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Alumni Spotlight: Mr. Ernie Telford - '69
Mr. Ernie Telford graduated from NMU in 1969 with a Bachelor of Science in Management with a minor in speech and theater. The commencement speaker at his graduation was Michigan’s Governor at the time, George Romney, who is Mitt Romney’s father.
Luckily for NMU, Mr. Telford returned to campus for the Alpha Kappa Psi reunion in 2001 and he felt a flash of pride at the way the campus had evolved. He recognized an opportunity to combine the resources that NMU has to offer with a contemporary insurance and risk management industry that is aging and eager to support educational institutions in preparing young people to enter the many interesting, challenging and lucrative aspects of the business. Because of his generous provision of $300,000 in seed capital, NMU is now able to offer a Finance degree with a concentration in Insurance and Risk Management. The Math department will be offering a minor in Actuarial Science in 2014 with opportunities to take actuarial exams. The ultimate goal is to create a Center for Insurance Studies at NMU where students can major in Insurance and Risk Management and minor in Actuarial studies (or vice versa), making them very attractive candidates to employers in the industry. He has participated in the College of Business Mentorship Program and his ongoing support has created scholarships, internships and employment opportunities for graduates from the programs.
Besides the tangible benefits that we at NMU have gleaned from our relationship with Mr. Telford, there are certain, unquantifiable, but equally important benefits that students and faculty gain from being in contact with such an interesting and successful leader.
Mr. Ernie Telford’s story started in Flushing, New York in the Borough of Queens, where he was born and raised. He came to NMU as a transfer student from a small, two-year college in Massachusetts. Northern accepted all sixty-six credits and some of his fondest memories come from the pure adventure of getting from New York to Marquette. North Central Airlines (nicknamed “the Rubber Duck”) made at least four stops between the Big Apple and Marquette. On one trip back in winter, Mr. Telford recalls convincing another student that it would be a good idea to hitch-hike from Detroit to Marquette. They would avoid the convoluted route that the Rubber Duck took and, more importantly, they would be able to get a cash refund for their tickets. They disembarked the plane in Detroit, and by the time they had mooched their third ride, they realized their mistake, as they were soon exhibiting the early symptoms of frost bite. Mercifully, servicemen in the Air-force, who were returning to K.I. Sawyer, picked them up south of the Mackinaw Bridge and gave them a lift back to campus.
As a student, Mr. Telford was a member of the Alpha Kappa Psi, the national business, and at the time, all male fraternity. He laments the fact that there is no longer a chapter at NMU, as he credits his involvement with the organization in helping him to build a strong relationship with business faculty and for creating a network that has stood the test of time. He worked part-time at Big Boy and his fraternity brothers knew to visit the restaurant at a certain time of the day to benefit from some “mistakes” in the kitchen.
It was important to Mr. Telford that he finish his degree before being drafted into the military during the Vietnam War. He is thankful that this was made possible at NMU. He received his draft notice during his senior year and was in the Army by September. He was accepted into Officers’ Candidate School, where he trained for a dangerous and difficult assignment as an Artillery Forward Observer. Within a few weeks of becoming a commissioned officer, the Pentagon announced that the war was winding down and that they would not need any more lieutenants, having a surplus coming out of college ROTC programs. He was given the option of leaving OCS with new orders that would allow him to serve the rest of his two-year obligation stateside . Of the 1,200 candidates in his class, he and 1,164 of his classmates took this option.
As the war ended, the job market was flooded with returning soldiers and recent college graduates. In his first lesson in the importance of networking, he got a contact number of the father-in-law of one of his OCS classmates, who was an executive at Continental Insurance in New York. He was offered a position and training as a Commercial Casualty Underwriter at the companies office on Wall Street for a $7,500 annual salary.
