WPS Health Solutions: Army Col. Izzy Thompson saluted for Operation Fan Mail

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
DeAnne Boegli
Vice President of Communications
608-512-5754
deanne.boegli@wpsic.com

Army Col. Izzy Thompson saluted for Operation Fan Mail
Program is sponsored by WPS Health Solutions and the Green Bay Packers

MADISON, Wis.—Oct. 18, 2022—The Green Bay Packers and WPS Health Solutions paid special tribute this week to U.S. Army Col. Israel “Izzy” Thompson and his family in conjunction with the Oct. 16 game against the New York Jets. Operation Fan Mail, the program that recognizes military families and veterans at each Packers home game, marks its 16th season in 2022.

A native of south Milwaukee and a lifelong Packers fan, Thompson was an Eagle Scout and played for Marquette University High School’s 1995 state championship football team. He earned an ROTC scholarship and was a Distinguished Military Graduate from Marquette University.

Following his college graduation in 1999, Thompson continued his military career, going on to serve three tours in Afghanistan, two tours in Korea and one to Iraq during which he commanded a company in combat. Most recently, he was deployed to Germany to support current operations in Ukraine. Thompson also served two no-notice deployments to the Pentagon immediately following 9/11. He has served in the Army for 23 years.

His family says he has always exemplified selfless service, one of the seven Army values, and he has always prioritized the safety and comfort of his team over his own, whether that team be his unit or family. Thompson has also earned many awards throughout his career, including two Bronze Star Medals and a Legion of Merit; however, what he values the most is when the soldiers he has led in the past reach out to him as a mentor.

Thompson attended Sunday’s game with his mom, Susan, his wife, Janet, who nominated him for Operation Fan Mail, as well as their son, Sam.

As the honorees for Operation Fan Mail this week, the Thompson family also received four tickets to the game and a $150 Packers Pro Shop gift card, courtesy of WPS.

The program, which debuted in 2007, is designed to honor families with a member who is on active duty or a member who is a veteran. The Packers and WPS Health Solutions will host a family at each 2022 season home game and recognize the members on the video boards during pregame activities. A total of 152 individuals, families, or groups have been recognized through the program since it began.

The Packers and WPS Health Solutions invite interested families, or friends of eligible families, to submit an essay, 500 words or less, on why a particular family should be saluted this year. Families intended for recognition are those that have a member serving on active duty, or a member who is a veteran. The family member can be a spouse, mother, father, son, daughter, or sibling.

Essays can be sent to Operation Fan Mail, P.O. Box 10628, Green Bay, WI, 54307-0628 or online at packers.com/lambeau-field/operation-fan-mail.

About WPS Health Solutions^®

Wisconsin Physicians Service Insurance Corporation (WPS Health Solutions), founded in 1946, is a nationally regarded benefits administrator for a variety of U.S. government programs and a leading not-for-profit health insurer in Wisconsin. WPS Health Solutions serves active-duty and retired military personnel, seniors, individuals, and families in Wisconsin, across the U.S., and around the world. WPS Health Solutions, headquartered in Madison, Wis., has more than 3,100 employees. Within the enterprise, there are three divisions: WPS Government Health Administrators, WPS Military and Veterans Health, and WPS Health Insurance/WPS Health Plan/EPIC Specialty Benefits. For more information, please visit wpshealthsolutions.com.

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One City and Fetch Rewards Announce Signature Partnership

Will Work Together to Prepare the Next Generation of STEM Leaders

Yesterday, One City was honored to host Wes Schroll, the founder and CEO of Fetch Rewards, and his team when they visited our new Pleasant T. Rowland Leadership Campus to announce a new signature partnership between Fetch and One City Schools that will engage and benefit our young scholars and community for years to come. 

Fetch Rewards will work with us to prepare the next generation of leaders, innovators and contributors in STEM fields enrolled at One City Preparatory Academy, a new early college and career middle/high school located in Dane County, Wisconsin. Together, we will help fill the need for more technology developers, engineers, scientists and systems thinkers who are dedicated to making the world better, for everyone.

Fetch Rewards staff will work with our Scholars on their STEM projects, provide job shadowing and internship opportunities, and will help keep our staff and Scholars current on the latest needs and innovations in STEM industries and occupations. Fetch Rewards is also naming our school’s co-working space and making a $50,000 contribution to our STEM program. We are excited to begin this journey together. 

For more information or to discuss your interest in partnering with us, and supporting the education of our young scholars, please contact Gail Wiseman, One City’s VP of External Relations, at gwiseman@onecityschools.org or (608) 531-2128.

