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AVYST Welcomes Kitty Ambers as Chief Growth Officer

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AVYST Welcomes Kitty Ambers as Chief Growth Officer

Focused on Insuretech’s Growth in the Independent Agent Channel

AVYST, a provider of sales and risk management solutions for independent insurance agents and brokers and their carrier partners, announced that Kitty Ambers, CIC, CPIA, CISR, has joined the insuretech firm as Chief Growth Officer.

Ambers will be responsible for growing AVYST’s product visibility and distribution across the independent agent channel

“I am excited to join AVYST,” said Ambers. “My years with the Network of Vertafore Users and other organizations have led me to this opportunity. At my core, I am committed to the success of the independent agent channel.”

In her new role, Ambers will work with long-time industry colleagues in serving the needs of all partners in the independent insurance industry, regardless of their selection of technology solution providers.

“I’ve been in this industry since 1984 when our small-town, family agency implemented our first management system,” said Ambers. “Since that time, I’ve been dedicated to improving the productivity and profitability of independent agents through technology adoption, while helping them minimize E&O exposure. Joining AVYST at an executive level allows me to continue to advance this personal mission.”

“Kitty brings us her passion for the independent agent as well as years of insurance industry experience,” noted AVYST CEO Marc Still. “We know that both our internal team and our partners will benefit from her enthusiasm for driving efficiency and profitability. We are thrilled to have her on board.”

Ambers joins the AVYST team from the Network of Vertafore Users (NetVU), where she served as CEO, overseeing the day-to-day operations of the organization. AVYST is a NetVU corporate partner, and Ambers will continue to provide guidance to the organization until a new chief executive is hired.

About AVYST: Wave Insurance Technologies Inc., dba AVYST, is a Dallas and Aurora, Colorado-based company providing sales and risk management solutions that enable independent insurance agents, brokers and carriers to efficiently manage a referral through the application and submissions process. AVYST offers intelligent question sets, standardized workflows and quoting integration, eliminating complexity in how insurance is handled today. For more information, visit www.avyst.com.

Foresters Financial Improves the Ease of Doing Business for Agents Selling Medically Underwritten Insurance Products

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Foresters Financial Improves the Ease of Doing Business for Agents Selling Medically Underwritten Insurance Products

Foresters Financial™, a purpose-driven financial services provider, is pleased to announce an innovation that will allow our U.S. network of representatives to sell medically underwritten life insurance products faster and more efficiently.

Starting immediately, all agents using our updated iPipeline iGO® e-App will now have the ability to sell medically underwritten life insurance policies in every state. This improved functionality will allow agents to accurately gather all required information for an application, including the medical questionnaire. Users of the new iPipeline iGO e-App will be able to sell our Advantage Plus Whole Life, SMART UL Universal Life, and Level Term insurance products.

“Foresters is continuously exploring ways to make the sales experience easier for both the agent and member,” said Matt Berman, Chief Distribution Officer at Foresters North American Life Insurance and Annuity business unit. “We know the use of our e-App will make the application process for medically underwritten life insurance quicker and more efficient.”

U.S. based Foresters agents can access the iPipeline iGO e-App via Foresters ezbiz portal, or from their producer portal.

About Foresters Financial

Foresters Financial is a purpose-driven financial services provider with more than three million clients and members in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. We provide life insurance, savings, retirement and investment solutions that help families achieve their financial goals and make a lasting difference in their lives and communities. Foresters Financial has assets of $17.7 billion, liabilities of $15.7 billion, total funds under management of $45.1 billion and a surplus of $2 billion (all figures in Canadian dollars as of December 31, 2017). For more information, visit foresters.com.

Foresters Financial and Foresters are trade names and trademarks of The Independent Order of Foresters (a fraternal benefit society, 789 Don Mills Road, Toronto, Canada M3C 1T9) and its subsidiaries.

About iPipeline

iPipeline is a leading provider of cloud-based software solutions for the life insurance and financial services industry. Through our SaaS-based new business acquisition platform, we accelerate and simplify sales, compliance, operations and support. We provide process automation and seamless integration between every participant in the financial services industry including carriers, agents, general agencies, advisors, broker-dealers, RIAs, banks, securities/mutual fund firms, and their consumers. Our innovative solutions enable automated processing for pre-sales, new business and underwriting, policy administration, point-of-sale execution of applications, post-sale support, data analysis, reporting, consumer delivery and self-service, and agency and firm management.

iPipeline provides the process automation and seamless integration needed on a global basis to make a sale by aggregating more than 130 carriers, 1,300 distributors and financial institutions, and their agents and licensed advisors in a cloud-based environment. With headquarters in Exton, Pennsylvania, iPipeline has locations in Bromley (UK), Cheltenham (UK), Dallas, Fort Lauderdale, Huntersville, Ontario (CA), Philadelphia, Pleasanton, and Salt Lake City. Visit www.ipipeline.com.

