George Walbridge Perkins, Sr. (January 31, 1862 – June 18, 1920), born in Chicago, Illinois, was vice-president of New York Life Insurance Company and a partner in the House of Morgan. He served as president of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission from its creation in 1900 until his death in 1920.
With only a high-school education, he began work as an office boy in the Chicago office of the New York Life Insurance Company. By 1898 he had rise...
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George Walbridge Perkins, Sr. (January 31, 1862 – June 18, 1920), born in Chicago, Illinois, was vice-president of New York Life Insurance Company and a partner in the House of Morgan. He served as president of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission from its creation in 1900 until his death in 1920.
With only a high-school education, he began work as an office boy in the Chicago office of the New York Life Insurance Company. By 1898 he had risen to the position of vice president. Perkins played an important role in the development of New York Life.
A strong believer in the Efficiency Movement, he sought out instances of waste and believed that any practice could be improved by careful analysis. For example, he noticed that the old routine of farming out territory to middlemen, who in turn appointed men who did the actual soliciting for policies, was inefficient. The local agents were underpaid and often made misrepresentations in order to get initial premiums. Perkins, starting in...
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