Stephanie Ek joins NGL as Vice President, Administration Services

National Guardian Life Insurance Company (NGL), a mutual insurance company located in Madison, Wis., announced the appointment of Stephanie Ek as the new Vice President, Administration Services, effective July 10. Ek will oversee the policy administration services, claims, underwriting, agent support and customer services.

During the upcoming year Ek will be transitioning into her new role as she works with current Vice President, Director of Policy Administration, Janet Fosdick, who is retiring in 2018.

“Stephanie joins NGL with over 20 years of management experience in operations with an emphasis on employee engagement and customer care,” said Tim Heaton, Senior Vice President Strategic Services at NGL. “She will be leading initiatives related to implementing technological solutions within operations and staff development as NGL expands its services and products.”

Ek joins NGL from QBE where she was most recently, Vice President, Claims Transformation and Recovery. She has experience driving operational efficiencies to achieve corporate objectives, managing claims and customer call centers, as well as overseeing Third Party Administrators.

“I am honored to be a part of NGL. Because of their focus on the customer and employees while building financial strength and stability, the company has a long history of success and is positioned well for continued success in the future. I am passionate about customer service and employee engagement which makes NGL a natural fit for me.”

Ek holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Nebraska Wesleyan University and an Associate’s in Claims through the American Institute for Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters.

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

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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Wisconsin Bank & Trust Welcomes Greskelly Diaz Penaranda as Senior Personal Banker at its Fitchburg Banking Center

Wisconsin Bank & Trust is pleased to announce Greskelly Diaz Penaranda is the newest personal banker serving customers at the bank’s Fitchburg Banking Center. She is an experienced banking professional who brings 10 years’ experience building relationships with clients while assisting them with a wide range of financial products and services.

A native of Venezuela, Diaz Penaranda relocated to Madison 20 years ago and currently resides in Verona. She is an active volunteer in the greater Madison community with St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry, Centro Hispano, Second Harvest and the March of Dimes.

Diaz Penaranda can be reached at (608) 298-1718 or gdiaz@wisconsinbankandtrust.com. Wisconsin Bank & Trust’s Fitchburg Banking Center is located at 6180 Verona Road.

About Wisconsin Bank & Trust

Wisconsin Bank & Trust (WBT), a subsidiary of Heartland Financial USA, Inc., (NASDAQ: HTLF), is a business-focused community bank with assets of more than $1 billion. With eighteen banking centers and one mortgage loan origination office, Wisconsin Bank & Trust serves customers in the Madison, Milwaukee, Green Bay, Sheboygan, Monroe and southwest areas of Wisconsin. WBT offers a wide range of personal and business banking, private client and mortgage lending services. For more information, visit www.wisconsinbankandtrust.com or call 608.203.1214. Wisconsin Bank & Trust is a member of the FDIC and an Equal Housing Lender.

About Heartland Financial USA, Inc.

Heartland is a diversified financial services company with assets exceeding $9.5 billion. The Company provides banking, mortgage, private client, investment, treasury management, card services, insurance, and consumer finance services to individuals and businesses. Heartland currently has 121 banking locations serving 88 communities in Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Arizona, Montana, Colorado, Minnesota, Kansas, Missouri, Texas and California.  Additional information about Heartland is available at www.htlf.com.

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Wisconsin Bank & Trust’s Jasper Vaccaro Serving as Board Chair of YMCA of Dane County and as Vice President of the Board of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Madison

Wisconsin Bank & Trust’s Jasper Vaccaro, Senior Vice President and Private Client Services Market Leader, is currently serving on the boards of two Madison-area nonprofit organizations. Vaccaro is Chair of the Executive Committee and Chief Volunteer Officer for YMCA of Dane County. He is also serving as Vice President on Ronald McDonald House Charities of Madison’s board of directors.

Vaccaro has been actively involved since 2010 with YMCA of Dane County, which works to provide programs that help build a healthy spirit, mind and body for everyone. Vaccaro began his term as Board Chair in May 2016.

With Ronald McDonald House Charities of Madison, Vaccaro is also a longtime contributor, including as a member of the Investment Committee. He joined the organization’s board of directors in 2013 and has served as Vice President for the past year. Through its housing, care mobile and Family Room programs, the organization seeks to provide a home-away-from-home for families when a child they love receives treatment in the Madison area.

At Wisconsin Bank & Trust, Vaccaro’s role includes leadership of the bank’s Wealth Advisory Services, Investment Services, Private Banking and Retirement Plan Services. He is based from the bank’s headquarters location at 119 Junction Road in Madison.

