Sentry Insurance Explained
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.[5] [6] [7]
Sentry is one of the nation’s largest mutual insurance companies. As of December 31, 2021, the company has assets of more than $23.9 billion and a policyholder surplus of over $7.55 billion. Sentry was rated A+ by A.M. Best, the insurance industry’s leading rating authority, as of 2015. In 2022, Sentry Insurance was ranked 650 on the Fortune 1000 list of companies.[8]
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 for many years was the Hardware Mutual Insurance Companies Building, built in 1922 and now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Though supplanted by a new headquarters in 1977,[9] the historic building remained in use by the company until 2019, when operations out of the historic building were moved to a newly constructed facility just across from the main headquarters. The new building stands 7 stories in height and filled a long vacant field on the city’s north side.
The company also owns its own golf course, SentryWorld, which opened in 1982.[10] Designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., it is regarded as a "destination golf course".[11]
- 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.[12]
- In 2014, Sentry purchased Anchor Management General Agency, establishing entry into the management general agency distribution model.[13]
- Also in 2014, Sentry began supplying its transportation clients with DriveCam in-car cameras.[14]
- In 2013, Sentry released a mobile version of its risk management portal.[15]
- In March, 2012, Sentry Insurance named Pete McPartland CEO. He previously had served as president and chief operating officer.[16] In September, 2012, Sentry Insurance laid off 27 office workers and 144 home-based agents as it restructured its strategy for selling personal line policies. It launched a new independent agency, Point Insurance, to serve policyholders in central Wisconsin and offer Sentry products as well as those of other companies. The company subsequently received a 2013 Stakeholder Team Accomplishment Recognition™ (STAR) award from Demotech, Inc. for its operating results in 2012. The national award was based upon multiple financial measures; Demotech reviewed 2,736 property and casualty carriers, and Sentry was one of two companies in the Near National company classification to receive its top rating.[17] [18] [19]
- In June 2020, Sentry Insurance sponsored a 2020 Sentry Tournament of Champions, and more than a dozen non-profit Maui organizations benefited from the 2020 Champions Sentry Tournament, totalling more than $450,000 in total funds raised. Sentry Insurance Chief Marketing and Brand Officer Stephanie Smith, with officials and non-profit members from the Sentry Tournament of Champions, revealed that $459,743 has been allocated to community organizations.[20]
Logo
Sentry rebranded in 2016.[21] A new Sentry word mark includes a symbol made up of two stylized single quote quotation marks paired up into a circle, reminiscent of the yin and yang symbol, representing two sides of a conversation. The negative space between the quote marks takes on the shape of an S.[22]
The company's previous logo was a Minuteman image based on a sculpture of Capt. John Parker located in Lexington, Massachusetts.
Operations
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.[23] The Sentry group of companies includes Dairyland, Peak Property and Casualty, Viking Insurance Company of Wisconsin, and about a dozen others.[24] [25] [26] [27]
Corporate Philanthropy
Sentry Insurance supports a variety of nonprofits and educational institutions, both through employee donations and volunteerism, and through its Sentry Foundation.
Employee initiatives
Employees in the headquarters and other offices in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, have raised funds and volunteered for a number of local nonprofits. Highlights of their activities include raising the bulk of a $1 million donation for a United Way campaign in Portage County (location of Stevens Point) in 2015 and collecting and donating more than 2,600 food and household items to local food pantries in December 2015.[28] [29] [30]
Sentry Insurance Foundation
The Sentry Insurance Foundation, a private grantmaking foundation in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, was established in 1995. It disbursed $3.7 million in grants in 2014. The foundation made grants of more than $7 million in technology to classrooms in Portage County, Wisconsin, between 2008 and 2015. It awarded a $4 million grant to the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in 2016 to fund a data analytics major.[31] [32] [33]
See also
External links
Notes and References
- Web site: 2013 Annual Report . 2015-02-16.
- Web site: Sentry Insurance Group. Fortune. 2019-02-21.
- Web site: Sentry Insurance: 2022 annual report . 2023-06-26.
- Web site: Annual Report . www.sentry.com.
- News: Sentry gives largest gift in UWSP history for new major . Nathanael . Enwald . March 9, 2016 . Portage County Gazette .
- News: Vine . Nathan . September 17, 2014 . Sentry Insurance looms large locally, nationally . .
- News: Sentry Insurance to Provide DriveCam Program to Transportation Clients . March 14, 2014 . Insurance Journal .
- Web site: Sentry Insurance Group. Fortune. en-US. 2023-01-02.
- Web site: History - Schmeeckle Reserve | UWSP.
- Web site: 'New' SentryWorld recaptures old glory ... and then some. D'Amato. Gary. October 13, 2014. Journal-Sentinel. 24 February 2015.
- Web site: SentryWorld to close in 2013 for renovations . 2015-04-11 . 2015-04-16 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150416085346/http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/179333261.html . dead .
- News: Hortica Now a Member of Wisconsin's Sentry Insurance Group . July 7, 2015 . Insurance Journal .
- News: Sentry to buy Alabama insurance agency . Paul . Gores . February 20, 2014 . Journal Sentinel .
- News: Sentry Insurance to Provide DriveCam Program to Transportation Clients. March 14, 2014. Insurance Journal. 24 February 2015.
- News: Interview: Inside Sentry's Digital Interactive Team. Golia. Nathan. October 11, 2013. Insurance & Technology. Information Week. 24 February 2015.
- Web site: Sentry Insurance Group Names McPartland as CEO. March 2012.
- Web site: Wisconsin's Sentry Insurance Cuts Office Jobs, Home-Based Agents. 10 September 2012.
- News: Sentry Insurance a Mutual Company Awarded 2013 Stakeholder Team Accomplishment Recognition Award . November 26, 2013 . Property Casualty 360 .
- News: Sentry Insurance Cuts Office Jobs, Agents . September 7, 2012 . WMTV .
- Web site: 16 June 2020. Sentry Tournament of Champions Announces $459,743 raised for charity at 2020 event. 14 July 2020. PGA Tour.
- News: Sentry Insurance rebrands, unveils new logo . Nathan . Vine . August 8, 2016 . Stevens Point Journal .
- Web site: And I Quote….
- Web site: Rating Page . 2011-11-08.
- News: Google to terminate google compare . Melissa . Hillebrand . February 23, 2016 . Property Casualty 360 .
- News: Dairyland Insurance: A complete guide . Juan . Castillo . April 6, 2016 . Nerd Wallet .
- News: Royal & Sun Alliance Agrees to Sell Viking Insurance to Sentry Insurance . July 29, 2005 . Insurance Journal .
- News: 6 North Carolina Residents Accused of Staging Car Accident. April 1, 2016 . Insurance Journal .
- News: Sentry employees make donations through teamwork exercise . December 31, 2015 . Portage County Gazette .
- News: United Way sets record amount . Gene . Kemmeter . December 3, 2015 . Portage County Gazette .
- News: United Way honors individuals, organizations for support during 2015 campaign . February 12, 2016 . Portage County Gazette .
- Web site: Sentry Insurance Foundation Inc. . Find The Company .
- News: Sentry donation funds UWSP data major. Sari . Lesk . March 8, 2016 . Stevens Point Journal .
- News: Sentry gives largest gift in UWSP history for new major. Nathanael . Enwald . March 9, 2016 . Portage County Gazette .
