Olaf Growald
Fort Worth born, Paschal High and TCU grad — Gus S. Bates, 53, is the quintessential local. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t ambitious. As the CEO of the Bates companies, Bates took his father’s one-man life insurance shop and expanded it into one of the largest independent, family-owned insurance and investment firms in Texas, with 60 employees serving more than 900 business clients in DFW. With an employee benefits specialty among its portfolio of services, Bates has $900 million in 401(k) assets under management.
The firm was continuing its steady growth when Bates was advised to look for a larger partner to expand its product base for existing and potentially bigger clients. So, he and Bates’ president, Matt Morris, did their due diligence, which led them to a merger July 1 with Chicago-based HUB International Ltd., the fifth largest insurance broker in the world with $2.4 billion in revenue in 2018.
“If someone checked these, like, 100 boxes we said we would consider making a move, and I’ll be danged if HUB didn’t,” Bates says. “Long term, it was a brilliant move for our long-term growth.”
Turning Point In November, HUB’s smaller downtown Fort Worth office will move to Bates’ property just off University in the Near Southside. Morris will be president of the merged HUB Texas firm with Bates continuing as a consultant for the 100-employee shop.
All of Bates’ employees kept their jobs, and in an unusual move, the undisclosed payout from the sale was shared with all of his employees, based on current salary and years of experience, Bates says. There was a small stock group that includes team leads, Morris and Bates, but all employees got some of the deal, which created several millionaires from his employee base, he says.
“We’re not an official ESOP [employee stock ownership plan], but just kind of treated it that way,” Bates says. “My employees are like my family, and I wanted to see that they were taken care of.”
The payout goes with the family-centric corporate culture Bates has built for his employees. Bates has a gym, garden, even a putting green for employees. He is also keeping the family tradition going: His daughter, Cassidy, now works in marketing for the firm, and son Cooper, a junior at TCU, is interning. Bates’ father, Gus Bates III, or “Pops,” 77, still comes into the office daily, too.
For the future, Bates says as a consultant, he is tasked with further expansion of HUB in Texas, both through acquiring larger clients and through similar mergers and acquisitions. HUB has seen the state as a growing market, Bates says, and wants to be part of that growth. “I see HUB in the next five years becoming one of the biggest players in Texas,” Bates says.
