Capitol Bank: Anne Conlin Promoted to Assistant Vice President / Relationship Banking

Ken Thompson, President and CEO of Capitol Bank, is pleased to announce the promotion of Anne Conlin to Assistant Vice President Relationship Banking. Anne has over 20 years of banking experience, 11 of which have been with Capitol Bank.

“Anne is the essence of relationship banking. She makes it a point to get to know the Bank’s customers and they have a high level of trust in her,” said Gary Kuter, Senior Vice President of Retail Banking & Chief Compliance Officer.

Aside from all that Anne brings to Capitol Bank, she finds time to give back to the community. Most recently, she has been an involved volunteer for Lussier Community Education Center and serves on the board of Girls’ Stories, Girls’ Voices.

About Capitol Bank: Capitol Bank, locally owned and operated since 1995, is committed to serving the communities in which we live, work and do business. We are proud of the partnerships we have established with organizations, businesses and individuals in the Dane County area. Our philosophy of community support is demonstrated at the corporate level, as well as in the time and energy our employees devote to our community each year. Capitol Bank is Member FDIC.

Wisconsin Union: Wisconsin Musician Pat McCurdy Will Perform a Virtual Concert on Aug. 15

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE          

Contact Information:
Shauna Breneman, Wisconsin Union
Email: sbreneman@wisc.edu

WISCONSIN MUSICIAN PAT MCCURDY WILL PERFORM A VIRTUAL CONCERT ON AUG. 15
The Wisconsin Union continues to create experiences for a lifetime with virtual concert

MADISON – The Wisconsin Union will present a live, virtual performance by Milwaukee-based musician Pat McCurdy on Aug. 15 from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Those interested in attending the free event can RSVP on the Wisconsin Union’s Facebook event, which allows guests to receive notifications about the concert, such as when the event begins.

“We’re bringing a Terrace tradition to people’s homes with a live concert by Wisconsin legend Pat McCurdy,” Wisconsin Union Music Advisor Courtney Byelich said. “While we cannot gather for live music on the Terrace right now, we are still committed to bringing folks some joy with music, providing student leadership opportunities, and supporting artists.”

McCurdy is a cabaret singer-songwriter whose more than 600 original songs cover topics ranging from lost loves to politics. McCurdy has performed at the Memorial Union Terrace for more than 20 years. He also frequently tours around the upper Midwest.

In-person University of Wisconsin-Madison events are canceled through at least Aug. 17. Wisconsin Union Directorate (WUD) committees and clubs as well as Wisconsin Union staff are working to create additional events and activities that will be announced on the Wisconsin Union calendar.

Eleven committees and six Wisconsin Hoofers clubs make up WUD, the Wisconsin Union’s student programming and leadership board. WUD plans, promotes and runs more than 1,000 events throughout each year. These events provide hands-on learning experiences for UW-Madison students and experiences for a lifetime for Wisconsin Union members and guests.

Purchases made at the Memorial Union Terrace, through Meals To-Go, and in the Online Terrace Store help support Wisconsin Union leadership opportunities, events and activities. The Wisconsin Union does not receive any taxpayer dollars.

Those interested in attending can click here to learn more about Pat McCurdy’s live, virtual concert and to RSVP to the event.

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About the Wisconsin Union

The Wisconsin Union enhances the lives of members and visitors through recreational, cultural, educational and social opportunities. Formed in 1907, the Wisconsin Union is a membership organization that blends study and leisure to create unique out-of-classroom opportunities. Learn more about the Union and its tradition of providing experiences for a lifetime: union.wisc.edu.

[Note: Click here to download a photo of Pat McCurdy.]

To read this release online, visit union.wisc.edu/about/news/pat-mccurdy.

Timpano Consulting: Research Points to Need for New Management Practices through 2020 and Beyond

Remote Work Arrangements Are Here to Stay:
Alignment of expectations and resources becomes more critical to sustain success

BROOKLYN, Wisc. and WATERFORD, Wisc., July 30, 2020 – Over 75 percent of employers believe they need to implement new management policies and practices to accommodate remote working as a standard future practice, and employees are interested in more flexible working arrangements going forward, according to a recent study conducted by Timpano Consulting and Blue Rock WI, management consulting firms specializing in workforce optimization.

The research effort involved surveys, interviews, discussions, and critical analysis about the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on employers and employees. Over 100 individuals spanning sectors, industries, sizes, and position types shared perspective; ninety percent of respondents were based in Wisconsin.

“Remote working is here to stay,” said Brett Remington, Blue Rock WI president. “Employers who figure out how to shift management practices to focus on outcomes rather than activities will be better positioned to raise productivity and secure profits.”

