Tony Hayes at the grand opening of Waypoint’s Squamish location in March 2023
VANCOUVER ISLAND – As one of British Columbias top insurance companies, Waypoint Insurance has traversed a steady climb of growth and success in the last eight years. As a full-service insurance brokerage, Waypoint has the capability to insure businesses of all sizes, home, auto, high value clients, marine and recreational – and still there is room for more.
In 2014, the company was known as Vancouver Island Insurance Centre and was the largest privately owned property and casual brokerage on Vancouver Island, with more than 100 years history serving the province. When now CEO of Waypoint Insurance, Tony Hayes took the reins, he had a bold new vision for strategic growth that would catapult the business to new heights.
A Waypoint Insurance branch location
“When I started with the company, we had 110 staff,” said Hayes. “Currently, we have grown to nearly 275 staff with 20 locations – we see continued growth in our future and aim to be double the size within the next few years.”
A native to BC, Hayes spent most of his career in senior sales and marketing roles in Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto before moving to Vancouver Island. Hayes came to Waypoint Insurance from Toronto where he was the Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at RSA Insurance, one of the largest property and casualty insurers in Canada. Hayes also served as a Director for the Insurance Council of BC. He holds both a Chartered Insurance Professional (CIP) and a Certified Risk Manager (CRM) designation.
In 2019, Waypoint joined the Navacord group of brokerages, another big step for the company. Navacord is a leading insurance and risk management brokerage firm dedicated to providing expert solutions to customers across Canada. With more than 2,000 employees, Navacord is Canada’s third largest commercial insurance brokerage.
Recently, the company has been working to satisfy the unique challenges of Pacific Northwest living such as earthquakes, and others spurred by climate change like forest fires and flooding.
“Extreme weather is a new reality in Canada and around the world. Assessing risk and protecting our customers is something we are passionate about,” said Hayes.
With all this growth, Hayes still attributes his success to one quality.
“Our focus on community – as a business we take our role in community seriously, all our staff are from the communities they serve so it is important that we are a part of events and giving back to the community initiatives themselves,” said Hayes.
“While we continue grow, community remains at the heart of our organization and in the last 10 years, Waypoint Insurance has donated more than a half-a-million dollars to over 100 community initiatives.”
By Tyler Nyquvest