Our leadership story
Our roots run deep.
So does the way we lead.
WalkerHughes began with a handshake between a farm kid and the agent who insured his family’s land. That relationship, and the values behind it, still shapes how we lead, hire, and serve.
Founder-led. Relationship-driven. Built to last.
Where it began
It Started on a Hog Farm in Tipton
Benjamin Schoettmer grew up on a hog farm outside Tipton, Indiana, homeschooled from the seventh grade and raised around adults who expected him to pull his weight. His father led the Indiana Pork Producers and was once recognized as “America’s Pig Farmer,” so Ben learned early what a family business means to a small town, and he learned the value of hard work and earning his own keep.
He sold pencils as a kid, flipped coins on eBay with his dad, and owned rental properties before most people his age had a driver’s license. The instinct to build something real and stick with it started on that farm, and it never left.
A relationship takes root
A Merit Badge Started a Mentorship
Ask Ben how WalkerHughes started and he won’t hand you a one-pager. He’ll tell you about Everett Hughes. Everett was an insurance agent in Tipton who had muscular dystrophy and spent most of his life in a wheelchair. He insured the Schoettmer farm for years, so when a teenage Ben, working toward his Eagle Scout rank, needed to complete a Disabilities Awareness merit badge, his father knew exactly who to call.
What began as a structured visit turned into something more: Ben was building computers then and became Everett’s go-to IT guy, and the hours together added up. What struck Ben wasn’t Everett’s situation; it was his dedication to the people he served. He ran a full agency, made sure every client was covered, showed up when things went wrong, and never asked for a pass.
“He never asked for accommodation. He just found a way, and he built real relationships doing it.”
Benjamin Schoettmer, CEO
2007 and beyond
Carrying the Business, and the People, Forward
The mentorship grew into a partnership. In March 2007, Ben and Everett opened a second location together in Cicero, Indiana, Ben’s first real test at running and growing an agency, and, as it happened, the town where he’d later marry his middle-school sweetheart.
Just seven months later, Everett passed away unexpectedly. In August 2008, Ben purchased both offices and rebranded them Hughes Group in his mentor’s honor; Everett’s wife, Diane, stayed with the company until her own passing in 2021. It taught Ben something he still repeats: when you take over a business, you inherit its people, its reputation, and its place in the community. Growth is a responsibility.
Years later, Hughes Group merged with Walker & Associates Insurance, a respected, multi-generational Indianapolis agency, and WalkerHughes got its name. Both halves of it are a tribute to people who built something worth carrying forward.
Founder-led for the future
We Play the Long Game on Purpose
We’re founder-led, and we lead for the long term. Ben still runs the company by the lessons his mentors instilled in him: earn trust, respect what came before you, and leave the place stronger than you found it. “Time is the variable,” Ben likes to say. We’d rather build something that lasts than something that looks good this quarter.
For clients, that shows up as stability and people who stay. For our team, it’s a company that plans to still be here, and still care, years from now.
Values in action
Values We Practice
Plenty of companies keep their values on a wall. We set aside a full week for ours. Every year since 2022, the entire team pauses for Values Week: five days, one value each, built around service, peer recognition, and giving back. It closes every Friday with a charitable giving project, because “Put Others First” only counts if you do it.
- Support Team Success
- Seek to Understand
- Show You Care
- Pursue a Solution
- Put Others First
Built to endure
Built for the Long Haul
Over the past two decades, WalkerHughes has grown through nearly 40 acquisitions, almost always by partnering with agency owners who care about their people and their hometown the way Everett did.
We’ve grown a lot (we were even honored on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing privately held companies in 2026), but the goal hasn’t changed: build a company that honors where it came from, takes care of its people and their families, and stays rooted in the communities it serves.
“We’re not trying to be the biggest.
Benjamin Schoettmer, CEO
We’re trying to be excellent and enduring.”
The next chapter
Come Build With Us
Whether you’re looking for an insurance partner who stays, or a career at a company rooted in something real, we’d like to meet you.
Learn more
Frequently Asked Questions
Who founded WalkerHughes Insurance, and who is the CEO?
WalkerHughes is led by CEO Benjamin Schoettmer, who grew up on a hog farm in Tipton, Indiana. He entered the business alongside local agent Everett Hughes and built the company that became WalkerHughes. It remains founder-led.
Where did the name WalkerHughes come from?
It honors two legacies. “Hughes” comes from Everett Hughes, the mentor who first brought Ben into insurance; Ben renamed his early agency Hughes Group in his honor. “Walker” comes from Walker & Associates Insurance, a multi-generational Indianapolis agency that later merged with Hughes Group to form WalkerHughes.
What are the core values of WalkerHughes?
Five: Support Team Success, Seek to Understand, Show You Care, Pursue a Solution, and Put Others First. Every year since 2022, the whole team dedicates a full week, Values Week, to living them out through service, recognition, and charitable giving.
What makes the culture at WalkerHughes different?
It’s founder-led and built for the long term rather than a quick exit. The culture is rooted in Midwestern work ethic, community, and relationships over transactions, shaped directly by the CEO’s upbringing and the mentors who taught him the business.
Where does WalkerHughes Insurance operate?
WalkerHughes serves individuals, families, and businesses across Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Ohio, with more than two dozen local offices throughout the Midwest.
