About Us
The Alera Group Wilson office was formerly John Hackney Agency, one of Eastern North Carolina’s most respected and enduring insurance firms, with a long history of serving businesses, families, and communities throughout the region.
Founded in 1895, the agency grew over four generations into one of Eastern North Carolina’s leading independently owned insurance and consulting firms. Built on a foundation of honesty, integrity, and exceptional client service, the agency earned a reputation for helping businesses and individuals protect what matters most while navigating an ever-changing risk environment.
In 2022, John Hackney Agency joined Alera Group, bringing together more than 130 years of local relationships and industry expertise with the expanded resources and national capabilities of one of the country’s premier independent financial services and insurance organizations.
For generations, the Wilson team has remained committed to delivering personalized service and thoughtful risk management solutions to clients across North Carolina and beyond. From small businesses and growing family-owned companies to larger regional organizations, the agency has continually evolved to meet the changing needs of its clients while maintaining the values that have guided it since the beginning.
Our Guiding Values
From the beginning, our core values have shaped every aspect of our business and continue to guide our relationships with clients, employees, and the communities we serve:
- Honesty & Integrity
- Superior Customer Service & Professionalism
- Financial Accountability
Our Solutions
We provide a comprehensive range of insurance, risk management, and employee benefits solutions tailored to meet the unique needs of businesses and individuals. Our consultative approach allows us to better understand each client’s operations, goals, and exposures so we can recommend customized strategies designed to provide long-term protection and confidence.
Our experience ranges from protecting growing businesses to advising families with complex personal insurance needs and high-value assets.
Business Insurance & Risk Management
We help businesses manage risk through customized coverage solutions that may include:
- Commercial Property & Casualty Insurance
- General Liability
- Commercial Auto
- Workers’ Compensation
- Professional & Management Liability
- Cyber & Crime Coverage
- Employee Benefits & Group Health Plans
- Transportation & Logistics Insurance
- Construction & Contractor Programs
- Umbrella & Excess Liability Coverage
- Surety & Bonding Solutions
Personal Insurance Solutions
We provide personalized insurance solutions designed to protect individuals, families, and their most valuable assets. From primary residences to vacation properties and high-value collections, our team works closely with clients to create customized coverage strategies that provide confidence and peace of mind.
Our personal insurance solutions include:
- Homeowners Insurance
- High-Value & High Net Worth Home Coverage
- Coastal & Secondary Home Insurance
- Automobile Insurance
- Boat & Watercraft Insurance
- Flood Insurance
- Inland Marine Coverage
- Fine Arts & Antiques Coverage
- Valuable Articles & Jewelry Coverage
- Personal Umbrella Liability Coverage
- Renters Insurance
Whether protecting a family home, a second home at the North Carolina coast, a valuable art collection, or other unique personal assets, we help clients secure coverage tailored to their lifestyle and risk exposures.
Industries We Serve
Over the years, we have worked with clients across a wide range of industries, including:
Agribusiness, construction, manufacturing, transportation, healthcare, real estate, hospitality, financial services, retail, professional services, education, nonprofit organizations, technology, wholesalers and distributors, and many other small and mid-sized businesses throughout North Carolina and beyond.
Today, as part of Alera Group, the Wilson office continues its long-standing tradition of trusted local service while offering clients access to expanded resources, specialized expertise, and innovative solutions designed to help them grow and succeed for generations to come.
Looking for an insurance agent in Wilson, NC? We are here ready to help! Since 1985, the Wilson office has been supporting its clients. In 2022, our office (formerly John Hackney Insurance), joined Alera Group.
Meet Our Team
Tom Hackney
Senior Partner
Tom was born and raised in Wilson, North Carolina, and spent all of his summers at Atlantic Beach — a connection to the coast that remains an important part of his life today. After graduating from The Baylor School in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1975, he returned to North Carolina to attend UNC–Chapel Hill, graduating in 1979. He joined the family insurance business in 1980 and has spent more than four decades helping guide its growth and evolution.
Under Tom’s leadership, John Hackney Agency grew into one of Eastern North Carolina’s most respected independent insurance firms before joining The Alera Group in 2022. Throughout his career, Tom has remained focused on building long-term client relationships, supporting his employees, and maintaining the agency’s reputation for integrity, professionalism, and service.
Tom is quick to credit the agency’s success to the talented team around him. The organization has long been defined by dedicated employees, many of whom have spent their entire careers with the agency helping clients navigate risk management and insurance challenges.
Tom and his wife, the former Susan Page King, met as freshmen at UNC–Chapel Hill and married in 1980. They have two daughters and four grandchildren. Deeply connected to both Wilson and the North Carolina coast, Tom remains active in the community and enjoys time with family, travel, real estate renovation, reading, cooking, and long walks in Wilson and at the beach.
