
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, December 17, 1993                   TAG: 9312170155
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A20   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Mag Poff
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

INSURER TO CLOSE IN ROANOKE

Johnson & Higgins of Virginia Inc. will close its Roanoke office at the end of the month and consolidate its operations in Richmond.

John Pace, spokesman for the insurance agency in Richmond, said Thursday the move will leave Johnson & Higgins with only one office in Virginia. Its Norfolk branch closed two years ago, and the company has made similar consolidation moves in other states.

Pace said it takes high levels of customer service to run a full-service brokerage firm. The consolidation will enable the agency to give customers the support they need, he said.

The firm has 10 employees in Roanoke, Pace said. Two of them will join the staffs at Johnson & Higgins offices in other states.

Others were asked to stay with the company, he said, but they chose to remain in the Roanoke Valley. They have found other employment, Pace said, "some with our competition."

Johnson & Higgins began operating in the Roanoke Valley in 1984 when it bought an independent agency founded by W. Bolling Izard. Its office is in the Boxley Building in downtown Roanoke.

Izard retired as head of the agency; the current manager is S. Richmond Conner.

Johnson & Higgins is a brokerage dealing in property and casualty insurance. Pace said it serves business clients, and about 90 percent of its customers are large commercial companies.

by CNB