McCay & Associates Insurance celebrated its 60th anniversary with a ribbon cutting ceremony with the Bowling Green Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday.

McCay & Associates Insurance began in 1965 when its founder, Auston McCay, started selling life and health insurance to his fellow Western Kentucky University students. After over 50 years in the Milliken Building in downtown Bowling Green, McCay & Associates relocated in 2017 to the former Sue’s Dairy Dip building on 31-W Bypass. In 2024, it found a permanent home in the former Service One Credit Union building.

A graduate of Graham High School in Muhlenberg County, McCay earned a business degree from WKU in sales, marketing and insurance and had gone on to earn advanced insurance degrees as a chartered life underwriter and chartered financial consultant.

McCay later taught a business class at WKU.

He has served in numerous roles in local, state, and National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors positions and worked with legislators to shape state and federal insurance regulations.

McCay was one of several people from around the state selected to help Frankfort align Medicare supplement plans after the federal government standardized Medicare supplement plans in the early 1990s.

In 1999, McCay served as president of the Kentucky National Association of Life Underwriters, now known as National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors. He worked with Kentucky Speaker of the House and Insurance Committee Member Jody Richards, Rep. Rob Wilkey of Scottsville and Rep. Rodger Thomas of Smiths Grove and others to pass 10 pieces of legislation in a single session to improve insurance across the state.

McCay and his youngest son, Jonathan, worked with Kentucky Insurance Commissioner George Nichols III to pass legislation that requires insurance companies to check Social Security records and attempt to notify beneficiaries if there are unclaimed life insurance benefits owed to them.

After 60 years in the insurance business, McCay is still active as a life and health insurance agent along with his son, David McCay, and daughter, Janet Martin. The agency also has two other longtime agents, Jessica Johnson and Nancy Brown, and other office staff.