By Meaghan O’Neal
Special to Laker/Lutz News
In 1954, A. Kilbride Insurance began as a small business with just one location. Today, 61 years later, the Kilbride family still owns the business and is looking to expand beyond their five locations.
It all began with Adrian Kilbride, who had the aspiration to start an insurance agency to help people find the coverage they needed. He moved moved his family from Boston to Tampa and began handling personal insurance.
In 1981, Kilbride’s daughter, Adrienne Decker, bought the business from her dad and added commercial insurance lines, including commercial auto, business property, workers compensation, general liability and bonds. Adrienne also expanded the company’s personal lines, adding homeowners, flood, health and life insurance.
Fast forward another 34 years and now Adrienne’s daughter, Nicole Gee, is planning on buying the business from her mother and continuing the Kilbride family legacy.
Kilbride Insurance operates as an independent agent, allows the company to serve clients better with many attractive choices.
“Because our family has been in business for so long, we’ve been able to expand our market of insurance companies through the trust and reputation we’ve built,” said Adrienne. “And because we have a market of companies to choose from, we can shop for companies that truly offer the best coverage and best price for a client.”
Adrienne added, “If you come to us and need insurance, we can make a decision about which company will best fit your needs. I love to get to know our clients personally so I can better decipher what their real needs are.”
The number one goal at A. Kilbride is to serve clients well. “Because our focus has always been to do what’s best for clients, we continued to flourish when the economy went down and a lot of agencies went out of business,” said Adrienne.
Kilbride is different than other agencies because it has multiple locations with each one focusing on a different type of insurance. From the start, the company realized that staff members could not be experts in everything. So based on that premise, they hired people who have different strengths and spread them out to their different locations.
For example, the office in North Tampa at 1401 W. Busch Blvd. specializes in commercial policies, while their Land O’ Lakes location at 2436 Land O’Lakes Blvd. is focused on personal and commercial policies.
Adrienne is very proud of each location, but is especially excited to see the recent growth and success of their Land O’ Lakes office. Working at this office for the past year is April Sasser, who is a specialist in personal lines.
“I was drawn to work for A. Kilbride because of the family atmosphere it offers,” said April. “As an insurance agent, I strive to save clients money while giving them the best coverage they can possibly have. I let them know that I’m here for them.”
Adrienne is looking forward to expanding the company again with a new branch in Wesley Chapel sometime in the near future. Like the Land O’ Lakes Office, this new branch will focus on personal lines for new homeowners, as well as commercial lines for new business owners.
2438 Land O’Lakes Blvd. (Behind McDonald’s)
(813) 996-7467
