Mike Martin to succeed Levi Smith as CEO of The Karis Group effective July 1st

Today we announce with mixed emotions that Levi Smith, who for the last five years has served as CEO of The Karis Group, will be resigning effective July 1st to pursue other business endeavors in the Austin, TX area outside of the healthcare industry. For almost ten years, Levi has led Karis, first as VP and General Counsel and then as CEO and a Board Member. Levi will be missed and the entire Karis family wishes him the very the best in his subsequent endeavors.

Succeeding Levi as CEO will be Mike Martin, who we are all delighted to see promoted to the position. Mike has been with Karis for more than two years as VP of Healthcare Services, overseeing the staff providing services to all of our Karis and Kare360 clients. Mike brings a wealth of leadership and healthcare experience to the company that will serve our team and clients well in the years ahead.

Both Tony Dale, Chairman & Founder, and Levi, are confident that Mike will be effective in leading Karis as we continue to pursue our mission, live our values and build on the foundation of an exceptional culture delivering innovative solutions for our clients and members.

Volunteer Day with Mobile Loaves and Fishes

Our team had a wonderful time laboring alongside Mobile Loaves and Fishes workers last week to prepare a new model site for the group's community initiate. The weather was good, the work was hard and the time spent was well worth it!

Our strategy to give back to Austin, TX and the global community

Each year we close the office for two days to mobilize our team to serve a local charity in Austin, TX. We serve by getting our hands dirty and donating resources. We enjoy laboring alongside staff and volunteers as these charities meet the needs of the city.

Over the years, we have had the pleasure of working with numerous non-profits. It has been fun to watch our staff and their families engage. All along we were observing and assessing where our company and team best fit in. Long-term, we did not want to spread ourselves so thin that we became a coordination burden on organizations or failed to fulfill our mission to have a transformational impact on peoples' lives. As we considered which organizations to focus on, we kept the following points in mind:

• Our strategy has been and remains to donate 1% of our time and 1% of our revenue to help further our mission to have a transformational impact on peoples' lives.
• We want to see employees engaged in a way that inspires them and their families to be more charitable.
• We want to partner with charities that simultaneously address present needs and develop long-term solutions.
• We are a healthcare company, so we feel naturally aligned with organizations addressing physical, mental and spiritual health issues.
• We live and work in Austin, TX, but are also part of the global community. We want to contribute in both arenas.

With the considerations above in mind, the two organizations we have selected to be our charitable focus are Mobile Loaves & Fishes and Charity Water.

• Mobile Loaves & Fishes is our local charity. We we will donate our labor and resources to help meet the short and long-term needs of the homeless in Austin, TX.
• Charity Water is our global charity. We will donate a dollar for every person we provide our Patient Advocacy service to. We will provide opportunities for others to contribute to the campaign so every year we can bring clean drinking water to one or more villages.

We are excited about this next phase for our company and team. We hope you will consider partnering with us as we lend a small hand to help these two organizations fulfill their bold missions.

The Karis Group honored as one of the best places to work by the Austin Business Journal

We were delighted to pickup the #13 spot among small businesses at the 2011 Austin Business Journal's Best Places to Work in Central Texas awards ceremony. We have a wonderful team that has built an exceptional culture, which benefits our employees and customers. Congratulations to all the other nominees and winners!

If you're looking for a great place to work, we invite you to learn more on our career page.

The Karis Group wins the Austin Business Journal's 2011 award for Healthiest Small Employer in Central Texas

A few members of our team participated in festivities last week hosted by the Austin Business Journal to celebrate the Healthiest Employers in Central Texas. The winners were acknowledged for improving their employees' health and we were delighted to pickup the top prize in the small business category. Congratulations to the other nominees and winners.

As a follow-up to the award ceremony, the Austin Business Journal also published an article describing how our wellness program goes far beyond physical health and includes investing in our employees' spiritual, mental and relational health too. A link to the article will be posted when a reprint is made available.

New products and services coming in 2011

During the course of this year, we will be introducing a number of new products and services under the Patient Advocacy umbrella to compliment our existing bill negotiation or mediation service.  We're focusing on helping businesses and patients solve the many challenges of a complex healthcare system including access and cost.

Stay tuned for more information!

Caring for the wellbeing of Austin's homeless population

As part of our ongoing wellness program, we decided to turn our attention in December and January to our city and the wellbeing of its homeless population.  We had two waves of our team go out to made food runs with one of our favorite charities, Mobile Loaves & Fishes, to kickoff a contest to see who could volunteer the most with them over six weeks.  We award extra points for taking friends and family members along and will be making a donation to Mobile Loaves & Fishes in the winner's name at the end of this month!

We are blessed to be able to serve and to have great organizations like Mobile Loaves & Fishes here in Austin, TX.

Successful Annual Staff Retreat

Last Friday, we took the entire team away for a day for our annual retreat at Barton Creek.  We had a very productive morning and enjoyable afternoon participating in a variety of activities.  The day was capped off by a leisurely dinner with all the families.

We have a wonderful team and are looking forward to offering more services and expanding our team in 2011.

New article by Tony Dale

Read Tony Dale's latest article entitled "Musing of an old world doctor..." in Voluntary Benefits Magazine.

Pics from a tiring, but rewarding volunteer day

Last week, the entire team plus a few family members volunteered for the day with Habitat for Humanity, one of our semi-annual company volunteer days.  Our task: attaching drywall to the ceiling!  It was hot and we were wore out at the end, but we we had a great day and were glad to be able to help a family get one step closer to being in their new home.

Pics