Announcing New President and CEO, Chairman of the Board

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Announcing New President and CEO, Chairman of the Board

Boone, NC – Jackson Sumner & Associates (JSA) Board of Directors recently announced Danielle Wade was elected as President & Chief Executive Officer, with Wayne Sumner to move to Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Wade, who served JSA most recently as Chief Operating Officer, has been with the company since 2006. She is a graduate of the Kenan-Flagler Business School of UNC-Chapel Hill. She earned her CPCU and CIC in 2008 and completed the NAPSLO Executive Leadership School at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business in 2014 as well as AAMGA’s Under Forty Organization (UFO) Leadership Education Program.

Currently, Wade is the Chair of the NC Stamping Office, serves on the Education Foundation Board of the Wholesale & Specialty Insurance Association (WSIA), is the Chair of the Brantley Risk and Insurance Program’s Advisory Board at Appalachian State University, serves on two Insurance Company Advisory Boards, as well as East Carolina University’s Risk Management & Insurance Program’s Advisory Board. She was President of the NC Surplus Lines Association from 2014-2016 and President of AAMGA’s UFO from 2015 to 2016. Wade was recognized by Insurance Business of America as one of the “Top Young Guns” for 2016.

Sumner, who founded the company in 1981, emphasized that he was not retiring. He will still be at the office; imparting his wisdom, sharing knowledge and dispensing fatherly advice; as well as continuing to facilitate the video and live educational broadcasts that JSA is known for in serving the IIANC, IIAV, IIABSC, and PIA. “I may just take a little more vacation than I used to,” he said with a laugh.

“Having a thoughtful succession plan of this caliber allows JSA to continue as an independent force in the industry for decades to come,” stated Sumner. “This company was built on dreams I had over many years. There were mountains I wanted to climb, and I climbed many of them. But now I want to be able to get out of the way and let others climb their own mountains and dream their own dreams. It’s time for Danielle and her team to blaze the trails.”

“This is a journey that my father began,” stated Wade. “With our amazing team and the incredible paths that have been forged, I have no doubt there are still new heights to achieve.

Western National Insurance Group Announces Officer Promotion of Dan W. Anderson, Jr. to Vice President – Commercial Lines Underwriting

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Western National Insurance Group Announces Officer Promotion of Dan W. Anderson, Jr. to Vice President – Commercial Lines Underwriting

(Minneapolis, Minn.) Western National Insurance Group today announced that, after more than a decade of serving Western National’s agents and policyholders in commercial property claims, Dan “Danny” W. Anderson, Jr. will utilize his insurance expertise and his leadership skills in its Commercial Lines Underwriting Department as Vice President – Commercial Lines Underwriting. This promotion is effective immediately.

Danny started his career in insurance in 1997 at Liberty Mutual Insurance in commercial lines liability claims. In 2001, he moved to United Fire Group, where he spent seven years as a Multi-Line Commercial Adjuster. In 2008, Danny joined Western National and assumed a series of successive management roles, most recently serving as Assistant Vice President – Property Claims. In addition to a Bachelor of Science Degree in Justice Studies from Arizona State University, Danny is a graduate of the NICB Special Investigation School and has attained his Associate in Claims designation from The Institutes.

“Western National has a close relationship between our Underwriting and Claims departments,” said Senior Vice President and Chief Underwriting Officer Richard Kalina. “This connection often occurs with Danny on our most complex losses. It would be fair to say that Danny knows our coverages as well as any underwriter, since he has had to interpret and apply policy provisions to various losses. He has seen the risks and exposures that we underwrite in order to put our policyholders’ lives back together after a loss. Danny’s real-life experience and service, together with his leadership skills, will serve us, our agents, and our policyholders well in this new role.”

Liberty Mutual Launches New Distribution Model

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Liberty Mutual Launches New Distribution Model

To improve broker access to the full suite of Liberty Mutual’s commercial and specialty insurance products, Liberty has announced a new distribution model for the U.S.

