In 1984, Bill Wilson bought C.W. Johnson Insurance Agency from Charlie Johnson, who was retiring. Bill and his wife Denise moved to the area from Minier, a town near Bloomington.
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-a weekly feature by Bonnie Johnson - The Quill Staff
In 1984, Bill Wilson bought C.W. Johnson Insurance Agency from Charlie Johnson, who was retiring. Bill and his wife Denise moved to the area from Minier, a town near Bloomington.
He continued using the name C.W. Johnson Mutual until his wife Denise became a partner in the firm that is now known as Wilson and Associate. In addition, the directors of Stronghurst Mutual employed Bill as managing secretary of Stronghurst Mutual which was merged with Jo Daviess Mutual in 2000. Bill continues to serve as an agent for Stronghurst Mutual now known as Jo Daviess Mutual and located in Galena.
In 1994 Bill and Harvey Ellis, Peoria, formed an insurance cluster with the corporate office in Stronghurst.
The cluster is in a five state area and has 113 members and called Greater Midstates Insurance Agency.
"One of the goals is to enlarge into a six state region and have 100 agencies in each state with an average size of $1,000,000 in property and casualty premium," Bill explains.
"In obtaining these companies, I went out and personally worked with small agencies and brought them into the cluster. After they are established into the cluster, company reps oversee them. About two-thirds of my time is working with the Greater Midstates operation."
Greater Midstates has contracts with approximately 50 carriers.
Three ladies work in the Stronghurst office. Lorraine Peterson, who worked for Mr. Johnson, and went with Bill when he bought the agency, has been in the business for 22 years and with Wilson & Associates for 20 years. She is the office secretary.
Pam Day began working for Wilson & Associates in February, 2004. She works part time as a secretary, but she will hopefully be full time by September. Her position will be customer service representative.
Denise Wilson is Bill's wife and partner in Wilson & Associate. She divides her day working for Wilson and Associates and for the Greater Midstates Insurance Agency. She does all the bookkeeping for Greater Midstates and handles the commissions that are paid to the agents. Bill says, "If she doesn't figure the commissions correctly or forgets one, she certainly hears about it".
Bill said, "The biggest change in the insurance agency is the automation. What took 2 weeks to accomplish, now takes 20 minutes. This is accomplished through computers, fax, etc. Another change is claim filing.
"Customers with claims can dial claim reps through an 800 number and then these reps are sent out to check claims". Bill also adds, "We are seeing quite a lot of mergers because of the economy."
In Bill's spare time, he is an assessor. He now does assessing in Media, Raritan, Terre Haute, Stronghurst and Carman townships. This takes quite a bit of his time for four months.
Bill and Denise have one son, Christopher, who will be a senior this year at Southern. Christopher is interested in atmospheric science and is very active in many activities.
Why does Bill enjoy his work? "Because I like people and I like working with them.
"The insurance cluster is the salvation to a lot of small agencies who would probably not be in business if they hadn't joined the cluster.
"This is a unique operation and I enjoy it".
