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Category: Accomplishments

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A.M. Best Reaffirms A- (Excellent) Rating of NGL

Madison, Wis. (March 25, 2019) – National Guardian Life Insurance Company (NGL) is pleased to announce that A.M. Best has reaffirmed its A- (Excellent) rating effective February 21, 2019. This rating reflects the excellent ability of NGL to meet its ongoing insurance policy and contract obligations and further attests to its financial strength.

“The A- Excellent rating is a strong indicator of our financial strength and demonstrates our commitment to over 1.2 million policyholders, 28,000 independent agents and nearly 400 employees who depend on NGL. With more than 100 years in the industry, NGL continues to prove it is a reliable insurance company that exceeds expectations,” said Derek Metcalf, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at NGL.

A.M. Best also reaffirmed the A- (Excellent) ratings for NGL subsidiaries, Commercial Travelers Life Insurance Company located in Utica, N.Y. and Settlers Life Insurance Company, located in Bristol, Va.

A.M. Best is the world’s oldest and most authoritative insurance rating information source. The financial strength rating is based on a comprehensive quantitative and qualitative evaluation of a company’s balance sheet strength, operating performance and business profile.

As a longtime leader in the insurance industry, NGL is dedicated to serving policyholders and partners by offering high-quality products that are among the safest and most stable in the industry.

To learn more about NGL’s financial strength and stability, download the 2018 Annual Report. For the latest rating, access www.ambest.com.

About NGL

Since 1910, National Guardian Life Insurance Company (NGL), a mutual insurance company, has been located in Madison, Wis. Licensed to do business in 49 states and the District of Columbia, NGL markets preneed and individual life and annuities, as well as group markets products including specialty and student insurance. Additional information about NGL can be found at www.nglic.com; Facebook: Facebook.com/NGLIC and LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/national-guardian-life-insurance-company

About Commercial Travelers Life Insurance Company

Since 1883, Commercial Travelers has provided coverage for student accident, health and special risk markets to students in K-12 through college, school sports, and special risk coverage. Located in Utica, N.Y., NGL entered into an affiliation with Commercial Travelers in 2012. In 2017, CT was approved by NY to be demutualized and became a wholly-owned stock subsidiary of NGL. For more information, visit www.commercialtravelers.com.

About Settlers Life Insurance Company

A member of NGL group of companies since 1999, Settlers Life Insurance Company is located in Bristol, Va. Additional information about Settlers Life can be found at www.settlerslife.com.

National Guardian Life Insurance Company is not affiliated with The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America a/k/a The Guardian or Guardian Life.

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Profitability Persists for InfoSec Institute

MADISON, Wis., Feb. 5, 2019InfoSec Institute, the leading provider of IT security education and workforce security awareness training, today reports a 24 percent revenue increase over last year, leading to the 18th consecutive year of profitability. Today’s announcement highlights significant revenue growth, product development achievements and staff expansion in 2018.

“Our continued success is based on relentless client focus and culture of responsiveness,” said Jack Koziol, CEO of InfoSec Institute. “Nobody in the business can match our team’s passion for providing the best cybersecurity education platforms. I’m stoked to see what 2019 will bring.”

Both of the company’s business lines, SecurityIQ security training and awareness and InfoSec Flex professional IT and security education, showed impressive gains.

SecurityIQ — three million cyber-resilient learners

SecurityIQ experienced record growth, achieving a 115 percent year-over-year increase in clients and 38 percent revenue growth. More than three million learners using the platform are now more cyber resilient, helping to keep private information secure. SecurityIQ has the most comprehensive education program to help organizations and their employees stay ahead of cybercrime — with more than 900 learning modules and 1000 phishing templates designed for easy program customization. 2018 SecurityIQ achievements include:

  • Hundreds of new education assets — expanded Security Awareness Content Library keeps employees cyber-sharp with new training resources for privacy and data protection, BEC, GDPR, HIPAA compliance, security champions and much more for professionals in IT, healthcare and K-12 education, among others
  • SAI Global partnership — new strategic alliance links the SecurityIQ training platform with SAI Global’s SAI360 software enabling a modern approach to detecting and reducing digital risk
  • InfoSec Institute Partner Program — new program for managed services providers (MSPs), value-added resellers (VARs) and OEMs diversifies partners’ security portfolios along with dedicated channel sales support, marketing resources and training

IT and Security Pros Choose Training When It’s Convenient for Them

In 2018, more than 10,000 IT and security professionals enrolled in InfoSec Institute’s flagship Flex training and certification courses — a 33 percent increase over the previous year. June saw the release of InfoSec Flex Pro, the Institute’s next generation of award-winning online training. Flex Pro courses are designed for today’s busy professionals with courseware personalized to how, when and where they learn best.

