The Gilreath Legacy
Ken Gilreath
The first job Ken had off the farm was welding. Welding pays well but is hard work. At 18 years old a job with the railroad seemed more promising. Ken decided to work as a switchman/brakeman for the railroad before becoming an engineer and transferring to Knoxville Tennessee. He worked for the railroad for over 11 years while becoming a contractor doing remodeling and building. This led to his claims business he owns today.
Ken was working in Tennessee having started a claim adjusting business. A decision had to be made. Would Ken go back to Georgia and continue farming? Or should he stay and build the claims business in Tennessee? After a long and hard decision, Ken Gilreath chose to sell the farm equipment and mill at auction. This was one of the lowest times of Ken's life. Ken was haunted to think if that would be the end of Gilreath Farms and the legacy that was built for multiple generations.
AAN and 411 Claims Adjusters
Ken Gilreath continued to work with insurance claims adjusters. While attending a claims adjusters association meeting for marketing a decision was made to look into a claims adjusters job. After working for some independent adjusting firms, he obtained a position as a senior commercial claims adjuster for a major insurance company. After a couple of years working for a staffing company, Ken decided to open an independent adjusting firm. He worked on the independent side of claims as well as the staff and contractor side. This gave him a perspective of what was needed to build a successful independent claims business. AAN Adjusters was started in 2004. AAN is primarily a property claims company. After starting to grow a property claims business, Claims Adjusters 411 was started to handle trucking liability claims. As recent, AAN Adjusters and Claims 411 is run by family members and a long time friend and partner Jimmy Hicks. Building two successful businesses have allowed several other endeavors into Ken Gilreath's future.
KT Cabins
Interest in street rods, old cars, and racing eventually led Ken into buying a cabin in Pigeon Forge to attend car shows. This was the start of KT Cabins. Ken and Tina (Ken's better half) started a cabin rental business building and buying rental cabins. Tina manages the cabin business today. Ken and Tina's cabins are located in Knoxville, Dandridge, and Pigeon Forge.
Gilreath Auto
Ken recently opened a car dealership in 2019 with his son, Brad Gilreath where they rebuild and sell vehicles. In addition to vehicles, they have trailer sales for three different trailer manufacturers.