With the experience that he earned in his first job, he was able to land a position at American International Group (AIG). He is disappointed with all of the bad press that AIG has suffered lately, as it was a great company to work for in the 70’s and 80’s. In 1974, Mr. Telford got his first chance to manage people and budgets while being held accountable to results. His assignment as Regional Casualty Manager in California was supposed to last two years, but he stretched it into a six year experience, at the end of which, he had a very difficult decision to make. Not relishing the idea of a daily commute to Wall Street, he turned down his next assignment with AIG at the home office in New York. Having essentially ended his career at AIG with this decision, he made a bold move in 1980 and partnered with Jack Matukas and Jerry Sullivan to found his own company, MTS (Matukas, Telford and Sullivan but marketed as Motivation, Talent and Service).
Over the course of the two decades that followed, the company grew into a strong regional wholesale brokerage firm. Several other businesses were spun off with offices in New York, Connecticut, Texas and four in California. He credits NMU with giving him a leg up on his partners in terms of business sense, with providing a solid basis of knowledge upon which to build a lifelong learning experience with help from his CFO and with helping him to discover his managerial acumen.
Mr. Ernie Telford is a believer in “managing by walking around” and he promotes this style at every opportunity. Whether with his classmates in the Executive Leadership programs at the UCLA, Anderson School of Business, or in NMU entrepreneurship classrooms, his advice is to focus on the happiness and well-being of employees. An hour or so on Monday spent chatting with employees gave him as much critical information about the direction and health of the organization as all of the other management tools at his disposal. When he heard from his employees that they were making major life decisions (like having a baby, buying a house or sending a kid to college) he knew that they felt secure, confident and happy with the company and that these contented individuals were better able to work hard and that their hard work was driving results for the company.
AmWins Insurance group was founded under a 2002 merger of five companies under Mr. Telford’s control and five that were part of Americana Financial. The company is celebrating its 10th anniversary in June 2012 and is currently the largest wholesale insurance distributor in the world, employing 2,800 individuals out of 45 offices in the US and 16 other countries. It is a point of pride for Mr. Telford that AmWins boasts a strong culture, a difficult feat in such a large and far-flung organization that has made 28 acquisitions since its founding. He was Chairman until his “retirement” in 2006. He knows that the culture remains strong and that employees are glad to be a part of it because he stays involved. His son is an employee and so is his son-in-law. Insurance is the product, but the financial health and well-being of the company and everyone that works there is the heart of the business. In spending about 60% of revenues (half a billion dollars) annually on compensation and benefits so that employees can comfortably and reliably support their families, AmWins proves its commitment to Mr. Telford’s management philosophy.
As is the story with most high achievers, Mr. Ernie Telford is unlikely to ever, truly retire. He consults on projects that he is interested in and still works with AmWins in a limited capacity. The company’s largest client (responsible for over $10 million in revenue) was brought to the company by Mr. Telford, personally, and they have asked that he continue to work with them. In this way, Mr. Telford is able to satisfy his fascination with complex and important issues (with this client, they insure all but three counties and 80% of the cities in California: schools, hospitals, transit districts etc.) while maintaining his freedom from the office and all of the day-to-day management responsibilities.
Mr. Telford also serves on the board of a private school and has been instrumental in the establishment of, and continues to be a champion for, the NMU Finance and Risk Management program.
As further proof of his ability to make good decisions and manage relationships that last, he asked his wife, Patricia, to marry him on their second date, 42 years ago. They have two married children, a daughter and a son, five grandchildren, three boys and two girls, ranging from ten years to the newest addition, born on February 18th. They all live within a few miles of each other.
He can be found at either his home or aboard his boat in California or his home or aboard his boat in Long Island. When he isn’t providing service to the most important client of the largest wholesale insurance distributor in the world, giving the next generation of leaders access to his knowledge and experience through service or enjoying the splendor of his family, he and Patricia are working on their “bucket list”. Rent an apartment in New York City for a month and revisit all of the sites they enjoyed growing up? Check. Travel from Paris to London to Southampton and sail aboard the Queen Mary to New York? Check. Stay at the Grand Hotel on Mackinaw Island (and pop in at NMU)? Check.
All of us at NMU offer Mr. Telford our sincere gratitude and ask that he send us a postcard from the destinations that are next on his list: Africa, New Zealand and Australia.
