Jim Ball, B.C.`s Salute 2007 Insurance Person of the Year, is the

Cover Story
On the Ball
Jim Ball, B.C.’s Salute 2007 Insurance Person of the Year, is the man behind the
Reliance Group, which consists of a successful Vancouver brokerage and the
MGA Pacific Marine Underwriting, which recently expanded with the purchase of
Harbour Insurance Services, the pleasurecraft MGA in Midland, Ont.
A
lazy Sunday afternoon in March. Jim Ball and
the Deep Cove residence within five minutes.
his wife Katie have just returned from a skiBall, one quickly learns, is the glass-is-always-half-full sort,
ing vacation in Utah. Without warning,
even on occasions – like that afternoon, the siren keening
and for no apparent reason, the owner of
– when it may not appear so. While others in similar straits
Vancouver’s Reliance Insurance Agencies
might bemoan their bad luck, Ball says the outcome could
breaks into a cold sweat. There’s a heavy feeling in his chest
have been otherwise had the attack occurred a day or two
and a tingling sensation in his arms. It was, he would say
earlier, on the ski slopes south of the border.
afterwards, “like being in a big tunnel.”
“If you don’t get care within the first hour – they call it the
“I knew the symptoms,” said Ball, a dapper, lean 66, a
Golden Hour – you’re more likely to die.”
lifelong jogger and a man well-known and respected for his
He’s also thankful to Dan Jarvis, his local MLA (and former
contributions to the insurance community.
insurance man), who lobbied to get ambulance
“I was having a heart attack.”
service to the charmed but somewhat remote
By Don McLellan
Katie called 911. An ambulance arrived at
Burrard Inlet village on Vancouver’s North
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September 2007 Insurancewest 11
Shore. He thinks the cause of the buildup
of plaque in his arteries might be part hereditary: his father, Jim Sr., died at 57. He
also admits to a pre-attack diet generous
Jim Sr. and Winnie Ball
in trans fats. “My mother was an English
cook. We love our desserts.”
But Ball is no death’s-door convert; the
sanguine disposition – that compulsion to
squeeze some good from the bad – finds
illustration at a nearby cemetery, where the
couple has a pre-paid burial arrangement.
Ball’s epitaph sums up his philosophy
succinctly.
“Every knock,” it says, “is a boost.”
The knocks would come, to be sure, but
first to Ball’s formative years in Port Hope,
Ont., which he refers to as “idyllic.” His
father – Big Jim, folks called him – was a
welcoming and eccentric man who rode his
bicycle to his job at a file factory. As a hobby
12 Insurancewest September 2007
he played the stock market, making enough
for the family to enjoy annual vacations in
Florida. Ball remembers the family always
having a nice car.
“My dad placed his orders through
brokers, but he didn’t take their advice.
He was always listening to the radio and
reading the paper. I’m the same way now.
I’m a voracious reader of newspapers and
magazines. Like my dad, I want to know
things from my own perspective.”
Big Jim would take Little Jim, an only
child and something of a non-conformist,
along to annual shareholders’ meetings
in Toronto, introducing
him to the corporate
bigwigs.
“It opened my eyes to
the possibilities.”
If Ball inherited the
reading habits of his
father, his compromising temperament comes
from his mother Winnie,
Chris Ball
who cooked in a motel
dining room. She also read people – and tea
leaves – with remarkable accuracy.
“That boy you’re playing with,” Winnie
would admonish, having served a new
playmate a cuppa. “He’s no good for you,
Jimmy!”
“She was always right, too,” said Ball.
One of his earliest memories is of the
day the Second World War ended.
“People were pouring into the streets,
hugging each other. Everybody was honking
their horns. Of course I didn’t understand
the significance of that day, but I remember
the look of pure joy on everyone’s face.”
They lived in a small home of about 1,000
square feet, often taking in foster children.
A brood of aunts, uncles and cousins lived
nearby, one big happy family. The kids
passed the summers building tree forts and
paddling rafts.
Judy Ball
David Ball
“I lament the fact that young people
today don’t have that.”
When he was older he took summer jobs,
the worst of which was picking tobacco. The
best he ever had was as a lifeguard on Lake
Ontario, which he did for four summers.
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“But then I started running with a bad
crowd and I failed Grade 11. I needed to
get out of town.”