Staffing Doubles to Meet Growth

To accommodate its accelerated growth, InfoSec Institute added staff across all departments — doubling headcount to 150 employees last year and opening a second Madison sales office at 222 W. Washington St.

InfoSec Institute Scores Industry Recognitions

In addition to recently being named a Gartner Peer Insights Customer’s Choice for Security Awareness Computer-Based Training in January 2019, the company earned top industry recognitions in 2018:

  • Named a Challenger in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Security Awareness Computer-based Training
  • Named to Trainingindustry.com’s Top 20 IT Training Companies for the eighth consecutive time
  • Recognized as the Security Training & Education Program Gold Winner in Info Security Products Guide’s 2018 Global Excellence Awards

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About InfoSec Institute

InfoSec Institute fortifies organizations of all sizes against security threats with award-winning information security education. Recognizing cybersecurity is everyone’s job, the company provides skills development and certification training for IT and security professionals while building the entire workforce’s security aptitude through awareness training and phishing simulations. Recognized as a Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice for Security Awareness Computer-Based Training, InfoSec Institute is also a Training Industry “Top 20 IT Training Company” and the Security Training & Education Program Gold Winner in Info Security Products Guide’s Global Excellence Awards.

About Peer Insights:

Peer Insights is an online platform of ratings and reviews of IT software and services that are written and read by IT professionals and technology decision-makers. The goal is to help IT leaders make more insightful purchase decisions and help technology providers improve their products by receiving objective, unbiased feedback from their customers. Gartner Peer Insights includes more than 70,000 verified reviews in more than 200 markets. For more information, please visit www.gartner.com/reviews/home.

Gartner Disclaimers

Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice constitute the subjective opinions of individual end-user reviews, ratings, and data applied against a documented methodology; they neither represent the views of, nor constitute an endorsement by, Gartner or its affiliates.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

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TCARE Family Caregiver Solution Awarded $900,000 Contract by Washington DSHS

Washington State’s Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) has partnered with TCARE, Inc. to expand their Family Caregiver Support Program. This $900,000, multi-year contract is just one instance of a long and prosperous relationship between the state of Washington and TCARE. As one of TCARE’s original research partners, TCARE saved the state’s Medicaid budget over 20 million dollars by reducing Medicaid LTC claims by 20% and delaying nursing home placement by 21 months.

Initially developed at the UW-Milwaukee by renowned gerontologist Dr. Rhonda JV Montgomery, Ph.D. — TCARE’s evidence-based approach reduces family caregiver burnout through precision-targeting and mapping of interventions in a proven technology platform. TCARE is currently implemented in over 250+ organizations in 22 states, impacting the lives of over 100,000+ family caregivers. TCARE’s technology solution is comprised of intelligent algorithms, data prediction models, and analytics that pull Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) data, creating innovative LTSS and LTC population health risk management solutions. Partners of TCARE include Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS), Area Agencies on Aging (AAA), Medicare Plans, Medicaid Managed LTSS plans, and State Government Agencies.

Once again recognizing the need to better serve family caregivers before they consider placing their loved ones in a long term care facility, the Washington Legislature expanded their state-wide Family Caregiver Support Program (FCSP) to serve more caregivers by increasing its funding in 2011 and 2012. The additional funding provided by the Washington State Legislature in the fiscal year 2012 was also used to conduct a review of the FCSP by the Washington State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP). The review confirmed that family caregivers who participated in the full TCARE protocol and then continued to be served through the FCSP six months later demonstrated positive changes. These positive changes remained consistent over the six-month measured period, despite an increase in assistance needed by their care receivers. Caregivers in Washington state who received the TCARE intervention demonstrated lower levels of objective burden, stress burden, identity discrepancy, and depression.

