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
Rhonda Hawley
Commercial Lines Account Manager
Rhonda began her career at John Hackney Agency in 1989 and has worked in all areas of the commercial lines department, working her way up to Commercial Account Manager in December,1999.
Customers really love and appreciate her promptness, her kind, quiet way, her efficiency, and her sharp attention to detail. More than once a client has said they had been contacted about moving their insurance but there was no way they were losing Rhonda as their account manager. That tells you a lot about Rhonda and her sharp work ethic and how much she is appreciated by her clients and co-workers. Her aunt, Ann, the agency receptionist, is Rhonda’s mother’s sister so it’s a family affair for Ann and Rhonda.
Married to Ricky since 1991, they have two daughters Taylor and Caroline and attend Peace Church. They enjoy relaxing and cooking out in their backyard. In the summer they love to pack up their golden retriever, Molly, and head down to the beach in their travel trailer to enjoy some sun, sand, and salt water.
Shannon Cary
Commercial Lines Account Manager
Shannon lives in Nashville with her husband Troy and their two children, Logan and Jackson. The ultimate neat-freak, she enjoys keeping her house spotless, doing the mountain of laundry a 4 person household produces and mostly just being a mom and wife. Like many of us at John Hackney Agency, she enjoys spending time with her family on as many weekends at the beach as they can fit into their busy family schedule. While there, they enjoy boating, relaxing, reading the latest best seller and just having fun in the sun!
Shannon brings 15 years of experience to the Commercial Lines department and applies the same neat-freak skills in assisting her customers every day as she does in keeping her home spotless.
Ann Boyette
Receptionist
When you call John Hackney Agency, you always get a pleasant person to help and assist you–never an automated attendant. That person is Ann Boyette who began working with John Hackney Agency in 2010, and she keeps the front of the office running smoother than the best traffic cop at the corner of the busiest street in the world.
No matter how many phone calls are coming in or how many customers need to get to the right Customer Account Manager, Ann is there to help everyone quietly and efficiently. She also takes client payments, assists with accounting, and works with carrier information online, making sure the agency runs smoothly and efficiently at all times. Ann’s niece, Rhonda Hawley, is a Commercial Account Manager at the agency and her sister, Brenda, helps Tom and Johnny Hackney maintain their rental property.
Ann was married to Larry Boyette for 39 very happy years. She enjoys dinners out with friends and enjoyed helping her husband grow giant watermelons for State Fair competition where they have won Blue Ribbons for several years. She also enjoys gardening and being active in her church at Lee’s Chapel Baptist.
Donna Winstead
Commercial Account Manager Assistant
Donna started at John Hackney Agency in 2004 and works as a Commercial Account Manager Assistant. Handling requests for Certificates of Insurance quickly and efficiently is a constant demand of her daily routine.
If you’re a commercial account client, you’ve more than likely admired the well organized notebooks she puts together that keep your policies in order and at your fingertips if needed. These are just a couple of the many things that Donna does to keep the commercial lines department running smoothly and efficiently.
She is married to Bennie Winstead, and they are the parents of one son, Brandon, who now has graduated from UNC Pembroke in June, 2021. On her time away from the office she is hanging out around home and doing some reading.
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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Artificial intelligence is powerful. It’s also wrong more often than people want to admit.
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.
April 1, 2026
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Identity hijacking is surging. Here’s what leaders need to know.
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.
March 13, 2026
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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.
February 2, 2026
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