TWFG Rolling Strong - Issue 7 January 2019

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CONTENTS

#TWFGFamily: Caleb Vinson

#TWFGFamily: Kim Taylor

Share Your Photos on Social Media with #TWFGFamily

04 KUDOS FOR CARING Home Office acknowledges those in our TWFG Family that exemplify our pillars.

05 ALL IN THE FAMILY Welcome TWFG’s newest staff members and branch owners as they join us on our journey to #1.

06 PRESIDENT'S CLUB TRIP The President’s Club worked hard this year and had fun in The Bahamas as well.

08 CATCHING UP WITH BRANCHES We love our agents and recognizing those who have personal as well as business successes.

HOLIDAY OFFICE CLOSURES GOOD FRIDAY

Friday, April 19, 2019

MEMORIAL DAY

Monday, May 27, 2019

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Allstate Convention in Hawaii. Brandon Richey and his wife Hannah, along with Carlos Cantu & guest were awarded this trip.

09 OUR FEARLESS WRITER Gordy Bunch talks about Fraud and Malware situations that occurred over 2018

10 OUTLOOK AUTHENTICATION A step–by–step of how to implement the new dual authentication process in Outlook.

12 TWFG BRAND STORE We have launched a new TWFG Brand Store, for all of your marketing & promo needs.

16 MARKETING UPDATE Introducing our new Marketing Team members and the Marketing Cheat Sheet with answers to most of your marketing questions.

IS YOUR BRANCH ROLLING STRONG? If you have a story that you would like featured in upcoming issues of Rolling Strong, please send an email and photos to the Marketing Department at marketing@twfg.com.

SAVE THE DATES: MAY 2–5, 2019

The 2019 TWFG National Convention will be held at The Woodlands Resort again. With a large turnout from last year's convention, we hope to see everyone there again this year. The registration link will be going out sometime after the New Year and will be done through Cvent again.

Please be on the lookout for an email from Kelly via Cvent. If you have any questions, please email Kelly Bettencourt at kelly@twfg.com.

MISSED LAST YEAR? Check out the 2018 TWFG National Agent Convention video below.

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Play video

NEW TWFG MOBILE APP — COMING SOON Katherine Nolan COO TWFG is pleased to announce it will be releasing a new eVo client mobile app early in the first quarter. The primary benefits to the client are as follows: • Ability to pull an auto ID card • Review policy declaration pages

• Contact your agent with questions or service needs via text or email • Send pictures or documents to your agent right from your phone 03

HAPPENINGS AT TWFG HOME OFFICE

Hartford School of Insurance class in August 2018.

Gordy at the Community Safety Expo on October 6.

YMCA Christmas Angel Program 2018

KUDOS FOR CARING Kelly Bettencourt Executive Assistant to the President and CEO We have launched a new Home Office recognition program called Kudos for Caring.

There are five pillars that create the foundation of TWFG – Integrity, Courage, Strength, Commitment, and Honor. These pillars are vital to our personal and professional success.

COMMITMENT

Winner: Tiffany Baker

Over the last couple of months, we have had a winner and a runner up for the pillars of Commitment, Integrity and Courage.

Congrats to all who have exemplified these pillars!

INTEGRITY

Runner-Up: Dan Timmons

Winner: Shelley Sowell

COURAGE

Runner-Up: Tonya Sabaj

Winner: Rebecca Billstone

Runner-Up: Judy Rush

NEW ARRIVALS

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OLIVIA MACKENZIE ARRINGTON

HAZEL MARIE HALL

DATE OF BIRTH: August 20, 2018

DATE OF BIRTH: September 20, 2018

PARENTS: Caryn (Branch Owner)

& Jeremy Arrington

PARENTS: Sara Fry (Branch Owner)

& Meador Hall

WEIGHT: 7 lbs. 14 oz.

WEIGHT: 6 lbs. 3 oz.

LENGTH: 21 in.

LENGTH: 19 in.

