Corporate World to Small Business Owner

Welcome back to our 'Working Wednesdays' series. Please continue to check back each Wednesday as we follow how people have taken various roads into the insurance industry.

Douglas MacDonald, the current President and CEO of Murray & MacDonald Insurance will talk about how he joined Charlie and eventually became the owner of the business.

{Douglas MacDonald - age 16}

Douglas worked in the finance department at General Motor’s assembly division in Framingham, MA when the plant was temporarily shut down in 1982. During this time he took the opportunity to pursue a new career. His wife Maria was pregnant with their first child, she was due in January 1983.
He interviewed several successful career professionals from different industries, several of whom were successful insurance producers. He often heard them explain, "the first few years are challenging to break into the business, but if you were able to succeed and survive, insurance offered a great career path". One established Sales Producer commented, “the first five years you are underpaid for what you do and from then on you are overpaid for what you do”.

Douglas sought a position in the financial services field when Charlie Murray called him at home one afternoon. He had heard that Douglas was looking for a career in the insurance/financial services industry through a mutual acquaintance and wanted to interview him for a sales position in his Falmouth office.
Although Douglas wasn't very interested in moving from the Boston area, he decided to meet Charlie and explore the opportunity. He made a day of the trip to Cape Cod and brought Maria and their now new born daughter Sara. They explored the area while Douglas went to the interview. At that meeting Charlie promised Douglas if he worked hard, and played his cards right, he would have an opportunity to become a principal at Charlie's agency within four years. Douglas was twenty-four years old at the time. After the interview Charlie came out to meet Maria and see his daughter Sara at the 406 Jones Road office. He invited them to return to the Cape, but this time for dinner with his wife at the Dome Restaurant in Woods Hole, MA.

When Douglas & Maria returned for the dinner interview, Charlie drove them around the area: Woods Hole, Nobska, the beaches of Falmouth, all the beauty Falmouth had to offer. Maria looked at Douglas and said let’s move to Falmouth. He took the job {commercial lines sales producer}.

Much has happened since Douglas joined C.M. Murray Insurance Agency. There is much to tell. So look for Douglas' continued story on how he helped grow the business to where Murray & MacDonald Insurance is today.

Next week on 'Working Wednesday', we will hear about how Andrew Roth, a Commercial Sales Associate, joined the insurance world.