Hickok & Boardman continues tradition

Back in June 1896, when the city of Vergennes was looking for a way to protect the future of its city library, it turned to the firm of Wires and Peck. The insurance company, already 65 years old, wrote the city a policy with a limit of $1,500 and a yearly premium of $18 for its entire library of books.

Now called Hickok & Boardman, an insurer born in 1821 to meet a demand for sea cargo insurance, the firm has expanded to include real estate, financial planning, and business brokerage. There is an affiliated captive insurance company, Scandia International. From a staff of two, Hickok & Boardman has grown to employ about 75 people. Last year, it reported sales of $62.5 million.

More than ever, Hickok & Boardman is a business with strong family ties. Nine descendants o the first Bonrdman to buy into the company work there now, or are recently retired. Six are from the third generation. All know the story of how Munn Boardman, their father and grandfather, worked his way through the University of Vermont as a chauffeur and gardener for Henry Hickok, owner and president of the Hickok agency, before being offered a job in the company. Munn Boardman worked at Hickok and Hickok for his entire career. In 1931, he attached Boardman to the company masthead.

Three of Munn Boardman's sons now serve at Hickok & Boardman or are recently retired. David Boardman, 60, is president of its financial planning division and senior vice president of the company. Two other brothers, Munn Jr and Bob, headed other divisions. Six of Munn Boardman's grandchildren also work for the company, which is based in Burlington, with offices in St Albans and Stowe.

David Boardman and his brothers bought the business from their father in 1968 and started to expand then into total financial planning, stock brokerage and real estate and property casualty insurance.

"We felt there was a market for it, and our clients were moving in those directions," David Boardman said of the expansion. "We felt it was the wave of the future. We wanted to be a onestop shop for our clients."

To Munn Boardman's descendants, the business is defined by its family connections.

"We're a family business in the sense that not only do we have a lot of family members that work here, but our environment here is a family environment," David Boardman said. "Our non-family members are considered part of the Hickok family."

But the company recently brought in employees from outside the family as stockholders.

"We thought it was important to motivate them and to share the profits and the growth of the business with our employees. It's the philosophy our father had. We encourage people to be heavily involved in the community where you spend your time," David Boardman said. He said the company plans for after his retirement include the next generation of Boardmans as well as people from outside the company.

Hickok & Boardman became involved in individual financial planning for professionals and business owners in recent year after changes in tax laws caused many employers to turn away from pension plans and retirement planning. It is in this way that the company has been defined over the years by changes in the marketplace, a trend David Boardman said he expects will continue.

"In some years, one division may not do as well as in the year before, but another division will have a better year, and they sort of balance each other off," he said. "When things happen, it also becomes an opportunity to look at new areas, or new ways of looking at situations."

Copyright Lake Iroquois Publishing, Inc. d/b/a Vermont Business Magazine Jan 1995
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved