PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
Tyler Hancock
www.fordthomas.com
The TR6 is one cool car. British-made by Triumph with an inline 6-cylinder engine, a distinguished wood veneer dashboard and manual 4-speed transmission, these sporty two-seaters were manufactured between 1969 and 1976. Nearly 95,000 were built and they could sprint from 0 to 60 in 8.2 seconds and reportedly had a top speed of 120 mph. Tyler Hancock loves TR6s. In fact he’s restored in full or in part eighteen of them over the years. Triumph started building these delightful autos about the same time Hancock started working the insurance business. Tyler W. Hancock, AAI grew up in Toccoa in the upper northeastern corner of Georgia. His father had been a “threads and zippers” mill manager for Coats and Clark. Upon graduating from high school, Tyler attended nearby Piedmont College and graduated in 1967. The war in Vietnam was raging and few young men of the time escaped the long arms of the armed services. Tyler Hancock was classified 4-F due to a troublesome back. No military duty for him. Instead Hancock sought a career — any career. Meaningful job hunting was not productive. One of Hancock’s friends was employed with Commercial Union Insurance Company and suggested that Hancock give it a shot. He was hired as a “trainee” in the Atlanta office in 1969, the same year the first TR6 rolled off the assembly line. With Commercial Union, Hancock recalls that he “did just about everything from rating to underwriting to loss prevention.” The company sent him frequently to Boston for training. Initially, Hancock was a Personal Lines Underwriting Assistant; then he became a Personal Lines Underwriter. Following that, he was a Commercial Lines Underwriter. Later, Hancock went on to become Marketing Representative and then Marketing Manager. In 1974, Hancock relocated to Lynchburg, Virginia and then to Richmond a year later. While at Commercial Union in Richmond, Hancock was working with a young adjuster who happened to have a sister named Brenda, whom she thought Hancock should meet. A blind date in 1977 with another couple “over backyard steaks on the grill” was the start of a relationship and Tyler and Brenda would later wed. Tyler’s wife, Brenda, is a Learning Disability specialist at Midlothian Middle School. While working as a Personal Lines Regional Manager, Hancock was transferred to Jackson, Mississippi. Having worked through the years with agencies, Tyler had become quite familiar with the Richmond agency, Ford & Thomas, Inc. Upon returning to Richmond from Jackson in 1982, he began working there as a producer. Since then Hancock has grown with the agency. “Each time a principal retired, I bought them out,” said Hancock. In all, he has purchased the interests of eight partners. In 1999, he also purchased Palmer, Parker & Davis and serves as President of both that agency and Ford & Thomas.
PROFESSIONAL EXCELLENCE
Five Star Professional conducts market-specific research throughout the U.S. to identify service professionals who demonstrate professional excellence and provide quality services to their clients. The Five Star Home/Auto Insurance Professional program is the largest and most widely published award program for home/auto insurance agents in North America, covering more than 40 major markets. Five Star award winners do not pay a fee to be included in the research or on the final list of award winners.
The Five Star Professional research team contacted thousands of recent homebuyers, consumers and industry leaders to identify Richmond-area home/auto insurance agents who stand out in their industry and community.
To learn more about the research methodology, click here.