It takes a little luck, a lot of hard work and a particular brand of ingenuity to build a national-recognized reputation and maintain it for more than half a century – but that’s exactly what the Herbert H. Landy Insurance Agency has done since its founding in 1949.
Six decades later, Herbert Landy is still chairman, though he is not involved in the day-to-day business of the agency. His daughter, Betsy Magnuson, is the president, and her daughter, Michaele Magnuson, joined the company after her recent graduation from Northeastern University.
Originally a general insurance liability agency, the company took a revolutionary step in 1962, when the focus shifted to errors and omission insurance for real estate and accounting clients. Herbert Landy developed the first professional liability insurance program specifically for accountants, and worked closely with the National Society of Accountants to develop a nation wide program for its members.
The ’70s were a decade of change for Landy Insurance, and would set the agency on the path of technological innovation to which it adheres today. It all began with the purchase and installation of “Molly,” one of the first personal computers on the market, and likely the first ever used by an insurance agency. Molly was eventually replaced with personal computers.
Now the agency selects only the highest-ranking, financially sound insurance companies to work with, and distributes many of its products through independent insurance agents across the country, providing coverage for attorneys, accountants, real estate agents and brokers, real estate appraisers, mortgage brokers, property managers and home inspectors, among others.
Landy operates in all 50 states. Via the company Web site, new and renewing customers can access or apply for a policy, choose their best coverage option, pay for it and receive it within 24 to 48 hours. The automated approach allows the staff of 30 full-time employees to respond to the individual needs of more than 40,000 clients.
“It allows us to do the most important thing – service the clients on a personal basis,” Betsy Magnuson says. “Our service comes from these technological innovations. They free us to focus on the people, rather than the paper.”
That focus on clients’ needs is a point of pride for Landy Insurance. What Landy does is no longer unique, but the way they do it is. As a family business, it has a different feeling for customers. Everything is personal, and the constant feedback from satisfied customers about the ease of service confirms the wisdom of the approach.
Landy prides itself on the reputation it has earned as a family company, and as an innovator over the past 60 years.
In providing insurance services, Landy Insurance works closely with, and is endorsed by, dozens of professional associations from coast to coast. The agency hosts and attends conferences, seminars and workshops for association members, helping its clients learn how better to protect themselves.
