PRESS
November 24 - 30, 2009
Entergy Brings You...Know Your Neighbor, Linda Rey, Briarcliff Manor
When Linda Rey graduated from Pace University in Pleasantville nearly 20 years ago, she was enthusiastic about getting a fresh start somewhere else.
The business administration major had been working at her father’s small Sleepy Hollow insurance firm, but the high cost of living in Westchester and the attraction of a new experience found her packing her Honda Civic and heading south to Atlanta.
At least there were close family friends there—the reason why her mother picked out her destination—just in case she couldn’t find a job right away or things didn’t work out.
Things did work out for Rey rather quickly. Within two weeks she took a job as the Ocean Marine Department manager’s assistant at North American Re, the global reinsurance firm now known as Swiss Re with offices in Armonk.
But while Rey was living in Atlanta for nearly a decade, something was missing. "I lived there for nine years and it never really felt like it was home," Rey said, “even though it was really great and I was there for the ‘90s and that was when they made the map because the Olympics were there."
Rey found the strong pull of wanting to be closer to her family and her roots irresistible, especially when she would return to visit. So in 1999 she packed up the same car she drove to get down to Atlanta—except this time with a trailer hooked to the back—and made the journey home. “That’s when I realized that the Hudson River Valley, the Hudson River towns, have such texture, charm, and Westchester County in general is just so diverse and rich with culture,” Rey recalled. “That’s why I came back.”
At first, Rey thought she might try another line of work. She considered event planning but her father, whose business had grown since he put out his shingle in 1978, needed help. She returned to work for her father and with her sister.
“I didn’t really even think I’d get back into the insurance business,” Rey said. “I was thinking maybe I’ll do something else. So that lasted about five minutes because insurance is like the only thing I’ve done, the only thing I’ve ever known.”
Ultimately, the move back to Westchester turned out to be the right move for Rey, now 43 years old. She settled in Briarcliff Manor upon her return and has a short but scenic drive to the Sleepy Hollow office, although Rey Insurance is no longer in a cramped three-room apartment. In 2005, she and her sister bought an old house on Route 9 in the middle of the village, gutted its interior and early the next year opened the family insurance firm in a new location. It’s something that her father was hesitant to do, but Rey took the plunge because it was the perfect location.
“We wanted to stay in Sleepy Hollow,” she said. “We wanted to stay on Route 9.” While insurance may seem either like a mundane topic or one more bill to be paid, it is one of the most important pieces of the financial puzzle that an individual, a family, or a business can buy, Rey said. As she put it, “You need to get it when you don’t need it, but when you need it you can’t get it.” known.’
“You pay a small premium for a large sum of money to help you out of a financial hardship,” Rey explained. “The way I look at it, and the reason why I’m happy to pay my monthly bill for whatever insurance I have—and I have a lot of it—is it’s building the liquidity of having a check given to someone that I have to take care of, (like) life insurance. It’s also a lawyer and a checkbook to defend you if someone alleges negligence.”
Now, being in charge does have its rewards for Rey. In addition to helping her clients receive coverage, she enjoys getting involved in marketing and publicizing her work.
This year also saw Rey earn a local milestone—she was named the Sleepy Hollow-Tarrytown Chamber of Commerce Person of the Year. Ironically, 2009 was the first time she hasn’t served on the chamber’s board. She’ll be honored at an event in March. "The chamber of commerce for me has been a burden of love," Rey said.
(Correction: The final sentence should read "The chamber of commerce for me has been a [labor] of love," Rey said." (Not "burden" as stated in the article.)