“We’ve organized the country into six geographic regions, each of which will be managed by a regional executive,” explains Shaun Kelly, President Global Risk Solutions Distribution. “Each region will have a number of branch executives who will oversee broker relationships on a local level. This structure provides distribution partners access to the full capability of Liberty and Ironshore more easily, and will create new opportunities for us to work together in a multiline, collaborative way.”

The new regional executives are:

  • Ron Gleason, South Central Regional Executive
  • Chris Johnston, Midwest Regional Executive
  • Amy Lochhead, Southeast Regional Executive
  • David Russo, Mid Atlantic Regional Executive
  • Bob Thomas, Northeast Regional Executive
  • Adam Witten, Western Regional Executive

In addition to the regional executives, Liberty Mutual has appointed Ben Johnson as Wholesale Distribution Executive. Johnson will focus on optimizing relationships with wholesale distribution partners across North America.

Jackson Sumner & Associates Wins National Awards

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Boone, NC – Jackson Sumner & Associates (JSA) has been named the 2018 Managing General Agent (MGA) of the Year by the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA) during the PIA Fall Governance Meeting award luncheon on Sept 28th in Portland, Maine.

The PIA judging criteria for this award included the winning MGA’s “successful efforts to create a better business environment for professional insurance agents,” as well as their abilities to further the interest of agents and a commitment to the agency system according to the PIA application.

The MGA of the Year is PIA’s highest honor that an MGA can achieve. It recognizes the achievements of one Managing General Agent who is an outstanding member of PIA. JSA was chosen for this award on the basis their commitment to agents and the insurance industry through their live broadcasts of annual conventions in the Carolinas and Virginia, offering CE courses in-person or online, involvement in university-level risk management and insurance programs, industry association leadership, and various marketing tools designed for agents’ use and education, regardless of the agency’s size.

“Our work is to make the work of being an Independent Insurance Agent easier,” said JSA President and Founder, Wayne Sumner who accepted the award on behalf of the entire JSA staff. “We understand that brokered business is an unfamiliar territory for most of our agents, so we strive to assist agents through the process with ease every step of the way.”

“That’s our job,” explained JSA Chief Operations Officer Danielle Wade, who was also in Maine to accept the award. “It’s always been our job to do business with agents how they want to do business and provide them with better tools all the time which allow them to do their job more efficiently and profitably. We wouldn’t be here without the agents, so this is a huge honor.”

An MGA with Genuine Care

Jackson Sumner & Associates (JSA) is an Excess and Surplus Lines Managing General Agent (MGA) that began in 1981 in Boone, North Carolina. JSA offers a wide range of insurance products including property, casualty, automobile, garage, professional liability, and personal lines. We are licensed to do business in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee, and Maryland. JSA is committed to quality service for our agents and strong underwriting for our companies. Learn more about the ease-of-doing business with JSA at www.jsausa.com.

Grange Joins Agents Council for Technology

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ALEXANDRIA, Virginia – Grange Insurance is the newest company partner of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America’s Agents Council for Technology (ACT).

“ACT welcomes Grange Insurance as a partner,” says Ron Berg, ACT executive director. “We look forward to working with the Grange team, tackling challenges like agent workflow and other issues that affect the independent agency system.”

Grange Insurance offers affordable and customizable auto, home, life and business insurance products. Together with Integrity Insurance, its affiliate company, Grange sells exclusively through independent agents and serves customers across 13 states: Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin.

“Becoming a partner of ACT aligns well with Grange’s commitment to innovation, transformation and modernization,” said Tim Cunningham, VP, Chief Information Officer at Grange Insurance. “We are dedicated to our independent agency channel and plan to be at the forefront of new solutions that will help agents enhance their service to clients, grow their businesses and strengthen their partnership with us.”

Forbes Magazine Recognizes Liberty Mutual Insurance as one of America’s Best Employers for Diversity

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Liberty ranked #167 out of 500 top companies in the country for diversity

Liberty Mutual Insurance is proud to announce that for the second year in a row it has been recognized by Forbes magazine as one of America’s Best Employers for Diversity, ranking #167 out of 500 companies. In collaboration with analytics firm Statista, Forbes selected America’s Best Employers for Diversity based on an independent survey from a vast sample of more than 50,000 U.S. employees working for companies employing at least 1,000 people in their U.S. operations.

