Inside this issue:

Our ‘Top 5’ Agents 2

Smart, Eh! 2

Atlas Leadership Institute 3

Dongbu’s Sales Awards 4

Trenton Makes... 5

The ‘Atlas Giving Corner’ 6

Atlas Welcomes! 8

Connected to the Neighbor Islands

8

Out and About 8

Kokua for Japan 9

Want to Zumba? 9

April Calendar 10

1132 Bishop Street Suite 1600 Honolulu, HI 96813 808-533-3222 AtlasInsurance.com

April 2011

Na Leo O’ Atlas

Volume 7, Issue 4

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April Fools Issue April Fools Issue April Fools Issue

Two Journeys, Same Destination For our new CPCU designees, hard work key Do you know what it takes to become a CPCU designee? A ‘Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter,’ as christened by the AICPCU, is someone who possesses a foundation of broad technical knowledge, high ethical standards, and demonstrated industry experience. Accordingly, the CPCU Designation is meant to prepare designees to meet the changes and challenges of a demanding risk management and insurance marketplace with confidence and professionalism.

There’s no arguing that Jean Ikeda and Matt Arine fit the bill. When it comes to broad technical knowl-edge, high ethical standards, and demonstrated indus-try experience, both have proven they are true profes-sionals (OK, give Jean the edge on industry experi-ence, but only slightly). In March 2011, both earned their CPCU Designations.

To earn the CPCU Designation, candidates must pass eight (8) sometimes grueling self-study courses. You must be disciplined and self-motivated to accomplish what can be a long, arduous effort. Jean understands this more than most. Her CPCU journey, begun first back in 1984, has had its ups-and-downs, but Jean

was persistent and never gave up. A full 27-years later, Jean can proudly say she’s earned her CPCU Des-ignation. Matt’s journey was somewhat shorter, but no less arduous, and no less well deserved.

The CPCU Designation is the coveted insurance-related designation in our industry. It’s the crème-de-la-crème. It’s the culmination of hard work, dedication, knowledge, ability, and—well—persistence!

Both Jean and Matt would like to acknowledge and thank many people around the Atlas organization for motivating and inspiring them. Of note, Jean would like to shout out to past employees Marian Brown and Guy Matsumoto.

Congratulations Jean & Matt! You both are inspirations to the rest of us!

Now Jean needs to figure out which conferment ceremony she attends in October—the CIC or the CPCU (Jean recently earned her CIC as well—what a go-getter!). one atlas.

What does ‘Trenton’ and ‘April Fools’ have in common?

See page 5 of this newsletter to find out!

Page 2 Na Leo O’ Atlas

Smart, eh! Building a better team through learning & development

Our Top 5 Agents for February 2011 Building a better business with their sales acumen!

Gerald Takeuchi Takeuchi Insurance Associates, Inc.

Kristl/Spencer Lau Ito & Lau, LLC

Bob Silverstein Agency Extraordinaire

Gary Hashimoto Hashimoto Corporation

Maurice Miranda Agent Extraordinaire

Matt Arine Matt passed the AAI83 ‘Agency Operations & Sales Management’ class, earning his CPCU Designation

Tammy Burks

Tammy passed the CISR1 ‘Commercial Casualty’ class

Corina Hill Corina passed her AIS25 ‘Delivering Insurance Ser-vices’ course, earning her AIS Designation

Jean Ikeda Jean passed her final CPCU course, ‘Finance & Account-ing,’ earning her CPCU Desig-nation

Lance Kawano

Lance passed his CPCU course, ‘Finance and Account-ing’

Earlyn Isa Earlyn recently tool the ‘Mastering Microsoft Excel’ class

Velma Tsuda Velma recently tool the ‘Mastering Microsoft Excel’ class

Page 3 Na Leo O’ Atlas

Atlas Leadership Institute builds better leaders Execs and middle managers focus on learning

From March 8th to March 10th, Atlas leaders were sequestered in a Waikiki meeting room as they focused their attention on leadership devel-opment. Away from the daily hustle and bustle of the office, ringers turned down on their cells, and eyes and ears focused on the facilitators, Atlas executives and middle managers spent three days learning about trust, motivation, mentoring, and relationship management. Facilita-tors from Hawaii and California used presentations, hands-on exercises, and role-play to drive home important leadership points.

