Alberta Enterprise Group, in conjunction with local partners, will host a delegation of business leaders in Vancouver from Nov. 5-7. Canada Connects: British Columbia will immerse business leaders from across North America and beyond in a high-impact learning experience about the opportunities and challenges in British Columbia. This is the third story in a series of profiles of companies that have already committed to be on the mission.

As one of the oldest privately-owned companies in Alberta, the roots of Edmonton-based MHK Insurance “go deep,” says Michelle Rose.

“We like to promote the fact we have been around since 1913,” says Rose, head of human resources and communications at the general insurance and risk management firm. “It’s a tremendous accomplishment.”

Founded just eight years after Alberta became a province, MHK has weathered dozens of economic storms, while managing to maintain its independence, something almost unique in an industry in which larger firms regularly swallow up “Tier 2” regional insurance brokerages.

“MHK has remained independent, even though we’ve had numerous [buyout] offers,” said company director and broker Ryan Wass. “It boils down to [wanting to remain] an independent insurance provider of size and never taking our eyes off of the interests of our clients.”

Wass, a native Edmontonian, has been with the company for almost six years and in the insurance business for more than nine years. He’s a graduate of the MacEwan University risk and management school, is a chartered insurance professional and holds various risk management designations.

With that background, he could have joined a larger firm, but chose the 90-employee independent firm for the same reasons Rose did — the respect both have for its history and reputation.

Rose, who joined MHK seven years ago, proudly details the company’s history, now owned by partners Jeff Homynyk and Dale Faulkner, who have been with the company since the 1980s (Jeff’s father was previously involved in the firm, starting in the 1960s).

The original firm has gone through some transformations, including a merger in 1988 that led to the creation of Millar, Homynyk and Keeley, which changed its name to MHK in 2000. However, it retains the same sense of tradition and stability that has been at the company’s heart since 1913.

“The Homynyk family has been involved in the company since the 1960s,” says Rose.

Jeff Homynyk is now the firm’s president and CEO, while his sister, Jill Repchuk, who has been with MHK since 1986, is its chief operating officer.

Wass says the company, with offices in Edmonton, Calgary and Bonnyville, retains a “flat management structure,” thanks to MHK remaining an independent brokerage.

“We can make decisions locally, without having to rely on a large bureaucracy,” he says.

Those decisions revolve around its role as a general insurance and risk management brokerage.

It offers three core areas of insurance, including personal insurance (auto and home, marine, travel, life and disability), commercial insurance (such as business interruption coverage, property, bonding, equipment and liability insurance). Its larger business insurance plans can include bonding, equipment coverage, and liability for construction firms, oilfield service companies and others.

Even though the insurance business isn’t as exposed to the ups and downs of the economy as those in the oilfield service sector, Wass says MHK has been impacted by Alberta’s economic decline, brought about by declining oil and gas prices.

“We’re involved in all aspects of the Alberta economy and when it’s in recession, we feel it,” he says.

By the nature of insurance products, MHK can help companies weather economic storms, by offering certain “risk reduction strategies,” says Wass.

One “risk reduction strategy” MHK supports strongly is the efforts by Alberta Enterprise Group (AEG) to enhance communication between businesspeople throughout North America and beyond to promote Alberta’s economic interests.

That’s why the company is involved in the organization and why it’s a strong supporter of its upcoming mission to expand the relationship between Alberta and B.C. businesses, in the form of Canada Connects: British Columbia.

“We see AEG as an organization that can raise the tide for all Alberta businesses,” Wass says.

And even though MHK has no office presence in B.C. (although many of its clients do business there), he says it’s important for the firm to support the Canada Connects initiative.

“Market access and interprovincial trade are important for our clients and for Alberta,” he says.

But there are also potential benefits for B.C. in expanding those ties, as the province eyes new LNG export projects.

“We know how to build mega projects in Alberta,” said Wass, alluding to the oilsands and petrochemical industries.