While 63 percent of employers anticipated a negative impact on their year-end organizational performance as a result of the pandemic, 77 percent of employers reported the performance of their workforce in remote work arrangements was about the same or better compared to the beginning of the year. Forty-three percent of employees working remotely were more satisfied with their job performance compared to the beginning of the year, and 32 percent felt about the same in terms of performance.

Ten percent of employees working from home during the pandemic preferred to return to their workplace as soon as possible, yet 80 percent of employees wanted to keep the practice as long as it makes sense for them and their work or until COVID 19 is no longer identified as a public health issue. Employees ranged in terms of how frequently they would choose to work remotely, with half preferring 5 days or more per week, and half preferring a hybrid arrangement of a few days per week or per month. All employee respondents who were working at home during the pandemic believed they could comfortably do so for at least a few months, with 77 percent indicating six months or more.

“Few organizations expect to return to business as usual from last year,” said Melanie Schmidt, Timpano Consulting president. “Employers must figure out how to best utilize their workforce to rebound and deliver value for customers – be that in person, remotely, or some sort of hybrid.”

Overall, employees are ready to adapt when given more flexibility, support to succeed, and clarity around expectations. Surveyed supervisors and managers welcome training and support to deliver on it.

The future has its challenges – but they can be addressed. Employers and employees shared concerns about the work-related challenges caused by internet connectivity (broadband access) and it being harder to communicate with coworkers. Yet, employers overestimated the challenges of distractions at home and underestimated employee anxiety about how they may be personally affected by the coronavirus.

Other Survey Findings:

• At the beginning of the year, only 30 percent of employers surveyed used remote working as routine practice, though 94 percent shifted to it during the pandemic. Looking ahead, about 10 percent intended to return fully to a ‘traditional’ workplace with 58 percent intending to deploy a hybrid model and 23 percent still unclear about how they would approach future work arrangements.
• Seventy-five percent of employees expressed confidence that they had the right resources to navigate through the crisis response, and 75 percent were confident in their leadership teams to make the right decisions through the crisis.
• Over half of employee respondents reported working more hours than before the pandemic; eight percent reported working fewer hours.
• Public sector employers expect remote work arrangements to be in the mix; most private sector employers intend to increase remote working while some functions return to the traditional setting; and, most nonprofit employers are likely to introduce more remote work opportunities.
• Across all sectors, employees want more outcomes-focused management and clearer expectations in terms of their accessibility and responsiveness. They also desire weekly communications from their leadership teams for how the organization is handling business complications due to the coronavirus.

The pandemic surfaced issues already existing within organizations. According to Schmidt and Remington, best-in-class organizations listen to their employees when formulating their strategies rather than instituting practices based solely upon others’ experiences, broad research reports, or management team assumptions. They observe that every organization’s workforce is comprised of different ideas about what will work best, and employers won’t be able to satisfy everyone so they must work toward solutions that deliver the greatest value to their mission and find ways to help employees navigate the changing times.

Interviews and discussions occurred in June; the survey of employers and employees was conducted for a week in mid-June.

A copy of the full report is available online at https://bit.ly/WorkforceStrategies_0720report.

Highlights from the report will be shared at a virtual public event on Thursday, August 6, 2020, at 1:30PM. The 45 minute presentation is free, with registration required via https://bit.ly/futureworkforce0806

Timpano Group includes a cross-sector strategy consulting firm that helps mission-driven organizations build capacity and achieve outcomes with processes that engage stakeholders to achieve sustainable transformation. More information can be found online at https://www.timpanogroup.com.

Blue Rock WI works with organizations interested in closing the gap between their performance and their potential. Services deliver enterprise-based performance improvement by simplifying the complex, focusing on achievement, and igniting passion for purpose across sectors. More information is available online at http://www.bluerockwi.com.

–end–

For more information:
Melanie Schmidt, (608) 695-7320 or mschmidt@timpanogroup.com

UW–Madison, American Family Insurance: Seeding tech growth in Wisconsin’s fertile ground

Why would a global program for tech startups tackling risk decide to make Wisconsin its home? And how does a partnership with a Fortune 300 insurance company help support success for the startups?

When the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) – an innovative nonprofit that has created programs in support of early stage startups worldwide – decided to partner with the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Madison-headquartered American Family Insurance for only its second U.S. location, it gave a nod to the ever-growing recognition that the region is fast becoming a hub for technology and innovation.

CDL is not alone in this belief. In December 2019, two national think-tanks, the Brookings Institute and Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, released a report putting the Madison area at the top of the list of regions positioned to be the next national tech hub. This thinking reflects what many in the area already know: The education level, business climate, and rich environment for innovation and scientific discovery make the region fertile ground to seed the next wave of entrepreneurs and tech growth.

Founded at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, CDL’s objectives-based entrepreneurship program was built to include active involvement of university students and faculty. This will support a streamlined pathway for research and discoveries at UW–Madison to more quickly find its way into industry. In addition, students will have access to an exciting experiential learning lab geared towards educating digitally aware students who will quickly become the business leaders of tomorrow.

