CBIZ - Our History

CBIZ traces its roots to the Frostburg agency of Olin Beall and the Cumberland Agency of Cyril B. Geare, both of which were founded before the turn of the 20th century. Both businesses were small, main street general insurance and surety bonding agencies. The CBIZ Companies took its name from the owners who have shaped its progress over the years. In 1998, CBIZ became part of Century Business Systems, trading as CBIZ in the Nasdaq, to be able to offer our clients a broader range of services and benefits.

J. Glenn Beall, Jr. entered the Beall Insurance and Realty Company of Frostburg in 1950 and purchased the agency in 1955 from his father, J. Glenn Beall, Sr.

John E. Geare, in 1952, returned to Cumberland to help his ailing father manage the Geare-Everstine Agency. Shortly thereafter, John E. Geare merged with Robert Bernard and formed Barnes, Bernard & Geare. Over the years, both agencies grew in size and reputation. In the late fifties, Mr. Barnes retired, and Mr. Bernard left the agency.

Robert G. Garner joined the Cumberland agency in 1961 to take the place of Mr. Barnes and Mr. Bernard. Mr. Garner took charge of the growing property-casualty business.

Ronald J. Screen came aboard at the Cumberland agency in 1963 to develop a full service Life Department which subsequently expanded into what we know today as the "Consulting Services Division".

In 1965, the Cumberland and Frostburg firms merged and incorporated under the name "Beall, Garner, and Geare, Inc." Ten years later, the firm's name was changed again to recognize Ronald J. Screen, as "Beall, Garner, Screen, and Geare, Inc."

In the years that followed, the Company began a territorial expansion into West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and across Maryland. A significant event was the 1984 acquisition of A. H. Baker Company of Washington DC, which marked our entry as a serious competitor in the metropolitan area. The expansion in size was matched by growth in services to include investments, pension and benefit consulting, and other financial services.

      View a Complete List of Mergers and Acquisitions

In 1985, the company took on a new corporate identity -- The CBIZ Companies -- to emphasize the numerous products and services offered and the wealth of talent we bring to our customers. At the same time, the initials of the chief architects of our firm have been preserved as a reminder that it has always been PEOPLE who have made us successful. In 1987, the firm changed its overall composition to recognize and reward its people by implementing an Employee Stock Option Plan or ESOP.

Throughout this expansion, which continues today, CBIZ people have been our greatest resource; bringing expertise and personal qualifications to the challenges and opportunities of expanded service capabilities. CBIZ is founded on a tradition of personal service. The corresponding value we place on our people helps insure that the success of their past years will benefit CBIZ and our clients into the next century.

The CBIZ Companies are the preeminent, regionally headquartered organization providing comprehensive consulting, actuarial and administrative services, investment services, and property and casualty insurance in the Maryland, West Virginia Virginia, Pennsylvania, and District of Columbia area. We also do business in New York, Philadelphia, and the Norfolk, Virginia Beach area. For over 30 years, CBIZ has been providing these professional services to our clients.

CBIZ / maintains staffed offices in nine locations in the tri-state area. Our headquarters is in Cumberland, Maryland. CBIZ now employs over 180 people, many of whom are credentialed actuaries, accountants, certified pension consultants, certified employee benefit specialists, investment and insurance specialists and computer experts. We are proud of our employees' professional accomplishments including achieving designations of MAAA, CPA, CLU, CPC, MSPA, CPCU, CFP, MASD, RIA, QPA, RHU, EA, ACSR, AAI, AU, CISR, ARM, CIC, AIC.

We believe in a team approach at CBIZ. We assign a full engagement team to every project for which we are retained. The team leader creates a strategic plan for every engagement. This "micro" business plan allows us to estimate anticipated fees for the engagement and provides the framework for the efficient and cost/effective fulfillment of the engagement. The right people are assigned to their proper tasks and the progress of the project is constantly monitored by the team leader. As with any well run professional firm, we employ matrix management techniques in tandem with a vigorous policy of work checking and peer review. Matrix management means that each professional in our firm answers to both a traditional line manager ("the boss") as well as to a director of professional practice. This ensures our clients that their work will not only be done within a promised time-frame, but will also be done right.

CBIZ is justifiably proud of its remarkable human resources. We are in a people business, we know it and we staff accordingly. We also maintain an extensive state-of-the-art computer facility. We have our own Management Information Systems Department. In addition, each of our professional staff have their own personal computers, which are net-worked. We are also on-line with a large array of commercial software providers. All work done for you will be done in-house, on our systems.

CBIZ is committed to the future. We recently completed an extensive and much publicized historical renovation of our headquarters building in Cumberland. Like our building, CBIZ has a fine and proud past; but the company, also like our building, is a completely modern enterprise ready and anxious to embrace the future.

 
  
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