On the 16th August 1977, Bruce Penberthy founded Penberthy Insurance and has never looked back, he has built a large client base of friends and associates, many of whom have been with him from the start.
The history of Penberthy Insurance is the history of its founder, Bruce Penberthy. Even after 30 years at the forefront of the Insurance industry in New Zealand, Bruce still has the drive, determination, focus and desire to grasp new opportunities and take Penberthy to new heights.
“It’s all about people”
Bruce’s insurance career started in Wanganui on 11th November 1960 with NZI. A consummate salesman with a dry wit, he would have been successful in whatever profession he chose. But taking the advice of his grandfather, he went into insurance and quickly developed a selling technique that was both simple and effective.
Bruce's philosophy is that success in any field is about self-belief and focus: with hard work and a hands-on-approach thrown in. Applying those principles to insurance saw Bruce become the top salesman at NZI for over 17 years, not only in Wanganui but as branch manager in Te Aroha covering a wide rural community across Thames, Waihi and the Coromandel Peninsula then in Auckland where he lead a team of thirty.
Although the world has changed over the last thirty years, the founding principles that Bruce built the business on remain – simply put it’s all about the people – building a great team in the business and building lifetime relationships with clients who in so many cases become friends.
An extended Team
With Richard Penberthy joining the firm in 2004 and John Penberthy joining in 2007, Penberthy Insurance has seen important changes at Penberthy with sons Richard and John bringing new ideas, new team members and new directions to the company which is still founded on the core principles of being client centric and team focused.
With another leading independent – Steve Prater - joining the team in mid 2007, Penberthy has become a significant independent broker in the New Zealand market and one of the few remaining New Zealand owned broking houses.