Not including Wisconsin, CDL currently has eight locations. They are in Canada, England, and France. The only other U.S. program is in Atlanta, Georgia, which is launching at the same time as Wisconsin.

Students will benefit

“Students from a variety of academic disciplines will benefit from the exchange of ideas and interactions with entrepreneurs and mentors, while generating startup ideas about how digital technologies can spur unrealized opportunities in risk management,” said Vallabh “Samba” Sambamurthy, Albert O. Nicholas Dean of the Wisconsin School of Business. “In the long run, this will be another way our public university helps to create jobs and grow the economy.”

Region poised for tech growth

CDL’s decision to place its ninth startup program in Wisconsin was inspired by the revelation that while early-stage venture capital was concentrated in California and a few other cities, scientific breakthroughs that seed companies have a much broader geographic distribution. Discoveries and innovations in Madison, Milwaukee, and even as far as Minneapolis, make our region ripe for accelerated growth and venture investment in tech.

Understanding that Madison is home to not just a top-ranked university but also a highly innovative national insurance company, American Family Insurance, made Wisconsin an ideal location to launch its newest stream, CDL Risk. The program will nurture high-tech entrepreneurs in the growing field of risk management. CDL Risk will leverage the expertise at  UW–Madison and American Family, focusing on emerging high-tech software technologies related to identifying, assessing, preventing, mitigating, and transferring risk. The program is slated to start in November and will be entirely virtual for the time being.

“The importance of supporting entrepreneurship in tech has never been greater,” says Tom Erickson, founding director of the UW–Madison School of Computer, Data & Information Sciences. “The tech industry continues to drive economic growth around the globe, and we have an opportunity to put Wisconsin in the center of that.”

American Family partnership a win-win

As a founding partner of CDL Risk, American Family and its venture capital firm American Family Ventures is helping identify and select startups and will provide mentors and other resources during the nine-month program. This support is part of the company’s ongoing partnership with UW–Madison, which includes The American Family Insurance Data Science institute and endowed chair of the institute among other elements.

“Now, more than ever, we can see why entrepreneurship and advancements in data science and technology applied to risk management is critical to the insurance industry and society in general,” said Bill Westrate, American Family Insurance president. “Our involvement with these innovative startups in the very early stages will provide invaluable insights for us, and established resources to help them succeed.”

This partnership with American Family, access to focused mentorship from experienced entrepreneurs who have founded, led, and sold significant tech companies, and an emphasis on objective-setting to sharpen objectives, prioritize time and resources sets CDL Risk and CDL’s other programs apart from a typical startup accelerator.

With advances in data collection, analysis, and artificial intelligence, companies and individuals are better able to assess and respond to risk leading to new products, innovations, and cost savings. The ripple effect could lead to the development of many new companies and ventures focusing on anything from the use of satellites to detect wildfires, to new technology to identify potential damage to homes to improving traffic patterns to reduce accidents.

Furthers UW entrepreneurial innovation

“UW–Madison is a great choice for this project,” says Professor Joan Schmit, who holds the endowed American Family Insurance Distinguished Chair in Risk Management and Insurance at the Wisconsin School of Business. “To be able to support entrepreneurial innovation and economic growth in an area where we have a deep bench of expertise is a natural extension of our work.”

“CDL has developed a proven process for helping companies cut through distractions and focus on what’s most important, with a global network working toward our mission to accelerate the commercialization of science for the betterment of humankind,” says Sonia Sennik, Executive Director of the Creative Destruction Lab. “We are thrilled to both welcome UW–Madison to the CDL family as our newest site, CDL-Wisconsin, and to announce the launch of CDL Risk in partnership with American Family Insurance.”

CDL Risk continues seeking startup candidates and businesses and individuals willing to serve as mentors. More is available at CDL Risk.

Applications for CDL Risk at CDL-Wisconsin are now open at creativedestructionlab.com/apply. Selected ventures will begin the nine-month CDL program in October 2020. To learn more about CDL Risk, please contact risk@creativedestructionlab.com.

Read answers to frequently-asked questions about CDL and the new partnership here.

ABOUT UW–MADISON

The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public, land-grant institution that offers a complete spectrum of studies through 13 schools and colleges. With more than 43,000 students from every U.S. state and 121 countries, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of Wisconsin’s state university system. UW–Madison is a formidable research engine, ranking eighth among U.S. universities as measured by dollars spent on research. Faculty, staff, and students are motivated by a tradition known as the Wisconsin Idea that the boundaries of the university are the boundaries of the state and beyond. The Wisconsin School of Business (WSB) offers the #1-ranked under graduate risk management and insurance program by U.S. News & World Report, and the Risk and Insurance department at the Wisconsin School of Business is recognized as a Global Center of Insurance Excellence by the International Insurance Society. The School of Computing, Data and Information Sciences (CDIS), housed within the UW–Madison College of Letters & Science, and home to top-ranked departments of Computer Sciences, Statistics, and the Information School, was founded in 2019 to serve the needs of our ever-changing society. CDIS departments have been the source of many successful tech companies in our region and nationally.

