Farmers Insurance welcomes new owner

Niwot's local Farmers Insurance office is under new ownership. As of Oct. 1, 2022, Lindsey Cumberland became the new owner of the Leigh Suskin Agency, located in Cottonwood Square Shopping Center.

Cumberland has been licensed in health and life insurance since 2009. "I did that to help pay for college," she said, "and then took a little bit of a break. My husband and I moved here from the western slope and then I started back in the P&C [property and casualty] world in 2020."

That was the year Cumberland joined Farmers. When asked about unusual insurance coverage requests, Cumberland quickly replied, "Bouncy houses and traveling carnivals are probably the hardest risks that I have successfully placed. Those unique scary ones."

Cumberland grew up in White Bear Lake, in the Twin Cities area. "My mom moved here my senior [year of] high school, so I graduated from Cedaredge High School," she said.

After high school, Cumberland earned a degree in political science and a minor in geographic information systems. "The component of that degree that I really liked was more of the writing and strategy kind of portion of it. I did a lot of research with public lands and assisting with research, so all through undergrad I worked on recreation management, out of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument."

She helped with the mapping for the Natural Resource Center at Colorado Mesa University for quite a few years. "I really enjoyed that. It's definitely a useful lens for looking at all the stuff for home insurance," she said. Her experience in mapping has also helped her understand the work of county assessors and to develop a familiarity with sites.

"But as for insurance," Cumberland said, "the stuff I really like is just making sure to have a good conversation with people to make sure that they're protected. I really like trying to solve a problem. So, a lot of times when people come to us, either rates are up, or they're not sure of what coverage they have, and I like to be more of an advisor. And that's really the problem solving and relationship building that I like about insurance."

When Suskin started looking for a buyer this year, the Farmers Insurance district office recommended that Cumberland might be a good fit for Suskin's Niwot office. "I wanted to be in a strong close-knit community," Cumberland said. "And I also feel like it's a really pretty place to come to work. It's not like working in the strip mall down in Thornton, which was my previous agency. I wanted better community connections. I feel like it's a very idyllic town."

Cumberland will be available at the office day-to-day, and plans to make a few minor changes. "Leigh is working on getting her PhD and she's in the process where she needs to hunker down and write, and get things done," Cumberland said. "So, I think I'll be a little bit more visible. And then, hiring just a couple other staff too. So that way we can make sure everyone's needs are taken care of."

Yule Peterson, who was hired by Suskin, will continue to work in the office. Peterson was a former customer service representative with John McGarity, a Farmers Insurance agent in Boulder for 25 years who retired last year. Peterson has six years of experience with Farmers in systems. "He brings a lot of the backend computer knowledge that a lot of us don't want to know," Cumberand said, "which is very helpful for looking at policies or getting changes done quickly. So he brings a lot of that knowledge to the table." Suskin will also continue to work in the office, focusing on more of the business and the commercial insurance aspects.

Currently, Cumberland commutes from Thornton, but she enjoys having an office in Niwot. "Everybody in town has been welcoming and friendly and I found everybody's out every day, which I really like, and that was part of the appeal to me, is that everybody actually leaves their houses. They talk to each other and they interact and I think that's probably my favorite part," she said. "My favorite part is coming over the hill and like everything just kind of opens up and you see the foothills and you can see a couple of mountains deep."

"At the end of the day I just want to know that I've given somebody the best advice, and that I assisted them in the best possible way," she said. "I just want to make sure everybody is actually protected and their assets are protected because that's your first line of defense. If I can't do that, I definitely would like to at least show people how to do it.

When time allows, Cumberland enjoys hiking. "I completed part of the Colorado Trail this last summer, a backpacking trip and an assisted hike. That was a lot of fun." When she and her husband can find care for their four-year-old daughter Quinn, they enjoy skiing. hanging with family, and reading.