Employee Spotlight: Beth James Joins Rancho Mesa as Account Coordinator

Author, Emily Marasso, Media Communications & Client Services Coordinator, Rancho Mesa Insurances Services, Inc.

Beth James, a former educator of elementary through high school students and public speaking coach for a speech and debate league, has decided to take her career in a new direction with Rancho Mesa Insurance. She’s utilizing her superb interpersonal communication skills and administrative expertise in her new role as account coordinator.

 As a recent graduate of the Office Professional Training program at Grossmont College, Beth is ready to dive into the commercial insurance industry as a member of the Rancho Mesa team.

 Rancho Mesa welcomes Beth to the family!

IICF Hosts Family Fun Night

Author, Lauren Stumpf, Media Communications & Client Services Coordinator, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

On Thursday, August 12, 2021 the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF) hosted a Summer Family Fun Night. The event strikingly raised over 42 thousand dollars, directly benefiting nonprofits who support children’s education and well being in San Diego County through the IICF Community Grants Program.

ICCF is a non-profit made up of insurance professionals who help local communities by providing grants, volunteers, and leadership to nonprofits and charities.

Rancho Mesa’s Ashley Hunter, Brittani Davis, Emily Marasso, Kevin Howard, and Sam Brown had a blast with their kids while they played mini golf, swung at the batting cages, and rode go-karts at Family Fun Centers in San Diego, CA.

Rancho Mesa is a proud supporter of IICF and their mission! To learn more, visit www.iicf.org.

Rancho Mesa Team Celebrates Being Back Together

Author, Lauren Stumpf, Media Communications & Client Services Coordinator, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

On Monday, August 2, 2021 Rancho Mesa welcomed back their team members to both its Santee and La Mesa offices.

After working from home for over a year, the team enjoyed being able to catch up with one another face-to-face during an ice cream social enjoyed outside, on a sunny Monday afternoon at the Santee office.

The team had primarily communicated with their co-workers using virtual platforms over that last year and a half, so there was a lot of catching up to do.

For employees hired during the pandemic, this was their first time meeting the entire Rancho Mesa team in person. It was nice to see the team back together, smiling and enjoying each other’s company.

Business Owners Learn How to Protect Against Cyber Threats

Author, Emily Marasso, Media Communications & Client Services Coordinator, Rancho Mesa Insurances Services, Inc.

Michael Armstrong, Production Underwriter for Evolve MGA, an award-winning managing general agent that specializes in cyber insurance, took to the web and broke down the importance of cyber insurance and how companies can avoid a cyber attack in a detailed webinar hosted on July 22nd, 2021 for Rancho Mesa’s clients.

Attendees learned that phishing is the action of sending fraudulent emails mimicking a reputable company or person for the sake of gaining access to sensitive information. Michael explained the simplest form of phishing is an email or web link that is similar to a legitimate one, often changing only one letter. 

Phishing works by tricking the email recipient into clicking on a link that triggers malware to be downloaded and installed on the system. From there, the hackers can encrypt the data and request a ransom or sell the data on the dark web. Michael shared that on average, a business doesn’t identify a breach for up to 197 days. Imagine the damage that could be done without a good cyber policy.

Companies large and small have experienced data breaches due to cybercrimes. With technology ever changing, it’s never been a better time to review your current cyber insurance policy or start looking for coverage. Thanks to Michael and Evolve MGA for providing such valuable information to our clients.

If you’re interested in getting a cyber insurance quote, contact Rancho Mesa at (619) 937-0164.

Sentry Achieves Impressive A+ Rating for 30 Years

Author, Megan Lockhart, Surety and Media Communications Assistant, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

Rancho Mesa congratulates Sentry Insurance in achieving an A+ rating by AM Best for the 30th year straight.

AM Best is the world-wide leading credit rating authority specializing in the insurance industry. Less than 15% of property and casualty insurance companies in the U.S. receive the A+ status. According to AM Best, this rating is assigned only to companies who have “a superior ability to meet their ongoing insurance obligations.”

“Being assigned this rating for 30 years running is a truly remarkable achievement,” Pete McPartland, Sentry chairman of the board, president, and CEO said.

Sentry and its subsidiaries offer property, casualty, and life insurance, as well as annuities and retirement programs for their business and individual clients throughout the nation. 

“It’s a testament to the dedication, industry experience, and high level of customer service our associates and retirees have brought to the table day in and day out,” McPartland said.

The achievement is especially exciting for the company considering the challenging year COVID-19 caused for businesses in the country.

“Despite the challenges of a nationwide pandemic, our sound business practices allowed us to achieve positive results this past year,” Todd Schroeder, Sentry chief financial officer and president of life and annuities, said.

Sentry maintains high standards for its broker partners, thus maintaining a limited number of appointments. Rancho Mesa is honored to work with a financially superior insurance company.

“We at Rancho Mesa are very proud to have been chosen to be a part of that exclusive group and represent one of the top rated insurance carriers in the nation,” David Garcia, president of Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, said.

Sentry plans to continue its impressive success as the company moves on from the pandemic and into a bright future.

“Through the development and use of industry-leading technology, we’ve provided our customers a better overall experience [which] has been invaluable to our success. We’re poised to exit the pandemic as an even stronger company and provide our customers the protection and services they rely on.”

