Transcript
EMPLOYEE NEWSLETTER OF ATLAS INSURANCE AGENCY VOLUME 8, ISSUE 7
Construction Continues at Atlas
JULY 2012
You’ve seen folks packing up desks and moving, and heard the footsteps of even the lightest people crinkle plastic beneath them as they walk. You’ve seen the plastic “Thanks to everyone hung from the ceilings, and for dealing with the you’ve noticed some walls are noise and missing.
one atlas.
Na Leo O’ Atlas •
Reconfiguration of the Commercial Lines/Risk Consulting area of the 16th floor
•
Upgrades to the lunchroom and boardroom
Thanks to everyone for dealing with the noise and inconveniences as this project progresses. It will be well worth the final product!
inconveniences as this project progresses.”
1132 Bishop Street Suite 1600
Top 5 Agents
2
These minor inconveniences are the result of an ongoing and long-planned office renovation project that has seen our Employee Benefits team relocate down to the 16th floor, and ultimately will see our entire Accounting team relocate down as well. At lease we’ll be intimate.
Carol Davis
2
Some highlights of the construction project include:
The Professional Edge
3
•
Relocating the agents’ work room to a soon to be created room where the ‘T-Files’ were in the mailroom
Atlas HEART
4
• HHS Project
5
The creation of a new computer lab/training room
Toastmaster’s Time
5
HHS Pictures
6
July Calendar
8
The Final Word
8
Honolulu, HI 96813 808-533-3222
Inside this issue:
Happy 236th birthday to our great country, the United States of America!
Community Service project is for the dogs A team of Atlas volunteers and animal lovers made their way over to Bishop Square one sunny June afternoon to help raise awareness (and a little bit of money) for our friends at the Hawaiian Humane Society (HHS). This community service project was spearheaded by our 2nd quarter ‘minicommunity’ from Personal Lines, but with big-time help from Martin Beardeaux from the Risk & Claims team. The team of 29-Atlas employees split shifts by helping with preparation and break-down, spinning the wheel of fortune, distributing brochures and answering pet adoption questions. There were sev-
eral representatives from the Hawaiian Humane Society there as well, as were a few furry friends. Diego, the cutest little dog in the world, mugged for the camera often, and requested that all pictures be copied to him at his very own e-mail address. Passers-by stopped to pet the animals, spin the wheel, win some prizes, and make donations. All-in -all, it was an extremely successfully public relations campaign that also raised $301 for HHS. Natalie Lukashevsky wanted to, ‘thank you all for making [this event] not only a successful event, but a fun one too!’ Story continued on page 5
NA LEO O’ ATLAS
Building a better business with sales acumen!
Steve Fukumitsu Spencer Lau & Kristl Ito-Lau Dennis Sugihara Scott LaRue Wayne Kinoshita Carol Davis, Rock Star! On a recent summer day, our friends at Central Pacific Bank (and our client) took the time to write Atlas management about our very own Carol Davis, Unit Manager in CCG. It seems Carol likes to offer great customer service even after shifting her primary focus to management. Old habits die hard, and we’re so fortunate for that! Ms. Christy Rendon of Central Pacific Bank wrote the following about Carol: ‘Good morning Bobbi, looks like we have been playing phone tag. Thank you for leaving me your email address so that I could put in a few words about Carol. In a nutshell, the job she did for us regarding getting CPB set up with a blanket policy to cover our growing OREO portfolio was AMAZING. She did hours and hours worth of research, created spreadsheets to try to break down the key areas in lay-mans terms, and was very responsive when I would call her and ask her my many clarification questions when something needed further explanation. We ended up choosing a company that fit our needs in a price range that we can live with. I can assure you that in any conversation I may have with internal and external customers that I come in contact with, Carol Davis with Atlas Insurance is the one name I will absolutely refer to for anything and everything corporate insurance related. She is a tremendous asset to your company. Please give her our heartfelt thanks for a job very well done, and thank you Bobbi for allowing me to pass along those well deserved compliments to her. - Christy Rendon, Special Assets Associate, OREO Administration, Central Pacific Bank’ Way to go Carol! Thank you for being you and offering first class customer service to our valued clients. For this, we say, ‘YOU ROCK!’
PAGE 2
VOLUME 8, ISSUE 7
The Professional Edge Building a better Atlas through Professional Development!