Because Big Jim believed in the importance of education, but mostly because of
his stock winnings, Little Jim was able to
finish high school at Stanstead College,
a private, English-speaking boys’ school
– now co-ed – in Quebec’s Eastern Townships. It was founded in 1872.
“The headmaster was a Scotsman who
took me on as a special project. The school
was very regimented. We wore ties and
blazers with a crest. There was a cadet
corp. I thrived on the discipline and was
head prefect my second year. I also won the
school’s top award. I grew up there.”
Ball realized a lifelong dream of attending
university in the United States when he was
accepted by The College of Wooster outside Cleveland, Ohio, another perk made
affordable by Big Jim’s market smarts. He
majored, curiously, in Canadian history and
considered becoming a lawyer.
“I was never a serious student, though; I
was always more interested in the ladies. I
got what we used to call gentlemen’s Cs.”
He was attending Wooster at a salient moment in U.S. history, the 1963 assassination
of President John Kennedy. Ironically, his
son Chris, 38, now employed at Reliance,
was working as an aviation broker for Willis
in Lower Manhattan on 9/11.
Ball studied political science at San
Francisco State University one summer
and, as part of the course, attended the
Democratic National Convention. While
there he worked part time cleaning rooms
and waiting tables at a residence club run
by a French couple who arranged for him to
visit France the following summer, where he
worked for their family distributing casual
wear on the Riviera.
“I had a great time. I improved my French
and I learned to appreciate French food and
wine. I didn’t want to come home.”
In his senior year at Wooster, another
knock: Big Jim died.
In 1966 the U.S. insurer CNA hired the
newly minted grad as a bodily injury adjuster in Cleveland. Ball transferred to the
company’s Toronto office seven years later,
where he worked as a claims examiner, a
reinsurance underwriter and a marketing rep.
He became a Western regional manager
based in Vancouver after CNA sold its
Canadian operations to Citadel General.
He then joined Paragon, the precursor to
Axa Pacific, where he managed the marketing setup and development of its head
office, two branch offices and a network
of brokerages.
suppliers
ES and
RVIC
with SE
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Continued on page 22
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September 2007 Insurancewest 13
The Seaborns, L to R:
Ted with wife Alice and
daughter Carolyn, and
Barry with wife Aftyn,
children Riley, Nylah
and infant Chase.
Feature
A family thing
Ted Seaborn has seen his share of stormy weather,
metaphorically speaking. He’s not complaining, though.
The 65-year-old is in the process of turning his
Moose Jaw brokerage over to son Barry, the third
generation to mind the family business.
T
wo bouts of cancer and a heart-breaking
makes you realize that every workday is a blessing.”
decision concerning a daughter. Ted SeaSeaborn, 65, was diagnosed with rectal cancer nine
born and his family have been tested. But,
years ago. He was off work for a year.
as is often the case in similar situations,
“The doctor originally told me I’d be off work about
the experience has drawn them closer
seven weeks, but it turned out to be longer because of
together and more appreciative of what they have.
the radiation and chemo.”
“I’m lucky to be here,” says Seaborn,
He beat the rectal cancer. But in 2000
co-owner of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan’s
Seaborn
was hit again. This time it was
By Ron Shorvoyce
third-generation Seaborn Agencies. “It
lung cancer, which put him out of com14 Insurancewest September 2007
www.insurancewest.ca
mission for another three months.
“I had been a smoker, but I quit in
1977.”
Seven years have passed, and everything
is fine.
“I wondered if I’d ever see Barry (his son
and partner in the brokerage) married. Well,
now he’s married and has three kids.”
It was after his second illness that Seaborn, his wife Alice and Barry came to an
emotional decision about the Seaborns’
finished high school in 1961. Having no
desire to become a broker, he worked for
the Bank of Nova Scotia in Moose Jaw and
then transferred to North Battleford.
But it turned out banking wasn’t for him
either, and he returned to Moose Jaw to
work in a shoe store and with the Woolworth
department store chain.
Eventually he ended up in Shaunavon,
south of Regina, managing a variety
store.
All the while he kept in touch with his
father.
“We were talking back and forth. You
work awfully hard for a lot of these companies and you get little pay, so you might
as well be working for yourself.”
There were only two people at the brokerage when Ted started his insurance career
in 1970: his dad and Elsie Timms, who was
there from the agency’s inception.
“She was more of a receptionist. But
what a wonderful lady she was. She started
working with my grandfather, who was a
barrister in town. Elsie was well into her
80s when she passed away.”