WELCOME TO TWFG! Kimberly Kinkaid Training Manager JUNE 2018

JULY 2018

AUGUST 2018

Iris Otto, Donna Russell, Nichole Jones, Sanford Perry

Daisy Lopez, Rachel Murphree, Annella Eccles, Debbie Hensley, Kelly Garland, Eloy Chapa, Sherry Hall

Sarah Biedma, Alexander Tejeda, Susan Li, Cindy Cavel

SEPTEMBER 2018

Jennifer Pricer, Michelle Ahn, Jennifer Navarrette, Joseph Baldridge

DECEMBER 2018

OCTOBER 2018

NOVEMBER 2018

Lauren Nguyen, Dani Mai, Irma Palmer, Wendy Patterson, Krystal Livingston, Norma Iglesias, Nitza Vazquez

Tim Biedenkopf, Jody Webb, Gonzalo Florez, Shirley Malaver, Dylan Kolarik, Benjamin Thomas, Collette Biedenkopf, Donna Leal, Claudia Segura

Jeff Hastings VP of Agencies I am pleased to announce Jeff Hastings has joined the TWFG family as our new VP of Agencies. Jeff brings 30 years of industry experience as an agent, recruiter, sales manager, district manager, entrepreneur and a certified E-Myth business coaching background.

Kristy Chanla, Miranda Englishbee, Lydia Araujo, Rigoverto Figueroa, Robert Evans, Joanna Clark, Brooke Loescher, Nena Figueroa, Jeff Hastings

Jeff will be focusing on recruiting, training and coaching efforts to help TWFG reach our goal of 1,000 TWFG branches. We are excited as Jeff brings his insurance E-Myth certified training curriculum with him and we look forward to rolling those learning opportunities out in 2019. The curriculum includes Recruiting, CSR, Producer, Agent and Branch owner courses. Our goal is to offer everyone in the TWFG Family opportunities to grow more confident and end 2019 more successful. Please join me in welcoming Jeff to the Family!

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WHAT THE PRESIDENT'S CLUB MEANS TO ME Natania Monteith Branch Owner — FL This might sound cliché but the President's Club is Family to me. Just like any Family you have Parents, Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles who are committed to providing resources, opportunities and a safe environment where you can thrive and be the best you can be. In the current club, these people are Gordy, Michelle, Katherine, Judy, Kelly and all the members of the management and leadership team at the Home Office.

Our agency conventions are like Thanksgiving, this is when you spend time with your family. This time of year has all the fixings!

You meet the new members of the family and you check in on the other members of the family that you didn't do so well at keeping in touch with. You are given the full update on how things are at home, but most importantly, you are reminded of how much these people mean to you, and how grateful you are to have them in your life.

The fellow members of the President's Club and their spouses are like our siblings. Just like The President's Club trips are like Christmas. You in any family, all these people have different and your family have worked hard all year, and personalities and abilities, and each brings I guess you could say we were "Nice," so we get something different, but critical, to this amazing "Christmas presents." These amazing trips take family. What is certain though, is that your us all over the world and give us some amazing brothers and sisters are always there when you experiences. What is remarkably different from need them. We may have our disagreements, but regular families is the planning and execution that we work through them because the underlying goes into these trips, which ensures everyone has values and care are there, and the ultimate goal Natania & Darren Monteith the time of their lives. on the cover of Rolling Strong is that the family stays together, and everyone Issue 5 - Convention Issue 2017 is happy. In this family, advice and assistance is Ten years ago, we made the decision to join the ALWAYS available from every member. Another TWFG Family. Today, I can honestly say we are remarkable fact is that we are so diverse. Even with our many extremely happy we made that decision, and are even more different backgrounds, talents, and experiences together we pleased to be a part of the President's Club Family. I won't say create one big happy family. who our Parents, or worse, our Grand Parents are, but what I will say to the entire family is "Thanks A Bunch!"

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Thanks for a great trip!

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Jenny is having fun feeding the pigs and nursing the nurse sharks!

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We had a great President’s Club trip to Nassau.

My husband I always look forward to these trips.

He says they are like family reunions. We have a great time of fellowship together and never fail to come back with new ideas that help my agency.

