important definition of success. I want “Maximum” to connote hard work and honesty. I also want to make sure there is a strong sense of family. We spend a ton of time together as a group, and it is extremely important to me that all the employees treat each other with respect. I have never asked anyone to do anything that I would not do myself. I also try to encourage everyone to have a strong family support system at home. I would not be where I am today without my wife and three kids. I know our employees work hard, but I also want them taking time to spend with their loved ones.
Contact Info:
- Address: Maximum Independent Brokerage, LLC
222 S Riverside Plaza, Suite 2340
Chicago, IL 60606 - Website: http://www.maxib.com
- Phone: 888-364-2765
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/company/1498120/
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