41.
TripleOptionCD
Three options to manage your money.
these challenging times, we are
pleased to have the infrastructure
and solid resources to continue our
growth path."
Kaufman showed an inkling of his
future sales entrepreneurship while
growing up in northwest Detroit and
attending Henry Ford High School.
He sold lemonade and Kool-Aid,
"but only at the major street inter-
sections with a lot of pedestrian
traffic where I could make more
sales," he mused.
"After that came Fuller brushes,
magazines, lawn cutting services,
group trips for a travel bureau and,
finally, life insurance when I worked
in my father's agency. I guess sales
entrepreneurship has always been
in my blood."
Kaufman received a Bachelor
of Science degree in finance
and insurance from Michigan
State University and a Juris
Doctor degree from Notre Dame
University's law school in Indiana.
He also studied international law at
the University of London, England's
school of economics, then prac-
ticed law with a Detroit firm before
opening his own law firm in 1976.
"By the mid 1990s, my law prac-
tice was going well, but so was my
father's insurance business," said
Alan Kaufman. "He wanted to wind
down and we talked about succes-
sion and what would happen to this
long-time, highly successful insur-
ance business. I had a big decision
to make, and the 'ET word — risk
— played an important role."
Taking A Chance
This wasn't a typical case of a
father just turning over the business
to the next generation. Because
Kaufman Insurance was a public
company, no gifting was allowed;
Alan Kaufman had to bid on the
business like anyone else; his father
pretty much had to sell to the high-
est bidder.
"I borrowed a lot of money,
bought the business and took it
private. It was pretty risky, but I felt
I could do more with the business
as a private company and make
it worth a lot more eventually," he
reasoned.
"It was an enormous risk — Alan
really bet the ranch on the deal,"
observed Mark Shaevsky of
Bloomfield Hills, the attorney who
handled much of the legal work
at the time. "He bought out 800
shareholders, who owned varying
amounts of stock, at $8.20 a share.
But it was worth it. When he bought
the business, he had a strategic
vision for it and he has implement-
ed that vision by expanding the
business many times since. He's a
unique businessman."
Shaevsky now serves on the
Kaufman Financial Group's six-
member board of directors, which
includes Kaufman's brother, Steven
D. Kaufman of South Lyon, who
also is a consultant to the company.
Around the time that Kaufman
completed the "going private"
transaction, the Burns & Wilcox
insurance premium volume was
$250 million a year; in 2008, it was
almost $660 million. "When my
father started this company, he was
part of an insurance innovation,"
Alan Kaufman pointed out. "He saw
the potential for growth in the spe-
cialty insurance market and built a
strong foundation. We're been capi-
talizing on that ever since."
"Risk" continued to be an
important factor in the company's
operation as it developed into a
broad-based specialty wholesale
insurance services firm. Kaufman
acquired various insurance com-
panies that underwrite high risks
in specialty lines and professional,
personal and commercial liability.
He now oversees more than 800
employees in 39 offices in 24 states
averaging about 35 employees per
office, dealing with about 26,000
agents in North America. "We spe-
cialize in complicated insurance
placements and difficult-to write
policies; we're sort of unique in this
sector," he said.
Coverage includes such places
as golf courses, day care centers,
alcohol/drug abuse clinics, gun and
hunting clubs, auto repair garages,
nursing homes, logging and lum-
bering operations, cemeteries, and
such people as ambulance drivers,
estate executors, financial planners,
lawyers, real estate agents, archi-
tects, mortgage loan brokers, travel
agents and others.
Added Kaufman: "We arrange
for all types of environmental insur-
ance, such as insurance for con-
struction contractors and dry clean-
ers against pollution, golfers getting
holes-in-one at golf outings, fire-
works going haywire at a party or
bad weather ruining a social event,
a pianist's fingers and promotional
RISKY BUSINESS on page 32
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disclosure for additional information. One-time rate
increase applies to the entire amount on deposit at the
time of the increase, until the end of the original term.
248.855.0550
Farmington Hills Office
31731 Northwestern Highway, Suite 100
Farmington Hills, MI 48334
MICHIGAN
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