”

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SPOTLIGHT ON BRANCHES TEAM GABRIELLE Skip Bordelon Branch Owner — Metairie, LA TWFG Skip Bordelon Insurance, participated in Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s Great Strides New Orleans on May 19, 2018 as a member of Team Gabrielle/Klibert Family. Skip is godfather extraordinaire to Gabrielle and her twin sister, Olivia, and he has supported the team since its inception in 2012. For the second year in a row, Team Gabrielle raised more money than any other team — more than $27,000! It is because of supporters like TWFG Skip Bordelon Insurance that one day “CF” will stand for “Cure Found.”

HARVEY, WE WON. Melanie Head Branch Owner — Rockport, TX When we evacuated, we made certain we could work for our clients from almost anywhere. We were extremely lucky.

For the first two days after landfall our Home Office, in The Woodlands, took our calls and filed claims for clients that needed assistance. We began taking our full call load within two days and relieved the then flooded Houston team. As soon as we were allowed back in Rockport, the office was running off of a generator and Internet from OnStar on Melanie's vehicle. Our doors were open from sun up to nearly dark. Clients and friends came to cool off, file claims, use the Internet, etc. all day, most days.

Our expansion had been originally slated for July 2017. The spring and summer brought a number of events that kept us from our goal. Harvey sealed the deal and we focused our efforts on serving our clients and helping them with their claims for damaged property, and once again put our search for a bigger office on the back burner. In serendipitous fashion, after attending our National Agent Convention and receiving the coveted "Excellence in Customer Service Award" by our peers (having been nominated by our clients) – we received word that an office, perfect for our current needs and potential growth, was coming available. We jumped at the chance to move into our new location. We finally WON. We continue to help our clients with their claims and help new clients find the best coverage for their needs – thankfully, now we have a little more elbow room from which to do the work we love.

Melanie Head's new office with TWFG Brand Pillars.

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MALWARE AND FRAUD ACCELERATING AT AN ALARMING PACE Gordy Bunch President and CEO I know you have all seen the emails — “I’m your long-lost cousin from Wakanda and just need your bank information to wire your share of the family fortune” or “Click here to download this month’s most raunchy photos.” Most are easy to recognize, and we know not to open attachments or download software from these unknown sources.

We all do our best to ensure the communications we receive are authentic but hackers are becoming increasingly sophisticated and harder to spot. These scammers are creating emails that look authentic and they copy in others you know further creating the illusion of credibility.

Due to these increased online threats and an actual fraudulent incident that cost us over $300k in initial losses, we have included an article in this newsletter detailing how to enact dual factor authentication for your TWFG email accounts to help keep you and your clients protected in the new year.

Here are a few real examples that occurred in 2018: I received a call one day from someone thanking me for a job that sounded too good to be true, unfortunately it was.

Unbeknownst to me, I was apparently hiring well-educated and highly qualified folks to replace Kelly. The applicants were responding to a job posting on Indeed.com, all of the information including my name, address and the job descriptions were accurate, the only problem was the listing went to TWFGI.com. Other than the extra “I” in the URL everything looked credible. Many folks went through a fake interview process with a fake Richard Bunch, and eventually the imposter would either ask them to acquire something for him to be reimbursed or ask them to provide their banking information to set up their direct deposits. We don’t know the total number of people impacted by this scam, but it happened to folks who let their guard down, and it could happen to you or your customers as well.

One of my clients owns a business supply company that handles both large furniture orders and smaller office supply orders. His business partner received an email from one of their clients to confirm their invoicing credentials. He had difficulty getting his credentials to work so my client entered his into the system. They had both just unknowingly given the keys to their entire email and desktop to someone impersonating their customer. The fraudulent actors accessed their email accounts and set up rules to hide their emails from them within Outlook, they then sent the customer a legitimate invoice for a legitimate order. Fortunately for my client, their customer caught on and called a few days later to confirm whether they really wanted their payment for a large furniture order sent to Hong Kong.

Much like my friend who owns the office supply company, our own home office had an employee’s email compromised. The

perpetrators created a fake TWFG.com email string and cc’d others into emails that appeared to be authentic. He hid his activity in Outlook and redirect the responses. Once the individual was sure he was undetected he began submitting wire requests from our actual email server to our bank. The efforts resulted in over $300k being wired to the fraudster. Thankfully I was able to recover the funds from our bank, and had proper cyber, fraud and crime coverage in case we could not.

