no other articles link to it . please introduce links to this page from related articles ; try the find link tool for suggestions . september 2013 bfl canada type private company industry financial services founded 1987 founder barry f. lorenzetti headquarters 2001 mcgill college suite 2200 montreal canada area served worldwide key people barry f. lorenzetti ceo john wright evp jacques dufresne evp bertrand lauzon cfo daniel binette penny dyte jeff roth bradley potter products insurance risk management number of employees 550 2016 website http www.bflcanada.ca bfl canada is the largest employee owned and operated commercial insurance broker and consulting services firm in canada . bfl canada has offices in 10 cities vancouver kelowna calgary winnipeg waterloo toronto ottawa montreal quebec city and halifax and close to 600 employees . 1 contents 1 history 1.1 the foundation 1.2 bfl independence 1.3 expansion to toronto 1.4 tsw management services 1.5 expansion across the country 1.5.1 vancouver branch 1.5.2 calgary branch 2 origins of the bfl lion . 3 current head office and senior management 4 philanthropy 5 recent years 5.1 bfl canada consulting services inc. 5.2 lockton global llp 6 awards 7 references 8 bibliography 9 external links history edit bfl canada which takes its name from its founder barry f. lorenzetti s initials was founded on december 14 1987 when barry lorenzetti and his colleagues joseph par and tom sleeper as well as besso a london based brokerage firm signed an agreement to officially create the montreal based firm . howard green was a partner at j. besso and co. ltd. in london and he introduced mr. lorenzetti to the founder of besso and after several meetings besso agreed to take a 70 % interest in the start up joe par tom sleeper and barry f. lorenzetti taking up the balance of 30 % . the foundation edit the first bfl office on 1801 mcgill college avenue in downtown montreal was located above the largest underground business and shopping complex in the world montreal s r so the same building as mr. lorenzetti s former employer and new competitor sedgwick . ed gathercole and four of his co workers joined bfl in december 1988 . their specialty was in the film and entertainment business in canada . frank howden and his marine insurance team was another early addition to the firm in 1989 in 1991 ren st onge joined the team establishing a municipalities practice group . in 1994 bob nicholls joined bfl montreal . in 1997 daniel binette joined bfl from dale parizeau . today daniel is managing vice president quebec maritimes region . bfl independence edit in the spring of 1991 due to some serious financial problems of specific insurers with whom besso had placed significant shares of their business within the london market jardine an international broker bought the london besso . on may 17 1991 bfl concluded an agreement to buy back the besso shares over the following five years making bfl a truly independent 100 % canadian owned broker . expansion to toronto edit in 1994 ken walker was asked to establish a pied terre for bfl in mississauga ontario . bfl acquired a toronto based specialist insurance brokerage firm by the name of classic equine in 1996 . 2 in 1996 as well bob nicholls was sent to become interim manager of the new toronto office . jeff roth is now the toronto s office branch manager . tsw management services edit in 1995 bfl developed a plan to consolidate smaller brokers volumes into a wholesale operation in response to a corporate policy that was forcing the local manager of a large international carrier to reduce the number of brokers his company worked with in quebec . the company was named tsw management services . expansion across the country edit in 1999 bfl opened up an office in qu bec city followed in march 2001 by a one man operation in halifax in 2003 bfl opened an office in ottawa vancouver branch edit alan johnson a partner in the vancouver based broker stewarts insurance services inc helped bfl s expansion to vancouver . along with his partners his preference was not to sell locally as they did not want to lose employees due to redundancy or restructuring . calgary branch edit in 2005 penny dyte was hired to start bfl s alberta operations . as managing vice president penny was also appointed to bfl s national operating committee . her first mandate was to open bfl s new office in calgary . 3 origins of the bfl lion . edit a lion first appeared in the bfl company letterhead when besso had their 70 % interest in the firm at the beginning of its operation . the letterhead featured a lion sitting atop the world . when besso was acquired by jardine in 1991 bfl requested permission to continue using the same logo . they were turned down . bfl took the lion and changed its position placing it not atop but instead in front of the globe . this was the lion s first move and bfl promptly had it trademarked by its corporate lawyer stan selinger . the bfl lion has evolved a great deal over the past 20 years but it is still dominant in the company emblem . current head office and senior management edit the head office in montreal moved into the 2001 mcgill college avenue building in 1998 . barry lorenzetti has appointed two executive vice presidents to oversee western canada and eastern canada . jacques dufresne is responsible for the eastern region 4 whilst john wright manages the western region . they are both members of the executive management committee . philanthropy edit bfl canada proudly supports various charitable organizations including hockey canada and the hockey canada foundation 5 skate canada 6 the canadian cancer society and other cancer charities 7 city reach care society 8 the alzheimer society 9 toronto general hospital and the alexander family foundation shriners hospital for children the chu ste justine welcome hall mission the kidney foundation of canada le centre de l panouissement de l enfant pinocchios c.e.e.p. road hockey to conquer cancer 10 recent years edit bfl canada consulting services inc. edit bfl acquired a benefits consulting division bfl canada consulting services inc. csi in 2008 . csi opened in 2011 a new quebec city office . in addition a new president mr. david vanasse took the helm in 2012 . bfl csi operates in montreal toronto quebec city and through partnerships in alberta and bc . lockton global llp edit april 19 2012 bfl canada announced that it will be a founding partner in the lockton global llp partnership . bfl canada will remain an independent business as are all lockton global partners . 11 12 awards edit barry f. lorenzetti was a finalist for entrepreneur of the year in 2000 and bfl was recognized as one of the 50 best managed private companies in canada on two occasions 2000 and 2001 . 13 in 2012 mr. lorenzetti won the established leader national award from the insurance institute of canada . 14 references edit http www.bflcanada.ca en about bfl.html bfl canada assurance pdf . manitoba horse council . retrieved 13 july 2012 . penny dyte vice president of operations for alberta . retrieved 12 july 2012 . appointment executive vice president eastern region . retrieved 16 august 2012 . hockey canada foundation and alumni . hockey canada . retrieved 12 july 2012 . skate canada bring a friend day pdf . skate canada . retrieved 12 july 2012 . bfl canada and the canadian cancer soiety annual report pdf . canadian cancer society . retrieved 13 july 2012 . corporate social responsibility award bfl canada . city reach care society . retrieved 13 july 2012 . alzheimer society of b.c bfl canada . retrieved 12 july 2012 . road hockey to conquer cancer bfl canada . road hockey to conquer cancer . retrieved 9 august 2012 . bfl canada becomes founding partner of lockton global . canadian insurance top broket . retrieved 13 july 2012 . lockton global and bfl canada . lockton global . retrieved 8 august 2012 . canada s best managed companies . deloitte . retrieved 12 july 2012 . 2012 established leader award . retrieved 24 october 2012 . bibliography edit a first historical book called bfl the first 20 years was written in 2007 by barry f. lorenzetti with the support of michael sarazen . the book was published internally and has no isbn . external links edit bfl canada website lockton global llp website wikimedia commons has media related to bfl canada . canada portal companies portal retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title bfl canada & oldid 727225655 categories companies established in 1987companies based in montrealinsurance companies of canadahidden categories orphaned articles from september 2013all orphaned articlescommons category without a link on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia 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