Executive Suite: Gerry Levy, CBS Coverage

As president and chief executive of the 65-year-old CBS Coverage Group in Plainview, Gerry Levy grows his company by selling a promise. It's his job to convince his customers that the insurance companies he represents will come through for them during a time of need. Over the past 20 years, he has acquired more than 20 smaller firms, helped design automation technology for the industry, and created an app for CBS that will reach the next generation of customers.

The broker group will soon be featured in Hartford Insurance's marketing materials for its success in tapping the Hispanic market on Long Island -- an offshoot that bloomed when Levy trusted a talented saleswoman and began translating some of his marketing materials into Spanish.

Levy, 65, says he keeps his edge by investing in technologies of the future, saving resources for rainy days and bringing his employees with him, step by step.

How has the industry changed over the years?It has consolidated pretty dramatically and I think that there will be more consolidation at the insurance company level and the agent/broker level, where I am.

You're now offering clients cyber liability insurance?

It's only been around four or five years. The explosion of the Internet and the transactional base that takes place on the Internet has created new exposures . . . so the insurance companies have actually devised contracts that help to indemnify customers with those types of risks. It basically provides protection in the event that there is a security breach or invasion of private information. It also protects the company from extortion . . . and there's coverage for public relations.

How was this new coverage created?When [insurance products] develop, they're sort of building the car and the factory at the same time. There's not enough statistical basis yet to really know what the exposures are. So typically, pricing on a new product like cyber liability is going to be probably higher than if they had true statistical data, historical data, that they can rely on. The current average cost of a data breach is $204 per record.

Who is buying cyber liability insurance?Some of the larger banks can self-insure, but some of the smaller community banks, the credit unions, they need to transfer that risk: banks, technology companies, accounting firms, and people that are doing a lot of Internet transactions.

What's an effective way of recruiting the right talent?

We have some profile testing that we do with candidates, and we make comparisons to known successes within our company to help increase the probability of success in a hire. For example, I might test as a passionate, adventuresome, extrovert. I wouldn't jump from a parachute, but I recently went zip lining in Domenica.

Corporate Snapshot

NAME: Gerry Levy, president of CBS Coverage Group, Inc., Plainview

WHAT THEY DO: "We are independent agents/brokers providing insurance products and risk management services to over 10,000 businesses and individuals."

EMPLOYEES: 70 full time, 5 part time

ROLES THEY PLAY: Sales and marketing, policy and claims servicing, administration, HR, accounting, IT, facilities

REVENUE: $90 million