About Wisconsin Bank & Trust

Wisconsin Bank & Trust (WBT), a subsidiary of Heartland Financial USA, Inc., (NASDAQ: HTLF), is a business-focused community bank with assets of more than $1 billion. With eighteen banking centers and one mortgage loan origination office, Wisconsin Bank & Trust serves customers in the Madison, Milwaukee, Green Bay, Sheboygan, Monroe and southwest areas of Wisconsin. WBT offers a wide range of personal and business banking, private client and mortgage lending services. For more information, visit www.wisconsinbankandtrust.com or call 608.203.1214. Wisconsin Bank & Trust is a member of the FDIC and an Equal Housing Lender.

About Heartland Financial USA, Inc.

Heartland is a diversified financial services company with assets exceeding $9.5 billion. The Company provides banking, mortgage, private client, investment, treasury management, card services, insurance, and consumer finance services to individuals and businesses. Heartland currently has 121 banking locations serving 88 communities in Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Arizona, Montana, Colorado, Minnesota, Kansas, Missouri, Texas and California.  Additional information about Heartland is available at www.htlf.com.

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AM Solutions Appoints New Digital Prepress Technician

Edgerton, WI – AM Solutions is pleased to announce, JaNae Pernsteiner has joined the firm to assist in developing their Data Services offerings. JaNae comes with a wealth of experience within the industry. Over the past twelve years she has worked with various print media firms in Prepress and Graphic Design.

JaNae joins AM Solutions as a Digital Prepress Technician to help further AM Solutions recent success providing integrated marketing services to many of the top companies in the United States. JaNae comments“I am excited to start this new challenge with AM Solutions. With over twelve years of experience as a Prepress Specialist coupled with a degree in Graphic Design I feel that I can utilize my skill set to bring increased value to the organization”.

Eric Stein, Vice President of Operations, said “JaNae’s acquired experience and knowledge of the industry will quickly make her a key addition to the AM Solutions team. We view her appointment as a sign of our commitment to being a leading service provider in our industry. The increasing demand for data services from our customers led us to look for an addition to the team who will fit in with our innovative and exceptional service offerings. I am confident that JaNae will play a key role in providing high quality solutions for our clients.”

About AM Solutions:

AM Solutions (amsolutionswi.com), is a customer-driven marketing services provider specializing in direct mail marketing, data, print, fulfillment and email communication. AM Solutions has proudly been providing its customers, large and small, with solutions-based, results-driven, integrated communications for their marketing needs since 1993.

Midwest Prototyping becomes first independent additive manufacturer to achieve ISO 9001:2015 Certification

Midwest Prototyping Achieves ISO 9001 Certification | July 11, 2017

BLUE MOUNDS, WI – Midwest Prototyping, LLC, announced today its operations have been certified compliant with the ISO 9001:2015 standard, an internationally recognized achievement for operational excellence. One of the nation’s largest additive manufacturers, it’s the first independent service bureau to achieve ISO 9001:2015 certification.

“For us, obtaining ISO certification is a natural next step,” said Steve Grundahl, President and founder of Midwest Prototyping. “As our operations and the additive manufacturing industry have continued to grow, we’ve seen an increasing number of production and end-use orders for printed parts. This [ISO 9001 certification] is a critical step to create a manufacturing facility for 3D printed, end-use products. If we are going to compete with traditional manufacturing processes, we need to meet them at their level.”

Midwest Prototyping has spent close to 18 months working to ensure its quality management system meets the extensive criteria associated with the standard, which centers on enhancing customer satisfaction and continuous improvement. National Quality Associates, Inc., an independent accredited registrar, verified Midwest Prototyping’s compliance to the standard.

“At its core, ISO 9001 is a business improvement standard,” explained Nate Schumacher, Project Leader and ISO 9001 implementation coordinator. “Realistically, what we’ve done is taken our existing QMS and reshaped it to let us take a closer look at our operations at every level, allowing us to improve them as we continue to grow.”

Centered in Geneva, Switzerland, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is an independent, non-governmental international organization which develops and publishes International Standards in collaboration with 163 national standards bodies. Its documentation provides guidelines that can be used consistently to ensure that materials, products, processes and services are fit for their purpose.

Founded in 2001, Midwest Prototyping is one of the nation’s largest independent additive manufacturing service bureaus. Named to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing privately held companies for the last 5 consecutive years, the Blue Mounds-based organization was recently a 2016 Wisconsin Manufacturer of the Year award winner. Offering multiple 3D printing technologies, urethane casting, and extensive finishing services, Midwest Prototyping has consistently provided quality products and unrivaled customer support, enabling clients of all industries to make better parts, faster.

For more information, visit www.midwestproto.com.