These three experiences tell me there are a lot more instances of cyber exposure than many realize. We need to share these types of incidents with others and carefully review both our own, and our client’s coverages. It is important to note that many of our clients do not have cyber coverage personally or for their businesses.

When reviewing coverages, remember that it takes two separate policies to cover these types of losses. We will host several webinars in the first quarter of 2019 to illustrate other types of exposures and how to cover them.

Here are a few easy ways to protect yourself:

1. Never provide anyone with your email, Evo, Gmail, smart phone, banking or brokerage passwords.

2. Change your passwords frequently and be sure they are not easy to guess. Most systems make it easy to reset your passwords.

3. Implement dual factor authentication for all devices and logins.

TWFG will be doing this company wide branch by branch for email.

4. Call someone directly if you receive an email that is questionable and to authenticate its origin.

5. Never provide your banking, credit card or other personal identification information to anyone without knowing it is a legitimate transaction. Calling is now better than emailing to authenticate.

6. If you get something from me or anyone asking you to wire or send funds, “Don’t do it”. Call and confirm.

7. Don’t open attachments from suspicious emails. Carefully look at email addresses, many can look real but are really knockoffs.

Call our IT department anytime you question something potentially off looking.

8. Stay off random websites and do not download from them.

9. Do not download unverified free apps onto your smart phone.

Some of these apps access and steal your passwords right off your phone. Free is never free.

10. Trust no one, no website, no application, no email and consider all aspects of your digital lives potential risks attempting to defraud you because they all have the potential to do so.

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MICROSOFT DUAL AUTHENTICATION What is Dual Authentication?

Dual Authentication is an extra layer of security for your email to ensure only you can get into it. It’ll send you a six-digit code every time you login into your email on a device that is not your work computer. This makes it so that if someone does get your password, they cannot get into your email.

Dual Authentication will be turned on for all branches in the near future. You will be notified a week before you are scheduled to have dual authentication go into effect. Once it goes into effect, you will follow the instructions below.

1. Close out of your Outlook app and go to www.office.com.

4. Type in the six-digit you received via text message and click “Verify.”

2. Sign in using your TWFG email.

DO NOT CLICK DONE ON NEXT PAGE YET.

3. Click “Next” when asked for more information and type in your mobile number (XXX-XXX-XXXX) and select “United States” as your country of origin or region. Select receive text message code and click “Next.”

5. Open your notepad or a new Word document. Copy and paste your app password and save the file to your documents. Name the file “Outlook.txt.”

To Copy: Control/Command + C To Paste: Control/Command + V

6. Go back to the web page and click “Done.

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7. Open the Outlook app on your computer. When prompted, login with the app password you saved in your notepad or Word document instead of your normal password, check “Remember my credentials,” and press “Ok.” Once the app password has been entered and saved, delete the “Outlook.txt” file.

8. If you have your TWFG email on your phone, open it up and login as you would normally. Continue to use your TWFG email password and you will need to authenticate daily.

FAQs: “My cell phone doesn’t have texting capabilities. Can I still setup dual authentication?”

Yes. Instead of selecting to receive a code via text message, select the “Call me” option. The system will call you for verification where you’ll then press the pound key (#).

“When I opened the Outlook app, it didn’t ask me to login. However, my email still work.

Did I do something wrong?”

No. Sometimes it will keep you logged in and will eventually ask you to login again. It may take several days to pop up, but when it does, just paste your app password into the password box, check “Remember my credentials,”and press “Ok.” Once you’ve done this, you can go back to using your normal password.

“I accidentally pressed done and didn’t get to save my app password. What do I do?”

If you didn’t save your app password login, email Mike Walt at mwalt@twfg.com and ask for a walk-through on how to retrieve your app password.

“I don’t use the Outlook app. Do I still have to do this?”

Yes. Just make sure you save your app password. You can skip the steps that require you to enter it into the Outlook app.

“Do I have to use my cell phone?”

