Sentry Insurance
|
Strength, Protection and Vigilance | |
| Mutual | |
| Industry | Insurance & Finance |
| Founded | 1904 |
| Headquarters | Stevens Point, Wisconsin, USA |
Key people | McPartland, Pete, President & CEO[1] |
Number of employees | 4,500 |
| Website | www.Sentry.com |
Sentry Insurance is a mutual insurance company specializing in business insurance. The company’s home office is in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, where about half the company’s approximately 4,500 employees are located. Sentry offers property and casualty insurance, workers' compensation, life insurance, and other business insurance, as well as non-insurance products like annuities and retirement programs. Sentry provides specialized insurance programs to customers in specific industries as well as very large companies with complex risk.[2][3][4]
Sentry is one of the nation’s largest mutual insurance companies. As of December 31, 2014, the company has assets of more than $14 billion and a policyholder surplus of over $4.1 billion. Sentry was rated rated A+ by A.M. Best, the insurance industry’s leading rating authority, as of 2015. In 2015, Sentry Insurance was ranked 799th on the Fortune 1000 list of companies.[5][6][7]
History
Sentry Insurance was founded in 1904 by members of the Wisconsin Retail Hardware Association, now the Midwest Hardware Association, to provide insurance for its members in the hardware industry. Its headquarters are in the Hardware Mutual Insurance Companies Building, built in 1922 and now listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.
The company also owns its own golf course, SentryWorld, which opened in 1982.[8] Designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr., it is regarded as a "destination golf course".[8]
- In 2015, Sentry entered an affiliation agreement with Hortica Insurance & Employee Benefits, adding a new line of business specializing in providing insurance and benefit programs to retail florists and related companies.[9]
- In 2014, Sentry purchased Anchor Management General Agency, establishing entry into the management general agency distribution model.[10]
- Also in 2014, Sentry began supplying its transportation clients with DriveCam in-car cameras.[11]
- In 2013, Sentry released a mobile version of its risk management portal.[12]
- In early September, 2012, Sentry Insurance fired 144 home-based agents. The company told their home-based agents to call in for a year to date business update. When the agents called in they were told that their positions were terminated effective immediately. The executives then indicated that HR would reach out to them in order to go over everything and that someone would call to pick up their company vehicles. The call was then disconnected. The reason offered was that the company was not profitable.[13][14]
- In March, 2012, Sentry Insurance named Pete McPartland CEO. He previously had served as president and chief operating officer.[15]
Logo
Sentry's logo is the "Minuteman Statue," a sculpture of Capt. John Parker, located in Lexington, Massachusetts.
Operations
As of December 31, 2013, Sentry had assets of $13.2 billion[1] and a policyholder surplus of $4.1 billion.[1] The Sentry Group of Companies serves more than 1.1 million policyholders. Sentry Insurance was ranked 777th on the 2014 Fortune 1000 list of companies.[17] The company offers life, group health, auto, and other property/casualty lines. Sentry's property and casualty companies are rated A+ by A. M. Best.[18] The Sentry group of companies includes Dairyland, Peak Property and Casualty, Viking Insurance Company of Wisconsin, and about a dozen others.[19][20][21][22]
Litigation
- 2016: In 2013, a Sentry insurance fraud investigation led to criminal charges against three people (from Wisconsin or Illinois) in Iowa. They were charged in Iowa with operating a car insurance fraud ring in Illinois after calling a Sentry call center in Davenport, Iowa. The defendants fought extradition to Iowa to face the charges. In 2016, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that they could be tried in Iowa. The high court also reinstated several charges that had been thrown out by a lower court.[23]
- In 2015, Sentry sued The Dun & Bradstreet Corp. in federal court, arguing that it wasn’t obligated to defend and indemnify the company in underlying complaints alleging that it wrongfully exploited information on its credit reports to sell a financial report product. The company said it isn’t obligated to defend or indemnify D&B in the underlying suits since those claims constitute professional services.[24]
- In May, 2011, Sentry sued Gene's Furnace Shop after a policy holder sustained a house fire. Sentry paid out $350,000 to their client but sued Gene's Furnace Shop to recover their money, after it was determined that Gene's Furnace allegedly installed the flue pipe in an unsafe manner.[25]
- In 2007, Sentry Insurance sued an 81-year-old woman from Brookfield, WI. A member of a meal-delivery team fell on ice in the 81-year-old's driveway. The lawsuit was filed three years after the incident. The director of senior services for Waukesha County indicated that they are very concerned that the lawsuit could cause the elderly to cancel needed services out of fear. Many have questioned how an insurance company could decide to provide Workers Compensation insurance to a "Meals on Wheels" company, knowing ahead of time that the company exists to help elderly that are too frail to shop during the winter and then sue the elderly for not getting out of their home to shovel their driveway.[26][27][28]
See also
References
- 1 2 3 "2013 Annual Report" (PDF). Retrieved 2015-02-16.
