Western & Southern Financial Group’s Talent Development team from Human Resources includes, left to right, Erika Blanton, corporate trainer; Derek Bostic, knowledge transfer program manager; Jessica Miller, training specialist; and Heather Swensgard, director of Talent Development.
Western & Southern Financial Group’s Talent Development team was recently named one of the top 125 learning and development programs in the world by Training Magazine.
The Training Top 125 recognizes the best of the best in corporate training programs. Applicants are judged qualitatively and quantitatively and scored using a point system in five key areas – training program/scope, tuition reimbursement, training infrastructure and delivery, evaluation/metrics, and human resources.
Western & Southern supports an environment of continuous learning to develop talent and engage associates to meet the needs of customers. Associates have access to onsite training programs, industry education and a tuition reimbursement program. Internal training programs at The Guilford Institute, the company’s onsite educational center, are carefully tailored by Talent Development to help associates upgrade the skills they need now and develop new ones for advancement. Financial products, project management, leadership and decision-making are a few of the courses offered to continue associates’ learning and growth.
“With more than 50 percent of all open positions filled with internal associates, we truly believe in our associates’ abilities and the value they bring our company and clients,” said Heather Swensgard, director of Talent Development.
The official Training Top 125 rankings were announced as part of an awards program on Monday, Feb. 25. Western & Southern ranked 113 among the 125 recognized.
About Western & Southern Financial Group
Founded in Cincinnati in 1888 as The Western and Southern Life Insurance Company, Western & Southern Financial Group, Inc. (Western & Southern), a Fortune 500 company, is now the parent company of a group of diversified financial services businesses. Its assets owned ($51.6 billion) and managed ($23.3 billion) totaled $74.9 billion as of Dec. 31, 2018. Western & Southern is one of the strongest life insurance groups in the world. Its seven life insurance subsidiaries (The Western and Southern Life Insurance Company, Western-Southern Life Assurance Company, Columbus Life Insurance Company, Gerber Life Insurance Company, Integrity Life Insurance Company, The Lafayette Life Insurance Company and National Integrity Life Insurance Company) maintain very strong financial ratings. Other member companies include Eagle Realty Group, LLC; Fort Washington Investment Advisors, Inc.;1 IFS Financial Services, Inc.; Peppertree Partners LLC;1 Touchstone Advisors, Inc.;1 Touchstone Securities, Inc.;2 W&S Brokerage Services, Inc.;2 and W&S Financial Group Distributors, Inc. Western & Southern is the title sponsor of six major community events every year, including the Western & Southern Open, a premier event in the U.S. Open Series played each August by the world’s top-ranked professional male and female tennis players.
1 A registered investment advisor.
2 A registered broker-dealer and member FINRA / SIPC.
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