One exercise, using a complex set of ropes and hooks, required 18 of the 23 attendees to sit in a circle with their backs to each other, while one fearless leader (Kathy Kano) used an exaggerated authoritarian leadership approach to ‘motivate’ the group to blindly build a stack of wooden blocks. After nearly 13-minutes, task NOT accomplished.

A more inclusive motivation and leadership style was used the second time around where the group of 18 worked together, communicated, and could see the task they needed to accomplish. Just 2.5-minutes later, task accomplished. The exercise helped emphasize to the impor-tance of including others in the task process, using everyone’s talents, and making feedback and idea-sharing a safe thing to do. It helped that it was lots of fun and laughs as well.

This second annual Atlas Leadership Institute (ALI) focused on the topics of trust, motivation, mentoring, and relationship management not by chance, but by design. Analyzing the past 3-years of ‘best places to work in Hawaii’ employee survey results, the leadership team deter-mined our areas of opportunity that needed focus. The Institute was designed to give our Atlas leadership team the tools, ideas and (need we say) the motivation to go out and help make the Atlas organization better than ever.

In other words, the entire ALI is the result of your feedback! Atlas attendees included Sharon Hodson, Richard Fukeda, Alvina Miyasato, Kari Yamada, Irlene Torres, Vince Miyoi, Matt Arine, Russ Park, Mike Ayson, Mike Kinoshita, Carol Davis, Nick Tan, Bonnie Pang, Greg Chilson, Anna Gima, Therese Rayburn, Velma Tsuda, Aileen Kashiwamura, Pattie Hoe, Lance Ka-wano, Bobbie Erickson, Kathy Kano and Myles Murakami. one atlas.

Page 4 Na Leo O’ Atlas

Dongbu’s 1st Annual Sales Award Meeting Congratulations to Gary Hashimoto!

Dongbu held their 1st Annual Sales Award Kick-Off Meeting back on March 2, 2011. Atlas representatives who attended the meeting at the Waikiki Resort Hotel where they met the new CEO of Dongbu Korea, Mr. Jeong-Nam Kim.

At the meeting, as part of the Dongbu Hawaii promotion, three Honolulu independent agents were recognized and awarded for writing new Personal Lines business—Gary Hashimoto, Greg Tsuda and Min Sung Yang. Four neighbor island agents were awarded cash prizes later when Dongbu reps visited their respective offices. These agents were Maurice Miranda (Honokaa), Les Aburamen and Dennis Miyashiro (Hilo), and Don Ito (Maui). The culmination of the evening was the announcement of the top new business agent for Dongbu in 2010—Gary Hashi-moto! Gary wrote more new business than the top agents for Business Insurance Services and Pyramid –COMBINED!

And most importantly, his loss ratio was 9.3%! Even more impressive, Gary was recognized as Dongbu’s ‘Agent of the Year.’ Way to go Gary!! one atlas.

Page 5 Na Leo O’ Atlas

Trenton Makes...April Fools Day? The (um) history of April Fool’s Day

(use mirror to read correctly)

Page 6 Na Leo O’ Atlas

Thanks to Blood Donors From Tina Leger, Employee Benefits

A sincere ‘thank you’ from Tina Leger in Employee Benefits, extended to all the blood donors at last month’s Blood Bank of Hawaii drive. Here’s a break-down of the numbers from the March 1132 Bishop Street drive: ♦ Pint goal: 25

♦ Pints drawn: 22

♦ Pints from Atlas: 5 (that’s almost 25% of the blood donated!)

♦ Lives saved: 66 The five Atlas donors gave blood at the 1132 Bishop drive, but there are many other Atlas life savers that regularly donate directly to the Blood Bank of Hawaii at their various locations. According to Tina, ‘donating blood rocks!’ So do you, donors! one atlas.

