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.

Rancho Mesa Hosts 2018 Employment Law Workshop - Now available On Demand

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

Rancho Mesa enlisted attorney Alexis S. Gutierrez from the law firm of Higgs Fletcher & Mack to conduct its 2018 Legal Update workshop on Friday, November 17, 2017.  The event was held in the firm's building in Downtown San Diego and attracted companies from a variety of industries like construction, human services, landscape and others.

Watch Drew Garcia thank Alexis S. Gutierrez for presenting and everyone for attending the workshop.

The a copy of the workshop is now available on demand from the Risk Management Center.  Non-Rancho Mesa clients may request a copy of the video using the link below.

About Alexis S. Gutierrez

Alexis S. Gutierrez is the Chair of Higgs Fletcher & Mack LLP’s Litigation Department, in addition to serving on the firm’s Executive and Management Committees.  With over 20 years of first chair experience, Mr. Gutierrez provides business and employment counseling and complex commercial litigation support to public and private entities, and non-profit organizations.  He enjoys Martindale Hubbell’s highest peer rating (“AV Preeminent”) for Legal Ability and General-Ethical Standards.  He is also a Recognized Practitioner® with Chambers USA Guide and has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America®, and by San Diego Magazine for as a Top Lawyer® for Labor and Employment and ADR (since 2013). For more information, visit higgslaw.com/attorneys/alexis-s-gutierrez.

About Higgs Fletcher & Mack

Organized by specialty, Higgs Fletcher & Mack has 23 legal practice groups designed to serve individuals and both large and small businesses. This structure allows our attorneys to leverage their expertise, and work together to obtain successful resolutions to your legal issues. As San Diego grows and the innovation sector booms, so too does Higgs Fletcher & Mack. We continue to evolve the practice groups to reflect the changing legal needs of our region’s individuals and businesses. From health care to intellectual property law, family law to immigration and business litigation, we are the law firm you can trust. For more information, visit higgslaw.com.

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.

Client Spotlight: Family Health Centers of San Diego and Rancho Mesa Support Health Fair & Back to School Kickoff

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

On Saturday, August 19, 2017, the 79th Assembly District's 5th Annual Health Fair & Back to School Kickoff, presented by Assemblymember Shirley N. Weber, MD in partnership with Senator Toni Atkins and City Council President Myrtle Cole, was held at the O'Farrell Charter School in San Diego, CA.  The event was designed for families and friends to enjoy a fun-filled day with a wide variety of health screenings, educational activities and free give-a-ways at nearly 50 different booths.

Family Health Centers of San Diego participated in the event by providing free health screenings to attendees.  They also distributed almost 50 backpacks, provided by Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc., to children who attendee the fair.  

"We are very excited to be a part of the event," said Katie Gomez, Development & Special Events Manager for Family Health Centers of San Diego.  The event included "free health screenings, the YMCA, local law enforcement with the low-rider, and other local non-profits and community orgs."

The Annual Health Fair & Back to School Kickoff offered no-cost screens for dental, vision, blood pressure, cholesterol, and HIV, as well as information on Covered California.  Attendees enjoyed free backpacks and school supplies, arts & crafts, face painting, music, healthy food trucks, CPR/AED lessons and so much more!   

Family Health Centers of San Diego
For more than four decades, Family Health Centers of San Diego’s (FHCSD) mission has been to provide affordable, high-quality health care and support services to all people, with a special commitment to the uninsured, low-income and medically underserved. Annually, the staff provides care to more than 190,000 unique patients—a third of the region’s low-income patients—through more than 800,000 encounters. For more information about the Family Health Centers of San Diego, visit www.fhcsd.org.

Rancho Mesa Hosts Employee Benefits Online Platform Workshop

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

Rancho Mesa clients gathered at the Employee Benefits: Using the EaseCentral Platform Workshop on Thursday, August 24, 2017 held at the San Diego Christian College campus in Santee.  EaseCental's, Dana Thompson, gave an instructional demonstration of Rancho Mesa’s online employee benefits enrollment portal, EaseCentral.

The EaseCentral platform makes it simple to set up and manage benefits, onboard new hires, stay compliant and offer employees one destination for all their human resources information.

The workshop was streamed live online and is available to clients within the Risk Management Center.

To learn more about Rancho Mesa's Employee Benefits Platform, contact us at (619) (619) 937-0164

Dana Thompson, EaseCentral

Click video image to log into the Risk Management Center. The video is in the Resources/Risk Management Library/Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc. Content/Workshops & Webinars folder.

Client Spotlight: The Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank

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

Rancho Mesa is pleased to highlight the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank, the largest hunger-relief organization in San Diego County. Jim Floros from the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank and Anahid Brakke from San Diego Hunger Coalition discuss San Diego's Hunger Awareness Month in September.

^{Video courtesy of Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank}

About Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank
The Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank is the largest hunger-relief organization in San Diego County. Last year, the Food Bank distributed 22 million pounds of food, and the Food Bank serves, on average, 370,000 people per month in San Diego County.  The Food Bank receives food from the USDA, food manufacturers, food retailers, the agricultural sector, food drives, and through financial contributions that enable us to purchase protein-rich foods, fresh produce, and dry staple foods such as beans, oatmeal, and rice. We also benefit from the generosity of more than 28,000 volunteers annually that help to sort and distribute donated and purchased food products.  For more information, visit www.sandiegofoodbank.org.

Client Spotlight: Interfaith Community Services

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

Rancho Mesa is pleased to highlight Interfaith Community Services, an organization that empowers people in need to stabilize and improve their lives through comprehensive programs, in partnership with diverse faith communities and people of compassion.  Here is their story. 

^{Video courtesy of Interfaith Community Services}

About Interfaith Community Services
Interfaith Community Services was founded in 1979 by a handful of diverse faith communities to address the needs of low-income, homeless and under-served people in North San Diego County.  Separately, these congregations were providing relief to people in need, but by creating Interfaith they were able to collaborate to make a bigger impact on the needs of the people in our community.  For more information, visit www.interfaithservices.org.

Rancho Mesa Hosts Workers' Compensation Anti-Fraud Workshop

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

Rancho Mesa clients gathered at the Fraud Within the CA Workers' Compensation System Workshop on Thursday, August 10, 2017 held at the San Diego Christian College campus in Santee.  ICW Group’s, Christopher Dill from the Special Investigations Unit, gave an informative presentation.

ICW Group' Special Investigations Unit has been nationally recognized for its significant contribution towards the prosecution of, what California Department of Insurance deemed to be, one of the largest cases of Workers’ Compensation health care fraud in state history.  

Christopher provided an overview of the elements of the cases which made up “Operation Back Lash,”  the role of advanced analytics in the identification of patterns associated with the criminal schemes,  and what can potentially be learned from those patterns.

To learn more about Fraud within the CA Workers' Compensation System, contact Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc. at (619) (619) 937-0164