“It’s not all roses” – Head of One of the Largest Woman Owned Businesses in the State to Share Decades of Insight as Keynote at Inaugural Event for Women Entrepreneurs in Wisconsin

Madison, WI – It’s grown to be a nationwide company providing audio, video, lighting and musical instruments,  but it hasn’t been easy getting Madison-based Full Compass to that point. Owner and Chairman of the Board Susan Lipp will share her story — from having nothing, to building a business supporting employees and the economy in a male dominated industry; almost losing it all, to re-creating Full Compass Systems, Ltd. into what is now the second largest woman owned business in Wisconsin — when she takes the stage at Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Wisconsin (WEDWisconsin). Lipp will be the main keynote speaker during the conference luncheon on Tuesday, November 14, 2017 at Monona Terrace.

Her luncheon keynote is titled “It’s not all roses – how perseverance, fortitude, resourcefulness and creativity will take you far.”

“Susan Lipp’s message will resonate,” WEDWisconsin Board Chair and Creative Company Owner Laura Gallagher says. “Her honesty in saying it’s not all roses, but having the entrepreneurial mindset to forge ahead and persevere will pay off, is a message we need to hear. The commitment Susan has made with her partner and husband, Jonathan to this industry, their employees, their community and the arts is unmatched. It is an honor to have her be our lunch keynote in our inaugural year because she personifies so much of who we all aspire to be.”

WEDWisconsin is a first-of-its-kind event focused on celebrating, empowering, and supporting women entrepreneurs in all types of businesses, at all stages, and all ages.

“When women are empowered in business, they have self-confidence and dignity, and are more capable of standing up for one another’s basic human rights,” Women’s Entrepreneurship Day founder Wendy Diamond says. “These types of returns are life-changing for entire communities. The more people understand the impact of empowering women in business, the more they will get involved and encourage others to do so, too.”

The WEDWisconsin Conference is part of a week-long celebration of entrepreneurship in Wisconsin, and culminates in the global recognition of Women’s Entrepreneurship Day on November 19th.

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About  Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Wisconsin  

Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Wisconsin (WEDWisconsin) is the first-of-its-kind day meant to empower, celebrate, inspire, and support women in business and leadership by igniting women leaders, innovators, and entrepreneurs to initiate startups, drive economic expansion and advance communities. More at:  WEDWisconsin.

About Laura Gallagher, Ambassador and Chairman of the Board for WEDWisconsin

Laura Gallagher is a community, local and national business leader serving successful entrepreneurial companies and nonprofit organizations primarily in Wisconsin. In 2016, she was recognized by the Governor as a Trailblazer in Wisconsin. She is the founder and CEO of The Creative Company and is a 2017 Alumni of Babson College’s 10,000 Businesses Program with a Certificate of Entrepreneurship and a 2016 graduate of Harvard Professor Michael Porter’s Initiative for a Competitive Inner City. The Creative Company is certified by the State of Wisconsin as a Woman-Owned Business Enterprise.

About Women’s Entrepreneurship Day

Women’s Entrepreneurship Day (WED) is the world’s largest entrepreneurial and financial empowerment initiative dedicated to celebrating, supporting and empowering women worldwide. WED encourages four billion women worldwide to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams, with the goal of bringing hope and alleviating poverty. More at:  http://www.womenseday.org/

NGL employees donate 627 pairs of socks for homeless veterans

When National Guardian Life Insurance Company (NGL) employees learned that the American Red Cross needed socks for homeless veterans they jumped into action to fulfill the request. After only four days, NGL employees donated a total of 627 pairs of new socks for the American Red Cross to distribute at Homeless Veterans Stand Down, an event that will provide homeless veterans an opportunity to connect with resources in the community to hopefully begin a transition from homelessness.

The American Red Cross was hoping to receive 200 pairs of socks but NGL employees were incredibly generous and exceeded their expectations. “The sock drive for homeless veterans really hit home for me. My son is currently serving in the military so I donated because I would hope that if my son needed basic clothing items someone would help him,” shared Becky Anderson NGL Marketing.

“The outpouring of support from employees was overwhelming. We had a short time to collect socks but NGL employees made it happen. It was inspiring to see all of the socks and know that they are going to homeless veterans in our community,” said Elizabeth Kirchstein NGL Corporate Giving Administrator.

About American Red Cross

Through a strong network of volunteers, donors and partners, American Red Cross prevents and alleviates human suffering in the face of emergencies by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors. Learn more at: redcross.org.

About NGL

Since 1910, National Guardian Life Insurance Company (NGL), a mutual insurance company, has been located in Madison, Wis. Licensed to do business in 49 states and the District of Columbia, NGL markets preneed and individual life and annuities, as well as group markets products including specialty and student insurance. Additional information about NGL can be found at www.nglic.com; Facebook: Facebook.com/NGLIC and LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/national-guardian-life-insurance-company

National Guardian Life Insurance Company is not affiliated with The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America a/k/a The Guardian or Guardian Life.

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CISD102017

Savant Expands its Tax and Wealth Transfer Team

Addition of seasoned professional Andrew Welp further positions Savant as industry leader in building and transferring wealth

• With more than a decade of experience and expertise, Andrew J. Welp, CPA, JD, further enhances firm’s comprehensive financial planning services
• Growing wealth transfer and tax team bridges gap between building wealth and transferring wealth
• Increases support team to five attorneys and 13 certified public accountants

MADISON, WI (October 30, 2017) – Savant Capital Management, a nationally-recognized fee-only wealth management firm headquartered in Rockford, IL, with 11 additional offices in three states, including Madison and Park Falls, WI, announced that Andrew J. Welp, JD, CPA has been hired as its third dedicated wealth transfer advisor. He joins the firm’s growing tax and wealth transfer team that is led by Michael Cyrs, director of wealth advisory.

