GEICO announced that its Katy office will serve as its headquarters for its small business insurance operations.

In a Feb. 15 ceremony at the Katy office, 21420 Merchants Way, company executives said they had been looking at possible locations for over a year. Jason Andrukonis, GEICO commercial vice president, said GEICO had three criteria: a deep and diverse talent pool, a low cost of living and a location that was welcoming to business.

Andrukonis said as Katy rose to the top of the list, he and Melissa Gallaro, GEICO senior vice president, came to Texas to see Katy for themselves. He said the company held focus groups which encouraged executives to decide to base GEICO’s small business insurance operations here. About half of those associates spoken with were native or long-time Texans, and the other half came later, he said.

“Our associates raved about the quality of life here in Katy,” Andrukonis said. “We spent the first 40 minutes talking about the quality of schools.”

Discussions also took place about the community’s diversity, its amenities, and how, with the cost of living, residents could work toward buying and owning homes.

“This is a slam dunk,” Andrukonis said. “This is the place we want to grow in the future.”

Gallaro said the company was well-known for its auto insurance business—she joked the GEICO gecko, which she called the “company spokeslizard,” helped with that—but the company was now expanding into the small business insurance market.

There’s a lot of market there. She said it was worth $300 billion. She said the company hoped to change a cumbersome customer experience in signing up for small business insurance, and provide ease, choice and savings as GEICO does in its other insurance businesses. GEICO provides auto, boat, homeowners, motorcycle/ATV and renters insurance in addition to small business insurance.

“There are 33 million small businesses across America,” Gallaro said. “Ninety-nine percent of businesses are small business. There’s plenty of opportunity for GEICO to grow.”

As the company expands its operations, it is looking to hire about 250 new employees. The current office building has the room to accommodate the new employees, Andrukonis said. The jobs will focus on small business insurance, sales and customer service, she said. For more information about GEICO jobs, visit the website careers.geico.com/us.en.

Angie Thomason, interim president/CEO of the Katy Area Economic Development Council, said GEICO has had an office in Katy for about 10 years The EDC was involved in helping GEICO set up shop in Katy then, she said, and was happy to continue that support.

Gallaro said the company has deep Texas ties. She said the company began in 1936 in Fort Worth as the Government Employees Insurance Company. She said the goal was to help government employees save 15% or more on insurance—a tag line used in the company’s advertising today.

CORRECTION: In the print edition, Melissa Gallaro's name was misspelled. The Times regrets the error.