(Fort Worth, Texas) – Higginbotham, the largest independent insurance, financial and HR services firm headquartered in Texas and one of the top firms in the country, announced a series of promotions within the Financial Services division.
Long-time executive team member Michael Parks has been elevated to the role of President, Financial Services, while Koby Hackradt takes over Parks’ previous leadership duties as Chief Operations Officer (COO), Employee Benefits, and Carter English joins Hackradt in overseeing Employee Benefits in a new Chief Business Officer role. These moves are intended to match current growth at Higginbotham and prepare for future milestones by drawing on deep bench strength to scale-up operations and enhance client services.
As President, Financial Services, Parks will focus on executive strategy in a role that oversees many departments — including Employee Benefits, which he shepherded through impressive levels of growth for almost 35 years.
“Michael is a big-picture thinker,” Higginbotham Chairman and CEO Rusty Reid said of his long-time lieutenant and friend. “He can look at every side of a decision and figure out exactly where and how things should fit together. As the company grows and moves forward, we need his keen mind working ‘on the business’ more than ‘in the business’ so we’ve moved him up and expanded his role. That gave us the opportunity to tap a pair of great new leaders to fill his previous post managing day-to-day operations in Employee Benefits.”
Promoted from Managing Partner to COO, Employee Benefits, Hackradt has served Higginbotham for over 14 years and looks forward to increasing the scope of that service by optimizing operations and enhancing employee benefits service delivery across a growing footprint of Higginbotham partner offices.
“Employee benefits service is such a vital part of the company, and we owe that to Michael Parks,” Hackradt said. “With the company also growing from a single-state shop to 16 states and counting, day-to-day management of those services has become an enormous task. That Michael was able to build a team under him and hand over responsibility when the time was right says so much about his character, his foresight, and his leadership.”
Promoted from Managing Partner to Chief Business Officer, Employee Benefits after eight years with Higginbotham, English explained the division of leadership duties in the newly organized department:
“We’re filling big shoes in a rapidly growing company, so Koby’s going to be handling operations, while I look after revenue and sales growth. He’s got all things facing accounts — account management and servicing, and our value-added services — while I’ve got all things facing producers — sales, growth, and carrier relations. It’s a team effort, which works great for us as we both have a background in football and football coaching.”
Speaking of his admiration for Michael Parks and the future at Higginbotham, English concluded, “Michael has always been a mentor to me and Koby. Now he’s handed the Employee Benefits keys off to us, and we are determined to make him proud. Hopefully in the next twenty or thirty years, we’ll get to do the same for the next batch of leaders here at Higginbotham.”
A trio of committed Texans, Michael Parks received a BFA from Texas Christian University (TCU), while Koby Hackradt received a BS from Texas A&M University, and Carter English earned a BBA in Marketing from the TCU Neeley School of Business.
About Higginbotham
Higginbotham is a single source solution for insurance, financial and HR/employee benefits services. The employee-owned firm was established in 1948 and ranks by revenue today as the nation’s 21st largest independent insurance brokerage. Based in Fort Worth, Texas, Higginbotham serves businesses and individuals through locations across the nation. The firm specializes in tailoring programs to meet each client’s unique needs, and in standing by those programs with their Day Two Services®, which provide proactive customer support through the life of each policy.
Higginbotham is a values-driven firm that strives to be family to employees, accountable to clients, teammates to carriers, and generous to communities.
Visit higginbotham.com for more information.
