2024 FOBA winner Large Business Category – DiBuduo & DeFendis: Family as a core value

They weren’t a likely pair to start an insurance company. While Anthony DiBuduo had experience working for the AAA auto club, Leonard DeFendis was a commercial glazier with no insurance experience, fitting windows for Valley Glass.

From humble Fresno beginnings in 1960, today DiBuduo & DeFendis Insurance Brokers, LLC, is one of the largest independent insurance agencies in California with 11 offices throughout the state. The firm provides all lines of insurance to a diversified group of clients across the U.S. It belongs to the Assurex Global network, the world’s largest privately held commercial insurance brokerage group.

That kind of business success — especially in a market as complicated as insurance — doesn’t happen to just anyone. And it doesn’t happen overnight. Anthony DiBuduo and Leonard DeFendis put their brokerage on the map by providing excellent service and treating clients like family. Leonard’s sons — Matt and Mike DeFendis, principals of D&D, as it’s known — still carry that as their guiding light.

It doesn’t take long to realize the importance of family at DiBuduo & DeFendis. In fact, it is the very first core value listed on its webpage, coming before integrity, trust, community involvement, hiring the best people, leadership and service excellence.

“Family values are important to us at DiBuduo & DeFendis,” according to the core values. “Our company began because of a life-long friendship between our founders. We treat our clients and our staff as family. We have clients and employees who have been with the agency for 30 years and more as a result.”

D&D also extends the designation of “family” to the community as a steadfast supporter of a number of organizations, both financially and with volunteer efforts. With a focus on education, children and their Catholic faith, the DeFendis family and The D&D Project — an in-house committee charged with making a community impact — have served the community in a number of ways. Here are some of the organizations blessed by D&D over the years: Catholic Charities, Obria Medical Clinics of Central California, Right to Life of Central California, Saint Agnes Medical Center, San Joaquin Memorial High School, Congregation of Sisters of Nazareth and the Dinuba Women’s Club.

The company has more than doubled in size since Matt and Mike took over. They stand firm even in the face of headwinds, such as carriers fleeing California’s insurance market, characterized by higher prices and lower availability. Consolidation is rampant in the industry, making it harder for an independent agent to keep up with investments by larger competitors. Evolving technology does add efficiency to D&D’s business, though it is more difficult to find top talent to hire.

A plan for the future of the family business is in play with the third generation, Dalton and Christian DeFendis, who both work at the firm full-time. Christian serves as an insurance broker and loss control consultant while Dalton serves in an operational role. Dalton is enrolling in the UCLA Anderson School of Business’ part-time program to obtain a master’s in business administration, and Christian continues to gain hands-on experience working with D&D’s team and clients.

The link from father to son is also part of the DNA at D&D, Matt DeFendis revealed while accepting the firm’s FOBA trophy. There’s one very simple compliment paid to him and the team that means the most.

“There’s nothing better in this world than hearing ‘your dad would be proud,’” Matt said.