Higginbotham, the Texas-headquartered employee-owned insurance and financial services firm, has entered into an agreement to join forces with McGohan Brabender (MB), a Dayton, Ohio-based employee benefits company with six offices across Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. The partnership is expected to close next month. MB, founded in 1972 by Pat McGohan, specialises in helping employers navigate the healthcare and workforce landscape through employee benefits strategy, consulting, communication, education and support. The company became employee-owned in 2021. For Higginbotham, the deal adds both scale and specialisation to its growing Midwest presence. The two firms share an employee ownership structure, a factor that Higginbotham Chairman and CEO Rusty Reid says made the cultural fit immediately apparent. "When you get around the MB team and listen to how they talk about employees, clients, service and ownership, you realise you're not translating across cultures," Reid says. "You're hearing your own language in somebody else's voice. When that kind of cultural alignment comes with this level of experience and market presence, you've got something extraordinary." MB CEO Erick Schmidt says the firm had been seeking a partner that could extend its capabilities without compromising its culture. Schmidt says the central challenge was finding a way to offer more to both employees and clients without sacrificing the ownership philosophy that defines MB. "We were looking for a needle in a haystack, someone like us who could help take us to the next level. We found that in Higginbotham." MB clients will continue working with their existing local teams while gaining access to a broader platform spanning compliance, pharmacy, self-funded insurance and other technical specialties. They are also expected to gain access to Higginbotham's property and casualty, personal lines and wealth management offerings. For MB employees, the deal is framed as continuity alongside opportunity. Staff will remain part of an employee-owned company while gaining broader career paths and access to new resources. MB shared the news internally as part of its Employee Ownership Day celebration, presenting the agreement as an extension of the ownership vision adopted in 2021 rather than a departure from it. MB President Beth Ferrin highlighted community involvement as a further point of alignment between the two firms. "We want to be an asset to the communities we serve," Ferrin says. "When we found out about the Higginbotham Community Fund, it was another of those moments where we said, yes, this is exactly what we're talking about." Founded in 1948, Higginbotham ranks as the 16th largest independent insurance brokerage in the US, according to The Hales Report. Prior to the agreement, MB was one of the largest privately held employee benefits businesses in the country.
