Insurance Protection Specialists

What Insurance Protection Specialists does

Insurance Protection Specialists (IPS) is an independent insurance agency headquartered at 5500 Plaza Drive, Ste A, Flowood, Mississippi, that intermediates between clients and a portfolio of 30+ insurance carriers including Nationwide, Liberty Mutual, MetLife, State Auto, Progressive, Foremost, and Travelers. Founded in 2004 and privately held, IPS operates as a carrier-agnostic broker across personal and commercial lines, offering 11 product categories: auto, home, commercial, boat/watercraft, flood, life, motorcycle, pet, renters, RV, and umbrella insurance. The agency is led by owners Chip Jones and Bubba Howell, with a stated team of 12 members providing risk management and account management services, and serves clients across Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana.

The business model is commission-based: IPS earns referral/affiliate-style commissions paid by carriers for policies placed, with pricing established per quote rather than through fixed list rates. Distribution is sales-led and multichannel — direct sales by phone (601-992-4040) and email ([email protected]), inside sales through the website's Compare Quotes tool, plus a Client Center supported by EZLynx agency management software and the Glovebox mobile app for policy viewing, ID card printing, driver addition, payments, and claims filing. Marketing spans an active blog dating back to 2020, a Facebook presence, a monthly newsletter, a referral program that donates $10 to community groups per referred quote, and community engagement with local nonprofits.

IPS differentiates on independent carrier access, local advisory expertise (the team has more than 34 years of combined insurance experience; owners have 50+ years combined), and community-rooted brand trust through donations to organizations including Junior Auxiliary of Rankin County, JDRF of Mississippi, Make A Wish MS, Joni and Friends, and Rescue Revolution. No proprietary technology platform, AI/ML capabilities, or external investment backing were disclosed in the source material.

Name

Insurance Protection Specialists

Legal name

Insurance Protection Specialists

Website

https://ips-ms.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Insurance Protection Specialists is an independent insurance agency in Flowood, Mississippi, owned by Chip Jones and Bubba Howell, brokering auto, home, commercial, life, and specialty insurance across 30+ carriers for individuals and SMBs in Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Insurance Brokerage Services

NAICS

Insurance Agencies and Brokerages (524210)

SIC

Insurance Agents, Brokers & Service (6411)

akta.pro primary industry

Full-Coverage Personal Auto Insurance (FSAJAAAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Whole Life / UL Policy Riders & Add-ons (e.g., Waiver of Premium, Accidental Death, Child Term, LTC/Chronic Illness) (FSAIABAK)

Keywords

• Independent insurance agency
• Personal lines insurance
• Commercial insurance brokerage
• Multi-carrier insurance
• Insurance risk management

Headquarters

HQ city

Flowood

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Revenue model

1. Insurance Commission Revenue: As an independent insurance agency, Insurance Protection Specialists earns revenue through commissions paid by insurance carriers for policies sold. They represent multiple carriers and shop among them to find optimal coverage and pricing for clients.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Insurance Protection Specialists is an independent insurance agency based in Flowood, Mississippi that shops over 30 insurance carriers including Nationwide, Liberty Mutual, MetLife, State Auto, and Progressive to source personal and commercial insurance products. The agency sells auto, home, commercial, boat/watercraft, flood, life, motorcycle, pet, renters, RV, and umbrella insurance policies and earns commissions from carriers on policies bound.

Product overview

Insurance Protection Specialists is an independent insurance agency offering a comprehensive portfolio of personal and commercial insurance products. As an independent agency, they shop over 30 insurance carriers including Nationwide, Liberty Mutual, MetLife, State Auto, and Progressive to find solutions for clients. Their core products include Auto Insurance, Home Insurance, Commercial Insurance, Life Insurance, Renters Insurance, and Umbrella Insurance as featured offerings, along with specialized coverage for Boat/Watercraft, Flood, Motorcycle, Pet, and RV insurance. The company serves clients across Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana from their Flowood, MS location.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Auto Insurance

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• NationwidecoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorNationwide is one of the insurance carriers represented by Insurance Protection Specialists. As independent agents, they shop over 30 carriers including Nationwide to explore solutions for client insurance needs.
• Liberty MutualcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorLiberty Mutual is one of the insurance carriers represented by Insurance Protection Specialists. They offer various insurance products through this partnership.
• MetLifecoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorMetLife is one of the over 30 insurance carriers represented by Insurance Protection Specialists.
• State AutocoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorState Auto is one of the insurance carriers represented by Insurance Protection Specialists.
• ProgressivecoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorProgressive is one of the insurance carriers represented by Insurance Protection Specialists, including Progressive/ASI products.
• ForemostcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorForemost is one of the insurance carriers represented by Insurance Protection Specialists.
• TravelerscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorTravelers is one of the insurance carriers represented by Insurance Protection Specialists.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• RPS (Ryan Specialty): Specialty insurance brokerage distributing commercial and personal coverages through retail and wholesale channels. Comparable independent-agency model with multi-carrier representation, though RPS skews toward larger commercial risks.
• Goosehead Insurance: National independent insurance agency that distributes home, auto, and other personal lines through a large carrier panel. Operates the same multi-carrier independent agency model as IPS and competes for the same household-policy customer.
• Leavitt Group: Regional independent insurance agency representing multiple carriers and serving personal and commercial clients across the Western U.S. Highly comparable operating model and customer profile to IPS, operating at similar mid-scale.
• Insurance Office of America: Southeast U.S. independent agency distributing personal and commercial insurance across multiple carrier partners. Directly comparable peer operating in overlapping geography with similar customer segmentation.
• Higginbotham: Independent insurance brokerage offering personal, commercial, and employee benefits across the South and Southwest. Competes with IPS in overlapping geographies (TX, LA, AR) using the same multi-carrier model.

Broad incumbents

• Marsh McLennan: Global professional services firm in risk, insurance, and consulting with Oliver Wyman/Mercer. While largely an enterprise/risk broker, it competes for the same commercial-insurance wallet and stands as an incumbent in the broader brokerage category.
• Brown & Brown: National insurance brokerage delivering personal, commercial, benefits, and specialty products through thousands of agency locations. Same multi-line distribution thesis as IPS but at vastly greater scale and geographic reach.
• Arthur J. Gallagher: Global insurance brokerage and risk management firm brokering commercial, personal, and specialty coverages. Overlaps with IPS in personal/commercial distribution but operates as a large incumbent with broader services.

Emerging players

• Policygenius: Online insurance marketplace aggregating life, home, auto, and disability quotes from multiple carriers. Operates as a digital competitor to IPS's quoting function for personal lines and is gradually expanding into adjacent products.
• Lemonade: Insurtech that sells renters, home, auto, pet, and life direct-to-consumer through a digital app. Targets the same end-customers as IPS for personal lines but bypasses the agent intermediation that IPS is built on.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/insuranceprotectionspecialists
• Xx.com/InsProtect247
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/insurance-protection-specialists-llc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Insurance Protection Specialists