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Reducing business risk with an emphasis on integrity, impact, and positive change

Steve Odell is the CEO of Odell Studner, a boutique insurance consulting, risk management, and insurance brokerage firm located in Radnor, Pennsylvania. Odell Studner serves clients in a variety of service areas, including cybersecurity, commercial insurance, personal insurance, and employee benefits. The firm’s practice groups encompass captives, staffing, human services, real estate and construction, and life sciences. Odell Studner has been recognized as a top insurance firm and a best place to work by Business Insurance, the Philadelphia Business Journal, Inc. and more. Apart from professional services, the firm also contributes to its community through the Odell Studner Foundation, which provides assistance to families in distress.

Steve Odell spoke with Jeff Mack, Executive Managing Director at Newmark Grubb Frank, for this interview.

JEFF MACK: What led you to start the Odell Studner Foundation?

STEVE ODELL: Tragically, right after we launched our company in September of 2008, we had two folks making a business call and one got killed in a car accident. It was on the Schuylkill Expressway and he had just started working for us three months prior to that. It was probably one of the hardest things I had to do in my business career: How do you deal with something like that? It was a terrible, terrible thing. What we ended up doing is we set up a foundation to initially pay for the college tuition for his three children that had survived with his wife, of course. That’s what started the thought of creating a foundation. As time went on and they got their feet back on the ground—and they’re all thriving now—we diverted our time and attention to expanding the mission of the foundation. My mom passed away a couple of years ago from ALS, and that was another passion that got created.Wwe have been working closely with the ALS Association of Philadelphia. They’ve been at the last three golf outings and we’ve made donations to them each year.

Q. Do your clients share certain attributes, in general? How focused are you regionally?

A. I would say that, other than our temporary staffing practice, most of our clients are in the five-state area headquartered here. They may have national or international operations, but the headquarters of the corporate facility is usually more local. On a temporary staffing practice side, however, that’s a national practice. We have clients that are headquartered almost in every state. We have over a 100 companies that we insure that are both in the private and public sector in the temporary staffing space. I love working at my company and probably the most exciting part of my job is helping other people be successful, knowing that I’ve got a fingerprint not just on the organization but on the development in the careers of those that work for us.

Q. The Radnor office is new. Tell us about the decision to move there. Do you have further expansion plans?

A. Our seven-year lease was coming up, so we have to always reevaluate what it’s in the best interest. We looked at Radnor and the surrounding areas and felt there was a better opportunity for us to make a move. We’re going to upgrade our space and our furniture, obviously. We will probably have eight committees set up where employees are making all the decisions. I don’t even know what my desk is going to look like, but it’s been really cool.

As far as the scope of the territory that we cover, I would say that we continue to be a locally focused business in all of our practice groups other than staffing. We can see maybe expanding further into New Jersey or New York or down to Maryland and D.C., but we’re pretty much going to continue to be a single location-focused agency. On a national scale, our staffing team is used to travel, and they’re on planes all the times, so we will continue to do that. We might, in that space, look to have a strategic acquisition or possibly some sales folks that are not geographically located here to cover the rest of the country, but that’s probably how we will continue to build what we do.

Q. Where do you see the firm in five years?

I’m really excited. I mean, this isn’t just a passion for me, but it’s also probably my biggest hobby. I wish I had more things to do sometimes, but I love the insurance business. I love the people that I work with. For those who have ever studied Good to Great, Jim Collins talks about the flywheel—I think we’ve got a great flywheel cranking. We’ve built some great infrastructure. We’ve got a scalable model we can build upon. So you’re going to hear a lot more about us in the next five years.

Connect with Steven on LinkedIn

ABOUT NEWMARK GRUBB KNIGHT FRANK

Newmark Grubb Knight Frank (NGKF) is one of the world's leading commercial real estate advisory firms. Together with London-based partner Knight Frank and independently-owned offices, NGKF’s 12,800 professionals operate from more than 370 offices in established and emerging property markets on six continents.

With roots dating back to 1929, NGKF’s strong foundation makes it one of the most trusted names in commercial real estate. NGKF’s full-service platform comprises BGC’s real estate services segment, offering commercial real estate tenants, landlords, investors and developers a wide range of services including leasing; capital markets services, including investment sales, debt placement, appraisal, and valuation services; commercial mortgage brokerage services; as well as corporate advisory services, consulting, project and development management, and property and corporate facilities management services. For further information, visit www.ngkf.com.

NGKF is a part of BGC Partners, Inc., a leading global brokerage company servicing the financial and real estate markets. BGC’s common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol (NASDAQ: BGCP). BGC also has an outstanding bond issuance of Senior Notes due June 15, 2042, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol (NYSE: BGCA). BGC Partners is led by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Howard W. Lutnick. For more information, please visit www.bgcpartners.com.

Jeffrey E. Mack, Executive Managing Director

Jeffrey E. Mack is a senior leader in Newmark Grubb Knight Frank's Philadelphia operation. Jeff has been a significant member of the commercial brokerage community in Philadelphia since 1979. He co-founded Smith Mack & Co. in 1984 and has continued to lease and sell more suburban office space than any other individual agent. He served as past chairman of the Philadelphia Board of Realtors, commercial and industrial division. NGKF acquired Smith Mack & Co. in 2012.

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If you're interested in reaching CEOs, please contact edwin.warfield@citybuzz.co

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