Glenn Thomas (main picture right, with Julie Morgan, AXA XL) still remembers the stark arithmetic of starting out alone: “Day one I had zero clients. Day two I had one client with a motorcycle,” he said. “Coming up to six years later, I've got close to a thousand clients and a team of eight people.”
It’s a growth story that can sound like a highlights reel until you trace the formative years that shaped the way he operates: steady, practical, people-first and quietly ambitious.
Thomas, the principal of GT Insurance Brokers and winner of Small Brokerage of the Year at the 2025 Insurance Business Awards, didn’t arrive in insurance with a grand plan. From the Victorian town of Bendigo, he was at university, studying a Bachelor of Business and uncertain about the future when a local brokerage offered a traineeship. He took it, learned the craft from the ground up and stayed long enough to build a foundation that would later prove decisive.
After close to a decade on the broking side, he stepped away briefly to test something outside the industry but then returned with renewed conviction that insurance was where he belonged. That second chapter took him to QBE, where he spent about 14 years in different roles. He loved the work. However, the moment that ultimately set GT Insurance Brokers in motion wasn’t a promotion or a big win - it was a regional reality.
QBE decided to close regional offices and, despite being a remote manager, Thomas’s main office was Bendigo. He was made redundant. For many, that would be the end of the story; for Thomas, it was the moment to build something he could control. With limited insurer presence in regional centres and a clear understanding of what local clients needed, he chose to start his own authorised representative brokerage.
A small-town base can suggest a small-town book but GT Insurance didn’t stay confined to its postcode. Thomas’s early years of relationship-based broking probably created a momentum he didn’t have to force; he simply had to keep up with it.
His clients are Australia-wide but were not formed from a big marketing budget or a flashy brand rollout. They came from referrals, responsiveness and consistent delivery - built one account at a time, and reinforced by the credibility that comes when a broker does exactly what they say they’ll do.
That pattern of doing the work, earning the trust and letting the results travel also explains the brokerage’s pace. In the beginning, the book was thin and every new client mattered. Over time, the wheel turned: a growing base led to more conversations, which led to more recommendations, which led to a business that could support a larger team and more structured operations.
But growth alone doesn’t win awards in a competitive industry. What sets a small brokerage apart is how it grows: whether the culture holds, whether service standards rise rather than slip and whether the founder’s values remain intact as the headcount increases.
One of the most distinctive elements of GT Insurance’s operating model is also one of its most personal. While at QBE, Thomas helped train underwriters when the insurer was moving work to the Philippines - an experience that gave him both capability and connection. Years later, those relationships became the backbone of a brokerage team that could scale without sacrificing service.
Thomas kept in touch with people he had trained and worked alongside. Over time, some reached out asking about opportunities. What began as a professional connection became an engine for sustainable growth: experienced insurance professionals, already aligned with the standards and discipline of a major insurer, joining a small brokerage where their impact would be immediate.
Today, Thomas’s team of eight is based in the Philippines and the arrangement is not framed as outsourcing for its own sake - it’s framed as continuity: taking lessons from a big insurer’s training environment and applying them to the needs of a growing brokerage. For clients, that means speed and consistency. For the business, it means the capacity to grow without diluting the personal accountability that differentiates smaller operators.
And for Thomas, it’s a reminder that no founder builds alone: “We wouldn't be where we are without them,” he said. “It's a nice local success story, really.”
Local, in this sense, isn’t just geography - it’s identity. A Bendigo brokerage can serve national clients, employ an international team and still feel rooted in the practical values of regional business: reliability, reputation and relationships that last.
Those were the key attributes that won Thomas his Small Brokerage award last year. This year’s Insurance Business Awards is a new opportunity to spotlight another small brokerage that performs, adapts and leads - without the scale advantages of larger competitors.
The 2026 awards event will be held on May 1 at Doltone House in Sydney, bringing the industry together for a celebratory gala dinner where the standout individuals, teams and businesses currently in contention for the industry’s top honours will be announced and celebrated. With 22 categories recognising the work done across the insurance industry - including brokers, claims teams, insurers and service providers - the event offers a sharp view of what industry excellence looks like right now.
