Salem Five recently is continuing its expansion into Middlesex County with its recent acquisition of the Otis Brown Insurance Agency in Lexington.

Salem Five has nearly tripled the size of its insurance division over the past decade, said President Gerard “Jay” Boyle Jr., who manages the insurance arm along with Senior Vice President Brian D. Boyle.

Salem Five Insurance is now approaching nearly $60 million in total premiums, and Boyle said the organization has ambitious growth plans for its insurance division over the next three years. Boyle himself joined Salem Five 10 years ago when the company acquired the Boyle Insurance Agency.

The Otis Brown acquisition will be Salem Five’s fourth acquisition of a smaller insurance agency in the past 10 years, he said.

“I think what’s happened is, unfortunately, this industry is aging and at many organizations there’s no perpetuation plan. There’s not another generation, if you will, or, I think, the capital to keep up with technology and keep up with scale,” Boyle said.

The Otis Brown Insurance Agency was founded in 1953 by Otis Brown. Richard Beamon joined the company in 1960. Today, his sons, Richard Beamon and Greg Beamon, own and operate the organization.

The agency will now operate under the Salem Five Insurance flag, although the Beamon brothers will stay aboard and manage the Lexington office and will retain their staff of seven.

Boyle said that the Otis Brown agency had a mix of about 80 percent personal insurance clients to 20 percent commercial clients, and he hopes that Salem Five will be able to leverage those relationships and beef up its commercial insurance products in that area.

Speaking to Salem Five’s future growth aspirations for its insurance business, Boyle said, “We like family owned businesses, particularly where the principals will stay on.”