IIAT member Stephanie Dew, President of WinStar Insurance Group in Cedar Park, was the guest on the December episode of the Agency Nation Radio podcast and was featured in IA Magazine's Declaration of Independents Q&A. Stephanie also serves on IIAT's Budget and Finance Committee.
In 2022, Dew, then 20% owner of WinStar, learned that the other two owners would be retiring. She didn't want to see the agency absorbed by the large buyers circling overhead and decided to buy it herself—even if it meant mortgaging her house.
“It devastated me to think that these employees who have worked so hard to build up the agency would have to watch it get gobbled up by another agency that I didn't think would value our clients the way we do," Dew says. “I went to my family first to make sure my husband and kids were on board. And they knew this was my dream. We had our house pretty much paid off, and I took a loan on it and did everything I needed to make it happen."
WinStar's defined niches propel its growth, from wineries and water entities to emergency services. The agency has been a Best Practices agency since 2019.
Dew was also featured in the December issue of Independent Agent. Check out her interview here.
