The story
Richard A. Gulliver began his insurance career in 1977 and eventually took over a small brokerage that his father had established in Leamington, Ontario. By the late 1990s, he had grown that operation into a larger Toronto-based firm called The Hub Group (Ontario) Inc.
In 1998, Gulliver’s brokerage merged with ten other Canadian brokerages to form HUB International Limited.
In 1999, HUB shares were publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Martin P. Hughes, then President of Mack and Parker, Inc., joined HUB through acquisition and was named Chairman & CEO.
By 2000, annual revenue had increased to $95 million. In 2001, HUB relocated its headquarters to Chicago and established regional offices in the Northeast U.S. In 2002, HUB raised $88.1 million, through an initial public offering, listing its shares on the New York Stock Exchange.
In 2007, HUB’s market capitalization passed $1 billion and the company was purchased by an investor group led by private equity firm Apax Partners together with Morgan Stanley. In August 2013, HUB was acquired by the private equity firm Hellman & Friedman for $4.4 billion.
In 2017, HUB named Marc Cohen President and CEO; Martin Hughes continued as Executive Chairman of the Board. In 2018, HUB received a substantial minority investment from funds managed by Toronto-based investment firm Altas Partners.
In October 2021, Specialty Program Group, a subsidiary of HUB International, acquired CM&F Group, a provider of healthcare professional liability insurance coverage serving nurses, allied health professionals, and other healthcare practitioners.
In March 2022, HUB acquired Insureon, a Chicago-based digital insurance agency serving small businesses.
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In June 2022, HUB launched VIU by HUB, a digital insurance brokerage platform offering personal lines consumers carrier choice, real-time quotes and licensed agent support for home and auto coverage. The platform also powers embedded insurance programs for automotive manufacturers, financial institutions and other enterprises, enabling those partners to offer insurance solutions within their own customer ecosystems.
In April 2023, Specialty Program Group acquired Squaremouth, a St. Petersburg, Florida-based digital travel insurance comparison platform that had insured more than three million travelers.
In 2023, Leonard Green & Partners made a minority investment in HUB at a valuation of approximately $23 billion.
Between 2021 and 2024, HUB launched several commercial risk practices. In 2021, the company launched a North American Complex Risk Practice to serve large and complex clients across the U.S. and Canada. In February 2023, HUB established a Global Risk Solutions practice to serve multinational clients operating across more than 100 countries. In January 2024, HUB launched a North American Property Practice focused on commercial property coverage.
By 2025, HUB reported total revenue of $5.28 billion and ranked seventh among the world's largest insurance brokers. In May 2025, HUB completed a $1.6 billion capital raise at a valuation of $29 billion.
In late 2025, HUB rolled out Anthropic's Claude AI across its approximately 20,000 employees.
From Wikipedia’s article on HUB International, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4