Layton Brown
Producer
Layton was born and raised in Raleigh, NC. After graduating from Woodberry Forest School in Virginia in 2010, he returned home to attend NC State University, graduating in 2014. After graduation, Layton worked in several roles with a heavy construction equipment distributor for seven years, where he gained valuable experience and knowledge of commercial construction.
He entered the world of insurance in 2022, and joined the John Hackney Agency in early 2024 as a licensed Property and Casualty agent.
Outside of the office, Layton enjoys spending time with his family and friends, as well as hunting, fishing, playing golf, and being on North Carolina’s Crystal Coast whenever he can be.
Selena Bennett
Personal Lines Department Manager
Ask any group of high school students if they want to be a veterinarian and many would raise their hands. Ask if they would want to be an insurance agent and no one would move a muscle and what a mistake because the insurance business is such a great business. Like most children, Selena dreamed of a life working with animals as a vet, but by a wonderful accident she ended up in the insurance business and what a great thing that is for John Hackney Agency, Selena and her clients.
She started in the business by helping a friend in an agency and in 2000 started to work at John Hackney Agency where she learned and sharpened her insurance skills. It’s been a great career and one she has loved. She has worked in the personal lines field since 1997 and knows everything about homeowners, auto, boat, umbrella, mobile home, fire, inland marine, condo, apartment and motorcycle insurance you’d want to know.
Born and raised in Wilson county, she graduated from Fike High School, attended Barton College and has lived in Wilson all her life. She has a lot of family still living in Wilson including her daughter, Brittany, who is married to Thomas Poythress and their sons, Bennett and Knox.
Selena is the agency health nut, she is a certified group fitness instructor that spends a lot of time focusing on wellness, exercise and diet. She enjoys exercising, traveling, painting, reading, and most of all, spending time with her grandsons.
Selena has her CISR professional designation and can help you with any of your personal insurance needs.
Tanya Strickland
Personal Lines Account Manager
Tanya Strickland started her career at John Hackney Agency in 2016. She brings many skills as a Personal Lines Account Manager as she continues to expand her knowledge by working toward her CISR designation. She enjoys working with her customers to help meet all of their insurance needs protecting their loved ones and their possessions.
She married Johnny Strickland in 1988. While Tanya loves the insurance business, she considers family her greatest love and accomplishment. She enjoys camping, cooking, travel, and photography, and volunteers for the Ronald McDonald House as often as possible.
She specializes in personal lines insurance accounts and will be happy to help you with your home, auto, condo, apartment, boat, RV, motorcycle, umbrella and jewelry insurance.
Resources
Our team specializes in a variety of solutions, including:
- Auto, Home, RV Coverage and more
- Professional and Financial Solutions
- Property and Casualty Solutions
- Long-term Care Insurance
- Life Insurance
- Health Insurance – If you're an individual or family who does not currently have insurance through a group employer plan, we offer individual health plans. If you own a business, we can assist with comparing group coverages offerings.
- Claims Management. When a claim happens, we want to help you as promptly as possible. Please feel free to stop by or call one of our offices to report a claim or let us help you with any questions you might have. If it’s after hours and you need to talk to someone immediately, you can contact the carrier directly for 24-hour claims service.
To report a claim: You can call us, stop by our office or call the company to report a claim. If you choose to contact the company, have your policy number on hand before calling.
To make a direct bill payment or manage your billing: Most of our companies have 24 hour payment services. Remember to have your policy number and your bank account or credit card information on hand before you make the call. You can also stop by our office where we’ll be happy to assist you with your direct bill payments.
Pay now: https://johnhackneyagency.epaypolicy.com/
EXPERT EDUCATION
Events and Webinars
Employee Benefits
GLP-1s at Scale: Why Weight-Loss Drug Decisions Are Now a Financial Strategy
A GLP-1 decision framework plus scenarios.
July 21, 2026 at 01:00 pm CT | Virtual
Register Here
Employee Benefits
Open Enrollment That Works: Why Employees Do Not Engage — and How Modern Communications Drive Better Choices
Practical communication strategies to strengthen open enrollment effectiveness and employee decision-making.
August 18, 2026 at 01:00 pm CT | Virtual
Register Here
Employee Benefits
The Compliance Pathway Q3
Don't miss this ongoing opportunity to ensure you comply with current regulations and are prepared for what's ahead.
September 2, 2026 at 01:00 pm CT | Virtual
Register Here
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
Insights
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If you use AI to support or deliver professional services, any mistake it makes is still your responsibility. Not the software’s. Not the vendor’s. Yours.
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Cyber incidents across our client base have been sharper, faster and more costly this year. Even organizations with strong controls are being hit in ways that look very different from past attacks.
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AI-Powered Cyber Attacks, Why Yesterday’s Defenses Aren’t Enough.
The widespread availability of AI technology, combined with the ease of manipulating video calls, makes phone and Zoom calls susceptible to exploitation by threat actors.
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