A Closer Look: A.J. Krist

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A.J. Krist is just a couple of years older than the insurance agency that his father, the late Jamie Krist, founded 25 years ago. The younger Krist began working at the agency after graduating from Grand View University in 2012, and stepped into the role of president and CEO after his father died in 2015 at the age of 56. The West Des Moines-based agency, which has grown to 22 employees, recently opened an office in Batavia, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. Krist serves on Grand View’s business advisory board and is a member of the university’s national alumni council. His professional designations include Certified Insurance Counselor and Certified Authority in Workers’ Compensation. He grew up playing hockey with the Des Moines Capitals, a youth sports program that his agency still actively supports. 

Was going into insurance a given for you?  
Going to college, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do. It wasn’t a predestined thing that I was going to join the agency or that I was even going to be in insurance. I played collegiate baseball and was thinking that I would continue on after college and explore that route. I did kick around a little bit in Missouri after college to chase that dream, but making 800 bucks a month in the bus leagues isn’t something you want to endure for a long time. Dad was a great mentor to me in implanting little pieces of information over a long period of time. 

What do you enjoy most about the insurance business? 
I really enjoy the personal relationship aspect of insurance, getting to know a client for a very long time and getting to see their situation progress. I also enjoy the technical aspect of insurance in terms of policy form, on covering risk, how do we mitigate that risk with insurance, how do we look at the entire picture and make an informed decision for the client, and present that in a way in which they can decide how much risk they want to take on. 

What are some highlights in your first couple of years in this role? 
We just expanded into the Chicagoland market area, so we’ve seen some regional expansion in terms of our actual footprint. We’ve been licensed in 40-some states for a number of years, but actually physically expanding with the production staff into new territories is always fun and exciting. One of the other fun things I got to do in my first couple of years was accept my father’s recognition into the Iowa Insurance Hall of Fame; I think that was quite an honor for him, and for me to stand up there and represent him was extremely fun for me. 

What are some of the issues that agencies face?  
Des Moines is one of the largest insurance hubs in the country, so having that internal competition all the time is challenging from an agency standpoint. From an insurance standpoint, obviously we have a group benefits division that’s dealing with the Affordable Care Act and the repercussions of that, what’s going to happen long-term with a new administration, and dealing with limited carriers in the individual marketplace. And from a commercial insurance standpoint, which is more of our bread-and-butter business, continually dealing with workers’ compensation issues — how do we fight insurance fraud, and unintended consequences of the Affordable Care Act that flood into workers’ comp. 

What’s the outlook for independent agencies like yours? 
I think in the last three years the industry has seen a record number of acquisitions and mergers and consolidation, and I think that’s going to continue for the foreseeable future just for the fact that most agency owners are on average 55 years of age and up. As we see that segment of the workforce retire, there’s going to be a need to transition, whether that’s internal or with mergers and acquisitions. Our internal vision here has always been organic growth. In the long term, I see us continuing to grow organically, opening up new niche areas for production and new regional footprints like we’ve done with Chicago. 

What niche areas are you likely to expand in? 
Construction has always been one of our fortes, so I can see us continuing that path and picking up new changes in that space from what technology is now allowing. If specific carriers drop out of a particular niche, that can open up opportunities — it’s always changing. 

How have technology changes affected your agency? 
I think technology in our business is very important because it allows us to operate more efficiently; it allows us to document from a protection standpoint for the agency. It allows us to improve our workflows for our clients, to improve our response time. It also helps us improve on our [paper] consumption. … From a risk management perspective, I would say technology has helped our client base a ton in the fact that we can make recommendations on loss control or push certain recommendations out to our clients or their employees at a very fast pace, and they have access to those materials on a 24/7 basis. I think technology has sped up the pace at which business is done, and we’re just trying to keep up with that, and if we can be on the forefront, then so be it. 

Any particular initiatives you’re looking at to attract new talent? 
The industry as a whole is struggling with how do we recruit new people into our business. I think the struggle has been that younger generations enjoy instant gratification, and in our industry it’s a very delayed gratification process in building a book of business, building a client base. Getting them to look past what their hard wiring is and see the vision is a challenge. We try to educate and be in front of students to let them know this industry is not going away, and oh, by the way, you’re in a very specific hub for this industry here locally. I’m involved with a lot of stuff at Grand View University — that’s my alma mater — helping with their business advisory department. I’ve done Pizza with the Pros and put on an insurance basics presentation for soon-to-be graduates who are in the student leadership club. We’ve discussed how we can beef up their insurance offering, whether it’s a certificate or something to that effect, and we’ll continue to explore that long term.

Outlook for growth in staff? 
In 2017, we added about 10 percent to our staff. I could foresee that pattern continuing over the next five to 10 years, especially as consolidation and mergers and acquisitions continue. I think it’s going to lead to a wealth of opportunities for new agents. I think that’s going to bode well for us in our organic growth strategy long term. 

Do you still play baseball? 
I don’t. I played slow-pitch softball for a while, and it just didn’t get my heart rate up in terms of excitement. I like to spend time with my wife and year-and-a-half-old son. The few times that I’m lucky, I like to get out and play a few rounds of golf. Other than that, we’re pretty low-key. 

Have you always gone by A.J.? 
Alexander is my given name, but there were too many Alexes in my third-grade class — our teacher would say, “Alex!” and four heads would snap around. So I decided to be a little bit different and go by A.J., and it just kind of stuck. My middle name is James, so that’s where A.J. comes from.