About Fetch Rewards

Fetch Rewards is a mobile shopping platform that rewards shoppers for buying the brands they love. The Fetch Rewards app gives users the easiest way to save on everyday purchases by simply scanning their receipt. For our brand partners, the platform allows them to understand a 360 degree view of shopping habits, and to meaningfully reward a customer’s individual loyalty.

About One City Schools

One City Schools is a Wisconsin-based nonprofit organization that provides high quality educational opportunities for young children. Our mission is to seed a new model of public education that ensures young children are on track to succeed in a college or career preparatory program from birth through high school graduation. We currently operate three schools: a tuition-based independent preschool that serves 2 and 3-year-olds, and two tuition-free public charter schools, authorized by the University of Wisconsin System, that presently enroll children in 4K through 10th grade. We will eventually enroll 926 children from age 2 through through 12th grade and serve as a national model for the transformation of PK-12 education in the United States. 

WPS Health Solutions: Sgt. Maj. Jim Cook saluted for Operation Fan Mail

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DeAnne Boegli
Vice President of Communications
608-512-5754
deanne.boegli@wpsic.com

Sgt. Maj. Jim Cook saluted for Operation Fan Mail
Program is sponsored by WPS Health Solutions and the Green Bay Packers

MADISON, Wis.—Oct. 6, 2022—The Green Bay Packers and WPS Health Solutions paid special tribute this week to Army Sgt. Maj. Jim Cook and his family in conjunction with the Oct. 2 game against the New England Patriots. Operation Fan Mail, the program that recognizes military families and veterans at each Packers home game, marks its 16th season in 2022.

Cook grew up in Arizona and Washington, entering the Army in 2000 at age 18 with the goal of becoming a police officer. He put in three years in the Army and then went into the Reserves so he could attend college. While in college, he was activated to train new recruits as a drill sergeant. He served in the Reserves from 2003–2008 but was activated for four of those years. In 2008, he signed up for active duty and was sent to join the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, NC. He was deployed to Afghanistan in May 2009 and returned in July 2010. He then joined the intelligence section at Fort Bragg, where he served until 2015. He was deployed to Djibouti, Africa, and then again to Afghanistan. Cook was stationed at Fort Benning, Ga., from 2015–2017, returned to Fort Bragg from 2017–2019, then moved to Fort Huachuca, Ariz. He moved to Fort Shafter, Hawaii, in 2021 and is still stationed there. He has served 22 years in the Army and is looking forward to retiring next year.

Cook attended the game with his sister, Jessica Basile, dad, Mike, and mom, Mary. Cook and his family live in Hawaii.

As the honorees for Operation Fan Mail this week, the Cook family also received four tickets to the game and a $150 Packers Pro Shop gift card, courtesy of WPS.

The program, which debuted in 2007, is designed to honor families with a member who is on active duty or a member who is a veteran. The Packers and WPS Health Solutions will host a family at each 2022 season home game and recognize the members on the video boards during pregame activities. A total of 151 individuals, families, or groups have been recognized through the program since it began.

The Packers and WPS Health Solutions invite interested families, or friends of eligible families, to submit an essay, 500 words or less, on why a particular family should be saluted this year. Families intended for recognition are those that have a member serving on active duty, or a member who is a veteran. The family member can be a spouse, mother, father, son, daughter, or sibling.

Essays can be sent to Operation Fan Mail, P.O. Box 10628, Green Bay, WI, 54307-0628 or online at operationfanmail.com.

About WPS Health Solutions

Wisconsin Physicians Service Insurance Corporation (WPS Health Solutions), founded in 1946, is a nationally regarded benefits administrator for a variety of U.S. government programs and a leading not-for-profit health insurer in Wisconsin. WPS Health Solutions serves active-duty and retired military personnel, seniors, individuals, and families in Wisconsin, across the U.S., and around the world. WPS Health Solutions, headquartered in Madison, Wis., has more than 3,100 employees. Within the enterprise, there are three divisions: WPS Government Health Administrators, WPS Military and Veterans Health, and WPS Health Insurance/WPS Health Plan/EPIC Specialty Benefits. For more information, please visit wpshealthsolutions.com.

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Cap Times Power Breakfast welcomes Aaron P. Jagdfeld of Generac Power Systems

The Cap Times has established itself as a leader in presenting high-powered events that educate and entertain the Madison and Dane County markets. We’re proud to announce our newest entry: Cap Times Power Breakfast. This quarterly series, sponsored by UBS, will feature one-on-one, future-focused conversations with Wisconsin’s top CEOs discussing business in our state.

This series is targeted for those who run a business (or aspire to), or those interested in understanding how major CEOs think. It all begins with the first Power Breakfast on Oct. 12 at the Grand Ballroom at The Edgewater Hotel. For each event, doors will open at 7 a.m. with time to enjoy coffee and network. The conversations themselves will run for one hour, starting at 8 a.m. 

