Keeping it in the family

From left: Tim McLardy, Sarah McLardy, Don McLardy, Mike McShane, Nick McLardy and Georgia McShane

McLardy McShane is growing as fast as ever – but with the next generation increasingly involved, its founders aren’t looking to sell

By John Deex (Insurance News)

The co-founders of McLardy McShane reckon they are asked “every day” whether the fast-growing and diverse insurance group is for sale. Launched in Melbourne in 2007 with just a handful of staff, it’s now a significant national player with 130 authorised representatives, 26 broking branch joint ventures, and almost $680 million in annual gross written premium.

But despite experienced chief executive Don McLardy and director Mike McShane entering the final phase of their careers, selling up is not part of the plan.

Three of Mr McLardy’s children now hold critical roles within the business. Nick McLardy is national manager of broking, Tim McLardy is general manager at Victory Funding (the company’s premium funding operation), and Sarah McLardy heads up people and culture. Mr McShane’s daughter Georgia McShane is an account executive.

Being a “family-based business” brings many advantages, Mr McLardy says, and with the next generation stepping up, there’s no reason why that can’t continue.

“Most of the competition are big corporate entities,” he tells Insurance News.

“They’ve got different things they have to respond to, like returns to shareholders and public company issues. But we can still make decisions based on people and relationships and things that we value. So we love that situation that we’re in, and we love the fact that we can say that we don’t want to sell our business. We want to develop it, and keep it as a family business.”

Both co-founders intend to continue working for as long as good health allows, but in increasingly “ambassadorial” roles.

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