After 15 years in various spots in Colorado Springs, Chris Wood moved his Pikes Peak Insurance Agency to Falcon in August.Why? “I live out here,” he said. “I was raised out here. Ö This is my town, I love this community. So I said, let’s be out here.”Wood grew up in Peyton and is a graduate of Peyton High School. He met his wife-to-be, Shannon, in the fourth grade at Peyton Elementary.”I asked her to be my girlfriend back then, and she said only if I gave her my hat,î he recalled. ìSo I gave her my hat and then we didn’t talk to each other.” It wasn’t until their senior year in high school that a romance truly developed; they were married in 1999.Wood has been working since age 14; he had a variety of jobs growing up, from janitorial work to cleaning horse stalls to working at a wood shavings plant. After school, he ended up in sales, working at MCI as a telemarketer for six years.However, he always wanted to run his own business. An early vision was to run a heating and air-conditioning company; he liked the idea that the AC part would keep him busy in the summer and the heating would take over in the winter. Instead, he ended up gravitating toward insurance; Wood went to work for California Casualty in 2002 and learned the ins and outs of the industry. “They had a great training program,” he said.The dream of having his own business didn’t fade, though. After a few years, he requested to go part time so he could start setting up that business. Instead of getting a “yes,” he got fired.”They pulled me in and said yeah, we don’t need you anymore. I went to my truck, I had never been fired before, and I called my wife. I was in tears. I was like, what do I do? And she said, well, apparently you need to open a business.îWood started Pikes Peak Insurance Agency in 2005 with a focus on homeowner policies — and, of course, with zero clients. “The first two years were the hardest Ö I dialed and dialed and dialed. Two or three years in, the phone started ringing. That’s when I was able to start hiring people.”He has a half-dozen employees now, including his brother Donald. (“The better-looking one,” Donald shouted from his desk.) And the company, which specializes in auto, home and commercial insurance, now has more than 2,000 clients.”The dramatic growth has happened in the past year and a half.î he said. ìOur growth is just ridiculous.” Wood credits the growth, in part, to the area’s sizzling hot housing market and the demand for homeowner policies.His home is in Meridian Ranch; previously Wood and his family lived in Woodmen Hills, in one of the first homes built behind Safeway. Wood and Shannon have four children ñ- two sons and two daughters ñ- ranging in age from 27 to 13.When he’s not selling insurance, Wood might be on the basketball court; he is the head junior varsity coach and assistant varsity coach for the Falcon girls’ basketball team; brother Donald is the coach for boys’ basketball.Meanwhile, daughter Kilee Jo, age 17, hopes to get a college scholarship for basketball.In high school, Wood played football, basketball and baseball.”Football was my favorite sport to play, but basketball is my favorite sport to coach. I love the game.”The shutdown of the basketball season due to COVID has been quite a blow to the dedicated girls he has worked with for so long, Wood said. The team made it to the Sweet 16 in the 2019-2020 season and was hoping for the Final Four this season.”Those poor girls,” he said. “And heck, I’m selfish, poor me.”(Pikes Peak Insurance Agency is on the second floor of The State Bank building, 7495 McLaughlin Road. For more information: visit https://pikespeakins.com.)
