Insurance Journal

Mary Newgard, AU began her insurance career in 2003 as a commercial insurance producer for a nationally recognized independent agency, Cottingham & Butler. In 2006, she joined Capstone Search Group as a Search Associate focused on building the firm’s national reputation in agency consulting. Over the past four years Capstone has become well known for its partnership with independent, retail agencies dedicated to effective sales recruiting. In fact, Capstone is one of the few talent acquisition firms with a dedicated focus in producer recruiting amongst all three major agency disciplines: property and casualty, life and health, and high net worth personal lines.

Mary consults with national brokerages, regional firms, and locally owned agencies on enacting competitive, results driven sales and service recruiting. This includes education on compensation models, agency perpetuation, Mergers & Acquisitions, and advanced technological resources. Additionally, she is integral in Capstone’s continued work with wholesale brokers, Managing General Agencies, surety, and Excess & Surplus markets, many of which face the same challenges in recruiting production based talent as independent agencies.

A graduate of Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, Mary is a member of the National Insurance Recruiters Association (NIRA) and the National Association of Personnel Services (NAPS). In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family, golfing, and cheering on the Iowa Hawkeyes.