The purchase and sale was effective as of June 1, 2020
The A.P. Michaud Insurance Agency has announced the acquisition of the Madeleine Brooks Insurance Agency of Lawrence. Both are woman-owned independent insurance agencies located in Methuen and Lawrence, respectively. President Madeleine I. Brooks, who has been an independent agent since 1973, founded her eponymous agency in 1986.
“I am so happy that I have sold my agency to Trudy, and I know that my customers will be very happy, too,” said Ms. Brooks upon the sale of her agency. “Rosemary and I will continue servicing our customers at the new location, which makes this transition so exciting. Trudy made planning this change easy by being open and trustworthy.”
According to the terms of the transaction, effective June 1st, the Michaud Agency will acquire all of the assets of the Madeleine Brookes Insurance Agency. Both Ms. Brooks and her employee Rosemary Mirabal will continue on with the Michaud Agency after the close of the sale.
“Our agency is so lucky to have Madeleine and her long-time employee, Rosemary, come on board,” said Michaud President Trudy Lawler in remarks sent to Agency Checklists. “I have known Madeleine for many years, and I have always appreciated her and her agency’s focus and commitment to her clients. I look forward to working with her as a partner going forward.”
A third-generation agency focused on growth
The A.P. Michaud Insurance Agency has been a family-owned independent agency in the Merrimack Valley since 1979 when founder Armand P. Michaud began selling policies door-to-door. Since then, the agency had grown and now specializes in offering both Personal and Commercial insurance products to its Massachusetts and New Hampshire clients from two office locations in Carlisle and Methuen.
Unlike the fate of many of the family-owned and operated insurance agencies in Massachusetts, Michaud Insurance continues to be run by the second and third generations of the Michaud family. Deciding to follow in her father’s footsteps, Trudy (Michaud) Lawler joined her father’s agency, eventually becoming its President, a position which she still holds today.
“(Armand Michaud) retired in 1985, and when he stepped away, he really left it up to me to lead the place,” said Lawler in an interview with the Merrimack Valley Chamber of Commerce upon receiving that organization’s Community Spirit Award. “I was able to bring tech updates that were huge at the time, things as simple as a fax machine.”
“But I kept his foundation,” she noted, adding. “He was understanding. And I kept that to a T.”
In 2006, she was joined by her daughter, Tricia Lawler Sabulis, who is now the Agency’s VP of Sales and Marketing. Her eldest daughter Kate Henderson eventually joined the agency as well and now runs the agency’s Carlisle office. “Our mom was open to us pursuing whatever we wanted,” Henderson noted in the interview. “But we both ended up right back here.
This is the second major agency acquisition for the Michaud Insurance Agency. In 2014, it acquired The Nancy Greenwood Insurance Agency, another independent insurance agency based in Methuen. With this latest acquisition, Ms. Lawler continues to be optimistic about their agency growth and presence not only in Methuen but throughout the entire Merrimack Valley. In addition to this latest acquisition, the company also recently hired its first male employee, Lars Olsen, in May of this year.
For those interested in learning more about the Michaud Insurance Agency, please refer to Agency Checklists June 7, 2016 profile of them entitled, The Personal Insurance Shoppers: How The A.P. Michaud Agency’s Personalized Approach Has Set Them Apart.
Legal representation
In the acquisition, Attorney Sherry Vaughn of the law firm of Ferriter Scobbo & Rodophele represented the Madeleine Brooks Insurance Agency and Attorney Owen Gallagher of ForbesGallagher, and publisher of Agency Checklists represented the A. P. Michaud Insurance Agency.
Interested in purchasing or selling your Massachusetts insurance agency?
Agency Checklists offers free, detailed information for those interested in learning more about buying or selling and agency in Massachusetts. They can be found in checklists on Selling Your Massachusetts insurance agency or Purchasing a Massachusetts insurance agency. Or, if you have another question or issue you would like to contact us about, please email us via the button below:
