Callahan & Rice Insurance Group has a long-standing reputation within the community as a reliable, customer-focused brand. The business began in 1966 and was later purchased by Mark Rice in 1998. Now in 2025, the company is under new ownership. 

Mark Rice has entrusted Landon Bentham, his son-in-law and longtime employee of the group, with carrying on the organization’s legacy. 

“There is always a time to start a business, there’s a time to grow a business, and there’s a time to sell a business. That process is appropriate for most businesses. For us, it was a decision made mutually between me and Landon. He had a strong interest in owning his own business. Landon has done exceptionally well in this industry. I have been in the industry for 38 years and can see that he will take our business to a completely different level than where we are right now. So it really made sense to do that, and the timing felt right,” explained Mark Rice.

Bentham spoke highly of Rice, making sure to acknowledge the foundation that his boss has paved for the success of the company presently and the possibility for growth moving forward. 

“Mark approached me, initially as his son-in-law, and secondly as a trusted person in his business, with the idea that after him he needed a perpetuation plan. And that's a humbling place for me to be, to have your father-in-law, and also, your boss, come to you and say, ‘Hey, I want you to take the reins of this thing.’ And it's been a very slow, deliberate process to get to this place,” shared Landon Bentham, the new owner of Callahan & Rice Insurance Group.

Bentham initially began working with the company in 2015. Over the past 10 years he’s learned the ropes of the field, allowing him to grow into this new leadership role within the company.

“It was clear to me, within the first two to three years of his time working with us, that he had what it took to run this operation and to grow it significantly,” shared Rice. 

Bentham has a great level of respect for Rice and the positive relationship and established sense of trust between the two professionals allowed for a seamless transition. 

“In family business…transitions can sometimes be a little rocky, a little bumpy, and this was anything but that, and I think that speaks to Mark’s professionalism and his commitment to legacy,” added Bentham. 

Rice will continue to be involved with the business in a decreased capacity. 

“I will continue to be involved… our account managers will continue to work just like they’ve been working. It’s really more just of a change in ownership, and less of a change in operations, so to speak. Landon will be making all the decisions as the business owner, but I'll still be here helping clients,” stated Rice. 

With new ownership comes new goals. Bentham aims to build upon the already existing success that Rice has seen with the business. 

“I want to pay a good amount of respect to Mark. I look back at his career, and he took a risk in running a small business 30 plus years ago, and developed this company into the best version it could be. And I give him a lot of credit for that. I think where I'm looking to take it is, it's now my turn to take that risk. To look at the market, and say, ‘Where do we go from here?’ How do we develop new revenue lines? How do we help more people? In what niches do we help people?’” shared Bentham. 

Moving forward, Bentham hopes to maintain the culture that Rice has created while expanding operations and growing the business’s customer base. Currently, the business has one location in Fayetteville with 13 employees and they’ve served over 4000 customers. 

“I would love to see Callahan & Rice have an office location in every major metropolitan area in North Carolina in the next five years,” remarked Bentham of his ambition for the business. “I want to be known to have a ranking of one of the best places to work in the state for our size company... Mark has developed an incredible culture here, and this is just an unbelievable opportunity that he’s allowed me to have to continue to take [it] and run with it.”

While prioritizing growth, Bentham assured his investment in the local community will remain strong. In speaking with both the former owner and the new owner of the business, it is clear that Callahan & Rice values their clients and the relationships they have built with them. Both Rice and Bentham emphasized that clients will continue to receive the level of service they are accustomed to.

“I am a huge supporter of small business in general and the Fayetteville-Cumberland County community. We sell all over the world, [but] it’s also important to understand that we primarily help residents of Cumberland County, and that's a huge focus of ours. Our area is unique, and the insurance needs of our area are unique, from flooding to high wind hazards because of hurricanes, we have to be on point with what we're offering our customers locally and we’re very, very focused on that. One of the ways that we do that is to have the best slate of companies available to our customers. We bring in new insurance companies into our agency to be able to pair those customers up with them. Mark has been a master at that over the years, and that's something I hope that we can continue to do,” explained Bentham. 

At Callahan & Rice, transparency and relationships are key to their continued success. Bentham understands that insurance is confusing for many people, and as they grow they intend to continue fostering personal connections with customers to meet their insurance needs. 

“Our approach here is to be as educational and informational and helpful as we can. We’re trying to be as transparent about the insurance buying cycle and insurance pricing as possible. If we can do that, we’ve done our job,” added Bentham.

The transition of ownership is complete and operations are continuing smoothly under Bentham’s new leadership and Rice’s continued involvement in the business. To learn more about Callahan & Rice Insurance Group visit their website: www.callahanrice.com.