Keystone Insurers Group Continues Expansion in Kentucky With Two New Franchisees

Continuing its expansion in Kentucky, privately held Keystone Insurers Group added two more franchisees, Houk Insurance Agency and Mountain Valley Insurance.

Houk Insurance, based in Horse Cave, Ky., offers home, automobile, commercial, farm, life and individual and group medical insurance. Mountain Valley, based in Barbourville, Ky., offers all lines of coverage and has four other offices in the state. Attempts to reach Keystone for immediate comment were unsuccessful.

Last month, Hall & Clark Insurance Agency in Prestonsburg and Ison Insurance Agency of West Liberty joined Keystone (BestWire, July 19, 2010). The latest companies bring to 21 the number of franchisees in Kentucky.

Keystone Insurers will enter Tennessee in early 2011. Company president David Boedker said in June that Keystone is "looking closely" at expanding into South Carolina and Georgia (BestWire, June 16, 2010).

Keystone Insurers has a network of 213 independent agencies in six states, including 73 in Pennsylvania, 41 in North Carolina, 28 in Virginia, 26 in Indiana, 24 in Ohio and 21 in Kentucky. The company has property/casualty premiums exceeding $1.4 billion. Keystone Insurers was started by four central Pennsylvania agencies, which joined forces in a difficult market. In 1999, Keystone changed its model from a cooperative arrangement to that of a franchisor and rapidly expanded throughout Pennsylvania. The group has continued to expand since then (BestWire, Feb. 8, 2010).

(By Diana Rosenberg, senior associate editor, BestWeek)