For Kim Marie DiMatteo, it’s not about the money. It’s about good karma.
The 43-year-old insurance company vice president said she’s been very fortunate, and that’s why, for her, it’s all about helping others.
“It’s important to never look at the money; just look at what you do for people and goodness will come back to you. That is definitely my feeling about life,” said DiMatteo, of DiMatteo Group LLC, in Shelton, Conn.
DiMatteo started her career in 1989 in the life insurance division of the John Hancock Insurance Company. Shortly after, she met her husband, John DiMatteo, who was moving back home to take over his family’s insurance business. They were dating and he asked her to help beef up the company’s commercial insurance line.
At the time, the DiMatteo Group was selling about 90 percent personal insurance and 10 percent commercial insurance. It now sells about 15 percent personal insurance and 85 percent commercial insurance, most of that in the construction and real estate fields.
DiMatteo helped grow the commercial line by being an active member of the Fairfield County Homebuilder and Remodelers Association. That connection led her to develop one of the only insurance programs in the state for residential general contractors. Many contractors wouldn’t be able to afford insurance without it, she said.
DiMatteo said one of the accomplishments she is most proud of is working for the DiMatteo Group’s charitable foundation, which was created about seven years ago when the founder of the company, Anthony DiMatteo, her father-in-law, was diagnosed with cancer. He passed away nearly three years ago, but his spirit is alive and well in the foundation, she said.
“My father-in-law was a man who would give you the shirt off his back. It was never about money,” she said. “It was always about doing what was right.”
The foundation raises about $30,000 each year for nonprofits that have a personal connection to the family, employees, or clients. Recipients have included the Kidney Foundation and the American Heart Association.
Through the foundation, Kim and her three children put together about 100 Easter baskets for homeless children each year, filled with age-appropriate necessities like toiletries, socks, and infant formula.
“It’s really about karma,” she said.
