Adobe Stock
Higginbotham, the broad-based, employee-owned insurance, financial and HR services firm headquartered in Fort Worth, has expanded into Indiana through the acquisition of Synergy Insurance of Mishawaka.
The collaboration marks Higginbotham’s first footprint in the Hoosier State and strengthens support for Synergy’s commercial, employee benefits and personal lines clients while creating a shared platform for growth across a key Great Lakes corridor.
“Synergy is exactly the kind of agency we look for when we go into a new state,” Reid said. “They’ve spent nearly 20 years growing the right way in northern Indiana and they share our belief that if you invest in your community and your people, the business will follow. Together we can bring more resources to their team and their clients and start building out a Great Lakes corridor that reaches across Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and Ohio.”
Synergy’s origins trace to the Michael Reddy Agency, founded by president and CEO Mike Reddy Jr. and his father. The firm expanded under longtime leader Billy Bridwell and merged into Synergy Insurance Group in 2006. Its ownership group — Reddy, Bridwell, Nathan Spite, David Atkinson and Rick Nystrand — has more than doubled the agency’s size since 2020, driven primarily by new business.
As the agency’s growth accelerated, Reddy said the owners sought a larger partner. “We built a carefully targeted list,” Reddy said, noting Higginbotham’s employee-owned structure and support for regional teams. Bridwell added that the firms’ shared values made the partnership a natural fit.
Synergy’s brokers also gain access to Higginbotham’s data-driven resources and Day Two Services®. “But the industry is moving fast,” Nystrand said, emphasizing the added capabilities now available.
“Linking our future with Higginbotham lets us keep that identity while giving our team and our clients the kind of resources you only see in much bigger markets,” Reddy concluded.