In 1974 Ted Seaborn bought the brokerage
from his father and hired a new staffer, Elaine
Peterson, who began handling the books.
Peterson then became a licensed broker and,
after 32 years, still works for the firm.
“She’s been just a great employee. She’s
PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY INSURANCE
The Seaborn storefront
in downtown Moose Jaw
39-year-old daughter Carolyn, who is
mentally challenged. She had been living
at home all her life. But because of concern
for her welfare in the event her father might
not be around, the Seaborns placed her in
a care facility.
“The toughest thing was putting her into
a group home,” Seaborn said. “We didn’t
want it to happen. But after my bouts with
cancer we decided to do something. It was
a very difficult decision; she had been home
for 33 years. But we had to prepare her for
when we’re not there.”
Carolyn, it turns out, adjusted to the
change well, and she returns home regularly
for visits. Ted, Alice and Barry are at peace
with their decision.
In spite of his setbacks, Ted Seaborn still
helps his son at the office. Barry, who has
worked with his father for the past 13 years,
is in the process of taking over the agency
as sole owner.
“Out of something bad, there’s often
something good,” says Barry, 35, currently
on the board of the Insurance Brokers Association of Saskatchewan. “I think when
Dad got sick it changed my attitude. That
really helped get me motivated and to
learn more.”
Seaborn Agencies was started 63 years
ago by Ted’s father Trevor (see sidebar). Ted
joined the family business in 1970, when
annual premiums totalled about $20,000.
Today premiums are about $2 million.
Born and raised in Moose Jaw, Ted
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September 2007 Insurancewest 15
still here, but she has given us a year-and-ahalf ’s notice that she’s going to retire.”
“He’s just a super boss,” she said of Ted
Seaborn. “He has a wonderful personality
and he never gets angry. It’s kind of like a
family thing working here.”
Of his illnesses, she says, “That was a
pretty rough time, but we knew he’d be
back.”
Ted didn’t change things much when he
became sole owner. He just built on the good
name of the firm and his father’s legacy.
“Honesty was one of the first things,” he
said. “And you don’t push people. You let
them decide what’s best. And we provide
them with great customer service.”
Like his father, Barry didn’t get into
the family business right away either. He
graduated Moose Jaw’s Vanier Collegiate
in 1989 and went on to a series of jobs at
an athletic clothing store, a
music store and at Canadian
Tire. His father didn’t push
him into the business, and
he’s grateful.
“I probably wouldn’t be
Peterson
here if he had,” Barry said.
After talking things over
with his father, Barry took a course in
marketing at Moose Jaw’s Saskatchewan
Institute of Applied Science and Technology
to prepare himself for work at the agency.
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16 Insurancewest September 2007
Colonel’s boy
T
revor Seaborn had no idea
he’d be in the insurance
business when he joined the
workforce in the mid-1920s. After
finishing high school in Moose Jaw
in 1926, he got a job
at a city branch of the
Royal Bank.
The Royal moved
him to a couple of
locations in Saskatchewan before shipping
Trevor
him off in 1933 to a Seaborn
branch in Toronto. He
spent 10 years at various branches
in Ontario.
Unlike his contemporaries, Seaborn did not serve in the Second
World War due to a leg injury caused
by a motorcycle accident.
It was in Chatham, Ont. where
Seaborn met his wife Marion, who
worked for the Metropolitan Life
Insurance Company. They were
married in 1939. Trevor Seaborn
then switched careers and began
selling life insurance.
In 1944 they headed back to
Moose Jaw, where Trevor Seaborn
established an insurance agency and
real estate business.
Del Fisher, now a
broker in Strathmore,
Alta., worked for Seaborn for seven years.
Fisher recalls him as “a
really nice guy” with a
Fisher
good work ethic.
Fisher was 17 when
he joined the brokerage in 1949.
He was peering through the office
window one day, looking at real
estate listings for his mother, when
Seaborn came out and asked if he
was looking for a job.
“He put me to work that day.”
Seaborn shared an
office with his father
Walter, a barrister
and local entrepreneur known as The
Colonel because of
his military service The Colonel
in the First World
War. The Colonel died in 1955 at
the age of 75.
Trevor Seaborn passed away in
1976 at 68 after suffering a massive
coronary. IW
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September 2007 Insurancewest 17
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“My first ones took about
60 hours,” Barry Seaborn
said of his action figures.
