Employee Spotlight: Rancho Mesa Welcomes Marina Ruvalcaba

Author, Alyssa Burley, Client Services Coordinator, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

Rancho Mesa Insurance Services is pleased to announce Marina Ruvalcaba has joined our team as an Account Coordinator.

Marina's educational and professional background is in business administration.  She has administrative experience in the retail and banking industries and is looking forward to advancing her career in the insurance industry.

Marina was born and raised in El Cajon, CA.  She attended Valhalla High School and studied Sociology at BYU Idaho. She is an aunt to three amazing kiddos and is very family oriented, and loves to cook and bake.  She enjoys going to the beach and visiting Disneyland.

Rancho Mesa Insurance Services sincerely welcomes Marina Ruvalcabato the RMI team!

Sam Brown Presents Risk Management Techniques and Strategies to Nonprofit Leaders

Nonprofit leaders gathered from far and wide at the University of San Diego Nonprofit Institute’s 14th Annual Nonprofit Governance Symposium on January 26th and 27th, 2018.

This year’s theme, People, Place and Performance: The Triple Bottom Line for Nonprofit Governance, provided attendees and speakers alike with the inspiration needed to make it the best nonprofit symposium in recent memory.

Sam Brown, Vice President, Human Services Group at Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, offered insight into risk management for nonprofit leaders during his presentation titled "Risk Management: Strategy & Tools to Protect Vital Assets."

“I asked the workshop’s attendees to view risk management as an evaluation and decision-making tool when encountering uncertainty. Yes, we want to reduce the chance of an event that could harm a nonprofit’s objectives, but uncertainty can also provide opportunity. In other words, some risk-taking is worth the opportunity to further the Mission,” explains Sam.

Aside from offering terrific networking opportunities, USD states “the purpose of the Annual Nonprofit Governance Symposium is to highlight current best practices, lessons learned from the field, and trends in effective nonprofit and philanthropic board leadership, as well as board recruitment and retention.”

“I found the event to be truly top notch,” commented Sam. “It’s exciting to visit with leaders in our field of expertise. So many great ideas and experiences were shared. I’m just happy to contribute to the community.”

 USD’s Nonprofit Institute will hold its next event in Fall of 2018. 

Employee Spotlight: Rancho Mesa Welcomes Whitney Chiriboga

Author, Alyssa Burley, Client Services Coordinator, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

Rancho Mesa Insurance Services is pleased to announce the hiring of Whitney Chiriboga who is working at the front desk and in the certificate department.

Whitney's customer service experience makes her a perfect fit for Rancho Mesa's front desk and certificate department.

Whitney was born and raised in San Diego. She grew up playing tennis and moved to Northern California to attend Sonoma State University where she graduated in 2017. She traveled for a month in Europe after graduating and besides traveling, loves spending time with friends and family and being near the beach, as much as possible.

Rancho Mesa Insurance Services sincerely welcomes Whitney Chiriboga to the RMI team!

Employee Spotlight: Rancho Mesa Welcomes Erin Thomas

Author, Alyssa Burley, Client Services Coordinator, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

Rancho Mesa Insurance Services is pleased to announce the hiring of Erin Thomas, an Employee Benefits Account Coordinator.

With a background in employee benefits, Erin brings the knowledge needed to assist Debbie Milburn with the day to day paperwork involved with administering employee benefits. 

Erin was born and raised in San Diego. She graduated from San Diego State University in 2015. And, she currently lives in La Mesa with her husband Kyle, son Jaxon, and their dog Stella. She enjoys camping, traveling, and anything that takes her outdoors.  Her favorite destinations to visit are Big Bear,  Cabo San Lucas, and San Francisco.

Rancho Mesa Insurance Services sincerely welcomes Erin Thomas to the RMI team!

Employee Spotlight: Rancho Mesa Welcomes Account Executive, Casey Craig

Author, Alyssa Burley, Client Services Coordinator, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

Rancho Mesa Insurance Services is pleased to announce the hiring of Casey Craig, an Account Executive in the construction group.

Casey played seven years of professional baseball.  After his baseball career was over, he gave back to the baseball community by running numerous baseball camps, coaches’ clinics, and private lessons.  His enthusiasm towards helping others has translated seamlessly into the Rancho Mesa culture, which thrives on doing the right thing. 

Casey’s focus at Rancho Mesa is on construction insurance and risk profile enhancement for artisan contractors.  His background in baseball has led him to a greater understanding of how important team work is to accomplishing a common goal.

