Wow, thought Graham; but he still said no.
Graham would have been paid in Commerce stock, which quadrupled in value over the next several years. By saying no, he'd turned down more than $300 million, Norcross pointed out in their recent meeting. "Don't you wish you'd grabbed that?" he asked Graham.
Actually, no, Graham told me, in his office in the Graham Building 25 stories up overlooking Philadelphia City Hall, on the eve of his retirement from day-to-day top management 50 years after he went to work in his father's infant firm. "For me, money was never what it was about." Plus, "My wife said, if I ever retire, she'll divorce me."
So he's not quite retiring. Graham will stay on as chairman of the Graham Co., but turn day-to-day management to two longtime lieutenants: Michael J. Mitchell, as vice chairman and head strategist, and Kenneth L. Ewell, as president and chief operating officer, in charge of client services.
Graham Co. employs about 145, down from 170 in the mid-2000s, when commercial construction was in full swing for clients such as American Infrastructure Inc., Bancroft, Dranoff Properties Inc., Harvard Law School, Keating Group, and Nyleve Bridge Corp.
The firm's hires include engineers and pilots, more "blue-collar work ethic" than "Ivy League," Ewell said. Graham Co. charges a fee, in addition to a percentage of a company's insurance business; in exchange, it promises to reduce claims by working more closely with clients than most business insurance brokers. It's a value, not a price, model that Graham says appeals more to private hands-on business owners than remote corporate risk managers.
"We're bullish," Ewell said. "We plan to hire another 10 to 12 people this year." The firm is diversifying: Graham Co. has added a real estate practice, a law firm practice, health and human services, medical benefits.