Building a better community through giving!

one atlas. First quarter volunteer service planned Mini-Community of CCG/Kona plans great project

The very first ‘one atlas’ volunteer community service project has been planned by CCG, AOAO, Benefits & Surety is scheduled for Wednes-day, May 11 and Thursday, May 12 from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.

They had many great project idea submissions but chose to benefit the Institute for Human Services (“IHS”), an Atlas client. Due to the state of Hawaii’s economy and the severe budget cuts, the neediest in the community suffer greatly. As such, certain projects that non-profits must tackle get pushed to the side because funding other needs take precedence.

IHS shared that they need a lot of help with their women’s shelter, es-pecially with refurbishing their stairwell. Therefore, the main project will be painting the stairwell, railings and stairs. For those who do not want to paint or cannot do so, they have a number of other activities to

accommodate everyone including assisting with sorting donated items in the thrift shop, possibly picking up trash outside the shelter and/or doing an activity with their afterschool program.

Your help on one of the two days is greatly appreciated. If applicable, please check with your supervisor to ensure adequate coverage for your department.

There is limited street parking by the women’s shelter. Parking is available at the K-Mart on Nimitz nearby. Car-pooling is encouraged.

For more information on IHS and all the wonderful things they do, see their website at: http://www.ihshawaii.org/

Please RSVP by Friday, April 29th to Liann Ebesugawa at 533-8717 or lebesugawa@atlasinsurance.com.

This will be a fun and rewarding day together! Thanks to the 1st quarter planning committee, including Ron Tsukamaki, Russ Park, Dana Tokioka, Nick Tan, Debbie Hagihara, Tina Leger and Liann Ebesugawa! one atlas.

You want to volunteer for a very good cause?

Here’s your chance!

Page 7 Na Leo O’ Atlas

Building a better community through giving!

‘Island for Japan’ supports ‘Aloha for Japan’ cause Atlas does more than its share by giving generously

Francis Tagawa had an idea—an idea that hatched from his personal need to do something, anything to support the family and friends we all share in Japan and help ease their suffering. The idea was simple—put some empty jars out at the Atlas offices and ask for loose change, collect the money, wrap the coins, and donate to the Red Cross for use with Japanese relief efforts. From this idea, a rather large and extensive community service project was born.

Summoning guidance from Myles Murakami, what started as an Atlas ini-tiative quickly dovetailed into a larger Island Holdings project. Long story short, Island was planning something, we were planning something, Hoike was planning something—it made sense to combine our efforts and make Francis the committee chair.

From donations to t-shirt sales to baked items to ‘lucky drawing’ prizes, Fran-cis helped lead the effort that ultimately garnered nearly $28,000 in monetary donations! Wow, and just over $10,000 of that came from the friends and family members of Atlas staff and agents. Island Holdings as a whole sold 392 t-shirts for just over $8,000.

Needless to say the ‘small’ idea that grew into a ‘large’ project became quite the success, all for a very good cause!

Thank you for your support and generous donations towards our ‘Island for Japan’ and ‘Aloha for Japan’ campaigns. This could not have been possible without the help of each and every one of you, so a big THANK YOU for all your support!

The “Lucky Draw” winners were…

♦ Hoakalei Country Club golf package – Irv Uradomo – IC Interna-tional

♦ Hoakalei Country Club golf package – Allen Hashimoto – AMU

♦ Nintendo DS Lite XL – Kuilani Donato – Hawaiian Properties

♦ Nikon CoolPix S4100 – Geary Chun – Hoike Networks

♦ Free Day Off – Geri Uyemura – Island

♦ Amethyst/Onyx Necklace – Grant Takasaki – Pyramid Insurance

♦ Garnet/Czech glass Necklace – Delphine Esteban – Island

Congratulations to all the lucky draw winners! one atlas.

Page 8 Na Leo O’ Atlas

Atlas welcomes (back) Peaches Kong Was lost, but now is found...back at Atlas Maui!

Peaches Kong is our newest family member here at Atlas, a new Account Manager in our Maui Office.

