For Tad Nottage of Aloha Insurance, helping others navigate deep waters is in his DNA.
“I’m a descendant of Captain Jacob Brown of New Bedford,” says Tad, a waterman and craftsman born and raised in Hawaiʻi. Captain Brown owned “Pele,” the first steam tug boat used in Hawaiʻi, which was primarily for towing vessels in and out of the Honolulu Harbor in the mid-1800s.”
After graduating from the University of Puget Sound in 1978, Tad moved to Maui to work for the Hawaiian Dredging Construction Company. Then a car accident changed his life’s trajectory.
“Fortunately, everything was paid for by my insurance. Without it, I would’ve been in big financial trouble. But I couldn’t continue doing construction after the accident,” says Tad. So in 1987, he moved to Kona, where many of his friends had relocated. “A lot of them became fishermen. I opened a tool repair shop.”
Encouraged by his cousin, Jim Nottage, Tad gave insurance a try and took to it like a fish in water: “I worked for First Insurance and quickly realized that most people don’t exactly like shopping for insurance, but that doesn’t mean they can’t like who they buy it from. My whole thing became making sure people were happy dealing with me by being proactive and helping them understand what protection they actually needed.”
When Hurricane Iniki hit Kauaʻi in 1992, First Insurance was forced to let its whole marketing staff go.
“We were permitted, however, to sell the product. So Jim and I formed our own company, Insurance Resources, where I worked for seven years before forming Aloha Insurance Services in 2000,” says Tad, who founded the independent insurance agency with only three employees. “Soon after, we began offering a full range of insurance products.”
Since then, Aloha Insurance has been on a mission to evaluate its clients’ businesses, identify gaps, exposures, or inadequate coverage in current programs, and make recommendations to improve coverage or reduce cost.
“Sometimes that means telling a client who was with another agency that they have more insurance than they need. That’s what Kina’ole is all about,” Tad explains. “Kina’ole is doing the right thing, in the right way, at the right time, for the right reason, the first time. Hawaiians have practiced this for centuries.”
Tad’s understanding of Hawaiʻi’s people and values is the foundation of his relationships with his clients, some of whom have worked with him since the 1990s.
“I’m still providing compassionate service with quality insurance products, but now I have a larger team, and we serve over 6,500 clients. We employ 23 people, and the money stays in the community, helping support local families rather than a company on the mainland. While we’re usually competitive with those companies, our personal touch makes us different,” says Tad, who enjoys woodworking, fishing, and surfing when he’s not working with his agents to help clients. With Tad at the helm, the fully licensed insurance services provider has helped hundreds of small, medium, and large companies minimize their liability exposure and protect assets through risk management and affordable insurance policies.
“While our corporate office is in Kailua-Kona, Aloha Insurance has representation throughout the islands. We’re licensed to service all islands and the mainland, and even provide insurance for a lot of the night dive and snorkel companies here,” says Tad, adding that the company also has a department focused on employee benefits and a personal lines insurance department offering a full range of insurance to protect homes, cars, and of course boats, which Captain Brown would have appreciated.
“When you have the right insurance, you have peace of mind knowing someone’s in your corner,” Tad concludes. “So if you’re off exploring our island or beyond and something happens, you have someone here at home to advocate for you.”
Learn more at AlohaInsurance.com.