No. You can just use your desk phone as long as you understand that when you try to login anywhere but your work computer, it will call your work phone. If you want to do this option, type in your desk phone number instead of your cell phone number and select the “Call me” option. You will then press the pound key (#) when the system calls you.

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Introducing the all new TWFG Brand Store!

www.TWFGStore.com Now it’s easier than ever to order polos, umbrellas, mugs and other products offered!

Join our mailing list (located at the bottom of the home page) for special offers and updates on new and existing products!

Available on mobile for on-the-go purchases!

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Contact Marketing at Marketing@twfg.com for any questions about products or inquiries regarding an order. Please include your order number and the date your order was placed.

HOLIDAY LUNCH 2018

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Whatever uncertainty you may be facing, we are here to set you free.

TWFG was built by agents for agents, and over the past 17 years, we’ve become a family of fiercely independent, loyal and passionate insurance professionals who are committed to each other and the communities we serve.

With so many uncertainties in our industry, the one thing you can count on is that we are still the only independent agency that is truly looking after you and your best interests. We will provide you with everything you need to start or grow a successful business or help you prepare for a profitable succession of the company you worked tirelessly to build. And if you are up for the challenge, we are always looking for regional leaders to help us grow while empowering other agents to be free and succeed.

We are not #1 Nationally yet, but we are on our way.

We are committed to a win-win-win principle — our customers win, our agents win, and our carrier partners win, and this has fueled our steady and successful growth. Whenever you are ready, we are here to welcome you.

NUMBER OF TWFG RETAIL BRANCHES & MGA AGENTS BY REGION

7 MGA MGA

5 51 MGA MG GA

MGA MGA

235 2 35

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2017 Written Premiums: Over $600,000,000.00 Operating in 38 States

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300+ Carrier Appointments

280 MGA M MG GA

2376 2 376 76

343 Retail Branches 3,300+ MGA Agents

*2018 “Insurance Journal’s” Rankings of Independent, Privately-owned Agencies

27 To hear directly from our agents, visit twfg.com/freedom or call:

Kristi Shockey at 832-482-3940 14

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WELCOME TO THE MARKETING TEAM! Alex Bunch Chief Creative & CMO We are pleased to welcome Tyler Noble and Krysta Jones to our Marketing team here at the Home Office.

Tyler, our new Marketing Coordinator, recently graduated from Sam Houston State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communications concentrating in Broadcast Production.

Krysta, our new Marketing Intern and Content Writer, is a senior at Sam Houston State University and will graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communications concentrating in Multi-Platform Journalism, with a minor in Spanish.

Tyler and Krysta look forward to helping Lindsay and I continue to grow and develop TWFG’s presence in the national insurance market.

Tyler Noble

Marketing Coordinator

Krysta Jones

Content Writer & Mktg. Intern

OUTBOUND ENGINE Tyler Noble Marketing Coordinator Outbound Engine is a digital content and social media based platform that emphasizes marketing automation, meaning they create relevant content and post said content to Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social media platforms on your behalf.

Don’t have social media? That’s okay! Outbound Engine will create social media accounts for you. They’ll even add your clientele (pulled from eVo) to your contact list. Outbound Engine makes it easy for you, all they ask is that you follow up with the clients that engage with your content the most.

This multi-faceted service normally costs $200 or more a month, but thanks to our partnership with Outbound Engine, this service is available to TWFG agents for only $60 a month! As an added bonus, Outbound Engine is co-op eligible, and free for Million Dollar, and President’s Club Members!

“You can’t afford not sign up for Outbound Engine.” –Gordy Bunch

For more information about Outbound engine, or to get signed up email marketing@twfg.com.

EVERY DOOR DIRECT MAIL Krysta Jones Content Writer and Marketing Intern Our goal at TWFG is to help your business grow and thrive. With that goal in mind, the marketing department here at the home office is continuously looking for new and exciting partnerships that will help you build your business.

We are excited to announce a new partnership with EDDM, or Every Door Direct Mail, a streamlined mailout service that will help you create personalized, targeted mailout campaigns in under ten minutes.

