Financial Services >> CEO Interviews >> June 8, 1998
ALAN G. SYMONS was born in Montreal, Quebec on February 26, 1947. His
father was an accomplished Royal Canadian Air Force pilot in WWII and
went on to become a successful insurance entrepreneur. Alan joined the
firm in 1971 and became President and CEO of the Company in 1992. Under
his leadership Goran Capital, the parent of Symons International Group,
Inc., stated operations in 1987 in Indianapolis through an acquisition
that Alan sought our and arranged, of a nonstandard auto carrier. That
company, in 1987, conducted $17 million of gross premiums with a nominal
profit. Today that company conducts in excess of $450 million in gross
sales with pre-tax profit of in excess of $40 million. The Company from
its beginning of only 100 employees now employs over 700 employees
throughout the United States with offices headquartered out of
Indianapolis, Indiana in branches in Atlanta, Georgia, Tampa, Florida,
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Des Moines, Iowa, Orange, California, Stanley,
North Dakota, Jackson, Mississippi, Garden City, Kansas and Fresno,
California, offices also located in Toronto, Ontario, Hamilton, Bermuda
and St. Michael, Barbados. Today the company is the 16th largest
nonstandard auto carrier and the 5th largest crop insurer of farmers
throughout the United States. The parent company, Goran Capital, was
ranked in 1996 publications as the number one performing stock over the
last three years of insurance companies, and was the number two
performer of all companies in Canada. In 1996, the company was ranked as
the number two performer by Firemark, a prominent insurance reporting
service. While not attending to his duties as President and CEO of Goran
Capital, CEO of Symons International Group, Inc. and President of
Superior Insurance Company, he is an equal partner with Ron Foxcroft in
Fluke Transport a $15 million trucking company with a motto that says,
'If it's on time, it's a Fluke.' He is also a co-founder and equal
partner in a company called Fox 40 Pealess Whistle, which is now the
largest manufacturer of whistles in the world with operations in
Hamilton, Ontario and Buffalo, New York and trading through 141
countries. In fact, it was the official whistle of the recent Final Four
basketball series in Indianapolis. Profile
on Symons International. And then bring us up to date. Tell us what you
see as the challenges and the opportunities for that
