Broker-Led Investor Group Launches BrokerTech Ventures

Contact: Kacie Conroy, Director of Information Technology, M3 Insurance
kacie.conroy@m3ins.com, 608-288-2795

M3 Insurance, along with Holmes Murphy, PayneWest Insurance, ABD Insurance & Financial Services, and Conner Strong & Buckelew, are pleased to announce the launch of BrokerTech Ventures, the first program specifically for investors and innovators building the next generation of tech solutions for insurance agencies and brokerages.

BrokerTech Ventures will deploy a highly intentional accelerator curriculum, as well as a veteran mentoring network, seed funding for a portion of the chosen startups’ research and testing, and a distribution platform to deploy the technologies. Startup companies can apply for a spot in the first BrokerTech Ventures cohort starting in late October 2019, with program launch planned for February 2020.

“The idea behind the alignment of BrokerTech Ventures as both an accelerator and an investment vehicle is that we have an opportunity to shape a product or solution alongside the startup,” said Mike Victorson, president and CEO of M3 Insurance and co-founder of BrokerTech Ventures alongside Holmes Murphy. “We intend on being active participants in the insurance technology space and offering a testing ground to benefit our clients.”

Dan Keough, chairman and CEO of Holmes Murphy added, “BrokerTech Ventures will alleviate some technology-related pain points by creating an ‘innovation hub’ for startups to test broker-centric ideas and products while bringing new and innovative ideas and solutions to our customers.”

In further building the resources available through BrokerTech Ventures, the owner agencies plan to partner with additional privately held, like-minded, and geographically-diverse insurance agencies and brokerages. A targeted, executive search is in progress for the organization’s first managing director, and Brian Hemesath, former managing director of the Global Insurance Accelerator (GIA) and a noted InsurTech leader, will provide guidance and counseling on the initiative as the architecture and curriculum for BrokerTech Ventures are built.

About M3
M3 is the largest insurance broker and risk management firm in the state of Wisconsin. As a top 50 broker in America, we’re leaders in the products we represent and the industries we serve. M3’s people are an extension of your team, providing world-class resources to help you manage risk, purchase insurance, and provide employee benefits. And our focus on community builds better places to live and work. For more information on M3, visit www.m3ins.com.

About BrokerTech Ventures
Based in the insurance nucleus of Des Moines, Iowa, BrokerTech Ventures is the first broker-led investor group and accelerator program focused on delivering innovation to the insurance agent-broker industry. Founded in 2019, BrokerTech Ventures provides a venue for the best minds in insurance and technology to collaborate and bring to market leading-edge ideas and solutions. BrokerTech Ventures invests in the research and testing for each of the chosen startups, provides access to veteran industry mentors, and helps scale the technology to market through broker distribution channels.

Campus Farmers Market will bring local products to UW-Madison campus

Aug. 23, 2019

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact Information:

Shauna Breneman, Communications Director

Office: (608) 262-8862

Email: sbreneman@wisc.edu

CAMPUS FARMERS MARKET WILL BRING LOCAL PRODUCTS TO UW-MADISON CAMPUS

Wisconsin Union’s weekly farmers market to bring local vendors to Union South

MADISON – The Wisconsin Union team will host the Campus Farmers Market Thursdays, which will feature local and organic products, Sept. 5 until Oct. 24 at Union South from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Area vendors will sell their products during the market outside Union South at the corner of North Orchard Street and West Johnson Street. Featured vendors include Bloom Bake Shop, Chrysalis Pops, Munchkey Apples, Parrfection Produce, Porchlight Products and Savory Accents.

“It’s an honor and pleasure to support local businesses and increase food accessibility in the downtown Madison area,” said Wisconsin Union Associate Director of Dining and Hospitality Carl Korz.

The market will also feature Farm to Table bags that include fresh produce and a recipe tailored to the bag’s produce. Market customers will have the chance to sample the featured recipe at each week’s market.

Plus, at the first market, the Union team will give away Campus Farmers Market canvas bags while supplies last. In addition, on Sept. 5 and 12, team members will provide loyalty cards with which customers can receive $8 off their Farm to Table Bag purchases. If customers with loyalty cards purchase a Farm to Table Bag at every market this fall, they will receive their final bag free.

The Campus Farmers Market will include live music by singer-songwriter Frankie Pobar Lay. Available various dates throughout the summer will be button-making with Wheelhouse Studios, dogs from Dogs On Call, and new menu item samples from Union South restaurants.

For more information about the Union’s Campus Farmers Market and new recipes weekly, visit union.wisc.edu/cfm.

-###-

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 to the editor: Click here to download a high-resolution photo of a 2018 Campus Farmers Market. Pictured: A Porchlight Products team member provides product samples to Campus Farmers Market customers at Union South. Photo provided by the Wisconsin Union. Photo by Owen Desai.]

Read this release online here: union.wisc.edu/about/news/campus-farmers-market-2019.

M3 Releases 2019 Health Benefits Trend Report

M3 Insurance’s 2019 Health Care Trend Report is now available. This annual publication highlights costs and plan designs for employer-sponsored health insurance throughout the State of Wisconsin.

