OUR STORY

Built to Protect What Matters Most.

BCU Risk Advisors was founded in 2007 with a simple belief: affluent families deserved a more thoughtful insurance advisory experience than the transactional model that dominated the market. That belief still drives everything we do.

A Different Kind of Insurance Firm.

In 2007, Jeff Cline, Bruce Billmeyer, and Bill Uniowski saw a gap in the market that most brokers were ignoring. High-net-worth families were being treated as policyholders rather than as families with complex lives, evolving ownership structures, and increasingly interconnected risks. Homes were held in trusts, businesses operated through LLCs, multiple residences spanned states, and valuable assets often sat outside a coordinated risk strategy.


There were plenty of brokers selling policies. There were very few advisors helping families understand risk holistically. BCU was built to fill that gap.


The firm began as a four-person operation in a small Chicago office with an early focus on delivering highly responsive service and sophisticated guidance to families with complex insurance needs. Growth came almost entirely through referrals, first from clients, then from trusted advisors, including wealth managers, estate planning attorneys, accountants, and family office executives who saw value in a specialized partner focused exclusively on personal risk.


That referral-driven growth remains one of the firm’s strongest points of pride, because it reflects the trust BCU has earned over time.

National Reach. Personal Attention.

Today, BCU protects families, family offices, and privately held business owners across dozens of states and multiple countries, managing risk for clients with increasingly complex domestic and international footprints.


In one recent engagement alone, BCU coordinated insurance for a multi-generational family with 26 individual households spanning Illinois, Wisconsin, Maryland, Florida, Washington D.C., and the United Kingdom; covering everything from homes and automobiles to flood, cyber, travel, valuables, watercraft, and liability exposures.

The firm now serves more than 1,000 clients, with risk programs that often extend across multiple residences, entities, and generations.

How We Got Here.

2007
BCU was founded and secured its first Chubb appointment, along with its very first client.
2008
Expanded operations nationally with offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New Jersey. Became fully transactional with major carriers.
2009
Navigated the financial crisis, consolidated operations back to Chicago, and emerged as a stronger, more focused independent firm.
2013
Earned Chubb Cornerstone recognition, an honor BCU has maintained for more than 15 consecutive years.
2015
Added PURE Insurance to expand private client solutions.
2017
Added The Cincinnati Insurance Companies to broaden market access.
2019
Invested heavily in infrastructure, technology, and operational scale. Chelsey Rabalais became partner.
2020–2024
Expanded business development capabilities, client service infrastructure, and specialty market access as underwriting environments became more complex.

Designed to Reduce Complexity.

What makes BCU different is not simply that service feels personalized, it is that the entire experience is intentionally designed to reduce complexity for clients.

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Centralized Risk Coordination

BCU acts as a single point of contact across family members, household staff, attorneys, family office personnel, and wealth advisors. Instead of managing multiple broker relationships, clients work with one team that sees the full picture.

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Proactive Risk Management

We proactively review ownership structures, identify coverage gaps created by trusts or LLCs, coordinate renewals across multiple carriers, and introduce preventative strategies before losses occur.

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Dedicated Client Teams

Every client is supported by a dedicated advisor, account executive, coordinator, and claims advocate. You always know who is responsible, and you can expect fast, informed communication when issues arise.

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Claims Advocacy

When a claim happens, BCU manages the process from start to finish; navigating carriers, coordinating remediation, and keeping the client informed throughout.

Privately Owned. Intentionally Independent.

Despite significant growth, BCU remains privately owned and intentionally independent. Leadership believes independence allows the firm to prioritize long-term relationships over short-term transactions, and to make decisions based on what is right for clients, not what is convenient for a parent company.



Internally, BCU has built a culture centered around accountability, responsiveness, and continuous improvement, while investing in employee development as the organization grows. The firm operates on a simple principle: take exceptional care of clients and employees, and strong outcomes will follow.


That commitment extends beyond business. Community involvement and charitable engagement remain important parts of BCU’s identity, with leadership and team members regularly supporting philanthropic initiatives, nonprofit organizations, and causes that strengthen the communities where clients and employees live and work.

The Future of Family Risk.

BCU is continuing to evolve from a traditional insurance brokerage into a broader risk advisory firm for affluent families, family offices, and their trusted advisors. As cyber threats rise, ownership structures become more complex, and personal and enterprise risks increasingly overlap, BCU sees significant opportunity to lead conversations around modern family risk management.



The mission remains the same as it was in 2007: help clients protect what matters most; with greater clarity, confidence, and coordination.

Your Family. Your Risk. One Conversation.

Whether you are evaluating your current coverage or exploring a new advisory relationship, we would welcome the chance to learn about your family and show you how BCU works.