Acadia Newsroom - Press Releases
Acadia’s Synergy Program Brings ‘Closer Coverage’ to M & J Bus
Multi-disciplinary and personal approach to managing risk presents a win-win partnership
WESTBROOK, Maine (May 12, 2011) – When it’s your responsibility to transport 15,000 children daily to and from school, you take your job seriously. Add in the factor of keeping 450 employees safe and hundreds of buses in top mechanical condition, and you begin to appreciate the complicated nature of owning and running M&J Bus, Inc. The risk is especially high, but Acadia Insurance offers a program that helps companies like M&J feel safe while operating their business.
“When you run as many vehicles as we do, you need insurance as much as fuel,” said Mike Beebe, owner, M&J Bus, Inc. “But with insurance, it’s the people and the relationship that matter, not the price per gallon.” Beebe started M&J Bus in 1975 after learning the business from his father, and today, it is now one of the region’s largest and most-respected bus companies.
“At Acadia, one of our promises is to be closer to our customers, and one of the ways we do that is through our Synergy program,” said Ron Fortuna, Loss Control Representative, Acadia Insurance.
Synergy Risk ManagementSM is a unique multi-disciplinary approach that is designed to reduce the frequency and severity of accidents as well as the exposures that lead to accidents. Synergy is provided to qualified insured customers at no additional cost above policy premium.
“The Synergy process brings the service side of our business – underwriting, loss prevention and claims – into direct contact with our agents and customers to help them work with Acadia's experienced professionals to proactively manage risk,” Fortuna added. “For example, we have seen some frequency of driver slips and falls in the M&J parking lots due to snow and ice, so we developed a shoe policy and had training sessions with all of the drivers at each location to prevent falls.”
“Some people would focus on the lowest-priced insurance program, but Acadia has become a family to the Beebes and M&J Bus,” said Andrew Levine, director of Risk Management, M&J Bus, Inc. “Acadia Insurance is welcome to any one of our facilities at any time without a phone call. That’s the kind of relationship we have built with them because we know that they are there to help us bring our bottom line to a better number, and not simply to fit us into an underwriting grid.”
“Like other school bus fleets, M&J has many different types of exposures,” said Brian Waldmiller, Underwriter, Acadia Insurance. “When you have 50 or 60 kids on a bus exposed to the risks of traffic on the road, it presents risks even on a sunny day. Add congested traffic on narrow city streets on a stormy or snowy day into the mix, and it presents a huge exposure.”
“With Synergy, we have the ability to spend more time with our clients and develop a rapport and that leads to them trusting us,” said Chip Cella, Workers’ Compensation Claim Representative, Acadia Insurance. “And the cost of workplace accidents and injuries can be staggering to a business owner, yet managing the risk can also be expensive, complex and time consuming, so we give them true, honest advice that they can rely on.”
“The Acadia team knows this business well because they are not sitting behind a desk hundreds of miles away,” said Dave Pugliese, USI Agent. “They personally get involved with the account and everybody listens.”
“We are with Acadia because of their team and the extra that they do, and I didn’t feel that we would get that with other carriers; I know that they appreciate my business,” Beebe commented. “Acadia and M&J are now partners, and it’s a win-win for us.”