WINNER:

Billyard Insurance Group Inc.

The Burns & Wilcox Award for Big Brokerage of the Year (100 Staff or More)

Cody Douma

Vice President

Stephen Billyard

President

Cody Douma is the Vice President of Billyard Insurance Group working out of BIG Head Office in Welland, Ontario. Since joining Cody has played a significant role in identifying and solidifying partnerships with top insurance brokers in the industry. His recruitment strategies have successfully driven growth of BIG’s footprint across Ontario and more recently, nationwide. Cody’s insurance career began in sales, as he gained experience in both direct writer and brokerage capacities. He later transitioned to work for Pembridge Insurance where his role was to develop relationships with their broker distribution channel. While with Pembridge, he completed his CRM certification with The Insurance Institute of Canada.

Vice President

Cody Douma

As President of BIG, Stephen Billyard’s visionary leadership, big thinking, and keen industry insight have driven the organization to national expansion in 2022. Over the past few years, he and his team have focused on developing industry-leading technology solutions to equip and support employees, empowering brokers to provide an excellent customer experience to clients. Acknowledged for his excellence in leadership, Stephen was the recipient of the CEO of the Year award at the 2021 Insurance Business Canada Awards. He has led BIG to receive recognition as one of Canada’s Top Growing Companies for the last three years by The Globe & Mail’s Report on Business. Under his leadership, BIG has also been named one of Canada’s Top Insurance Brokerages by IBC Magazine for three consecutive years. Stephen holds an MBA in Human Resource Management, a BBA in Marketing, and a Level II RIBO License.

President

Stephen Billyard

A national insurance brokerage with offices across Canada, Billyard Insurance Group (BIG) aims to “lead the digital insurance revolution”. It currently has over 700 brokers in its network, and has expanded to over 70 branches across four provinces. BIG has set its sights on rapid growth, and has achieved some phenomenal results throughout 2022. It wrote over $240 million in organic new business growth throughout the year, and achieved 52% year on year growth in new clients. It is now one of Canada’s fastest growing brokerages, which president Stephen Billyard credits to its “strictly organic approach”, as opposed to growing via acquisitions. Growth in clients has also meant an increase in company size. In 2022, BIG opened 19 new branches and onboarded 255 new employees – which in turn organically fuelled its sales growth. BIG has also invested into the latest technology to assist its brokers, and its products include a personalised landing page for each broker, a custom-developed lead management system, broker support teams, and 35 underwriters to review and submit all business. It also has an in-house marketing team to serve as an ad agency, and provides comprehensive training to new and existing employees. BIG prides itself on its strong customer retention rate, which it puts down to its commitment to client service and competitive pricing. “We retain customers by having wide market access,” president Stephen Billyard says. “We always have a competitive solution, and can quickly switch clients to new markets through our digital sales and document delivery process.” Billyard says that sustaining its massive growth rate while also improving its customer retention has been challenging – however, BIG’s clever use of technology has resulted in quick and streamlined onboarding for all new brokers and branches. BIG also added new departments to accommodate the growth in offices, and has automated as many processes as possible. Canadian brokers have responded enthusiastically to BIG’s offering. BIG Hamilton managing partner Luke Prominski says the support it offers is “second to none,” with everyone at head office holding an open-door policy – “atypical for this size of organisation.” BIG Pickering managing partner Ahmer Farouqi says BIG has “earned its stellar reputation in the industry as a top employer and brokerage in Canada.” “In all my 20 years of industry experience, I can confidently say that BIG has the best organizational structure and branch setup I have ever seen,” Farouqi says. “From the top down, everything is very well-organized. President Stephen Billyard and his team are committed to investing in their employees’ growth and development, and when a company puts its people first, it produces incredible results!” “What started as a local, family-run brokerage in Welland, Ontario, has now expanded to over 70 branches in key cities of Alberta, Ontario, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia,” Stephen Billyard concludes. “Our mission is to lead the digital insurance revolution by offering an industry-leading platform where high-performing brokers can grow successful careers.”

www.thebig.ca

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Billyard Insurance Group Inc.

contact@thebig.ca

(855) 843-1570

38 East Main St. Welland, ON, L3B 3W3