Combined Insurance Sponsors its First K9s For Cops

When Combined Insurance agent, William “Rhett” Jacobs, who lives in South Carolina, visited Chicago this past spring, artfully decorated dog statues adorning several shops along Michigan Avenue caught his eye. A dog lover (he’s rarely seen without his German Shepherd, Leo), Rhett took a closer look and realized he was admiring K9s for Cops, which had been sponsored by the shops during last year’s K9s for Cops campaign. From there, an idea was born, and he felt inspired to share his idea with Combined Insurance leadership to sponsor a dog for the Summer ’18 K9s for Cops campaign.

Culture of thinking big

Rhett has worked at Combined for a little under a year, and is enjoying his work as an agent in South Carolina. The company boasts that Combined is the perfect size: offering lots of growth opportunities and belonging to Chubb, the world's largest publicly traded property and casualty insurance company, it still maintains a family-like environment where ideas are heard and individuals can have a meaningful impact on business. Combined recently hosted a “Shark Tank” competition in which employees were encouraged to embrace disruptive thinking, generate ideas and improve innovation.

Rhett took these shared values to heart, and when he happened to meet the president of Combined Insurance, Kevin Goulding, at an awards dinner during the same Chicago trip, he took the opportunity to mention to him that Combined Insurance should sponsor a K9 for K9s for Cops. Kevin asked to learn more, and, as they say, the rest is history!

Chicago roots

K9s for Cops was launched by the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation in an effort to honor and support Chicago police and their families. In their own wordslink opens in a new window, “The campaign was conceived to memorialize our city’s heroes while supporting the families of police officers that have been killed or catastrophically injured in the line of duty.”

Combined Insurance has deep roots in Chicago. Our founder, W. Clement Stone, was born here, and he launched the company in 1922 with a vision to make the world a better place. The company currently has two offices in Chicago, one on Wacker Drive and one at Triangle Plaza.

  • Read more about Combined’s history in our first corporate blog, We Were There When..

Aim for the moon

Combined’s K9 artistic design was created by artist Brandin Hurley and features W. Clement Stone’s quote: “Aim for the moon. If you miss, you may hit a star.” We think our founder, who believed positive thinking and hard work were keys to success, would be proud of our corporate culture that encourages new ideas and growth.

Combined K9 front image  Combined K9 back image

Share on social

Combined’s K9 is located a few steps off Michigan Avenue at the Homewood Suites at 40 E Grand, Chicago. We’d love to see a picture of you with our K9! Share to your social media and use #CombinedK9 and #ChicagoK9s.