Finalist: Barker Phillips Jackson Inc.

Barker Phillips Jackson Inc. was founded in 1986 with the merger

of Consolidated Jackson Corporation, owned by Richard Jackson, and Barker-Phillips Insurers, owned by Paul Barker and Milton Phillips. For the first time, the company, which employs 37, is a finalist for the W. Curtis Strube Small Business of the Year Award presented by the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce.

According to President and Chief Executive Officer Richard L. Jackson, this year is the first that the company has been nominated for the award.

BPJ offers insurance and other financial services. The company has its headquarters in Springfield at 1500 E. Sunshine St., and offices in Mountain Grove, West Plains, Rolla and St. Robert.

"We have one goal ... to be the best insurance financial service firm. Our business is providing insurance and financial service to our clients. Growth as a regional firm will be within this core business," is the company's motto.

Jackson said BPJ's nomination and selection as a finalist for the W. Curtis Strube Small Business of the Year Award speaks highly of the company's employees and its thousands of long-term clients.

For its clients, BPJ offers a full range of insurance coverage, including life and health, personal property and commercial lines and general financial services. The company's employees do everything from providing a basic insurance policy to showing customers how they don't need to buy insurance but perhaps do need to be in a self-funded program.

Recruitment and retention of good employees is a goal, and BPJ looks to maintain a competitive edge through an aggressive training program.

"We're great believers in giving people careers," Jackson said. He added that education and training are both key aspects to that.

"Education is the information that they absorb and training is showing them how to apply that to their everyday jobs," he added.

At BPJ, Jackson said, at any given time, "virtually 100 percent of our people are in some form or another of self- or professional-improvement (training)."

Merging the two companies that became BPJ was perhaps the company's most daunting task, but the firm also has adapted well to other changes and challenges in the industry. Jackson said that technology has probably been the most visible change in the insurance and financial services industry.

"The application of technology in our business has saved us literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in labor costs, and it allows us to give a much higher level of service to our clients," Jackson said. "It's quicker, it's more accurate and it's what they demand everybody wants everything instantly."

Many of the firm's associates have earned industry-related certifications, and many are members of professional organizations within the insurance industry, including the Missouri Association of Insurance Agents, the Missouri Education Foundation, the Springfield Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors and the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors.

BPJ works to provide its employees with a family-friendly work environment with a liberal sick leave policy and schedule flexibility.

In the community, BPJ associates make time in their schedules to make a difference by donating time and money to various groups, including Children's Miracle Network, Springfield Victory Mission, Habitat for Humanity, United Way and Ozark Public Television.