Admission is $35 for a single ticket that includes a full breakfast, or $250 for a table of eight. Cap Times members will receive an exclusive discount on their tickets.

The moderator for these ongoing sessions will be Mark Richardson, president of Unfinished Business Consulting and CEO of GigBlender. Mark has spent the past 10 years helping professionals transition in their careers and organizations attract and acquire talent of color.

We are proud to announce our first speaker Aaron P. Jagdfeld, who has served as president and CEO of Generac Power Systems since September 2008 and as a director since November 2006. Aaron also has served as chairman since February 2016.

Register for this event here.

Learn more about this event here.

Venue Information

Grand Ballroom at The Edgewater Hotel
1001 Wisconsin Place
Madison, WI 53703

Wisconsin Union: Beloved Tudor Holiday Dinner Concerts Will Bring Festive Food, Music and Pageantry to Memorial Union Nov. 30-Dec. 4

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct. 3, 2022

Contact Information:
Abby Synnes, Communications Associate
Email: asynnes@wisc.edu

BELOVED TUDOR HOLIDAY DINNER CONCERTS WILL BRING FESTIVE FOOD, MUSIC AND PAGEANTRY TO MEMORIAL UNION NOV. 30-DEC. 4 

MADISON – The Tudor Holiday Dinner Concerts will return to Memorial Union’s Great Hall for five nights of holiday music and dining from Nov. 30 to Dec. 4. The dinner concerts did not occur in 2020 or 2021 due to COVID-19, so this year marks a return to the in-person, time-honored celebration of warmth, fellowship and history.

Each evening of this beloved Wisconsin Union tradition will feature a delicious feast, a grand processional, old English pageantry, a Yuletide toast and choral performances by the Philharmonic Chorus of Madison, Madison’s premier a cappella chorus. New Choir Director Clare Malinowski will lead Chorus members and audience members in joyful carols throughout the evening.

This year’s brand-new dinner menu, crafted by the Wisconsin Union catering team, features entree options of maple-glazed pork tenderloin with mustard fingerlings or a vegetarian maple-glazed acorn squash; sides of caramelized onion and apple chutney and herb-buttered carrots and green beans; and a dessert of flaming figgy pudding with hard sauce. Prior to dinner, patrons will also enjoy wassail, a hot mulled cider delight and a Tudor Holiday Dinner Concert tradition.

Tickets to the Tudor Holiday Dinner Concerts will go on sale on Oct. 19 on the event website. Patrons can choose between four different ticket prices, depending on the type of table and the patron’s Wisconsin Union membership status. Seats at a four-person cabaret table are $75 per person for Wisconsin Union members and $85 for nonmembers, while seats at a 10-person oval table are $65 for members and $75 for nonmembers.

“I’m excited and honored to be a part of the Philharmonic Chorus of Madison and the fabulous Tudor Holiday Dinner Concerts,” said Philharmonic Chorus of Madison Director Clare Malinowski. “I hope this year’s dinners leave new and returning guests feeling joyful and light as we bring back live performances. I’m thankful to be a part of this treasured tradition while introducing a fresh spirit that is welcoming and warm to all attendees and participants.”

The schedule for the evening includes wassail and hors d’oeuvres at 5:30 p.m., dinner at 6:30 p.m., and choral presentations throughout the night.

While there is no dress code for the event, most guests dress in semi-formal attire. Guests may choose to wear Renaissance period costumes if they so desire.

The Tudor Dinners at the University of Wisconsin-Madison date back to 1933, when a group of community singers, under the direction of professor Edgar B. Gordon, agreed to sing a Christmas program at the University Club and the Wisconsin Union. The idea for the holiday dinners was borrowed from the Todd Union at the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York, where a legend of English pageantry crossed the Atlantic Ocean from England. 

According to the legend, an Oxford University student once saved a scholar from a wild boar attack. The Tudor Holiday Dinner Concerts pay homage to this story with a presentation of a boar’s head prior to serving dinner.

The Philharmonic Chorus of Madison first performed at the Tudor Holiday Dinners in 1972, led by then-Director Samuel L. Jones, and in 1973 the event became known as the Tudor Holiday Dinner Concerts. Today, more than 50 members make up the Chorus, an audition-only a capella group that has shared music with the Madison community since 1946. The Chorus performs in two concert series each year: the Tudor Holiday Dinner Concerts and three spring performances.

Ticket and event information about the Tudor Holiday Dinner Concerts is available at union.wisc.edu/events-and-activities/special-events/tudor-holiday-dinner-concerts. 

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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.

To read this release online, visit union.wisc.edu/about/news/tudor-dinners.