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Summarizing A Year, And A Culture

   May 1, 2015     1530  

Maybe I’m dating myself here, but do you remember back in high school when the annual yearbook came out?Annual report cover w.o graphics blog

There was a formula to the books. Every class had row after row of headshots. There were portraits of the teachers and office staff.

And, of course, there were the predictable photos of the clubs and sports teams and cheerleading squads, all arranged just perfectly.

But usually, none of those created the excited clusters of kids in the hallways paging through the book in an eager search.

Those little gatherings developed as kids were looking for the candid shots. Did they make the cut? And if they did, what did the photographer capture them doing? That’s what always made each year’s book release such a party.

To be honest, corporate annual reports aren’t much different. There’s a formula to them. There’s the CEO’s report. The posed portraits of senior executives and the board of directors. And don’t forget the financial statements. (more…)

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Celebrating LifeChangers In Our Schools

   April 21, 2015     1894  

I’m sure all of us can think of someone from school who had a big effect on our lives, a teacher, a coach, a custodian.

I often think, for example, of my fifth-grade teacher. My handwriting was so bad that she taught me to type on an old manual typewriter. These computer keyboards are so much easier!

There are others, too, of course, who made a difference in how I learned or experienced the world.

Betty Chandler of Orange County Public Schools in Orlando, Fla., is one who has influenced countless lives in more than 50 years in public education.

Around here, we call people like Betty LifeChangers because exceptional educators really make a difference in how we learn.

Educators too often are taken for granted. So National Life sponsors the LifeChanger of the Year program to recognize excellence in our public schools.

We’ announced this year’s grand prize winner for this year just this week. Congratulations to Mike McEachern of Hargrave High School in Texas! Check out the finalists in this video.

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Solar Provides 15 Percent Of Power Needs

   February 20, 2015     1858  

A lot of people are turning to solar as a safe reliable source of electricity. And that also includes companies just like us.

It makes financial sense, of course, or smart business leaders wouldn’t do it. But it also is an important way of living a company’s values of sustainability and commitment to community.

That’s just what prompted National Life Group to take a hard look at our electricity use and take a big step toward energy independence at our Vermont headquarters.

National Life commissioned a 500-kilowatt solar array on our campus this fall. Combined with an existing 73-kilowatt project on the roof of the company’s headquarters building, 15 percent of the power used by National Life is generated by solar.

This project was one of many sustainability initiatives that the company has undertaken in recent years. Read about how we stack up. And you might enjoy this video about the new solar project.

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Our Mission Is Keeping Our Promises

   February 4, 2015     1892  

I’ve always enjoyed history, even as a kid back in the dark ages when we had textbooks.

So one of the cool things about my job now is that I work with a company that has a long and interesting history that reflects many of the important events of U.S. history. And I occasionally get to dig through the archives to see what’s in there.

One of the things that I discovered is that National Life Group has a long history of keeping our promises. National Life Insurance Co. was chartered by the Vermont Legislature in 1848 and the company paid its first claims just two years later.

Through good times and bad, National Life has been there, focused on our vision to bring peace of mind to everyone we touch, as this video illustrates.

National Life Insurance Company was founded in 1848 in Montpelier, VT. Life Insurance Company of the Southwest was chartered in 1955 in Dallas, TX

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