V. F. McNeil Insurance Agency: Celebrating 125 Years

It isn't often that people get to celebrate a 125th anniversary, and that landmark date is the cause for celebration. At V. F. McNeil Insurance Agency, located on East Main Street in Branford, this year is truly a momentous occasion. Founded in 1886 by Branford local Virgil F. McNeil, the company continues to be operated by the McNeil-Sturgess family, who live here in Branford. In order to honor their founding, the company has developed a calendar of community related activities throughout the year. The agency has always supported the as a company, but this year, staff members have been encouraged to go out and volunteer. The company participated in a walk-a-thon to support the charity, and staff members at the agency help with marketing as well. Staffers also volunteer at the neighboring , and the agency will host a tent at the Branford Festival, for which V. F. McNeil is a gold sponsor, where they will hand out Child ID kits, as well as sponsoring a coloring contest. The company also launched a scholarship for seniors at , which will begin being awarded this year. You can find out more about their events by following V. F. McNeil on Facebook or Twitter.

How does a company reach its 125th anniversary? At V. F. McNeil, the company has been dedicated to the same ideas that served them in 1886: treating their customers the way they'd want to be treated. That commitment earned them the Trusted Choice® Agency of the Month Award in December, 2008. In an article from Independent Agent Magazine, Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America President and CEO Robert Rusbuldt said, "The outstanding team at V.F. McNeil Insurance has demonstrated their commitment to serving the needs of their clients and treating them like people, not just a policy or number." Clearly, the example set by Virgil F. McNeil back in the 1800s has served them well. In fact, one large, family-owned Connecticut based manufacturing company, which also started in 1886, has been insured by V. F. McNeil ever since both companies were founded.

Virgil F. McNeil was born in Sheffield, MA in 1844, and during the Civil War, he served in the Union Army, stationed in South Carolina. After the war, he settled in northwestern Connecticut, where he married his wife, Alice Curtis; they had two children, Edward and Charles. The family relocated to Branford, and in 1886, Virgil opened his insurance agency, selling fire insurance only on Church Street in New Haven. At the time, insurance was still a relatively new concept, and there were only four insurance agents in the city. The company later expanded to sell additional forms of insurance, becoming a general insurer. Virgil was recognized for his achievements in his own day: in an article about his son Charles in Modern History of New Haven and Eastern New Haven County, published in 1918, the contributor wrote that Virgil "has made substantial advance in his chosen field of labor, becoming recognized as one of the most prominent representatives of general insurance lines in this section of the state."

Charles, who graduated from New Haven high school in 1893, did not immediately join his father's company. He worked for wholesale beef dealers Lee and Hoyt, and later moved to New York where he worked with the florists Thorley and Company. But soon after, he returned to the family business in New Haven, first beginning as a minor clerk and eventually becoming the partner who had dominant influence of the company's direction. Like his father, Charles served in the military and was a veteran of the New Haven Grays, an elite military company based out of New Haven. Along with memberships in New Haven organizations, Charles was also a member of the . Charles officially acquired the agency, which had already begun to operate as V. F. McNeil & Company, in 1925. Virgil died in 1930.

Though Charles had a son, named Virgil after his father, it was Charles's son-in-law, Thomas Sturgess, who became the next owner of the business in 1950. The company passed to Macneil Sturgess in 1973, and Paul Sturgess, the current owner, took on the family business in 1998. The agency relocated to Branford in 1988 to better serve the business clients they were handling, which had also largely moved out of New Haven.

When asked what it was like to become the head of the family business, Sturgess said, "I loved it – without being a family business, I never would have had this opportunity." Though Sturgess began working at the company in 1990, entering at the bottom of the ladder in the sales department, when he became the owner, the shift was dramatic. "I got thrown into this [and told]: Go run it!" This offered some real challenges, but being thrust straight into the action allowed Sturgess to see what was being done right, and what needed to be changed. Sturgess views himself as a jack of all trades, master of none, and running a business like V. F. McNeil allows him to utilize his skill set: "Owning a business like this is perfect," he said.

The year 1886 was the start of many things: the first Groundhog Day was celebrated, the first bottle of Coca-Cola was sold, and the Statue of Liberty opened for the first time. The year also opened a chapter in Branford history with a family company that continues to honor its founding traditions. Sturgess said, "One hundred twenty-five years later, we're doing business the same way we were doing it in 1886." He thinks the key to the company's success–and the growth since 1998 has outpaced both Standard and Poors and the Consumer Price Index by more than 125 percent–comes from doing business honestly, and following the golden rule by treating clients and vendors with the same respect you'd want to be treated with. Sturgess believes that this attitude will continue to take V. F. McNeil into the future. "If you did it in 1886, and you can do it in 2011, you can do it in 2100," he quipped.

Do you have the key to running a successful business? , before attending the Branford Chamber event this Wednesday.