Peaches comes to us with valuable experience in the insurance industry, having spent time at AFLAC and Majestic Insurance Agency. Before that, Peaches was previously with Atlas from 1998 to 2005.

In her free time (which there is less-and-less of with the kids), Peaches is kept busy shuttling her four kids to-and-from basketball and soccer. Her kids include Taylor (11), Iokepa (10), Special (5), and Kona (2.5). If that’s not enough to keep her busy, Peaches is presently pursuing her Bachelor’s in business at the University of Hawaii—Maui.

We gladly welcome (back) Peaches to our Atlas Ohana and wish her well!

Connected to the Neighbor Islands ‘one atlas’ extends throughout the State!

Maui Office Della Nakamoto recognized by Rotary

On Monday, March 14, 2011, the Rotary Club of Kahului recognized Della Nakamoto as a Paul Harris Fellow. The Paul Harris Fellow is an individual recognition given to donors who contributed $1,000 or more to the Rotary Foundation’s Annual Program Fund. The Multiple Paul Harris Fellow is given to donors who have contributed $2,000 or more. The mission of the Rotary Foundation is to enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of edu-cation, and the alleviation of poverty.

Congratulations Della! one atlas.

Out and About Atlas team attends Saint Louis ‘Grape Escape’ event

On Saturday, April 9th, many from the Atlas team enjoyed good wine, good food and good times at a big Saint Louis School fundraiser, ‘The Grape Escape.’ The event fea-tured Oahu restaurants, including DK Steak House, Gyotaku, Pagoda, Sarento’s and Macaroni Grill.

Some of the team in attendance were invited guests of Saint Louis CFO, Ryan Tanaka (pictured in blue shirt), including Liann Ebesugawa, Dana Tokioka, and Lance Kawano. Others attended as invited guests of Atlas agent Tom Oshiro, including Martin Beardeaux, Roy Sasuga, Quynh Pham and Richard Fukeda.

Money raised from this fundraiser go back to the Saint Louis School and their many programs. one atlas.

Page 9 Na Leo O’ Atlas

Atlas steps up in big way for Japan Besides raising money and ordering shirts, team answers phones

Atlas stepped up in a big way when supporting the ‘Island for Japan’ initiative over the past two weeks, but many around the office wanted to do more. The ‘Kokua for Japan’ benefit concert at the Hilton Hawaiian Village this past weekend provided just the ticket.

While concert revelers outdoors enjoyed the sounds of Jack Johnson, Jake Shimabukuro, Mi-chael McDonald, Mick Fleetwood, Henry Kapono, Willie Nelson, Na Leo and John Cruz, Atlas team members worked the indoor phone bank, taking donation pledge calls from all over Hawaii and the US mainland.

The Atlas team that volunteered their time in-cluded Anna Gima (accounting), Greg Tsuda (agent), Velma Tsuda (Makai), Mike Ayson (AOAO), Joshua German (AOAO), Martin Beardeaux (claims consulting), Bonnie Pang (employee benefits), Tammy Burks (creative design), Liann Ebesugawa (CCG), Russ Park (CCG) and Francis Tagawa (IT).

The event was a huge success, in total raising over $1.6 mission to benefit the American Red Cross for the Japan earthquake and Pacific tsunami relief efforts. Donations are still being collected at www.kokuaforjapan.com.

one atlas.

Atlas Vision Statement

We will be the dominant insurance agency in Hawaii

by having the reputation of having the best team of professionals. We will earn this reputation by having

professionals who focus on our clients’ needs and who

deliver results that meet or exceed their expectations.

1132 Bishop Street Suite 1600 Honolulu, Hawaii 96813

P: 808-533-3222 F: 808-533-8777 W: www.atlasinsurance.com

Atlas Insurance Agency

Hawaii is not just a place we do business. Hawaii is our home.

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

1

April Fools Day!

4 5 6 7 8

11 12 13 14 15

Income Tax Day!

18 19 20 21 22

Floating Holiday

25 26 27 28 29

Atlas Monthly Toastmasters

Quarterly Atlas Staff Meetings

April 2011 Atlas Calendar