Welp is a member of the firm’s Planning Team and is responsible for overseeing the new in-house trust and estate settlement officers who were added to the team in 2017 and coordinating the necessary legal and tax matters in the estate and wealth transfer process for clients. He also maintains responsibility to act as a direct liaison with Savant’s affiliated trust company, Savant Private Trust, a division of National Advisors Trust Company.

“Savant is about the creation of wealth and, as importantly, the transfer of wealth,” said Brent Brodeski, CEO of Savant. “Andy will further enhance our ability to act as a conduit to help bridge the gap between our clients’ wealth accumulation and leaving the legacy they desire. We are thrilled to have Andy on the Savant team.”

The addition of Welp represents the firm’s commitment to meeting the comprehensive financial planning needs of its clients via a hand-on support team, which now has five attorneys and 13 certified public accountants who serve as advisor support within Savant and its affiliate, Savant Tax and Consulting.

“Savant drew me in because of the team’s broad range of disciplines that enable it to help more people build their ideal futures,” said Welp. “I value the team approach, the diversity of team members, and the strong relationships they have with clients and the communities we serve.”

Prior to joining Savant, Welp worked as head of finance, compliance, and operations for a financial planning firm. He earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Bradley University and a juris doctorate degree from Northern Illinois University College of Law. Welp is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the American Bar Association, the Illinois State Bar Association, the Chicago Bar Association, and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Savant manages more than $5 billion in assets and employs more than 150 team members. Headquartered in Rockford, IL, Savant also has 11 offices in Chicago, Freeport, Geneva, Hoffman Estates, Naperville, Peoria, Sterling, and Wilmette, IL; McLean, VA; and Madison and Park Falls, WI.

About Savant Capital Management

Savant Capital Management is a leading independent, nationally-recognized, fee-only firm, serving clients for 30 years with more than $5 billion in assets under management. As a trusted advisor, Savant Capital Management offers investment management, financial planning, retirement plan and family office services to financially established individuals and institutions. Savant also offers corporate accounting, tax preparation, payroll and consulting through its affiliate, Savant Tax & Consulting.

Savant is regularly recognized among the top wealth managers in the United States. Savant was the recipient of the 2015 Best-in-Business IMPACT Award™, part of Schwab’s IMPACT Awards® program to recognize excellence in the business of independent financial advice. Savant has consistently received other industry recognitions including recently being included on the Forbes top 200 financial advisors list, the Barron’s top 20 independent advisory firms list, being named the #9 rated RIA firm by Financial Planning magazine, and included in additional top advisors lists by Financial Advisor magazine and InvestmentNews.

Savant Capital Management is a Registered Investment Advisor. Savant’s marketing material should not be construed by any existing or prospective client as a guarantee that they will experience a certain level of results if they engage Savant’s services and may include lists or rankings published by magazines and other sources which are generally based exclusively on information prepared and submitted by the recognized advisor. Click here for more information about Savant or to view our Important Disclosures.

Savant Capital Management and its employees are independent of and are not employees or agents of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (“Schwab”). Schwab does not prepare, verify or endorse information distributed by Savant Capital Management. The Best-in-Business IMPACT Award™ is not an endorsement, testimonial endorsement, recommendation or referral to Savant Capital Management with respect to its investment advisory and other services.

Things Many Business Owners and Leaders Don’t Know About 401(k) Plans

CONTACT: Doug Giageos, RMR Advisors, 608-663-7676, dkgiageos@rmradvisors.com

Things Many Business Owners and Leaders Don’t Know About 401(k) Plans

1. Legal obligations: As a fiduciary to your company’s plan (and therefore, your employees), you can potentially be sued for breach of fiduciary interest if your plan allows for unreasonably high fees, inappropriate fund choices or conflicts of interest.
2. Cost: Often there are multiple layers of fees within plans and the available investment options. The impact on your employees’ retirement savings can be dramatic.
3. Complexity: Most plans are overly complicated when they don’t need to be, taking up too much of your time that could be better spent on building your business
4. Recently, many of the biggest 401(k) plan providers have been named in lawsuits for excessive fees and self-dealing, including Voya, UBS, and Transamerica.

A thoughtful solution

Dr. Kambitsi Joins The Alliance as VP, Business Development & Member Services

MADISON, WIS., Oct. 25, 2017 –Dr. Melina Kambitsi has joined The Alliance^® as vice president of business development and member services. The Alliance is an employer-owned not-for-profit cooperative of more than 240 self-funded employers and not for profit insurance trusts.

In this role, Dr. Kambitsi will lead the team responsible for membership growth and retention of the cooperative.

Dr. Kambitsi comes to The Alliance from Network Health in Milwaukee and Menasha, Wis. where she was chief sales and strategy officer. In this role, she was responsible for sales and underwriting, strategic planning, product development and risk-based contract analytics. Earlier she was senior vice president of sales at Blue Cross Blue Shield in Honolulu, Hawaii and the vice president of sales, marketing and product development at Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Dr. Kambitsi received her bachelors in international studies and her masters and doctorate degrees in economic geography at The Ohio State University. She speaks Greek fluently as well as four other languages (Spanish, French, Romanian and Russian).

“Melina’s background and previous experience with health systems and insurance carriers from different regions of the country will add an important new perspective to the work of The Alliance,” said Cheryl DeMars, Alliance President and CEO. “We are eager to have her join our team.”

More than a provider network, The Alliance moves health care forward by controlling costs, improving quality and engaging individuals in their health. Members of the employer-owned, not-for-profit cooperative provide coverage to more than 80,000 individuals in Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa. The Alliance uses its purchasing power as a cooperative to negotiate with and provide access to an extensive network of doctors and hospitals paid to improve quality by performing better not doing more