Nearly 500 Insurance Professionals Gather to Honor Ryan Towle as 2026 Insurance Professional of the Year

Davis & Towle Insurance Group President Recognized as 24th Recipient of The Insurance Library’s Annual Award

Nearly 500 insurance professionals gathered at the InterContinental Boston on Friday, September 25, to honor Ryan Towle, President of Davis & Towle Insurance Group, as the 2026 Insurance Professional of the Year.

Towle became the 24th recipient of the annual award presented by The Insurance Library, which recognizes an individual for outstanding leadership and qualities that foster commitment to, understanding of, and respect for the insurance industry.

“We were delighted to see a crowd of almost 500 people fill the ballroom at this year’s gala, at which Ryan was honored as the 24th recipient of the Insurance Professional of the Year award. It was a great success and testimony to the high regard in which Ryan and the Davis & Towle agency are held,” said Michael A. Pezza Jr., Executive Director of the Insurance Library.

Towle Leads New Hampshire-Based Davis & Towle Insurance Group

The following biography of Mr. Towle and the Davis & Towle Group has been provided by the Insurance Library of Boston:

Ryan Towle is President of Davis & Towle Insurance Group, a leading insurance agency based in Concord, New Hampshire. Ryan’s grandfather, Wendell Towle, founded the agency in 1954, and it has since grown under both his father Jeffrey Towle’s leadership and now Ryan’s. Over the last ten years, Ryan has been active in mergers and acquisitions, and today Davis & Towle has fourteen affiliated agencies across New Hampshire serving property and casualty insurance, primarily through twelve separately branded agencies rooted in their communities.

“We are thrilled to see Ryan recognized with this honor. Under his leadership, Davis & Towle and our affiliated agencies continue to thrive. Ryan is a strategic, thoughtful leader and an even better person. This recognition is well deserved, and all of us at Davis & Towle are proud to celebrate this achievement alongside him,” said Christopher Nicolopoulos, CEO of Davis & Towle Insurance Group.

Agency Growth, Recruitment and Industry Involvement

Over the last 25 years Ryan has executed a growth strategy that has included recruiting talented employees, providing internal opportunities for high performers, and hiring and developing new insurance professionals from outside the industry.

Companywide, Davis & Towle now employs over 150 people. Ryan initiated an internship program at the agency, with many successful participants now working in the agency or elsewhere in the industry. Ryan also expanded and deepened insurance company relationships at the agency to include serving on numerous local, regional, and national company councils and agent boards.

In 2011, under Ryan’s leadership, Davis & Towle became a founding partner along with three other peer agencies in New Hampshire of Northern United Agency Alliance, which provides aggregation, products, and agency support to independent agencies across New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, and Massachusetts. Ryan has served as managing partner of the alliance since its inception.

Ryan, who holds the Certified Insurance Counselor designation, has been active in the Big I of New Hampshire, serving as Young Agents Committee Chair, Legislative Committee member, Chairman of the Board, and Chair of the Executive Search Committee.

New Hampshire Roots

A native of New Hampshire, Ryan still resides in his hometown of Henniker with his wife Beth and their three children.

He is a graduate of New England College with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and has served as a member of the college’s President’s Advisory Committee. Ryan has been active in many local youth sport leagues and town committees, and served as Treasurer of White Birch Center, a local nonprofit providing programming for both youth and seniors.

Insurance Professional of the Year Award Dates to 2001

The Insurance Professional of the Year Award was first made possible by the establishment in 2001 of the Richard B. Simches Fund.

Mr. Simches, who founded Safety Insurance Company, believed that it was important to recognize outstanding individuals in the insurance industry. The award was created by the Library’s Board of Trustees in the tradition of an award bestowed annually from the 1950s through 1996 by the Boston Board of Fire Underwriters.

Since 2002, when the Library first presented this award, a broad cross section of members of the insurance, financial security, risk management, and legal communities has gathered to recognize an individual who demonstrates outstanding leadership and exemplifies qualities that foster commitment to, understanding of, and respect for the insurance industry.

Past Winners of the Insurance Professional of the Year Award:

Snapshots from this year’s event:

All of the photos below have been provided to Agency Checklists by the Insurance Library of Boston and Robert Castagna Photography.