PRODUCERS — McBane Insurance & Financial Services office manager and producer Kathy Maguschak will soon retire, with producer Christopher Nehrbas set to succeed her.
— Christopher Dacanay
WINTERSVILLE — An independent agency representing multiple companies, McBane Insurance & Financial Services has been covering the Ohio Valley since 1900, when it was founded by James McBane.
The family-owned agency — which has offices in Bergholz, Carrollton and Wintersville — is in its fifth generation. Brothers David and Daniel McBane, president and vice president respectively, represent the fourth generation, with David’s son, Alec, joining as a producer in January 2024.
Across its 125-year history, McBane has seen plenty of torches passed from forerunners to the next generation of professionals, who carry on their work.
McBane will soon see another change in its ranks when longtime producer Kathy Maguschak retires and a new producer, Christopher Nehrbas, steps up in her place.
After 43 years in the insurance business, Maguschak says she’s ready to hang up her hat. The Mingo Junction resident, who serves as McBane’s office manager, was a pioneer for women in insurance agent roles.
Training to fill Maguschak’s shoes is Nehrbas, a Steubenville native who’s excited to be part of the ever-changing world of insurance, in the community he loves.
Maguschak, née Vasluska, grew up in Wintersville and graduated from the former Wintersville High School in 1976. She pursued a degree in allied medicine at Ohio State University, graduating in 1980.
During her summer breaks from college, Maguschak worked at her family’s insurance agency, Valuska Insurance. Maguschak’s father convinced her to move back to the area shortly after graduation, and she began working full-time at the family agency.
“I had no inkling that I would do insurance for the rest of my life. I always thought, there’s no way,” she recalled.
Maguschak worked for Valuska Insurance for 16 years, during which she’d become familiar with McBane. The agencies merged in 1998, bringing Maguschak with them, and she’s been with McBane ever since.
In the early 1980s, women worked in insurance agencies, but not many were selling or producing business, Maguschak said.
“I think that’s what encouraged me back then to get my certified insurance counselor designation. I had to prove myself.”
To this day, Maguschak has maintained her CIC designation, which she obtained in 1992 out of a desire to further her insurance knowledge and skills. Over the years, she’s had the opportunity to sell personal lines, commercial lines, life insurance and health insurance.
The insurance industry is constantly changing, Maguschak said, citing a recent customer survey by Trusted Choice — a consumer brand representing members of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America Inc. — that found most customers don’t fully understand the insurance they purchase.
Insurance protects people’s most valuable assets, such as their home, vehicle, business or life. Maguschak said independent insurance agents can be the resource and guide to help consumers purchase the coverage they need.
“We are here in the community, and our customers talk to a real person. We help our clients walk through the process from shopping for coverage to purchasing a plan and filing a claim. It is about customer service and genuinely helping people.”
The second youngest of nine children, Nehrbas grew up in Steubenville and graduated from Steubenville High School in 2011. He went on to study communication arts with a concentration in film at Franciscan University of Steubenville.
After graduating in 2015, Nehrbas relocated to San Diego, where he lived for seven years. There he had a son and worked in real estate as a mortgage loan officer. Nehrbas later moved back to Steubenville with his son so he could attend Big Red like his father.
After the move, Nehrbas reunited with Daniel McBane — the two had known each other during childhood through their fathers’ friendship. Daniel McBane mentioned that Maguschak would soon be retiring. That happened to align perfectly with Nehrbas’ discernment about breaking into a new industry.
“It kind of just clicked right there,” he recalled. “I did have some other companies reach out to me, but I didn’t even take anyone’s calls. I just sat with Dan and (thought), this is just too perfect. It felt providential. So, I said yes, and the rest was history.”
Nehrbas joins a total staff of 17 employees at McBane, including six producers who — among the six of them — hold licenses in almost every state, according to Maguschak.
Already licensed for life and health insurance, Nehrbas passed his property and casualty licensing test Wednesday. In addition to direct preparation, he’s been drawing upon his property acquisitions background, as well as personal experience of life insurance’s benefits: The life insurance Maguschak helped his father get, which continues to benefit his mother to this day.
In San Diego, Nehrbas said, his work lacked a certain personal touch, because he was unfamiliar with the people and families he was helping. In Jefferson County, where he has family and friends, Nehrbas looks forward to helping them obtain the coverage they need for their homes, businesses and lives.
“Moving back here, it was great to reconnect with a lot of the people that I grew up with, but now I get to provide them with a service that Kathy and McBane have provided me and my family my entire life.”
Maguschak is continuing to work two-to-three days a week to ensure the transition goes smoothly, but she has confidence in Nehrbas and his abilities — and she’s glad to sample some of his exceptional cooking, which he’s brought to work. Her final day isn’t set in stone, she said, but “When they’re comfortable, we’ll know.”
She has no special retirement plans but hopes to spend more time with her husband, Mike, and take a few road trips. A member of the Mingo Junction Women’s Club, she hopes to continue volunteering and complete some home projects.
Maguschak considers it an honor to have worked at McBane, where she’s stayed because of the agency’s “enduring principles of honesty, integrity and faith.” She also looks back fondly on the wonderful people she’s had the opportunity to meet through her work.
“I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to the many customers for their loyalty and the faith they have placed in me over the years. Their trust has been the cornerstone of the success we have here at McBane Insurance.”
