Healthcare >> CEO Interviews >> February 17, 2000
ROBERT BLAND is the driving force behind Quotesmith.com's strategy to
revolutionize and improve the way people buy insurance. After watching
his fellow agency associates painstakingly calculate insurance premium
quotations by hand in 1984, Mr. Bland wrote a business plan for
Quotesmith which called for the complete online automation of the entire
comparative rating process. Mr. Bland founded Quotesmith Corporation in
1984 and spent the next nine years building the databases, convincing
over 300 leading insurance companies to contribute their information and
providing the first online insurance quote service to agents and
brokers. In 1993, the company shifted its customer focus and began
providing quotes and information directly to consumers. By allowing
people to obtain their own quotes and purchase from the company of their
choice without dealing with a commissioned salesperson, Bland and his
team have dramatically improved and streamlined the way people buy
insurance. The Quotesmith.com Web site was launched in May 1996 and
stands today as the most content-rich insurance destination on the
Internet. Mr. Bland is well known as the first to publish actual
insurance company underwriting guidelines and independent ratings along
with each and every quote so that consumers could see for themselves the
plain English requirements to obtain every policy shown. Since the
launch of instant life quotes in May 1996, Mr. Bland has been
instrumental in guiding Quotesmith.com into offering instant quotes for
additional lines of insurance such as auto, health, dental and
annuities. Mr. Bland currently serves as Chairman, President and CEO of
Quotesmith.com. Mr. Bland is active in the company on a full-time basis,
providing vision and strategic leadership to the company as it
accelerates its business and its consumer branding efforts. Before
founding Quotesmith.com, Mr. Bland was President of Security Funding
Corporation, a privately held general lines insurance agency. Mr. Bland
holds a BS degree in Marketing from the University of Colorado. Mr.
Bland is a member of the board of directors of Seton Academy. Profile
Mr. Bland: We were originally founded in 1984 as Quotesmith Corporation,
and our business for about 10 years was providing online
