Although a lot has changed in the 100 years since the Utica National Insurance Group was founded, one thing has remained constant: a belief in helping people.Starting out as Utica Mutual Insurance Company in 1914, founder Merwin K. Hart - a Utica attorney whose family background was in boiler and furnace manufacturing - made it his mission to prevent industrial accidents and compensate victims of those accidents.
Today, as one of the top 100 commercial and personal insurance providers in the nation, with thousands of policy holders throughout the Northeast and Ohio and Texas, and more than 1,400 employees, CEO J. Douglas Robinson said that mentality still prevails.
"We are a relationship-oriented company ... that cares about our policyholders," said Robinson, who after joining the company in 1983 was named CEO in 2000. "Every person in our organization, including me, is always available and willing to speak with people directly."
Robinson said the company also prides itself on being there when its agent-customers and policyholders need it most, such as when it processed more than 6,100 claims after Super Storm Sandy and received the highest response rating from the New York State Department of Financial Services.
The New Hartford-headquartered company has grown by leaps and bounds since the days its home office was located at the Utica City National Bank Building at 110 Genesee St. in Utica, and Robinson is confident it will continue to evolve in the future.
"One of the key initiatives we have been consistent about ... is to have strong strategies to decisively address digital and other emerging technologies and how these have, and will, change the ways insurance is distributed and serviced," said Robinson, whose organization will hold a reception marking their 100 years of operation Monday. "Utica National will need to evolve and adapt to this changing world, as we have for the last century."