Alum Makes Future in Insurance

To be a top-notch businessman, one must be assertive and knowledgeable. That is exactly the impression one gets from Roland Hymel, Jr., B’53. Hymel is the former president and chair of the board of Roland Hymel Agency, Inc., one of three businesses he started throughout his 31-year career in the insurance industry. How did one man achieve so much? Hard work, good connections, and his mom, Hymel explains.

In his senior year of high school, he was offered numerous sports scholarships. How-ever, his mom had other plans for him. Since Hymel had promised her that he would not play football, she accepted the track scholarship Loyola had offered for him. He enrolled in the College of Business Administration and became a marketing major with a minor in accounting.

Toward the end of his senior year, the Rev. Joseph A. Butt, S.J., a favorite professor of Hymel’s, called Hymel into his office and asked him what his future plans were. Since Hymel had no idea what he wanted to do after school, Butt told him that he would do well working for the IBM Corporation. After a quick phone call, Hymel went to a job interview with IBM and was hired.

He worked for IBM as part of their marketing department until he was called to serve two years in active military duty. After his two years were up, he returned to IBM, only to find that the company wanted him to move to Memphis. Because his wife, Mary Ann, didn’t want to leave, he began searching for another job. Finally, a friend suggested that Hymel get into the insurance industry and set up a meeting with his boss. After a few questions and a brief explanation of the company, Hymel struck a deal and got the job.

One day, he received a call offering him the chance to run and own a general agency. Hymel felt that at 30, he was too young to run a general agency and refused the offer. After receiving another call, he accepted, and in 1960, he became the owner of the general agency, Roland Hymel Agency, Inc. The company sold all forms of life and health insurance and specialized in the pension business. His company soon became the largest of its type in the South and later expanded into the consulting and administration of retirement plans.

The agency has since evolved into three companies: the Roland Hymel Agency, Inc., Fringe Benefits Administrators, Ltd., founded in 1969, and the Roland Hymel Consulting Firm founded in 1970. These three businesses provide a variety of services including designing tax shelter trusts, financial plan-ning, and estate planning work. In 1976, his firm was the only computerized firm in the south. He kept this technology alive in the company by hiring Loyola computer science students part-time each year.

In 1987, Hymel sold the general agency and began a life of semi-retirement. In 1988, he sold Fringe Benefits Administrators, Ltd. to a good friend of his, Dick Watson, B’70, who helped him build and run the business. However, he still controls many accumulated assets he gathered while running the business.

Hymel has been very pleased with his Loyola education, especially its focus on ethics and moral teachings. This aspect put Loyola ahead of most institutions at the time. It is only recently that ethics has become a standard in the national business curriculum. However, he stresses that extracurricular involvement is as important as academics.

Hymel offers this bit of information for students wanting to follow similar career paths: “Business students need to have a desire to help and assist people. They have to be self-motivated and willing to work.”

His education is not his only con-nection to Loyola. Various members of his family all attended the university in a number of different fields, and he often recommends Loyola to others.He has also been agenerous contributor to the university, giving numerous gifts and professorships to the CBA.

Presently, Hymel lives in Mississippi with his wife. Together they have four children and nine grandchildren. Their oldest son is an investigator for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Department where he works in the missing persons department. Their second son is in real estate management in Baton Rouge. Their third son, Randy, is in the computer business field in Atlanta, and their youngest child, Mary, owns and publishes two magazines, Family Living and Health and Fitness. Like her father, Mary hires Loyola interns.

Besides his business and his family, Hymel has been very active in a number of community and business organizations such as the Metairie Country Club Association, Loyola Alumni Association, New Orleans Life Underwriters Association, and National Association of Life Underwriters.

—Theresa Ryan, A’00

College of Business Administration
Campus Box 15
6363 St. Charles Avenue
New Orleans, LA 70118