“Your Story Made Here”: Brotherhood Mutual

"Your Story Made Here": Brotherhood Mutual (VIDEO)

By Melissa Long - 21Alive

February 11, 2014 Updated Feb 11, 2014 at 5:22 PM EST

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (21Alive) -- Most of us have driven by the large Brotherhood Mutual facility just off I 69. It's the one that puts up that big annual Christmas display out which says "Christ the Savior is Born". Brotherhood Mutual's motto is this, “Advancing the Kingdom by Serving the Church". The company is one of the largest providers of church-related insurance in the nation.

Mark Robison says, "we handle everything the church will need. So we'll handle the property side, casualty, workman's comp, auto, short and long term mission trips."

There are currently 350 employees who service 46,000 church clients in 43 states plus the district of Columbia. The company has seen double digit growth over the past four or five years and is just moving into a large expanded space.

The employees here are people who support the company's goal. Robison says, "first of all, we look at those who are excited by our mission because it really makes a difference when they're passionate...to get them from the car to the front door, especially on a day like this. It takes a passion."

IT analysts, claims adjusters, underwriters, customer service agents make up much of the workforce here. Brotherhood Mutual hires 15 to 20 people per year. Many of them come from other companies. But it also seeks out Christian College and University students for it's ASPIRE program, which allows the students to rotate through 10 different departments in the company to see where they might best fit.

Brotherhood Mutual has been named one of the top ten best places to work in the state of Indiana for six years straight. One reason why is it's generous college internship program.

Robison says "we hire every college-age child of every employee and we guarantee employment. It's a summer internship and its anywhere from 7 to 12 weeks, its full-time and its starting pay at $10 an hour."

Underclassmen work in the building and for upper classmen, if their major doesn't fit perfectly with what the company needs, they will pay for an internship at a local non-profit. The company spends about $200,000 a year on these students but the benefits are worth it.

Robison says “one of the benefits to that for Ft. Wayne is, these students are coming back in town and realizing, its not such a bad place."

Brotherhood Mutual. Just one of the remarkable places to start your story.

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