CPCU Revisions The Institutes revised the names of three of their courses, including:
A story of mental toughness! How Lei Mariano became a CPCU
•
CPCU553—Survey of Personal Insurance and Financial Planning
Leilani Mariano (CCG) went to Greg Chilson (PD) back in September 2011 and asked if she could start pursuing the CPCU Designation. After a consultation with her supervisor, they agreed to give her the green light on the commercial courses, and if done well, the other courses thereafter. Uh, little did they know just how successful she’d be. Here’s the monthly track of passed courses she blitzed through (including an Ethics course) in only 9-months:
•
CPCU556—Financial Planning
Sep11, Nov11, Dec11, Jan12, Jan12, Mar12, May12, May12, May12
•
CPCU557—Survey of Commercial Insurance
Clearly Lei slacked in February and April of 2012...small shortcoming. The fact is, Leilani may have set the record in the State of Hawaii for obtaining her CPCU in the shortest amount of time. It’s been said many times before that the CPCU is likened to the ‘doctorate’ of insurance. In other words, a serious accomplishment. This took fortitude, a whole lot of desire, longs hours of studying, and mental toughness. Needless to say, we’re very proud of your dedication to learning Leilani. Congratulations on an outstanding fete!
All CPCU exams are now objective question format—no more essays!
Did You Know? Did you know that there are five CISR courses from The National Alliance? These entry-level insurance courses are designed for the employee who is newer to insurance, or who wants to freshen-up on their insurance skills. The program includes:
Learning takes center stage across Atlas Professional Development is key Surprise, surprise here...when Malia Ark (CCG) passes another class, considering she’s passed a total of fourteen (14) classes since joining Atlas—without one fail! Now that’s impressive! Malia just passed her fifth CPCU class, ‘Business Law,’ and her Ethics Class from AICPCU. Veronica Halili (CL) just passed her fourth CRM class, ‘Financing of Risk,’ making her just one class shy of earning this coveted Designation. Same is true with Vergenia Velasco (CCG), as she passed the same class and has just one more to go. One of these two young ladies will become our very first Certified Risk Manager designees. Shawna Weeks (PL) passed her first AINS course, ‘Property & Liability Insurance Principles,’ and so did Kim Nasu (PL). They both have moved onto studying their second AINS course, ‘Personal Lines.’ Good luck ladies!
•
CISR1—Insuring Commercial Casualty Exposures
•
CISR2—Insuring Commercial Property Exposures
Passing her third CISR course was such a big relief for Krystyn Uyeno (CCG), ‘Insuring Personal Residential Property.’ She’s only got two more to go to earn herself another set of letters after her last name—the CISR Designation.
•
CISR3—Insuring Personal Residential Property
Congratulations to Travis-Mitchell Ota (CL) on passing the second CISR course, ‘Insuring Commercial Property Exposures,’ successfully wrapping up both of the commercial-focused courses.
•
CISR4—Insuring Personal Auto Exposures
These folks provide great examples of what hard work and a bunch of studying will get you! Continuous improvement through education is a cultural value at Atlas and one that all of us should fully embrace! Great work all!
•
CISR5—Agency Operations
These CISR courses are available online and in a classroom environment several times a year. To learn more about the CISR program, or any insurance and benefits -related training programs, contact Greg in Professional Development.
Study Tip of the Month: When available, use course flash cards, or make your own. Flash cards are a great strategy for studying, as they are effective in quick or brief periods of time, information is ‘chunked’ in small groups, and you can study alone or in pairs. Do the easy ones cards first, put them aside, then conquer the harder cards. If making your own, instead of words, consider using pictures or illustrations— whatever helps you to learn most effectively!
PAGE 3
NA LEO O’ ATLAS
Oh Bonnie Pang, you’re such the Queen of Salad! I t ’s C h e f B r a d l e y O g d e n ’s C a e s a r s a l a d t h a t w i n s f a n s o v e r i n J u n e
Chef Bradley’s Caesar Salad From Chef Bradley Ogden’s Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner 2 Heads romaine lettuce 2 Large cloves garlic, minced 1/2 teaspoon capers, rinsed and minced 6 Anchovy fillets, oil drained and mashed with fork 2 Egg yolks, coddled 1/2 Cup extra virgin olive oil 1/4 Teaspoon dry mustard 2 Tablespoons lemon juice 1/4 Teaspoon kosher salt 3/4 Teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper 1/2 Cup freshly grated parmesan Croutons Wash lettuce well. Tear lettuce into two-inch pieces, wash, dry and refrigerate. Combine garlic, capers, and anchovies, mixing well into a paste. Add the egg yolks, dry mustard, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Combine ingredients well. Very slowly add olive oil and incorporate well. Whisk until dressing is thick and smooth like mayonnaise. Refrigerate for 30minutes to allow flavors to develop.
