Barry and Val Sutherland

Barry Sutherland began his career in the insurance industry in 1988 as a representative for Aid Association for Lutherans. He moved his office to its current location in Scandia, MN in 1989. Working for AAL, Barry helped his members to meet their life, health and investment needs. To ensure that he was giving his clients the best possible service, he aggressively pursued continuing education and earned multiple advanced certifications including Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU), Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC), and Certified Financial Planner (CFP).

In 1998, Sutherland left AAL and opened Scandia Financial Services, an independent agency. When asked what prompted him to make the change, he replied that no one company could meet the diverse needs of his clients and that he would prefer to be working for his clients rather than any one company.

In 2002, Valerie Sutherland earned her life and health license and joined her husband in the agency. Val brings to the agency a background in human services as well as customer service. When asked how the two of them work together, Val said "We both have different strengths. I tend to be the detail person who keeps track of the day-to-day nuts and bolts while Barry is more the big picture, how can we get this to work, person".

Over a period of time, health insurance evolved as the central focus of the agency and in 2003, Scandia Financial Services became Health Insurance Mart to better reflect the agency's mission.

When asked what they think makes their agency unique, Barry and Val respond, "We do business the 'small town' way. We try to treat our clients the way we would like to be treated. Rather than SELL health insurance, we educate people about their options, whether it involves a company plan, an individual plan, COBRA, or MCHA. Using information they provide regarding their health care needs and what level of coverage they're comfortable with, we can help them narrow their choices to the one or two that will work best for them".