- ↑ Enwald, Nathanael (March 9, 2016). "Sentry gives largest gift in UWSP history for new major". Portage County Gazette.
- ↑ Vine, Nathan (September 17, 2014). "Sentry Insurance looms large locally, nationally". Stevens Point Journal.
- ↑ "Sentry Insurance to Provide DriveCam Program to Transportation Clients". Insurance Journal. March 14, 2014.
- ↑ Vine, Nathan (October 2, 2015). "Gantz named Sentry’s chief financial officer". Stevens Point Journal.
- ↑ "Sentry Expands Casualty Products to Clients with Overseas Operations". Insurance Journal. November 9, 2011.
- ↑ Dempsey, Caitlin (July 25, 2015). "Fortune 1000 Companies List for 2015". Fortune.
- 1 2 D'Amato, Gary (October 13, 2014). "'New' SentryWorld recaptures old glory ... and then some". Journal-Sentinel. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
- ↑ "Hortica Now a Member of Wisconsin’s Sentry Insurance Group". Insurance Journal. July 7, 2015.
- ↑ Gores, Paul (February 20, 2014). "Sentry to buy Alabama insurance agency". Journal Sentinel.
- ↑ "Sentry Insurance to Provide DriveCam Program to Transportation Clients". Insurance Journal. March 14, 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
- ↑ Golia, Nathan (October 11, 2013). "Interview: Inside Sentry's Digital Interactive Team". Insurance & Technology (Information Week). Retrieved 24 February 2015.
- ↑ http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/179333261.html
- ↑ http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/midwest/2012/09/09/262357.htm
- ↑ http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2012/03/01/237677.htm
- ↑ "Captain John Parker". Retrieved 2015-02-16.
- ↑ "Sentry Insurance Group". Fortune magazine. Retrieved February 23, 2015.
- ↑ "Rating Page". Retrieved 2011-11-08.
- ↑ Hillebrand, Melissa (February 23, 2016). "Google to terminate google compare". Property Casualty 360.
- ↑ Castillo, Juan (April 6, 2016). "Dairyland Insurance: A complete guide". Nerd Wallet.
- ↑ "Royal & Sun Alliance Agrees to Sell Viking Insurance to Sentry Insurance". Insurance Journal. July 29, 2005.
- ↑ "6 North Carolina Residents Accused of Staging Car Accident". Insurance Journal. April 1, 2016.
- ↑ Foley, Ryan (March 28, 2016). "Chicago Car Insurance Fraud Ring Can be Tried in Iowa". Claims Journal.
- ↑ Field, Emily (March 15, 2015). "Insurer Fights Coverage In D&B Credit Monopoly Suits". LAw360.
- ↑ http://madisonrecord.com/issues/307-insurance/235661-sentry-insurance-sues-to-recover-paid-fire-claim
- ↑ http://www.jsonline.com/news/waukesha/29226334.html
- ↑ https://besteverawards.wordpress.com/tag/lawsuits/
- ↑ http://wisconsinpersonalinjurylawyers.blogspot.com/2007/02/insurer-sues-81-year-old-woman-for.html
External links
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