Two decades after a teenage Ben Schoettmer met insurance agent and mentor Everett Hughes, the founder-led Midwest brokerage credits its relationship-first culture to one lesson: show up for the people who trust you.

CARMEL, IN / ACCESS Newswire / June 2, 2026 / WalkerHughes Insurance, a founder-led independent insurance brokerage providing customized personal, commercial, and employee benefits solutions across the Midwest, this month marks 20 years since CEO Ben Schoettmer began his career in insurance alongside his mentor, Tipton, Indiana agent Everett Hughes. The milestone traces the company's origins to an unlikely starting point: a Boy Scout merit badge.

As a teenager working toward his Eagle Scout rank, Schoettmer pursued a Disabilities Awareness merit badge, which included spending time with someone living with a disability. His father, whose farm Hughes had insured for years, made the introduction. Hughes had muscular dystrophy and ran his full agency from a wheelchair in small-town Indiana.

What was meant to be a structured visit became something neither expected. Schoettmer, who was building computers at the time, became Hughes's go-to IT support, and the hours they spent together turned into an ongoing conversation about business, clients, and how to treat people. The mentorship grew into a business partnership, and in March 2007 the two opened a second location together. Hughes passed away unexpectedly seven months later. In August 2008, Schoettmer purchased both offices and rebranded them Hughes Group in tribute to his mentor, the foundation of what is today WalkerHughes Insurance.

"Everett ran a full insurance agency from a wheelchair in a small Indiana town, and he never asked for things to be easier; he just showed up for the people who trusted him," said Ben Schoettmer, CEO of WalkerHughes Insurance. "Twenty years later, that's still the standard we hold ourselves to. We don't sell people a policy; we earn the right to be their trusted advisor."

A philosophy built on the person in front of you

That early lesson shapes how WalkerHughes operates across all four states it serves. The agency works with individuals, families, farmers, and business owners insuring everything from a family home to an auto dealership, a public entity, construction services or a multi-generational farm, and its central belief is that coverage right for one client can be entirely wrong for another, even when the two look identical on paper.

It's why the brokerage says it leads with questions rather than products: what needs protecting, what keeps a client up at night, and what has fallen through the cracks before. From there, the team builds coverage to fit, rather than defaulting to the fastest option.

"What started as a merit badge turned into the most important mentorship of my life," Schoettmer added. "Everything WalkerHughes has become, every client relationship, every office, every state we've grown into, comes back to what Everett taught me about paying attention to the person in front of you."

Accessibility remains part of that ethos. Hughes built a thriving agency without waiting for circumstances to get easier, and WalkerHughes carries that forward by aiming to be the kind of broker that is easy to reach, straightforward to work with, and present when it matters most.

About WalkerHughes Insurance

WalkerHughes Insurance is a founder-led independent insurance brokerage headquartered in Carmel, Indiana, serving individuals, families, farmers, and business owners across Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Ohio. The agency offers personal lines, commercial lines, and employee benefits, built on a relationship-first approach to understanding each client's specific needs. Learn more at walkerhughes.com.

Media Contact
Jennifer Fishering
WalkerHughes Insurance
j.fishering@walkerhughes.com
(314) 917-5260
walkerhughes.com

SOURCE: WalkerHughes Insurance