The History of PSA Financial Center
PSA Financial Center traces its roots back to 1928, when Bert Lewis, grandfather of today’s Managing Director Chip Lewis, immigrated to America from Wales. A coal miner in his native country, Lewis settled in Baltimore, Maryland. He soon accepted a position with an insurance company where he sold debit life insurance, knocking on doors each week to collect premiums from his customers.
Bert’s son, Trevor C. Lewis, earned an Accounting degree at the University of Baltimore and subsequently joined his father in the insurance industry. During the 1940’s Trevor Lewis established Trevor C. Lewis & Company, an independent insurance agency. The firm was located in the Fidelity Building at Charles and Lexington Streets in Baltimore City.
Trevor Lewis targeted the company’s services to medical students, residents, internists and physicians just starting on their careers. The relationship continued to build over the years as their practices expanded and families were raised.
Trevor (Chip) Lewis, Jr., one of Trevor’s four children, joined his father’s business on March 15, 1972 after earning his degree from the University of Baltimore. The company relocated that year to the old Baltimore Life Building at 930 Park Avenue in Baltimore. In 1973, Trevor Lewis retired, and Chip Lewis was established as owner of Trevor C. Lewis & Company.
Initially Chip Lewis mirrored his father’s successful approach by calling on young medical professionals; however, by 1977 he knew that he wanted something different.
“Around this time, physicians were just starting to form physicians groups for lifestyle and economic reasons,” Lewis explains. “I thought that was an interesting model and looked for a similar independent group for insurance and financial services, but there were none.”
Lewis wrote his own business plan and set out to build an independent, multi-disciplined, multi-service firm to serve the needs of clients. “I wanted to be part of a firm with other specialists like me—some with the same disciplines, some with other disciplines—who work together for the common good of our clients.”
On February 1, 1978, Lewis adopted a new name for the company—Professional Service Associates (later shortened to PSA)—and moved the co
mpany to 305 W. Chesapeake Avenue in Towson. In 1980, Craig English joined PSA as partner with the intent to build a Property Casualty Firm to round out the financial services. He was followed during the early part of the decade by several others who are still with the company today, including John Lannon, Chris Rose, Patricia Holt and Tammi Nash. By 1984 the company had expanded to 15 employees. “We were building the company one client and one professional staff member at a time,” recalls Lewis. “The way we grew then is the same way that we grow today. Our primary emphasis is on servicing the client and on client retention.”
PSA continued to add new insurance, investment and consulting services to assist both business and personal customers. It expanded its client base to include more small to medium-sized closely held businesses and then to individuals who wanted the complete financial services that PSA could provide.
Starting in the 1990s and continuing through today, PSA Financial Center has grown with more than two dozen mergers and acquisitions, bringing the services of seasoned, experienced professionals into this unique practice. Today more than 165 employees occupy its offices in Hunt Valley.
Lewis attributes PSA’s steady and continuing growth to the support of its clients and to the professionals who believe that they have far greater value together than they do individually. “The company’s guiding values and principles have not changed since its inception,” Lewis says. “Our number one priority is to serve our clients, to grow up and grow old with them. Whether they are business or personal clients or both, we want to go through their entire life cycle with them."
Every time we grow we get better and better at doing that,” he continues. “There’s a bit of momentum gained. The larger we become, the greater access we have to products and services -- and the greater clout we have in the market in terms of negotiating for our clients. We also have greater professional support in terms of the knowledge and intellectual capital that we can bring to a client.”
“PSA’s clients appreciate the firm’s respect for their most precious commodity,” he continues. “That isn’t money, but time,” he says. “What’s truly unique about the PSA model—what differentiates us from anybody else in the marketplace—is that 
we can save them time. We have an efficient model.”
“In a traditional model, clients have to go to multiple firms and multiple individuals. They have to build their own team of different individuals in different disciplines in different firms. Not only do they not know each other, but in many respects they are in competition with each other; the client has to manage and coordinate all of this and determine what is real and what is not real. It’s very inefficient.”
“Clients with PSA, on the other hand, have the option of coming here and sitting at a conference table with professionals of all disciplines who know each other and who coordinate clients’ information, data, goals and objectives so they can work together for the good of those clients. The ultimate goal is to serve clients and to meet their goals and objectives, with the mission of protecting and growing their assets.”
PSA offers mature, experienced professionals who provide a wide range of experiences and a wealth of knowledge to our clients. “That depth and breadth of resources is incredibly powerful,” he says. “There’s a synergy that comes from the collaborative environment, from people talking to each other, both on an organized basis and on an informal basis.”
The success of the PSA model is evident in the company’s continued growth and in the ever-increasing number of clients who benefit from its services.
