... And still growing: Barney & Barney defies the odds as one of California's longest-standing and strongest companies.

When Philip Barney graduated from San Diego High School in 1909 he, like recent grads today, wasn't sure about a career path and sought guidance from his father. Patriarch George Barney suggested he try selling fire insurance and possibly look into the new arena of automobile insurance. With that, Phil and his classmate-turned-partner, Stewart Kendall, opened up the doors to Kendall & Barney in downtown San Diego and declared it an insurance company. Two years later, brother Lorenze Barney would join the pair. It is easy to assume these young men had no idea their small insurance company would carry their name for the next 100 years.

Today, Barney & Barney is one of a short list of companies that can carry the moniker of one of the "longest standing" and only one of an even smaller handful of companies that have remained privately-held. Over the past 6 years Barney & Barney has continued to place in the San Diego Business Journal's 100 Fastest Growing Privately Held Companies list, a list of companies ranked by percent of verified growth within the previous 3 years. As the oldest company on the list competing against many young startups that by nature grow more in their first decade, the ranking is not only an accomplishment, but an unimaginable feat.

Within the insurance industry, the story is no different: Barney & Barney has been steadily climbing the list of Top 100 U.S. Brokers, a list published annually by industry trade magazine Business Insurance. In 1986 Barney & Barney was ranked #64 on the list; this year, the firm's 100th year in business, Barney & Barney is #40 and one of the top 25 privately-held brokerages.

What is the secret behind this century-long success?

For Barney & Barney, the term "strategic growth" doesn't just apply to sales figures and the bottom line. The steady growth of the firm in the 1930s and '40s accelerated in the 1950s with the execution of Barney & Barney's perpetuation plan, which was designed to promote growth by bringing younger people into the partnership as equity owners. In the late "60s, Barney & Barney shifted from simply selling one insurance company's products to brokering business for several carriers. For the past decade, the strategic growth plan has prompted the firm to introduce ground-breaking new products, feature specialized industry experts and offer value-added resources. Despite recent global economic turmoil, the firm continues to invest internally in resources dedicated to lowering risk for clients. The company's innovative approach to risk management--assessing the total cost of risk and minimizing exposures--has been a key differentiator that has paved the way for continued success.

For commercial clients, Barney & Barney's Risk & Loss Advisors are loss control specialists who work with clients to customize a risk management program that will best suit their unique needs while lowering their risk exposures, all at no additional cost to the client. Recently, Barney & Barney's Employee Benefits clients have seen a push toward consumer-driven healthcare and wellness programs as a means of alleviating healthcare costs in the long run and keeping a healthy workforce healthy. Through effective loss control programs, Barney & Barney clients benefit from a lower overall cost of risk.

More than a broker, Barney & Barney has proven to be a business partner and advisor for many of their clients. For a century-old company, this has made for a formula for impressive success and strong continued growth--a legacy of which Phil and Lorenze, and even father George, would be proud.