ABOUT AMERICAN FAMILY INSURANCE GROUP

Based in Madison, Wisconsin, American Family Insurance has been serving customers since 1927. The company inspires, protects and restores dreams through insurance products, exceptional service from agency owners and employees, community investment, and creative partnerships to address societal challenges. American Family acts on the belief in diversity and inclusion by constantly evolving to meet customer needs and preferences. American Family Insurance group is the nation’s 13th-largest property/casualty insurance group, ranking No. 254 on the Fortune 500 list. The group sells American Family-brand products, primarily through exclusive agency owners in 19 states. The American Family Insurance group also includes CONNECT, powered by American Family Insurance, The General, Homesite, and Main Street America. Across these companies the group has more than 13,500 employees nationwide.

ABOUT AMERICAN FAMILY VENTURES

American Family Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on insurance innovation. Founded in 2013 as the direct venture capital arm of American Family Insurance, AFV invests in early-stage startups that are redefining the future of the insurance industry. AFV aims to help create category-leading companies through minority equity positions, active partnership and collaboration, an extensive Insurtech network, and a comprehensive platform of value-add programs. For more information, visit amfamventures.com.

ABOUT THE CREATIVE DESTRUCTION LAB (CDL)

CDL is a nonprofit organization that delivers an objectives-based program for massively scalable, seed-stage, science- and technology-based companies. Its nine-month program allows founders to learn from experienced entrepreneurs, increasing their likelihood of success. Founded in 2012 by Professor Ajay Agrawal at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, the program has expanded to eight sites across four countries: Oxford (Saïd Business School, University of Oxford), Paris (HEC Paris), Atlanta (Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology), Vancouver (Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia), Montreal (HEC Montréal), Calgary (Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary), and Halifax (Rowe School of Business, Dalhousie University).

New coverage provisions for WPS Health Insurance and Arise Health Plan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
DeAnne Boegli, Director of Communications
608-977-7343
deanne.boegli@wpsic.com

New coverage provisions for WPS Health Insurance and Arise Health Plan

MADISON, Wis.—July 28, 2020—WPS Health Insurance and Arise Health Plan are adding new coverage provisions for customers in selected health plans, including some related to COVID-19.

“We realize that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to present significant challenges for health care consumers. The new coverage provisions we are announcing today are intended to provide some financial relief for our customers. We want to assist our customers in achieving good health outcomes by making it easier for them to receive the care they need,” says Jim Baird, Executive Vice President of WPS Health Insurance.

Here is a summary of the new coverage:

• Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs): Generic drugs used to treat depression are added to the $0 preventive drug list effective July 1, 2020.

• HIV PrEP: Specific HIV preventive drugs, such as Truvada, are added to the $0 preventive drug list effective July 1, 2020.

• Insulin $25 cap: Starting at your renewal date on or after Oct. 1, 2020, the maximum you will pay for insulin is $25. The insulin program is not part of the insurance policy and is offered at no additional charge. Enrollment in this program is subject to contract renewal.

• Telehealth related to COVID-19 testing: Services have 0% cost sharing through March 13, 2021.

• COVID-19 antibody testing: Physician-ordered in vitro diagnostic testing for COVID-19, including antibody testing, is now covered with 0% cost sharing through March 13, 2021.

• Coverage for furloughed employees: The work exception for group health plans is extended to Aug. 31, 2020.

• Prior authorization: Requirements are waived for COVID-19 laboratory tests and treatment through Dec. 31, 2020.

Note: Self-funded group health plans have the option to select these benefits except for HIV PrEP, which is a mandated benefit. Those enrolled under a self-funded employer plan should check with their group leader to see if these benefits are covered. Group leaders with questions may contact their WPS Health Insurance or Arise Health Plan account manager.

For more information about COVID-19, including answers to frequently asked questions, visit these pages for WPS Health Insurance and Arise Health Plan.

About WPS Health Solutions

WPS Health Solutions is a nationally regarded government contractor and a leading Wisconsin not-for-profit health insurer. The WPS Health Insurance division offers affordable health plans and benefits administration. The WPS Government Health Administrators division administers Part A and B Medicare benefits for millions of seniors in multiple states, and the WPS Military and Veterans Health division serves millions more members who are active in the U.S. military, veterans, and their families. Wisconsin Physicians Service Insurance Corporation (WPS Health Solutions) has been based in Madison, Wis., for more than 70 years. For more information, please visit wpshealthsolutions.com.