Employee Spotlight: Rancho Mesa Welcomes Workers' Compensation Claims Advocate, Jim Malone

Author, Alyssa Burley, Client Services Coordinator, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

Rancho Mesa Insurance Services is pleased to announce the hiring of Jim Malone, a Workers' Compensation Claims Advocate.

Jim began his workers’ compensation career as an injured worker in the late 1980s. He was unable to return to his construction career after his work injury and, through vocational rehabilitation, was hired by a workers’ compensation insurance company and trained to be a workers' compensation claims adjuster.

Jim then became certified with the California Office of Self-Insurance Plans through the Department of Industrial Relations and became the workers’ compensation claims administrator for the San Diego Transit.  Jim subsequently started Workers' Compensation Consulting, providing services and guidance to employers, physicians, attorneys and injured workers.

Employee Spotlight: Debbie Milburn Returns to Rancho Mesa

Author, Alyssa Burley, Client Services Coordinator, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

Rancho Mesa is excited to announce Debbie Milburn’s return to the Rancho Mesa Team as Senior Account Manager for Employee Benefits.

“She’ll be working for us primarily from Austin, TX, although she’ll be visiting us regularly, and as needed, to support the agency and to continue to take care of our clients,” said Brian Armstrong, Director of Employee Benefits.

Beginning her career in the health insurance industry in 1990, Debbie brings more than 25 years of experience to our health benefits department.  She has joined Rancho Mesa to team up with Brian Armstrong, to focus on enhanced service and expertise we deliver to our clients.

Employee Spotlight: John Parker Promoted to Account Manager

Author, Alyssa Burley, Client Services Coordinator, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

Rancho Mesa is pleased to announce and congratulate John Parker on his promotion to Account Manager.

"Through his determination to succeed and hard work, he has demonstrated to us the expertise and understanding necessary to take the next step," said Kim Vasquez, Vice President of Account Services.

In college, John worked summers at his mom's insurance agency.  In 2014, he started his official insurance career at Willis in Irvine, CA.  John then moved back home to San Diego and began working at Rancho Mesa in 2015.

John will be supporting Jeremy Hoolihan's book of business.

Employee Spotlight: Yvonne Gallagher

Author, Alyssa Burley, Client Services Coordinator, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

Photo courtesy of Family Health Centers of San Diego

Rancho Mesa Account Manager, Yvonne Gallagher, recently attended the Spirit of the Barrio luncheon, a bi-monthly fund-raising event benefiting the Family Health Centers of San Diego, on July 21, 2017 at the Logan Heights Family Health Center.  Yvonne won a gift card at the raffle drawing and her photo was featured in the event's September invitation. 

The Spirit of the Barrio event serves to bring awareness about the organization's mission to the community and raises funding to support its programs.  

About Family Health Centers of San Diego
Family Health Centers of San Diego (FHCSD) is a nonprofit organization rich in history and tradition. In 1911, the San Diego Industrial School was built on the site where our first clinic now stands. This school was originally a settlement house that provided Barrio Logan’s immigrant residents with social services. The community grew around this location, and by 1940, Barrio Logan had become one of the largest Mexican-American communities on the West Coast.

To learn more about the Spirit of the Barrio luncheon and Family Health Centers of San Diego, visit: www.fhcsd.org.

Employee Spotlight: Drew Garcia Addresses Reducing Workers' Compensation Costs in NALP Magazine

Author, Alyssa Burley, Client Services Coordinator, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

"NALP’s Safe Company Program is relevant and critical to improving your risk profile and helping you control your insurance costs."

Rancho Mesa's Drew Garcia, NALP Program Director, was recently published in The Landscape Professional May/June 2017 issue. The magazine is a bi-monthly publication produced by the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP).

In the article, "Ways to Keep Workers' Compensation Costs Low," Drew discusses specific ways employers can actively work to reduce their costs. Some of the ideas he provides include:

• Winning safety awards
• Offering health benefits
• Offering employees the ability to grow within the company
• Timely claim reporting
• Thorough accident investigation techniques
• Establishing a return-to-work program
• Having Landscape Industry Certified employees on staff
• Instituting good hiring practices, including: pre-employment physicals and drug testing, reference checks and review referrals.

He also describes how an underwriter may award credits to companies who have implemented safety programs like the Safe Company Program offered by the NALP.

To read "Ways to Keep Workers' Compensation Costs Low," download the digital copy, today.

^{Reproduced with permission from the National Association of Landscape Professionals.}

Contact Drew Garcia if you have questions about lowering your Workers' Compensation cost or the NALP Program.

If you liked the "Ways to Keep Workers' Compensation Costs Low" article and would like to receive the full bi-monthly news magazine, The Landscape Professional, consider signing up for NALP membership.