A 40-Year Partnership Built on Strategy: Bay Family of Companies and Cottingham & Butler
- 5 hours ago
- 2 min read
Karen Young serves as President of the Bay Family of Companies, a construction organization focused predominantly on insulation, including mechanical and metal building insulation, with more than 80 locations coast to coast and into Canada. In a recent conversation, she shared how a decades-long partnership with Cottingham & Butler has shaped the way Bay approaches risk and benefits.
Four Decades of Partnership
Bay has worked with C&B for more than 40 years. Karen, who joined the team in 2019, credits the expertise and accessibility of the C&B team as an integral part of the relationship. They stay responsive, build relationships across Bay's people, and continually bring ideas and best practices that help the company think more strategically about its business and risk as a whole.
Measurable Results on the Benefits Side
That guidance has produced measurable results. In 2023, Bay moved to Med One on a recommendation from C&B and saved at least around $650,000 over the course of a couple of years. Karen noted that transitions of that size come with pain points, and the C&B team helped navigate those conversations with employees to make the change successful.
Finding Stability Through a Captive
Bay was also an early adopter of the Guide Re captive on the benefits side. After managing the volatility of stop loss rates and premiums in the traditional market, the captive brought greater stability. It streamlines stop loss premiums and gives Bay insight into what other partners are doing across a membership that spans industries, including distribution, manufacturing, and trucking.
More Holistic Than Buying Insurance
For Karen, the captive is more holistic than going to market and buying insurance. It brings together operations, safety, and the financial side, and it holds members accountable to one another. Bay still quotes the market occasionally, but its most recent review confirmed the captive remained the better route.
Advice for Others Considering a Captive
Her advice for anyone considering a captive: they can feel scary at first, but trust the process and develop the relationships with your brokers. For Bay, that trust has become a success story.