Burns & Wilcox hires 20, plans to add more

metromode, 9/24/2009

Forty years ago, Herbert W. Kaufman started Burns & Wilcox in a Southfield office with 20 people. Today, the same family owned wholesale insurance firm hires about 20 per year.

"We're always hiring," says Suzie Mitchell, a corporate communications consultant for Burns & Wilcox. "We're expanding."

The company employs 800 worldwide, including 200 in Farmington Hills. It routinely posts 10-20 open positions, and expects to hire another 20 or so people within the next year.

Kaufman's son bought back the company in 1996, when revenues were $250 million, and converted it back to a private family business that now takes in $900 million annually. The firm has recently acquired new companies in California and opened an Environmental Center for Excellence, and has also grown by focusing on operational improvements.

"Technology has helped us streamline our costs," Mitchell says. "We have gone paperless in the last year."

Source: Suzie Mitchell, a corporate communications consultant for Burns & Wilcox
Writer: Jon Zemke

Insurance , Oakland County

Farmington