Patrick Dempsey of Dempsey Insurance, Norwood, Massachusetts has received the third annual James O. Herrick Memorial Young Agent of the Year Award. The annual award, presented during the MAIA’s State Annual Meeting, “…seeks to recognize agents who demonstrate leadership in their agency and community and support the mission of the committee by being active participants.”
After graduating from Gettysburg College in 2008, Patrick joined his father in Dempsey Insurance as a third generation member. The agency has been a local agency in Norwood, Massachusetts since its founding in 1947 by Patrick’s grandfather. Upon entering the agency right after college, he quickly learned, “it was the right decision.”
Interest in advancing agency issues politically
Soon after joining the agency, Patrick indulged his interest in advancing agency issues politically by attending his first IIABA Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. in 2009. Since that first visit, Patrick has attended the conferences every year. Patrick has shown a keen interest in other young agents becoming involved in legislative advocacy. As Patrick has said, “Having gone to Washington DC every year since my fist trip in 09 I have seen full circle now how action one day can lead to impactful change in our industry down the road.”
Following his first Washington trip, Patrick became more involved in MAIA and its Young Agents Committee. In 2013, he became a co-chair of the Young Agents Committee.
Young Agent Committee involvement builds lasting friendships
In discussing the Committee’s award to him and the benefits of committee involvement, Patrick said, “I was extremely honored to receive the James O. Herrick award. My years on the committee have been extremely rewarding to me due to the people I have met from committee members to [Young Agent] event attendees.”
Patrick has urged other young agents to follow his example and to involve themselves in the Young Agent Committee’s activities saying, “I strongly encourage other young agents to become involved; simply attending one event can be more rewarding than you can imagine.”
Personally, Patrick has found that, “Working on the Young Agents Committee has given me more than I could have ever imagined, most importantly, friendships that I know will last for the duration of my professional career.”
Family agency to celebrate seventy years in Norwood
Since serving as Co-Chair of the Young Agents Committee, Patrick has focused his activities on political action advocacy for independent agencies and, of course, on his family’s agency that will be completing its seventh decade in business in 2017.
During the agency’s almost seventy years in business, the goal of the agency has always been to provide a high quality customer service to Norwood area residents, but over the years territories serviced have developed as far as Maine and New Hampshire. The agency has a total of eight employees and writes with a number of personal and commercial carriers but the largest company representation comes from Mapfre/Commerce, Andover, Safety, Plymouth Rock and Harleysville Insurance.
About the James O. Herrick Memorial Young Agent of the Year Award
In 2013, the MAIA renamed the Young Agent of the Year award in honor of former MAIA Board Member, Jim Herrick. Mr. Herrick, who passed away unexpectedly, at the age of 46, in the fall of 2013, spent his entire career in the Massachusetts insurance industry. Right out of college he began his insurance career with Toole Insurance in the Berkshires, eventually moving on to work for many years at The Hanover Insurance Company and then finally at The Berkshire Insurance Group.
