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Paul Braun march2017

  State Farm agent Angelo Tzinares is celebrating 
  three decades of serving area customers.
(Photo 
  by Marilyn Thomas/H-F Chronicle)
 

A celebration is underway in Homewood as longtime business owner Angelo Tzinares marks his 30th anniversary as a State Farm agent in the village. Through the years his business has been in three locations in Homewood, all on Dixie Highway.

 
“I have covered Dixie Highway in town, from the north to the south,” said Tzinares. His office is at 18131 Dixie Highway, but he has also had locations in Southgate Plaza and just north of the Village Hall.
 
He holds the distinction of being the longest-running State Farm agent in the village, a title he inherited after surpassing Manny Hoffmann, also a State Farm agent in Homewood.
 
“When I first started my business in Homewood in 1986, I was told that I was crazy for opening a State Farm office in Homewood because Manny Hoffmann, who was also the mayor at the time, had a very large State Farm agency and pretty much owned the town. But, here I am, after 30 years,” he said. “I love Homewood. It is a great place with great people who are good people to do business with and I am looking forward to another 30 years of doing business with them.”
 
When asked to what he attributed his success, Tzinares said, “We service people the way we want to be treated. It is a matter of doing the right thing, always. We take care of our clients from the very beginning.
 
“You are only as good as the team you put on the floor and I have a great team. They have been with me a long time. Four of my team members have been with me for most of these 30 years.  I currently have six agents and if you add up all our years of service, we have over 100 years of experience between us.”
  
Tzinares declined to identify the awards he has received. Although a wall in his office is covered with plaques and trophies, he chose instead to discuss his mentoring program. 
 
He said he pays his success forward by helping his agents get their own agencies. “I have had seven of my agents move forward and open their own agencies. They are now also paying it forward by mentoring their agents to move forward to open agencies. The ‘mentorees’ have become mentors and are paying it forward. It has become a three-generational thing.”
 
He said he is currently looking for someone to mentor. “I am looking for a young person who would be interested in learning the business,” he said.
 
He has two adult daughters, both with State Farm on a corporate level. “My poor wife, Cheryl, hears State Farm business from morning to night,” he said.
 
One mentee,  Drew Mormann, with his own Flossmoor agency, couldn’t say enough about  the kind of man Tzinares is.
 
“He is like a second father to me. I worked for him from 2004 to 2007 and then, thanks to his mentoring, I opened my own agency where I just celebrated my 10th anniversary on May 1.”
 
Mormann said his own father, who started as an agent the same time Tzinares did, sent him to Tzinares  to learn the business. “I had just gotten out of college when I started with him. He has been so good to me, I would do anything for him. He is a good businessman, but he is a better person.”
 
He added Tzinares trained him to be a mentor and as a result, three of his agents have started their own agencies. Because of Tzinares, Mormann is also paying it forward. 
 

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