Why this mining and forestry brokerage expanded

Editor’s Note: This story has been changed to reflect the fact that the Sudbury branch is being led by a team of local insurance experts.

Gifford Carr Insurance Group, an Ontario-based personal and commercial insurance brokerage, is expanding into Sudbury, Ont., with a new branch location.  

The Sudbury branch will is run by a team local team of insurance experts, including Lorna Courchesne, who has over 30 years of personal lines experience, and Robyn Baronette, who has over 16 years’ experience and will be supporting Gifford Carr’s commercial lines clients.  

Courchesne and Baronette are both Northern Ontario-based. The Sudbury team offers both personal and commercial insurance, including a specialization in mining and forestry — industries that are largely based in Northern Ontario.

“Northern Ontario consumers have very limited choice in who they can work with to ensure they have the proper coverage with a broker who understands their inherent risks,” North Bay branch manager Bernie Robertson says in a press release. “By bring together a seasoned veteran brokerage team in the North, that lives in the North, our team has an appetite for our resource-based economy.”

The new Sudbury location opens about one year after Gifford Carr launched a new branch in North Bay, Ont.

“We are building something special in the North” commented Gifford Carr Insurance Group president Matthew Carr. “With all the consolidation in Sudbury we see an opportunity to establish relationships and be a valuable advisor for our clients”. Northern Ontario is poised for growth, with a new resource in Gifford Carr a team motivated to see our local businesses and neighbours succeed, Sudbury now has the insurance team to support it.

Prior to the northern Ontario expansion, they opened into Burlington, Ont., in late 2019.

Earlier this month, Matthew Leishman was appointed as branch manager for their Burlington location. “With my roots in the local Stoney Creek/Burlington community, we are looking to build, modernize and cater new opportunities in Burlington and to get back to the business of people and customer service,” Leishman said in a press release when appointed.  

Feature image by iStock.com/febriyanta