The report contains data collected from M3 clients across the spectrum of employer sizes, regional markets and sectors; it provides employers with information they need to benchmark their offers of health insurance coverage within the current market. Insights on how employers are structuring their plans, the types of plans they are purchasing and regional trends are included in the report.

According to data from the past year, health insurance costs experienced a 4.4% growth rate. This is the lowest rate of change in health insurance costs since the inception of this annual report in 2004.

DOWNLOAD A COPY OF THE REPORT

If you’d like to have a discussion on specific report findings in relation to your health insurance costs, contact your M3 Account Executive. Hard copies of the report are available upon request.

_____________________

About M3

M3 Insurance offers insight, advice and strategies to help clients manage risk, purchase insurance and provide employee benefits. We are committed to being experts in both the products we represent and the industries we serve. Our people advance M3’s competitive advantage in the marketplace, and our focus on community builds better places to live and work. M3 is consistently ranked a top 100 broker in America and celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2018.

Infosec unveils expanded channel program to address security & IT professional skills and certification training

MADISON, Wis., April 24, 2019 — Infosec today announced major enhancements to its popular Infosec Channel Partner Program for managed services providers (MSPs), managed security service providers (MSSPs), value-added resellers (VARs) and OEMs. In addition to security awareness and training solution Infosec IQ, the program now includes both Infosec Skills and Infosec Flex to create the only channel program in the industry to provide across-the-board, full-spectrum training needs for the clients of channel partners.

“Organizations face two primary security training issues today; their employees are not trained properly about cybersecurity and their security and IT staff are undertrained,” said Mike Nobers, director of global channel sales at Infosec. This is due to ever-changing security techniques and employees being recruited away to other companies because of the qualified security pro shortage.

“Infosec partners can now speak to this bigger issue across their client’s organization with Infosec IQ for employee security awareness training, plus Infosec Skills and Infosec Flex to address retaining and growing their security and IT teams,” Nobers added.

With Infosec IQ in their portfolios, channel partners can help clients build a cyber-alert workforce equipped to recognize, avoid and report suspicious activity, such as phishing. The Infosec Skills and Infosec Flex platforms are designed to ensure the client’s IT and security team’s skills are scaled to outsmart the latest threats and build defenses to counter tomorrow’s threats.

Free to join and easy to implement, the Infosec Channel Partner Program offers:

• Unique to the industry — the most complete, one-stop shopping security awareness training program with access to Infosec IQ, Infosec Skills and Infosec Flex
• Technical sales training to help clients build effective security awareness programs
• Automation tools that make it easy to build security awareness training programs to deliver the right content to the right learner at the right time
• Delegated administration that allows management of multiple clients’ security awareness programs from one platform
• Automatic report generation that makes it easy to track and share training performance
• Customizable learning experiences via more than 300 modules, including critical training in phishing, suspicious hosts, ransomware and password security

Launched in October 2018, the Infosec Channel Partner Program provides generous margins for channel partners. All partners receive dedicated channel sales support, marketing resources and training to be successful.

Learn more about the Infosec Channel Partner Program and how to join.

###

About Infosec

Infosec has been fighting cybercrime since 2004. Thousands of organizations and over 160,000 individuals trust the wide range of security-specific classes and enterprise security awareness and phishing training to stay a step ahead of the bad guys. Infosec IQ, Infosec Flex and Infosec Skills provide the most advanced and comprehensive education and training platforms. Founded by CEO Jack Koziol, Infosec is based in Madison, with offices in Chicago and Dulles, Virginia. Learn more at www.infosecinstitute.com

Wisconsin Bank & Trust at Leading Edge of Banking With Launch of Mobile Business Account Opening

CONTACT:                                                                         

Curtis Chrystal

President and CEO

608.203.1224

CChrystal@wisconsinbankandtrust.com

Bridget Wallace

Regional Marketing and Sales Support Director

608.203.1211

BWallace@wisconsinbankandtrust.com

WISCONSIN BANK & TRUST AT LEADING EDGE OF BANKING WITH LAUNCH OF MOBILE BUSINESS ACCOUNT OPENING

February 27, 2019—Madison, WI — Wisconsin Bank & Trust launched mobile account opening for business deposit products. The bank currently offers online account opening for consumer deposit products. Customers can now open business checking, savings and money market accounts online. In an industry where technology is quickly moving toward digital connectivity, mobile account opening is the next step in meeting customer needs.

“We are excited to offer this service which, until now, is only offered by a few of the top ten largest banks in the U.S. And unlike those large banks, our process is completely digital and paperless,” said Curtis Crystal, President and CEO, Wisconsin Bank & Trust. “Online account opening for business accounts, coupled with the benefits of our local community banking model, gives us a unique competitive advantage and fulfills our commitment to provide the Big Bank Punch, with the Community Bank Touch.”

“We believe customers will require us to be just as cutting edge as other high-tech companies like Amazon or Apple,” said Crystal. “As an organization, we are committed to making our services available to customers when and where they want them. Having a complete, full service bank in your hand, that’s powerful.”

To open an account, customers can go to wisconsinbankandtrust.com and complete the online application.

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 fifteen banking centers, 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.

# # #