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Jason Scrimpsher CPCU
Protégé Finalist
“I’m no longer OK with the old school approach to sales and prospecting.“
My name is Jason Scrimpsher and I’m a commercial insurance advisor in East Texas. I’m honored to have been chosen as a contestant for Season One of The Protégé. I would like to provide context as to why I applied to Season One of The Protégé. Naturally, insurance agents rarely plan to join this profession. We tend to “fall into it”—I’m no different. In fact, when I was you, I wanted to become a Special Agent with the FBI and then a military officer. Needless to say, insurance was the last thing on my mind.
Both my parents told me growing up that if I ever wanted to achieve success, all I had to do was to put in the work. They are entrepreneurs—Dad’s an architect by trade and owned his own firm for 20+ years. Mom is nearly 45 years as the owner of a well-established pet resort and training facility in San Antonio. Growing up, I split time between playing basketball and in the orchestra.
In 2005, I graduated from St. Mary’s University with a B.B.A. majoring in Risk Management and MIS. After graduation, I joined my mom’s pet resort because I had no idea what I wanted to do. After one year, I applied to USAA through their college hire program in 2006 to become a Renewal Underwriter. Their training program set the foundation of my professional development.
Jason's Protégé Video Application
In 2007, I moved to Austin to be closer to my wife, who was my fiancé at the time. Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) hired me to underwrite for the State of Texas’ Insurer of Last Resort. It was at TWIA where I started developing a passion for insurance. In addition to getting married in 2008, we welcome our two kids to the family, and I earned the CPCU designation in 2012.
The experience I’ll never forget was working with professionals who were passionate about helping others. For example, when Hurricane Ike hit Houston in 2008, nobody at TWIA was prepared for what was to come. We continued to underwrite but we also helped where needed. Whether that was taking inbound customer service calls or assisting adjusters so they could focus on reviewing claims. I’ll never forget the many weeks of traumatized claimants arriving in groups to pick up their claim checks. In fact, they were shuttled from Houston by the law firm that was representing their class-action lawsuit.
Jason's Video Biography
In 2012, I wanted to grow and move into the commercial world. I took a position as Market Research Analyst with the Texas Association of School Boards. TASB administers a risk pool providing commercial P&C insurance for Texas public school districts and community colleges. I was responsible for tabulating bids, conducting insurance policy trainings, provide competitive Intel, answer coverage questions, and lead special projects. Developing that position into what it was before I left was challenging and rewarding. I loved my work, the mission , and the customer base, but I couldn’t develop relationship from where I was sitting from start to finish.
In 2018, after six years at TASB, we moved from Austin to Longview, Texas. My wife believed in my passion and dedication, she supported my transition into insurance sales. Bringing new clients onboard is challenging and rewarding. The struggle can be real some mornings but my mindset and perspective has strengthened knowing I’m there to help customers solve problems they likely don’t even know are happening inside their risk management and insurance programs. The agency I work for is Hibbs-Hallmark & Company. Our book is approximately 60% commercial, 30% life/health, and 10% personal. Half of the commercial accounts are small business with middle markets rounding out the remainder.
My goal is to focus on producing middle market accounts, refer everything else, and mentor other producers along the way. I want to be the top producer in our office and give the competition a second thought when they find out the name of the competition. I applied to The Protégé because I’m competitive, have a passion for helping others, and have a strong technical knowledge. What’s missing is the link and connection with the Killing Commercial community. From what I understand, the community is heart of being a #CBK. I’m here to compete.
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