Navigating New Waters: A Navy Veteran’s Successful Foray Into Insurance

From an early age, U.S. Navy veteran Dustin Hall was never one to back down from a challenge. Throughout his life, he has been in charge of logistics units, co-founded a business while studying at a highly accredited university, and is now embarking on a career in the insurance industry with Amsure. Between his work ethic and dedication to helping those in his community, it is clear that Dustin has a bright future ahead of him.

Dustin graduated from Glens Falls High School in 2013. He was unsure of his plans for the future, but came from a long line of men that had served in the military. Both his step father and grandfather had been in the Navy, so following their lead he enrolled. “It started a Navy tradition in a sense,” he explained. After attending bootcamp, he traveled to Pensacola, Florida to begin his A school training. Dustin went into Aviation Boatswain’s Mate, Aircraft Handling (ABH) training, where he learned how to supervise the movement of Naval aircraft and perform rescue duties. Once he had completed his A school, he traveled to Virginia where he was assigned to the USS Theodore Roosevelt.

About a year later in 2015, Dustin set out on a world tour. The Navy was doing a port change for three aircraft carriers: USS Theordore Roosevelt, USS Ronald Regan, and the USS George Washington. Overall, he visited seven different countries, seeing places like Australia, Dubai, England, India, and more, before ending the tour in San Diego, California.

Afterwards, he traveled back to Virginia where he was reassigned to the USS George Washington. Once back, Dustin became in charge of managing a logistics unit at only 22 years old: “Day to day, I was in charge of about 40 people in our unit,” said Dustin. “It was a learning curve because when you’re the supervisor to someone who is 33 years old, and they have 10 years on you, you kind of have to figure out ‘How do you talk to this person?’”

Despite the challenge, Dustin excelled at his job and had plenty of support from those around him. “I had a couple great mentors in the Navy that took me under their wing, a couple officers, and they gave me that opportunity and I learned from it,” he explained. “Those individuals were people who pushed me to start doing my education.”

Taking their advice, Dustin began to take classes at Tidewater Community College. Dustin took four classes every semester, and was able to finish all of his prerequisites. He had to decide between staying in the Navy or continuing his education… However, once he was accepted into the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, his decision was clear. “I was a C+/B- student getting into Syracuse’s number one program in the country,” explained Dustin, “I was like, I need to do this.”

Syracuse is well-known for their commitment to helping veterans further their education and as a proud alum, Dustin would agree: “I almost felt like I was recruited in a sense, kind of like what they do for sports players. They want veterans to come,” he said.

In addition to the GI Bill, Syracuse participates in the Yellow Ribbon Program, which covers the education costs that the GI Bill does not. This allows veterans, like Dustin, to attend the university without needing to take out private loans.

Having grown up with an interest in politics, Dustin majored in policy studies, but found it challenging to adjust to the college lifestyle: “Being a veteran there is a learning curve,” explained Dustin, “You get into math classes and professors say ‘You remember this from high school.’ Well high school was at that point seven years ago for me.”

However, Dustin had lots of support from professors and mentioned Sean O’Keefe – who served as the Secretary of the Navy under President Geroge H.W. Bush and the Administrator for NASA under President Geroge W. Bush – as having an impact on his experience at Syracuse: “He kind of took me
under his wing in the sense of applying myself,” said Dustin, who continued to explain how with O’Keefe’s encouragement, he took more challenging courses.

In addition to being a full-time student, Dustin co-founded the business College Truckers. Functioning similarly to a franchise, the business existed at other universities, but Dustin brought it to Syracuse. Completely student-run, he hired other students and friends to be the “movers” that would pick-up their customers’ boxes and transport them to a storage unit. Once the semester was about to begin, customers would give them a date and room number and all of their belongings were dropped off and waiting for them. Eventually, the business became so successful during Dustin’s last year, they began shipping boxes for students who lived out of state.

In addition to running a successful business, Dustin kept himself busy by completing an internship. He attended a lecture from a former Syracuse alum who explained how his company insured the Superbowl, which, being a huge football fan himself, piqued Dustin’s interest. “It was the first time ever where I was like, ‘Oh, insurance sounds kind of cool,’” said Dustin.

This newfound interest led to him finding OneGroup, where he applied for an internship. Due to him being slightly older than the average college student, OneGroup designed an internship around him, allowing him to work in every department. He completed many challenging tasks, like researching Spartanburg, South Carolina while living in New York because the company was expanding. He also had the opportunity to survey many county buildings and airports, although he was more of an observer for these trips: “Basically I was a notetaker; glorified notetaker as I like to call it,” joked Dustin. This experience confirmed that insurance was the industry Dustin wanted to pursue.

After obtaining his bachelor’s degree, which he completed in only three years, Dustin moved back to Glens Falls and despite knowing what he wanted to do, he didn’t jump into the insurance industry right away: “Having the mentors I had at OneGroup, they encouraged me to really try to find the right agency, the right insurance company to land at, not just to go right out and find a job,” said Dustin.

While interviewing and looking for insurance jobs, he worked as the deputy commissioner of elections. Eventually, he found Amsure, and knew it was the perfect opportunity for him. “They’re willing to put the time and effort into me and teach me. They’re willing to team me up with a mentor so I can learn from someone who’s been doing it, not just getting help here and there,” explained Dustin. He works closely with his mentor Dave Meager, who has worked in the insurance industry for more than 50 years.

Passionate about his work, Dustin is constantly networking and building connections with those in his community: “My philosophy is that you build the network and worry about the sales later,” explained Dustin. “While obviously growing a book of business in the future is the overall goal, I’d rather grow that book of business through friendships, and networking, and connections versus the typical go out and pick someone randomly.”

One way he has made genuine connections was through the Adirondack Chamber of Commerce (ARCC) Veteran’s Business Network (VBN). He mentioned Sean Dion and Juan Gonzales, who both serve leadership positions on the VBN. Being veterans themselves, Dustin can relate to them in a way many people cannot. As a bonus, he is able to help them on the insurance side of their businesses as well.

Dustin also enjoys helping fire districts when he gets the chance: “Fire districts, that’s one of my soft spots in the insurance industry. I love fire districts in the sense of, I was an aircraft firefighter, so I can go in and I can talk to firefighters or a fire district and I kind of understand them. It’s always nice knowing I have their back in a sense on the insurance side,” said Dustin.

While still early in his career, Dustin is proving that he has the dedication and drive needed to succeed: “I’ve learned that the best approach that you can do coming into the insurance industry is just be true and genuine, and if you don’t know something admit that you don’t know something, but then come back and [say] ‘Here, this is the answer,’” shared Dustin. “At the end of the day, an agent or broker should become a trusted advisor to your business.” He makes sure that he is always thinking of the people and keeping their business’ best interest in mind when giving advice.

Outside of work, Dustin spends lots of time with his wife, Bailey, and Vizsla dog, Trigger. They enjoy going on walks and exploring trails together as the weather warms up. He also has a love for cars: “My wife would tell you it’s probably a little more of an obsession,” he admitted… Specifically, he loves Porsches, and is always excited to find someone else to talk to about his interest.

Additionally, Bailey and Dustin are preparing to become first-time parents, with an upcoming due date this August.