About TCARE

TCARE’s technology is an award-winning, evidence-based family caregiver support solution that uses precision targeting & mapping of resources to reduce family caregiver burnout. TCARE’s technology comprises state-of-the-art intelligent algorithms, data prediction models and analytics that pull Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) data creating innovative LTSS and LTC population health risk management solutions.

tailoredcare.com | info@tailoredcare.com

Media Contact: 
Sarah Czirr 
Phone: 913.626.5595
Email: sarah@tailoredcare.com

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Related Links

Company Website

Washington State TCARE Page

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Bachmann Construction Completes First Build-Out at Historic Garver Feed Mill

Media Contact: Joan Collins Publicity (608) 222-2899

Bachmann Construction Completes First Build-Out at Historic Garver Feed Mill

Bachmann Construction, the Madison-based general contractor for the $14.4 million restoration of the historic Garver Feed Mill, behind Olbrich Gardens, has completed the 16,000 square foot space for NessAlla Kombucha, the first business to open in the Registered National Historic Landmark building. The kombucha craft brewery moved from Park Street to double its space. NessAlla Kombucha, one of the first craft kombucha brewing companies in the country, distributes its organic products throughout the Upper Midwest.

Garver Feed Mill developer, Baum Revision, LLC, specializing in revitalizing old buildings, is turning the former beet factory and later a feed mill, into a hub for food producers and retailers plus wellness-focused businesses. Bryant Moroder, Baum project manager, said Garver Feed Mill, built in 1906 will preserve Madison’s rich agricultural and industrial history by becoming a next–generation food production center.

Currently, Bachmann Construction is creating individual spaces in the 60,000 square foot building for local businesses moving in this summer, including Ian’s Pizza, Calliope Ice Cream, Surya Café, Sitka Salmon Shares, Underground Catering, Kosa Wellness, Perennial-East Yoga Studio and others.

Al Bachmann, president of Bachmann Construction, said the firm is paying close attention to restoration guidelines required for an historic building and upgrading it for its sustainable future. Bachmann will complete the 18-month restoration project this summer.

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Prestigious London-Based Chocolate Competition Names Wisconsin’s CocoVaa Chocolatier as an International Rising Star

Syovata Edari Collects 17 Academy Awards in London and is Named an International Rising Star by the Prestigious Academy of Chocolate Awards

CocoVaa Chocolatier picked up its 17 academy awards in London, England on Wednesday at the Academy of Chocolate Awards’ annual awards ceremony. The Academy also announced owner and chocolatier Syovata Edari as an International Rising Star, which came as a surprise to Edari who is fairly new to the industry. She is the only US national to hold this title in 2018. This year the Academy had a record-breaking 1,200 entries from 45 countries. The highly competitive juried competition took place over ten weeks in a rigorous process where each chocolate is subjected to blind tasting by multiple panels of international experts in the fine chocolate industry.

According to a coordinator of judges, even placing silver is extremely difficult due to the complex rubric used to assess the hundreds of chocolates submitted from around the world.

Edari entered seventeen items in the hopes of winning at least one or two awards. “I would have been pleased to win even one bronze because I knew I was competing with some of the world’s best” states Edari who won awards for every submission including two gold, eight silver and seven bronze. “Sharing the stage with some of the world’s best makers and designers of fine chocolate, winning so many awards and being named an International Rising Star is the greatest honor and a dream come true.“ Edari’s wins from the London based competition come the same year she was named one of America’s Top Chocolatiers and awarded the highest ranking Grand Master title by the International Chocolate Salon based in the U.S.

Edari uses premium ingredients, makes everything in “micro-batches,” and is conscientious with regard to the sources of her chocolate. “When you operate ethically and with attention to quality, your margins are lower, but as consumer’s become more educated with regard to taste as well as sourcing, smaller artisans like us will be at the forefront of the food revolution and industrial chocolate will ultimately lose its appeal all together.” says Edari, who took her children with her to London to receive their awards. “I wanted my kids to see and to enjoy the benefits of our collective hard work and perseverance.” Edari’s children Emayu, age 18, and Solomon, age 10, have been actively involved in the business operations and inspire many of Edari’s flavor and design concepts. “My kids took the stage with me. They deserve this as much as I do.”

CocoVaa Chocolatier has become known for its unique and whimsical flavor combinations such as coconut Lemongrass which won a silver award and hazelnut macchiato which won a gold award. Edari is scaling up and is building a larger production and retail space at The Marling at 1815 East Washington Avenue in Madison, Wisconsin which should be open fall of 2018 with expanded hours. “We are growing quickly but carefully so we don’t lose quality or lose sight of our mission.”

Source:

CocoVaa Chocolatier media team

info@cocovaa.com