Warner takes pride in independence
Jonathan Knutson
The Forum - 07/31/1999

Raymond Warner and A.O. Rubert began their insurance agency with one desk, one typewriter and no business.

Eighty-eight years later, their firm, now known as Warner and Co., has become the largest independent insurance agency in this area.

Fargo-based Warner and Co. operates six full-service agencies, including its home office at 318 Broadway, in North Dakota and western Minnesota. Other offices, which function as divisions of Warner and Co., are Kramer Agency in Bismarck, N.D., Home Insurance in Dickinson, N.D., Schiller Insurance in Detroit Lakes, Minn., Thompson Insurance in Grand Forks, N.D., and Trapp/Professional Insurance in Valley City, N.D.

The company's 80 employees, about half of them in Fargo, sell and service insurance for businesses, individuals and institutions.

"We're a traditional local independent agency. There aren't a lot of us left, at least not ones of any size," said Harry Hayer, company president.

As an independent agency, Warner and Co. sells insurance products from many insurance companies.

The company's longtime success surely would have gratified Raymond Warner and A.O. Rupert, who formed the Rupert-Warner agency in Fargo in 1911.

Forty years later, Warner described the fledgling company like this: "We had no business. We reported one insurance company, the Boston Insurance Co. of Boston. We had one desk and one typewriter, and we started to build up a business."

Success came, but not easily or quickly.

"Insurance is no way to make a quick buck like a lot of people think it is. It is a lot of hard work. You have to work hard to build a reputation for yourself," Warner said in a 1975 Forum article.

In 1919 the firm was incorporated and Fred and Clifford Warner, brothers of Raymond, came aboard. Their father, Walter Warner, was a Cass County pioneer who came here by oxcart in 1878 and spent his first summer living in an overturned wagon box near Mapleton, N.D.

In 1920 Rupert sold his interest to the three Warner brothers. The agency continued under the Rupert-Warner banner until 1928, when it took the Warner and Co. name.

Fred Warner died in 1939, Clifford Warner in 1949.

Raymond Warner led the business for many years before scaling back his duties in the late 1960s. He died in 1976.

"He was charismatic and bright. A compelling man" who was committed to Fargo and the insurance industry, Hayer said.

Warner also was a man who loved golfing.

"I used to play 54 holes of golf on Sunday. I'd play 27 in the morning and 27 in the afternoon," he said in a 1975 Forum article.

Another longtime Warner and Co. employee, Kenneth Fitch, was a Fargo state legislator for many years and prominent member of the state Republican party.

Fitch, who died in 1963, also was manager of the North Dakota American Legion Band, which Gen. John Pershing called the "livest band in the world."

Longtime employee Clarence McDonald became president of Warner and Co. in 1968. He served in the capacity until 1970, when Hayer, who joined the firm in 1964, was named president.

In 1974 Hayer and a group of other employees bought the business, which is owned today by Hayer and several minority shareholders.

Warner and Co. operated at several locations in downtown Fargo.

In 1931 it moved into the Black Building, where the firm remained for 29 years. Warner and Co. believe their firm was the first tenant to commit to the Black Building.

In 1960 the company bought and moved into the newly renovated three-story building at 318 Broadway. The firm later bought a nearby parking lot.

Initially Warner and Co. occupied only part of the building and leased out the rest to other businesses. The company has grown sufficiently that it now occupies all of the building itself.

Hayer said the firm's success is reflected in its having been named a Best Practices Agency for the years 1999 through 2001.

Best Practices is a program developed by the Independent Insurance Agents of America to help agents maximize performance.

The honor recognizes outstanding customer service, growth, stability and financial management.

"We have highly professional employees who are concerned with building lasting relationships" with clients, Hayer said.

"Our policy is serving you. That's what makes us successful," he said.

Warner and Co. prides itself on being innovative. For instance, it was the first agency in the nation to write a comprehensive business policy that included seven major categories of insurance.

Not surprisingly, given weather extremes in this area, natural disasters have played a prominent role in the history of Warner and Co.

The Fargo tornado of June 20, 1957, caused massive damage in the city. Insurance companies represented by Warner and Co. paid out more than $2.5 million to policyholders.

Spring flooding in 1997 also did massive damage in the area, especially in Grand Forks, N.D., where Warner and Co. has an office.

The Grand Forks' employee had to leave town because of the flooding, but relocated to Fargo and continued to serve their clients.

The agency's work, detailed in a February 1999 issue of the Agent & Broker trade magazine, helped the firm to win the 1998 Flood Agency of the Year award from the Federal Insurance Administration.

Warner and Co., like other insurance agencies, faces growing competition from the Internet. Some experts believe that many consumers, especially younger ones, increasingly will buy their insurance over the Internet rather than from flesh-and-blood agents.

Internet competition "is a concern," Hayer said. "But our belief is that people are still looking for - and need - professional advice and service."

Warner and Co. is optimistic about its future, he said.

"We're very bullish on Fargo and the other communities we serve," he said. "And we have an employee group of young professionals who provide equally good, if not better, service than what has traditionally been provided by Warner and Co.