“I’m probably down to
about 40 hours now.”
All dolled up
B
arry Seaborn is passionate about the Saskatchewan
Roughriders of the Canadian Football League. He tries
not to miss a home game.
He turned his affection for the team and his natural artistic
“I got my diploma in 1995, but I was
already in the business in the summer of
’94. It was the right decision, and I couldn’t
be happier. I like the business and our staff
is spectacular. They have treated me really
well over the years, especially Elaine. She’s
like a second Mom.”
Seaborn Agencies is not only a third-generation business, it’s a true family business.
Barry’s wife Aftyn (named after a river in
Scotland), a licensed broker, also works for
the agency. Currently she’s on maternity
leave with the couple’s third child, Chase.
Their two other children are Riley, 6, and
Nylah, 4.
Barry plans to consult with his father and
insurance associates over the next few years
about how to grow the business. Moose
Jaw is a very competitive insurance area:
there are 10 agencies in the city, which has
a population of just over 30,000.
“We’re growing, but we’re not exploding
or anything like that. We’ll build on our
current book. And what we try to do is
really offer a good service.”
A full-service brokerage offering personal, commercial and auto, Seaborn Agencies
has a staff of six, including the principals.
It’s located in a small frame building on
Main Street North, right in the heart of
downtown Moose Jaw. IW
www.insurancewest.ca
ability, which he believes he inherited from his mother, into a
home-based enterprise.
Seaborn buys National Football League action figures from
Wal-Mart, primes them with a base coat of paint and transforms
them into his favourite Roughrider players.
“They don’t make CFL figures, so I just turn them into
Riders.”
All this is more of a hobby right now than a business. He
doesn’t really make any money at it because of the time it takes
to turn out the finished product.
“My first ones took about 60 hours. I’m probably down to
about 40 hours now.”
Seaborn markets the action figures to fans and players.
“I’ve done three for Reggie Hunt (a linebacker with the team),
I’ve done one for Matt Dominguez (a wide receiver) and one
for Scott Schultz (a defensive tackle).”
Schultz, an apprentice insurance broker with Regina’s Bassendowski Agencies in the off-season, was featured on the cover
of Insurancewest’s July issue. The story can also be read on the
IW website, www.insurancewest.ca.
Another Barry Seaborn client is former punter Dave Ridgeway,
who kicked a 35-yard field goal in 1989 to give the Riders their
second-only Grey Cup.
“It was kind of neat because he autographed some programs
for me from the Grey Cup,” says Seaborn. “He’s a real class
guy.”
Barry Seaborn has also painted likenesses of former Saskatchewan quarterback Ron Lancaster and running back George
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September 2007 Insurancewest 19
Something of a daredevil, Sharon Cronin
Roussel rides a Kawasaki. “It’s that openair, rule-the-road type of thing.”
Profile
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
Monday to Friday, Saskatchewan
Mutual rep Sharon Cronin Roussel
visits brokers between Cold Lake
in northern Alberta and Pincher
Creek in the south. On weekends,
weather permitting, Cronin Roussel
is back on the highway – aboard
her Kawasaki motorcycle.
20 Insurancewest September 2007
By Ron Shorvoyce
S
haron Cronin Roussel is blazing
trails in Alberta. A marketing rep
for Saskatchewan Mutual Insurance
Company – and a woman with a passion for adventure – she and her husband of
seven years moved to Edmonton last January
from Saskatoon.
She uses her home in north Edmonton
as her company base. But her job requires
that she spend a lot of time on the road.
She’s also filling in for another marketing
rep currently on maternity leave.
Cronin Roussel takes it all in stride.
“I enjoy my job and I enjoy working
in the insurance industry. It’s my current
career and I can see it as being my future
career. And I enjoy it for being wide open
with opportunities.”
She works Monday through Friday in a
territory that ranges from Cold Lake (300
kilometres northeast of Edmonton) to
Pincher Creek (in the southwest, just east
of the Rockies), meeting with the 65 Alberta
brokers handling SMI products.
Cronin Roussel also conducts training
sessions. That means a lot of driving. And
there’s even more on weekends, when she
and husband Simon Roussel hop on their
motorcycles and head out on the highways.
She has had a bike for about 10 years.
“We just go anywhere. If we need to go
to the store, we’ll take the bikes.”
She rides a 2001 Kawasaki; Simon has a
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