Rancho Mesa Earns “Best Practices Agency” Designation for 15th Consecutive Year

Author, Lauren Stumpf, Media Communications and Client Services Coordinator, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc., a leading Southern California commercial insurance brokerage, has been recognized by the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (Big “I”) as a Best Practices Agency for the fifteenth consecutive year.

Of the roughly 35,000 independent insurance agencies in the U.S., only about 120 are chosen each year for this distinction.

In order to participate, an agency must first be nominated by the Big “I.” Then, it must submit detailed financial and operational information which is analyzed, scored, and ranked objectively based on operational excellence, including: outstanding customer services, growth, stability, and financial management. The top agencies in six revenue categories are included, notified and deemed "Best Practices Agencies."

Each year, the Big “I” publishes its "Best Practices Study" using financial and operational data collected from agencies throughout the United States. The 2021 Best Practices Study will be available later this year. It will include a list of all the Best Practices Agencies by state and the results of the study.

To learn more about what it takes to be a "Best Practices Agency," visit www.independentagent.com/best-practices.

About Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America

The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (Big "I") is a national alliance of more than a quarter million business owners and their employees who offer all types of insurance and financial services products. For more information, visit www.independentagent.com.

Rancho Mesa’s StudioOne™ Podcast Publishes 100th Episode

Author, Lauren Stumpf, Media Communications and Client Services Coordinator, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

StudioOne™, Rancho Mesa’s media productions team, is very excited to announce the publishing of the Safety and Risk Management podcast network’s 100th episode!

In January 2020, the podcast originally launched as a way for industry professionals to share safety and risk management knowledge with their peers. What started out as the release of one to two episodes a month, soon became two episodes a week. StudioOne broadened their audience and began recording weekly industry news insights, law updates, and episodes to get to know the Rancho Mesa team and industry partners.

The 100th episode is close to Rancho Mesa’s hearts because it discusses how the podcast came to life, the motivation to start interviewing guests, how we are able to record, edit, and release content, and even includes some fun behind the scenes content.

Rancho Mesa could not do this podcast without our team, carrier partners, and listeners like you. We want to thank our sponsors Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Companies, CNA, CompWest, ICW Group, Nationwide, Sentry, and Zenith for believing in Rancho Mesa and supporting our efforts to educate our clients and community.

Subscribe to the StudioOne™ Safety and Risk Management Network podcast on your favorite platform to never miss an episode. Episodes can also be listened to from your computer by visiting the StudioOne webpage.

Rancho Mesa Named CompWest Southern California Agency of the Year

Author, Lauren Stumpf, Media Communications and Client Services Coordinator, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

Rancho Mesa Insurance is thrilled to announce that we have been named the CompWest Southern California Regional Agency of the Year!

“We are excited and honored to be recognized with this prestigious award by CompWest,” commented Dave Garcia, President of Rancho Mesa. “I know CompWest works with many other agencies, so to be singled out and given this award really means a lot to me and speaks to our outstanding business partnership with them.”

Gene Simpson, Regional President of CompWest, agrees with Dave, “you’ve built an amazing agency and truly set the bar for partnership.”

Thanks to all of CompWest Insurance Company. Here's to a great 2021!

About CompWest Insurance Company
CompWest Insurance Company is a dynamic provider of workers’ compensation insurance in California and select Western states, targeting customers in health care, hospitality, manufacturing, professional services, retail and wholesale services and construction. To learn more, visit compwestinsurance.com.

Rancho Mesa’s StudioOne™ Podcast Hits 5,000 plays

Author, Emily Marasso, Media Communications & Client Services Coordinator, Rancho Mesa Insurances Services, Inc.

I love StudioOne, so click another play on our podcast, hey, hey! I love StudioOne, we hit 5,000 plays so dance with me!

That’s right, it’s been a year since the launch of our StudioOne podcast, and we are celebrating 5,000 plays. With over 75 episodes recorded, produced and published so far, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. We’ve had the pleasure of talking to a wide variety of people ranging from insurance carriers, industry professionals, safety advocates, COVID-19 advisors and even our own Rancho Mesa team, making our podcast a great resource for just about anyone in any industry.

StudioOne is Rancho Mesa Insurance Services' Media Communications department. This innovative and talented team is responsible for producing the company’s marketing materials, newsletter, podcasts, social media posts, videos, and website.

The media communications team uses its nearly 20 years of combined experience in communications,   graphic and web design, marketing, and new media to develop OneofOne® creative materials that showcase Rancho Mesa’s commitment to stand out from the crowd.

The StudioOne podcast is available on most major streaming platforms. New episodes are released weekly so head over to your favorite podcast platform and subscribe today!

Employee Spotlight: Rancho Mesa Welcomes Account Coordinator, Mel Chibende

Author, Lauren Stumpf, Media Communications Coordinator, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

Rancho Mesa Insurance Services is excited to announce the hiring of Mel Chibende, as an Account Coordinator with the Employee Benefits Department.

Mel brings with him several years of administrative and benefits experience, as well as a positive essence and energy that will add to Rancho Mesa’s dedicated team.

Mel was born in Zambia and moved to the U.S when he was 5-years-old. He has lived in Michigan, Texas, Nebraska, Florida, Washington, and now California.

Mel currently resides in Mira Mesa with his wife, Jojet, and their son, Judah. Mel enjoys reading, playing basketball, soccer and has recently gotten into hiking!

Rancho Mesa is thrilled to welcome Mel Chibende to the RMI family!