Featured New York Life Insurance Agent: Tim FitzGerald

Featured New York Life Agent: Tim FitzGerald

• Joined New York Life in: 1985
• Breeds champion Quarter Horses since 1981
• Gives back to his community by supporting a Paxton's Gym, an inner-city gym
• Sponsors the Joe Fegurson Youth Football Camp, a free, four-day football camp

Tim FitzGerald, a New York Life Insurance agent who works in Shreveport, Louisiana, is a man with many passions. From being a horseman to cyclist to a successful financial adviser, it may seem challenging for one person to create a balance among so many interests.

For FitzGerald, however, who also wears the hats of father and husband, those myriad interests are fully integrated into his breathless lifestyle.

And, as New York Life’s most successful life insurance agent in 2009, that penchant for activity has proven to work for him.

“Prior to joining New York Life, I worked for my family business, FitzGerald Contractors,” FitzGerald, who joined the Company in February 1985, says. “But I just wasn’t passionate about what I was doing. I came home one day, just unhappy, and my wife Laura said, ‘If you dislike what you’re doing, then why don’t you do something else?’ What she said started to eat away at me, and I decided to leave the business. I sold out to my brother in 1984 and left with a Delta ‘88 with 100,000 miles on it, a company pickup truck and about $4,500 in my pocket.”

Now, 24 years later and the President of TFG Financial, Tim FitzGerald has built a reputation as a problem solver and prides himself on top-notch customer service. With a customer base that primarily comprises both large and small business owners, FitzGerald believes he is on a humanitarian mission to help them. “When I meet with new clients, I provide them with a brochure that explains what I can do for them — TFG Financial’s “Circle of Services.” As business owners, my clients have to deal with so many issues. At TFG Financial, we’ll take as many of these things off their shoulders as they’d like us to. In doing so, I provide the utmost customer service.”

FitzGerald goes to great lengths to ensure that those same principles are applied with every client of TFG Financial. “We are very customer-service driven,” says New York Life Agent Jerry Lorey, who works with FitzGerald. “We don’t push products at all, but rather find out our clients’ goals and provide solutions to help them reach those goals. In fact, just the other day, I had a client come in to review things, and at the end of our meeting, he said, ‘Jerry, what do I owe you?’ I said, ‘Nothing. When you pay your premium every month, it’s like having me on your payroll.’ He was pleasantly surprised, to say the least.”

“We don’t push products at all, but rather find out our clients’ goals and provide solutions to help them reach those goals. — FitzGerald

FitzGerald employs five other staff members, including Operations Manager Shane Carnahan and Associate Financial Advisor Eric Gray, Underwriter Mary Born, Licensed Service Assistant Michel Duvall and Assistant Tara McWilliams. Together they enable FitzGerald to focus on what he does best: building and maintaining client relationships.

In addition to unlimited passion for his work, FitzGerald has many other interests. A self-described bike-racing fanatic, he has been cycling since 1983. In the winter, he teaches a spinning class at the local YMCA, and in the summer he trains with the local team he founded with two other friends: Team LaS’port. Over the years, FitzGerald has held masters titles in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas. If that weren’t enough, he has been proudly breeding champion Quarter Horses since 1981, something he became interested in after he and his brother, Mike, tried team roping back in the late 1970s. “I discovered I was more interested in the horses than the roping. We have a stud that qualified for the American Quarter Horse Association World Championship in November,” says FitzGerald proudly. In fact, this past July, his Palomino stallion Western by Choice was named Reserve World Champion.

FitzGerald also finds time to give back to the community by supporting Paxton’s Gym, an inner-city gym run by Ray Paxton, a boxing coach who has worked with Olympic teams, and also sponsors the Joe Ferguson Youth Football Camp, a free, four-day football camp

But what is truly important to FitzGerald is his family. “My family is first and foremost in my life. I just fit these other things in,” he says. His wife, Laura, has a successful career in her own right. Holding a Certified Professional Landman designation, she is the owner of Ilios Resources, Inc., a firm that manages and develops land mineral rights. He also remains close to and draws strength from his mother, Jean, brother, Mike, and sisters Mary Jean, Susie and Barbara. Together, Tim and Laura have three children: Miles, 23, Mary, 22, and Conner, 19.

Adds Laura, “Tim is a great example that if you work hard and do the right thing, your accomplishments will exceed your expectations. I don’t think there’s a better person to represent New York Life.”

Rate This
Rating: 4.6/5 (8 votes cast)

  Be the first to Comment