Our Story

The Missouri Rural Roads Organization began 45 years ago, not with the intent of selling insurance, but road products. Walter M. Clark, who had worked for the State of Missouri Division of Disaster Planning for 30 years, had met with numerous levee, drainage, sewer, and road districts, as well as many townships, cities, and counties. When he decided to leave his state job and start his own business, his goal was to use these contacts to sell road products such as culvert pipes, grader blades, deicing salt, and tire chains. While he was moderately successful, public entities frequently expressed their difficulty in purchasing affordable insurance and asked if he could help. Walter saw their need and set out to find a solution.

He discovered a local insurance company, Casualty Indemnity Exchange (CIE), which had a contract with the Naught-Naught Agency (now Assured Partners). Walter struck a deal with brothers Tom and Rick Naught to broker the business through their agency to access CIE, rebranding his business as Missouri Rural Services Corp. Initially, Walter was a one-man show, but soon realized the need to hire a producer and friend, Jerry Easterhouse. Jerry's success led Independent Insurance Agents to approach Walter to work through him to sell insurance.

After negotiating a direct contract with CIE, Walter was able to broker through the Independent Agents, and the business took off. Walter built relationships with men and women like him, who had built their insurance agencies from scratch, adding employees and family members to expand and write new business. At one point, Walter could boast of writing insurance for 111 of the 114 counties in the state. Eventually, nonprofits were added to the marketing mix.

The early 90s were a tumultuous time, both good and bad. In 1990, Walter began discussions with Lanny Cowell and Mike Cummins from Cowell Insurance Agency about adding health insurance to the product line. Instead, they identified a greater need for affordable workers' compensation coverage. Walter then asked his youngest daughter, Susan Woods, to market and secure this hard market situation, partnering with Cowell Insurance Agency, which had expertise in setting up pools and connections at the Department of Labor - Division of Workers' Compensation.

On April 1, 1992, the Missouri Rural Services Workers' Compensation Insurance Trust (MRSWCIT) was formed, a group self-funded pool for public entities and nonprofits, marketed through the Independent Insurance Agents. The Trust grew to almost 700 members and $15M in premium. With both programs doing well, everything seemed smooth until tragedy struck in February 1993. After the passing of CIE owner Art Firley, a botched actuarial study showed an enormous deficit (later debunked), and Casualty Indemnity Exchange went into receivership, leading to its downfall.

Overnight, Walter and his son Alan Clark watched $1M in premium disappear. They had to act quickly, scrambling to find a company to replace CIE. After much searching, they secured a contract with Meadowbrook Insurance Group based in Lansing, Michigan. Meadowbrook offered Savers Insurance Company to back the coverages, and Missouri Rural Services resumed writing new business.

Walter retired in 1998, leaving the business to family members who ran it for many more years. With the rapidly changing insurance marketplace, MRSC was eventually sold to Assured Partners in 2022, the same company that purchased Naught-Naught Insurance Agency in 2019, which had played an integral part in helping MRSC get started.

Today, MRSC is a thriving brokerage, writing a combined $50M in premium, with fourteen employees. Thanks to Walter, MRSC continues to uphold the spirit of great customer service (they still answer the phone!) and offers insurance coverages specifically designed for public entities and nonprofits.