Thoits Selected as ESOP Company of the Year, Employee Honored

Mountain View, Calif.-based Thoits Insurance Service Inc. has been named ESOP Company of the Year by The ESOP Association’s California/Western States Chapter. The award was presented at the Chapter Conference meeting on Sept. 29, 2006, in Scottsdale, Ariz.

The ESOP Association is the national trade association for companies with employee stock ownership plans (ESOP) and the leading voice in America for employee ownership. Thoits has been an ESOP company for 30 years, and is a brokerage specializing in property and liability programs, risk management, workers’ compensation, and retirement plan services.

Meanhwile, employee-owner Lisa Gord was honored with a 2006 CONNECT! Award in recognition of her triumph over a back injury and resulting career change. She was presented with a Certificate of Congressional Recognition and a Certificate of Recognition from the California Assembly.

Gord turned her love of children into a career that she cherished. She began working in a home day care and then became a nanny, a position she held for 8 years until sustaining an injury on the job. The injury meant that she could no longer do some of the necessary job functions in most childcare positions. At 41, Lisa was faced with physical rehabilitation and having to choose a new career.

Enrolled at the Sunnyvale-Cupertino Adult & Community Education School, Lisa excelled in their Business Communication Technology Program. This school is one of the partner organizations of CONNECT!, a regional collaborative of employment, education, training, and business-development organizations dedicated to serving the workforce development needs of Silicon Valley.

After finishing her program, Lisa was hired by Thoits Insurance as Receptionist in Aug. 2006.

Topics Training Development