Risk Strategies buys Teaneck brokerage

Jan. 29--Soon after graduating from City College in the late 1950s, Al Singer got a job selling life insurance door-to-door in New York City apartment buildings.

"I liked it a lot. We'd sneak past the doorman, go to the top floor and work our way down," Singer, 78, of Teaneck recalled.

He hadn't originally planned to go into insurance, but he loved the challenge of sales.

Within a few years, he opened an insurance office in Teaneck, where he built a business selling personal lines, employee benefits coverage and liability insurance for professionals such as architects, lawyers and engineers.

More than 50 years later, Singer's agency _ Singer Nelson Charlmers _ has been sold to a larger insurance company, Boston-based Risk Strategies Co. The companies did not reveal terms. Most of Singer Nelson Charlmers' three dozen employees will join the new company, including Al Singer's son, David Singer, 51, who was CEO of Singer Nelson Charlmers and is now managing director of Risk Strategies.

But Nelson and Charlmers won't be coming aboard, because they don't actually exist. The two names were suggested to Al Singer years ago by associates at Lloyd's of

London, who felt the old British family names would make Singer's company seem more established. (Al Singer did have partners over the years, and at one point sold his agency to a larger company, only to reopen a new one a few years later, in 1987, with David.)

David Singer said the acquisition by Risk Strategies will give Singer Nelson Charlmers "access to greater resources" and enable it to expand its services beyond its regional base in northern New Jersey and New York. For now, the Teaneck office will continue to be called Singer Nelson Charlmers.

In a statement, Risk Strategies said the acquisition will give it access to the New York metropolitan area market as well as to Singer Nelson Charlmers' expertise in professional liability, employee health benefits and other coverage. Risk Strategies is backed by Kohlberg & Company, LLC, a New York-based private equity firm.

Singer Nelson Charlmers has annual revenues of more than $6 million, and the combined companies will have revenues of about $55 million, David Singer said.

David Singer has focused on helping clients figure out the best health insurance plans for their employees, developing a proprietary technology tool called the Health Plan Optimizer. One longtime client, CEO Ronald Panicucci of the engineering and environmental firm Lan Associates in Midland Park, praised Singer Nelson Charlmers' work in helping his company navigate its yearly health care renewal.

"Every year we manage to come up with a solution we're all happy with," Panicucci said. He said Singer Nelson Charlmers also helped his staff resolve issues with insurance companies.

Another longtime client, John Maiorana, senior vice president and corporation counsel for The RBA Group in Parsippany, an engineering and architecture firm, gave Singer Nelson Charlmers employees high marks for their service and knowledge.

"If I ask for something in the morning, usually I have it by the afternoon," he said.

Al Singer, who will work as a consultant for Risk Strategies, developed the company's expertise in professional liability coverage for accountants, lawyers, architects and engineers a number of years ago. He started that business when an accountant friend complained that only one insurance carrier offered liability insurance for accountants. Singer helped an accountants' trade group find another carrier. From there, he branched out into other professions.

The Singer family also has been involved in philanthropy. Al Singer founded an anti-hunger charity called PACS/USA, and another son, Jon Singer, is a founder of the REED Academy in Oakland, which serves autistic students.

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