Brownstone's Free CEU Class was a Success

Brownstone Insurance sponsored a CEU class for insurance agents at the Boston Quincy Marriott, free of charge, on Wednesday, June 20th. It was the first of many free events that we have lined up for our loyal brokers this year.

With a turnout of about 30 agents and professionals related to the industry, we were happy to see an interactive group that were anxious to learn and get involved.

Participants were granted 3 CEU credits for a 3-hour class taught by reknowned insurance instructor, Virginia Bates. And with the heat index reaching about 104 degrees today, I think we were all thankful to be inside an air-conditioned room for a while too!

Thank you to all those who participated, and keep an eye out for future events.

Here are some photos from the day:

Just getting seatedAlmost a full house!It was a great, interactive group!Virginia was a great teacher!Enjoying the continental breakfast at break time.

Free CEU Class Sponsored by Brownstone Insurance

CEU Class with Virginia Bates - Advanced Business Income Coverage
Sponsored by Brownstone Insurance
Wednesday, June 20
8:45am - 12:00pm
Breakfast served beginning at 8:15am
Worth 3 CEU credits
Boston Quincy Marriot, 1000 Marriott Drive, Quincy MA 02169

Virginia Bates has over twenty years of experience consulting with agencies and carriers as well as managing insurance operations for both a carrier and a large regional agency. She has a background in all property and casualty lines, experience as director of a country-wide underwriting school and direct involvement in many industry automated systems. As co-founder of VMB Associates Inc., she has worked with many agencies/brokerages on intelligent selection and use of technology, profitability, reducing E&O exposure, internal operations, marketing strategies, carrier relationships and successful use of technology.

She is a certified E&O instructor and regularly creates and conducts educational programs for many state agents' associations, carriers and vendor groups.

Join Brownstone Insurance as we host a CEU class featuring Virginia Bates discussing Advanced Business Income Coverage. This class will help producers, CSR’s and account representatives feel comfortable in selling and servicing this important coverage. Writing the time element coverages of an account is often the key to getting the account and retaining it. Knowing the coverage and explaining it clearly are important E&O prevention measures.

3 CEU credits will be awarded participation in this 3-hour class.

A delicious continental breakfast will be served beginning at 8:15am and the Brownstone staff will be awarding several lucky attendees with fantastic door prizes! Prizes include several pairs of Red Sox tickets and a number of gift cards to some great local stores and restaurants.

Space is limited so register now by completing this form!

Brownstone Event at the Aquarium was a Blast

Don Allan and Alexis Kimball, the Agent Relations Managers here at Brownstone Insurance, held their first networking event yesterday at the New England Aquarium in Boston. And we think it was pretty successful!

Don and Alexis kept the invite list small, this being their first event, but plan on networking and meeting new brokers and professionals related to the insurance industry and will plan more events in the future.

The afternoon consisted of some fabulous food prepared and served by the Aquarium's catering service, an open bar, and a private, behind-the-scenes tour of the aquarium!

Guests got to see the inner workings of the aquarium and even some of the aquarists (yes, that's a job title) and scientists hard at work. I personally learned all kinds of information I never knew before. For instance, did you know:

• Sea cucumber are capable of spitting all of its internal organs out when threatened by a predator and can re-grow them? Talk about a great defense mechanism!
• All of the water in the aquarium comes from the Boston Harbor? It goes through 9 different types of filtration systems before being used in the aquarium, though.
• Octopuses are incredibly intelligent creatures and need constant mental stimulation, or else they get bored and get intro trouble! One particular octopus at the aquarium turned into an escape artist, and used to climb out of her tank, slither across the floor to a neighboring tank filled with fish, eat some fish, and slither back into her tank at night!
• Turtles are able to slow their metabolism and heart rate down significantly so that they are able to dive deep into the water. One species of turtle is able to slow its heart rate down to just 1 beat per 9-minutes so that it can remain submerged for up to 5-hours!

Those are just some of the great facts that guests of our event learned. We also got to touch several sea creatures and gain a new appreciation for the efforts of the New England Aquarium and its staff.

Alexis and Don are thankful to all those who attended and look forward to our next event!

The group!Behind-the-scenes at the aquariumOur tour guide explaining how lobsters shed their shells when they no longer fit.From left: Peter Westhaver, Jessica Riehl, Alexis KimballAlexis was passionately explaining something to Jess and Peter.

 No trip to the Aquarium would be complete without the penguins!

Change to Our Frame Apartment Rental Underwriting

As our company history suggests, Brownstone has always been a pioneering company that is not afraid to test the waters with new and innovative ways of doing business. Our origin is proof of this, as Brownstone began as a company that wrote business that others would not.

But we are also an analytical organization and recognize that not all ventures prove successful, which is why Brownstone is re-focusing our efforts in the frame apartment rental market to our original core area of business - Boston. We’ve been protecting Boston’s neighborhoods for 30-years, and have concluded that our knowledge and expertise in the frame apartment rental market is best concentrated there.

As such, frame apartment rentals located outside of our core territory will no longer fit within our underwriting guidelines. We will no longer be able to accept new submissions or renew frame apartment rentals outside of our core territory.

Our ultimate goal is to serve our loyal network of brokers and customers the best way we know how, so we urge you to contact your personal program underwriter with any questions or concerns you may have regarding this change.

Our underwriting department may be reached by calling (617) 236-6400, or you may view our staff page to find the email address of your personal program underwriter.

Agent Relations Managers are Proud Owners of New iPads

Alexis and Don, Brownstone's new Agent Relations Managers, started work a tad early this morning. The duo was standing in line at the Apple Store at Derby Street Shoppes in Hingham, MA at 6 a.m. for the opportunity to be one of the first people to purchase the new Apple iPad.

"It was a pretty exciting experience," said Don. "Apple really pulled out all the stops for people waiting to buy the iPad."

Their day began at 4:30am with a text from Brownstone co-founder, Glenn Montgomery, showing them the one lonely man who was already waiting in line.

They arrived at 6 a.m. and were numbers 16 and 17 in line, guaranteeing them the chance to purchase the product.

"Forty sales people were on staff to accommodate the crowd," explained Alexis. "And they had been there since midnight to prepare!"

Don and Alexis, not being seasoned veterans of Apple releases, did not bring chairs to sit, but fortunately didn't have to wait very long.

Apple staff passed out tickets at 7 a.m. which customers were asked to use to choose the details of the iPad they wanted. For example, customers were asked to detail whether they preferred black or white iPads, and whether they wanted the 16 gig, 32 gig or 64 gig.

"The staff even passed out cookies and water to everyone waiting in line," added Alexis.

At exactly 8 a.m., the doors opened and the entire Apple store staff began clapping wildly and the song "Jump Around" began vibrating the store.

Don and Alexis were quickly met by an Apple store employee and walked away as two happy owners of the brand new iPad, which they look forward to using in their new positions as Agent Relations Managers.