Couch Braunsdorf

LIBERTY CORNER, N.J. January 16, 2013 - Michael Cosgrave has earned the Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) Designation. This designation is conferred by the Society of Certified Insurance Counselors and sponsored by the Professional Insurance Agents of America. To attain the designation, candidates must undertake rigorous coursework and pass written exams on five major insurance segments - Personal Insurance, Commercial Casualty, Commercial Property, Life & Health and Agency Management. Mr. Johnston stated, "We are proud of Michael for having pursued and completed this advanced course of study. His commitment to continuing education and professionalism are to be commended." Michael holds a BA from The University of California at Santa Barbara, carries licenses in Property & Casualty (CA License # 0E48191), Series 6, Series 63, Life & Health, and holds a Certificate in Long Term Care (CLTC) and a Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) designation. He can be reached in the Couch Braunsdorf Insurance Group office at 564 Market St., Ste. 406, San Francisco, CA 94104 at 877.977.8832 x325, or by cell phone at 650.740.4247 or by email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

LIBERTY CORNER, N.J. November 19, 2012 Jake Schlenker CIC, CRM, has assumed the role of Commercial Lines Manager, effective immediately. This new responsibility is an addition to his present role of Chief Financial Officer. Jake is looking forward to leading our Commercial Lines business towards operational excellence, through continuous process improvement and effective use of technology that improves our customer experience. The Accounting Department will continue to report to Jake. The Information Technology Department will now report directly to me. We would like to thank Len Garces for his service the past few months as he transitions back into a full time production role. Please join me in wishing Jake much success in his expanded leadership role at our agency.

Couch Braunsdorf Insurance Group, Inc. opens its doors to fellow agents.  Starting today, Couch has reached out to other New Jersey agents and offered power, phones and internet from our Liberty Corner and Red Bank locations.  Agents are working closely with Jim Buccini, COO, to accommodate their needs.  This is an important time for the insurance industry to show their service for clients.  Couch Braunsdorf joins other groups that are going above and beyond.

November 2, 2012  Liberty Corner, NJ     Despite being without power, phones or an internet connection at its Liberty Corner headquarters, Couch Braunsdorf’s employees came together to proactively help their customers in an unprecedented time of need.  Although claims processing information had been posted on the company’s website, Couch felt its customers deserved more, and established a crisis response team to reach out to clients and agent partners.

Management reached out to all employees to ensure they were safe, and determine who was available for duty and had a working cell phone.  At the same time, the office backup generator fired up internal systems and printed lists of partner agents and clients.  Call lists were hand delivered to key employees at their homes on Tuesday to get the ball rolling on outbound calls. 

At the same time, emergency call centers in our Liberty Corner offices and at the home of a local area employee who was fortunate to have high speed internet connectivity were set up.  At Liberty Corner, with access to policy records available, Couch responded to claims calls and proactively called out to clients with their policy information readily at hand to be of assistance.  The satellite call center processed inbound calls where clients had issues getting through to the carrier catastrophe centers—that were experiencing record call volume and compromised phone service in some cases.  In all, Couch routed over 8,000 claims calls to carriers, and proactively called over 4,000 insured clients and 500 program partner agents to give them cell phone numbers in the event that they needed to contact Couch directly.  Use of pre-recorded “robocalls” was avoided and the need for callers to leave voicemails was minimized.  Nearly all calls were handled by a live licensed customer service representative.

“As a leading independent agent in New Jersey, Couch Braunsdorf fulfilled its responsibility to our clients”, said James Fitzpatrick, Executive Vice-President.  Couch Braunsdorf Insurance Group is a privately owned independent agency specializing in custom tailored insurance solutions for businesses and individuals since 1903.   Our Experience, Diligence and Professionalism set us apart from the competition.