“We are pleased to once again receive this recognition from Forbes and are proud of the work we’re doing to increase diversity and strengthen inclusion and belonging at Liberty,” said Liberty Mutual Executive Vice President for Talent & Enterprise Services Melanie Foley. “This year we will continue these efforts and expand our D&I work globally. Because Liberty Mutual is a global organization with employees and customers around the world, it’s crucial that we drive D&I skill-building for all employees. And we know that having inclusive leaders is critical to building an environment where everyone can contribute their best and thrive.”

Forbes’ survey was conducted using an online access panel, providing a representative sample of the U.S. workforce, and took into consideration the following parameters: direct and indirect statements of age, gender equality, ethnicity, physical ability, LGBTQ+ and general diversity. Additionally, an index of objective and publicly available diversity KPIs were considered.

“We are honored to accept this recognition from Forbes for the progress we’ve made so far on our diversity & inclusion journey,” said Liberty Mutual Senior Vice President and Global Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer Dawn Frazier-Bohnert. “This work is career-long and lifelong, and we still have more to do. As we look towards 2019, we are excited by a number of initiatives we have in place, including continuation of programming to strengthen collaboration across many dimensions of diversity and continued expansion of our ERGs and D&I Councils. When we can all work effectively across differences it will allow the best ideas to come forward, and our work this year is designed to elevate our actions across the organization.”

Among Liberty’s recent D&I milestones are:

  • Earning a perfect score of “100” from the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index (CEI)
  • Participating in the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™ along with other Fortune 500 companies across the country who are committed to advancing diverse and inclusive workplaces
  • Receiving the Massachusetts Large Business Pro-Patria Award

Liberty Mutual’s Diversity and Inclusion framework has five focus areas including Talent (attraction, advancement and retention), Development (building D&I capability), Workplace Environment, Customer and Community and at the framework’s core is Communications (D&I messaging and language). All parts of this model have to be working together for diversity and inclusion efforts to succeed.

Columbus Business First Honors Grange COO and CIO with 2018 C-Suite Awards

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Columbus Business First has announced Grange COO Doreen DeLaney Crawley and CIO Tim Cunningham among the winners of its 2018 C-Suite Awards.

In its fifth year, the C-Suite Awards celebrates the region’s most accomplished business leaders. An emphasis was placed this year on nominating leaders who inspire and encourage their peers. Those nominated serve the region as examples of integrity and excellence.

“We mixed things up for the 2018 C-Suite Awards by asking the region’s business leaders to tell us who inspires and encourages them. We accepted nominations for top CEOs, COOs, CFOs, and others this spring, then turned the voting over to them to find the cream of the crop,” said Doug Buchanan, editor in chief for Columbus Business First. “I think you’ll agree the results speak for themselves.”

Forty leaders were chosen in several categories including institutions, for-profit companies and non-profit organizations. For private companies, categories were separated by company size. Two leaders were also honored with a lifetime achievement award.

Crawley was recognized with one other leader in the COO category, while Cunningham was recognized with two other leaders in the CIO category.

Builders Mutual Selected as Healthiest Employers

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Raleigh, N.C. – Builders Mutual Insurance Company was recently honored as one of the Triangle Business Journal’s Healthiest Employers for 2018. These awards recognize the “best of the best” companies and nonprofits that are committed to creating a healthy workplace. The 25 companies selected were honored on October 25 at The Rickhouse in Durham, NC.

Builders Mutual began its wellness initiative in 2005. Since then, Builders Mutual in Balance (BMiB) has grown to provide employees a variety of fitness and wellbeing activities to suit their interests and needs. Current offerings include an on-site gym and annual wellness reimbursement incentive, reduced fees for weight loss programs, financial wellness classes, yoga and boot camp fitness classes, annual health fair and other committee-led activities during the year. Builders Mutual also offers annual on-site biometric screenings, health assessments, and personal health coaching.

“For us, being a healthy employer means helping employees balance work, nutrition, exercise and emotional health,” states Michele Hemric, AVP of human resources and organizational development. “Our programs focus on creating awareness so that each individual can take action to increase their own wellbeing. We enjoy supporting their goals along the way.”

We are extremely proud of our success and even more proud of being recognized for building a solid wellness program. Builders Mutual continues to work towards helping our employees make their wellbeing a top priority.

Headquartered in North Carolina, Builders Mutual is one of the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast’s leading writers of commercial insurance for the construction industry. Since its inception, Builders Mutual has broadened its territory beyond North Carolina to include the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. The company provides coverage to more than 22,000 policyholders through more than 5,000 sales agents and employs more than 300 staff at its Raleigh headquarters.

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