‘Thrive Across Hawaii’ coming to Atlas Active people enjoy the following benefits:
•
Perform better on the job
Atlas Lunch & Learn
•
Lower blood pressure
Your Atlas HEART Committee presents our next lunch & learn:
•
Fewer doctor visits and hospital stays
•
Less medication
•
Better selection of where to buy clothes!
Don’t these benefits sound great?
Diabetes 101 duled Resche ay! from M
Date: Wednesday, July 25th Time: 11:30am to 12:30pm
Your Atlas HEART committee is partnering with Kaiser Permanente to create our own ‘Thrive Place: The Atlas Boardroom Across Hawaii’ physical activity program, because RSVP: Martin Beardeaux the benefits of physically active people are too good to pass up. This program PAGE 4 should be ready to roll out by mid-July and entails tracking your physical activity as an individual, and as part of a team. Together, we’ll ‘roll’ out of summer and ‘walk’ into Fall with better health, no doubt! More on this exciting initiative to come soon.
VOLUME 8, ISSUE 7
HHS project helps dogs and cats find homes Continued from page 1 Several more Atlas volunteers went to McKenna’s auto dealership in Kaneohe on the following Saturday and helped get several pets adopted. In fact, Josh German’s (CCG) puppy got adopted almost as fast as he picked the dog up off of the ground. There were a total of 19-dogs brought to the event that day, and 10 were adopted. There were six cats brought, and one of them was adopted. Martin’s dog was adopted, but Lance Kawano’s little scruffy dog—unfortunately, no takers. Sad, and it’s not like Lance didn’t try to use his wit and charm to get it adopted. Fortunately, there was one truly inspirational story that day… Flip is a cute Pomeranian mix who was born with a birth defect involving one of his legs. The owners couldn’t handle the challenge so they turned him over to the Hawaiian Humane Society. A veterinarian team led by HHS’ Dr. Aleisha Swartz got him fixed up, but this required surgical amputation of the affected leg. Following his surgery, he was fostered by Dr. Swartz for rehab and TLC. He was then the first dog adopted. This is a great success story, and one of the many reasons our team of Atlas volunteers took up this project. It’s been said many times, but it keeps coming back to ‘one atlas.’ (Pictures of this community service project on pages 6-7)
Congratulations Competent Communicators! Congratulations to our newest ‘Competent Communicators’ through the Toastmasters program—Tammy Burks (since departed Atlas) and Malia Ark (CCG). They join Teri Fabry (Island Insurance) and Chenise Blalock (PL) who previously earned this designation. To accomplish this fete, they both had to deliver a cycle of 10-unique speeches, each designed to build upon the previous speech’s core skills. For example, one speech might focus on introductions, where another might focus on hand gestures, or voice inflexion. With this accomplishment, Atlas Toastmasters president Teri Fabry has set the club up nicely for the ‘Distinguished Club’ award in the coming year. What an accomplishment! Congratulations to the Atlas Toastmasters for a fantastic year, and best of luck as the new board takes over the reigns officially in July 2012.
Welcome New Toastmasters! Welcome to our newest Atlas Toastmasters, Peter Junker of CCG, Mitch Matsuura and Debra Chong, both of Island Insurance. With the addition of these three new members, our club is now at 20-members strong. We wish them well!
PAGE 5
NA LEO O’ ATLAS
Hawaiian Humane Society Pictures The Atlas team brings the woof and meow!
PAGE 6
VOLUME 8, ISSUE 7
Hawaiian Humane Society Pictures The Atlas team brings the woof and meow!
PAGE 7
EMPLOYEE NEW SLETTER OF ATLAS IN SURANCE AGENCY
July 2012 Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Happy 4th of July ‘4th of July’ Holiday Celebration, by Atlas Office is Closed! OAC Committee
Quarterly Staff Meetings
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19 Atlas Toastmasters Atlas Farmer’s Market
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
Atlas HEART Lunch & Learn—’Diabetes’ 29
30
31
Key: F.H. = Floating Holiday
The Final Word...by Myles Murakami As I was waiting in my chiropractor’s office, hoping for a miracle to get rid of my sciatica, he had great words of wisdom on his white board. It read: ‘Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.’ - Buddha Sadly, it is not until we lose our health that we realize that it truly is our greatest gift. Have a great 4th of July weekend!
‘All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.’ - Winston Churchill
