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Special guests from Tabor College (Hillsboro, Kansas) recently visited the Farmers Alliance Home Office. 48 students and 4 instructors attended as a part of their business interterm courses.

Farmers Alliance President and Chief Operating Officer, Joe Brossard, talked about risks. Paul Taliaferro, CFO and Treasurer, talked about the finance side of the business. Greg McCullough, Vice President of Human Resources, wrapped things up by talking about careers and the majors that Farmers Alliance looks for when recruiting.

 

MCPHERSON, KANSAS  — Kara Lang, CPCU, has been promoted to Vice President, Underwriting & Product Management, effective immediately. Kara joined Farmers Alliance in 2002, and has worked in various areas in the Underwriting department, most recently as Regional Underwriting Manager for the Midwest territory (Kansas, Oklahoma & Nebraska), since 2009.

Lang achieved the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation in 2006, and the Associate in Commercial Underwriting (AU) designation in 2007. She also holds the designations of Associate in Insurance Services (INS), Associate in Personal Insurance (API), and Supervisory Management (SM). Kara is a graduate of Fort Hays State University with a degree in Business Management. She is active in the Wichita Chapter for CPCU, as well as several local community organizations.

She and her husband, Chet, have three children and reside in McPherson.

 

MCPHERSON, KS – Amy Leonhardt of the Farmers Alliance Companies has been awarded the professional insurance designation Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) by the American Institute for CPCU. This announcement was made by Peter L. Miller, CPCU, president and chief executive officer of the Institute. Leonhardt’s CPCU designation was formally conferred at a ceremony in Anaheim, California, in September, 2014.

Amy Leonhardt is Regional Claims Manager for Farmers Alliance. She joined the companies in 2002 as an Underwriter, has also served as an Underwriting Business Analyst, and was named Assistant Regional Claims Manager in February. She is a graduate of Attica (KS) High School and Pratt (KS) Community College, where she received her Associate’s degree in Business. Leonhardt resides in Inman with her husband, Cory, and their children, Jayden and Sharley.

The American Institute for CPCU is an independent, nonprofit educational organization that confers the CPCU designation on persons who complete eight rigorous courses and national essay examinations and meet its ethics and experience requirements. All CPCUs are required to maintain and to improve their professional knowledge, skills, and competence through their commitment to the American Institute’s Code of Professional Ethics. More information is available at www.aicpcu.org.

MCPHERSON, KANSAS  — Farmers Alliance President & CEO Keith Birkhead was presented with a challenge in order to raise money for the FAMI Relay For Life Team.  A member of the team asked Keith if he would be willing to match a $500 donation and have his toenails painted pink if employees raised $500 in a week.  Also, if he accepted, then the four other members of the Executive Management Team would have to get their toenails painted, too, unless they paid $100 per person to get out of it.  Keith agreed to the challenge, and FAMI employees raised $508 before the deadline!  Between that money, the $500 match from Keith, and $100 each from the rest of Executive Management (who still went through with the toenail painting), $1,408 was brought in from this fundraiser alone!  And whether or not they’ll actually admit it, we think they rather enjoyed themselves!

Parents can help their college students monitor credit scores

Parents spend years guarding their children from scrapes and cuts. However, some of the biggest damage done to their children’s well-being could come from identity theft. As parents send their children off to college, they should continue to protect their kids by monitoring their credit scores.

The average credit score for consumers age 18 to 24 is about 630, according Credit Karma. However, college students’ scores could be lower than this if they had their credit damaged by identity thieves. Once thieves have young people’s sensitive information, including their dates of birth and Social Security numbers, they could open new lines of credit that could lower their creditworthiness and cause problems down the line as they try to obtain a loan or apartment.

Here are ways to properly monitor your college student’s credit score:

Request a Free Credit Score
To make sure their children’s information is safe, parents should encourage their children to request their credit reports while in college. They can check their credit report for free on annualcreditreport.com every 12 months, according to Equifax. facebook is down . The credit report can be from each of the three main credit reporting bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

Inspect Report for Strange Credit Activity
Parents can also make sure their children are aware of suspicious activity that could indicate identity theft. College students should look for signs that someone else opened a new account, such as collection notices and hard inquiries. When there is a hard inquiry on a credit report, it usually means that someone else has applied for new credit and a creditor has permission to check a credit score in order to grant new credit.

Correct Credit Report
In case there is inaccurate information on their children’s credit report, parents can also take steps to correct these credit details. After checking their credit, college students should submit a letter or fill out an online form to the credit reporting firm describing the parts of their credit report they think is wrong, The Federal Trade Commission suggested. Students should also provide proof of their claim and provide as much information as they can to support their credit dispute.

Provide Tips to Prevent Identity Theft
Parents can also offer their children information on protecting themselves from identity theft. These tips include never giving their personal information out by unknown callers and not carrying around sensitive information like their Social Security card, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

Article Provided by IDT911.  Find more information here.