Articles by Stephanie K. Jones

The Best of Both Worlds

With locations in small towns throughout Northwest Ohio and Southern Michigan, Tiffin, Ohio-based UIS Insurance & Investments serves its clients with a small town sensibility and big city capabilities, and that combination suits its employees just fine. Responding to Insurance …

A Place of Unlimited Opportunity

It’s no easy task to create a working environment in which employees know they are valued, are encouraged to grow and thrive in their jobs, and voluntarily convey their admiration for their workplace. But the leadership at the Houston-based independent …

A Small Agency with a Big Heart

It may be a small agency within the spectrum of the independent insurance agency universe, but there’s nothing diminished about Lansing, Michigan-based The Rathbun Agency in the minds of its employees. That’s apparent from Rathbun employees’ overwhelmingly positive responses to …

All About People

The people I work with make the company the best place!” That’s the way one employee of G&G Independent Insurance summed up the reason why their employer is the best in response to Insurance Journal’s 2021 Best Agencies to Work …

U.S. Senators See ‘Actuarial Disaster’ on the Horizon with Flood Risk Rating 2.0

U.S. senators from coastal states are predicting “an actuarial disaster” in the future once FEMA’s new flood insurance rating systems goes into full swing. In a press call on Sept. 30, Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy and New Jersey Sen. Bob …

A Guiding Compass

Whether in work or play, it’s good to have a guide. Kapnick Insurance Group in Adrian, Michigan, has that covered with its Kapnick Compass, principles that define “who we are, our common language, and how we treat each other,” said …

Four Core Values and the ‘Thanksgiving Test’

“We are family to our employees, accountable to our clients, teammates to our carriers and generous to our communities. Those values inform all our decisions,” said Higginbotham CEO Rusty Reid, describing the four core values that drive the company’s operational …

Paying an Appraisal Award Doesn’t Always Bar Prompt Payment Liability: 5th Circuit

Considering two principal questions in an insurance dispute between Texas homeowners and their insurance carrier, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit handed each party a win and a loss. The dispute in Randel v. Travelers Lloyds of …

Forest Service: Lightning Caused Minnesota Wildfire

A wildfire in the Superior National Forest of northeastern Minnesota has grown to 6 1/4 square miles (16 square kilometers), but U.S. Forest Service officials said on Aug. 19 that it grew little overnight. The Forest Service said lightning caused …

1 Mayor Sentenced, 1 Pleads Guilty in Illinois Town’s Insurance Procurement Case

On Aug. 13, the former mayor of a southwest Illinois town became the second area mayor to plead guilty to lying to federal agents investigating a case involving commission payments related to the placement of casualty loss and workers’ compensation …