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With EDDM you will have access to multiple size and layout options for your mail-outs, and each of them are created here in the home office so they are completely brand-compliant. We have also created pieces for multiple lines of business such as teen driving, flood insurance, personal lines, and many more.

We are also happy to help create more templates for lines that are not catered to yet.

If you have any questions on how to get started or requests for new EDDM content please email marketing@twfg.com.

Marketing Cheat Sheet

TWFG Branch Owner Marketing Folder Link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/vumszob5nnslt6o/AADPERvNGU-FGRot9ahHJCAfa?dl=0 • Keep the main link bookmarked as the Marketing Team will frequently be updating the folder.

• You are not required to create a Dropbox account to join the folder

TWFG Social Media & Email Campaign Platform • Hours: Monday - Friday, 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM • Support Desk Email & Phone Number: support@outboundengine.com, 888 - 988 - 5526 • For more information, visit https://www.outboundengine.com/customer-success-portal/

TWFG - Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) Link: https://twfg.eddmsite.com/ • Point of Contact: David Howard - Email: david@taradel.com Phone: 804 - 298 - 3679 For more information, visit http://www.taradel.com/corp/support/faq/eddm.aspx For questions, support or to request a personalized branch logo, contact the Marketing Team: Marketing@twfg.com 17

Marketing Cheat Sheet TWFG Digital Business Cards

• Point of Contact: Gregoria Ariza - Email: Gariza@dionecsa.com or Marketing@twfg.com • E BizCard Order Instruction Link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/l65jikos663umzw/AAAUPctY5EuwbE-QXhRmDvvma?dl=0 • Use the TWFG Discount Code “twfgecard” Price of Digital Business Card: $65

TWFG Email Signatures

• To get your email signature, contact the Marketing Team at Marketing@twfg.com • If you desire a email signature with a photo, please provide us a professional photo upon request.

TWFG Personalized Branch Logos

For questions, support or to request a personalized branch logo, contact the Marketing Team: Marketing@twfg.com 18

Marketing Cheat Sheet Agent Pages TWFG Branch Owner Website • Go to www.TWFG.com • Select the “Agent Login” box on the right hand corner • Choose the “Manage Agent Page” Link • Login with your credentials - Username: Your TWFG email Password: May vary from other logins. Password can be reset if needed.

• Once logged in, select the “Agent ” thumbtack on the left-hand menu bar • Hover over your agent page and select “Edit” to edit your agent page

TWFG Bi-Annual Newsletters • Issue 1: https://issuu.com/twfg-rollingstrong/docs/newsletter_twfgrollingstrong_august • Issue 2: https://issuu.com/twfg-rollingstrong/docs/layoutforrollingstrong_issue2draft7 • Issue 3: https://issuu.com/twfg-rollingstrong/docs/rollingstrong_issue3_conventionissu • Issue 4: https://issuu.com/twfg-rollingstrong/docs/rollingstrong_issue4_march2017 • Issue 5: https://issuu.com/twfg-rollingstrong/docs/rollingstrong_issue5_conventionissu • Issue 6: https://issuu.com/twfg-rollingstrong/docs/rollingstrong_issue6_conventionissu

TWFG Branch Store Link: https://www.twfgstore.com/ • For TWFG Branded Shirts, Mugs, Insulated Bags and More, contact the Marketing Team at Marketing@twfg.com.

• TWFG Merchandise can be purchased via credit/debit card or Co-Op. For questions, support or to request a personalized branch logo, contact the Marketing Team: Marketing@twfg.com 19

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01. Operations Department 02. Operations Department (runner-up) 03. Marketing Department 04. Inside Sales (winner) - Candyland

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05. Group pic of Inside Sales 06. Commissions Department 07. Kelly Bettencourt as Chucky and Katherine Nolan as Chucky's Bride (winner of duo)

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08. MIB 09. Gordy's Branch 10. Ghostbuster Mike Walt 11. Gordy's Branch

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12. Skeleton playing in Gordy's Branch 13. Insurance Agents 14. Accounting Department 15. Kevin Hall

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16. Operations Department 17. Chucky 18. Scary Nuns (runner up of duo) 19. Gordy's Branch

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20. Individual costume 21. Little Bo Peep (winner of individual)

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