I’d rather be blue than green.  Read on to find out why.

Please see your VIP invitation for September 27th which is attached to this Newsletter. You are allowed to share this newsletter and invitation with your best VIP contacts and I encourage you to do so in order for us to continue building our network.  I’ve been busy planning another great event for all of you. As always we will havean evening of extensive networking with those who truly do 'Connect at a higher level'.  Talk about raising the bar. We have an exciting and dynamic agenda planned for you.  Please make sure you take the time to read this semi- annual communication as there are some important things that you need to know about this event and there are business updates that might interest you.We asked our sponsors and partners to choose a word that represents their brand and it will be fascinating to see what they have come up with. If our event, The Spirit of Engagement, were to have a word that word would be Trust.  Isn’t that a bar raiser for ‘Connecting at a higher level?’  “The Spirit of Engagement.” What does this mean?  To me it’s about restoring our connections to real people, places and values. That leads us back to trust, doesn’t it?  When I looked up trust in the dictionary there were a few things that that I really liked:  1) faith: complete confidence in a person or plan  2) allow without fear. There’s another word. Fear. Imagine if we could allow without fear?  Really trust and stay engaged? We will explore this further at the event where Lou Sagar is joining us.

One way that we are engaging you is by asking you to participate in our CellPhoto Challenge for which you will have a chance to win a getaway for two to a private island at the exclusive Turks & Caicos Sporting Club at Ambergris Cay. Lauren Kelly is responsible for bringing us two of these trips through the Turks & Caicos Sporting Club at Ambergris Cay. One trip will be given away to the winner of our photo competition and one will be auctioned off for charity.  Lauren  is a private island guru who knows her business.  More about the photo challenge below. And yes, we want all of you to participate, even you CEO types who think you are too busy or too important for fun. That is the point of the vacation we are giving away. Fun. In fact, once you experience this private island you might just want to stay. Or at least visit it a whole lot. This one is special. In fact, it’s entirely amazing. A little R&R instead of a little R&D for a change. Nice, huh?  Did this get your attention?  Stay tuned and read on, there is much more to celebrate about being an extraordinary person.

It’s been five years now. The St. Armand Ventures Experience (our exclusive VIP networking arm of St. Armand Ventures) has been bringing you everything that is new, important in life, business & the environment, cutting edge, cultural, informational, socially responsible and dynamic for over five years now. We’re celebrating this. While it has been an incredible journey along the way, I am most proud of where these Experiences are headed.  I’ve been configuring a new map, raising the bar more and more. Our network attracts some of the finest people from an a wide audience of extraordinary individuals in a vast range of fields from film to corporate, hydroponics, luxury brands, publishing, life sciences, investment banking and everything in between.  If you are new to us we welcome you and support you; we’re a group who ‘walks the walk’ with passion and integrity. The bar is set extremely high for the St. Armand Experience goers, and so please, step up, join in the spotlight, shine and meet others who have the same high standard, goals and principles as you do.  It’s rare to find so many people like this in one place, however, we have worked very hard to achieve this for you and we respect this status as much as you do. We don’t sit still; we’re always climbing higher and higher. Life Hikers, that’s what we are.  Life. Hikers.

Now more than ever I’m more interested in the quality of the individuals I am doing business with than I am in what they or their companies can do for my property & casualtyinsurance practice or my venture banking business.  Speaking of trust, when we make introductions or when we take someone into our inner circles we naturally hope for success to ensure. We trust that our contacts will act with the highest integrity. Sometimes that works out beautifully and sometimes things can go horribly wrong through no fault of our own. This is a time when trust is more important to me (and to us) than ever. The bar is set quite high. As I mentioned, one of the benchmarks along the way is Trust. Integrity. Follow through. Honesty. Respect. Reliance. Doing what you say you will. These are all part of the notches on my high bar. It is very important to me that I do business with the highest quality individuals. Period.  Please note theexpectation so that you know exactly who to invite to our upcoming event and you know the right introductions for me in the future. I promise to keep the same high standards for you. 

Par for the course, St. Armand Ventures is still very much engaged in the issues related to the environment, food and water. We’re at the forefront of some remarkable new technologies and we are standing at the very beginning of some brand new fields. Hydroponic/aquaponic vertical urban farming is still a space that is of great interest to me and I have been very active in. I like the alternative and renewable energy space, too.  Clean, healthy, ‘real’ food’ is also on my radar now more than ever.  Sustainability. Love that one, too. Socially responsible companies are also catching my attention. The global social change movement is more important than ever. As I like to say ‘Take it to the people’ (that’s from a great Dispatch song).  We’re also looking for good companies for which the owners want to sell because they are retiring or moving on. Please bring those to my attention as one of my associates is doing a lot in this area and he can get these deals done. Julia Rhee of Alpha Institutes and I have just launched a new company in the film financing arena and we will be spotlighting our company at the Cannes Film Festival this year. Stay tuned for more on that company in the first quarter of 2011. In the meantime, if you know of someone in film financing please have them contact me ASAP.  They will thank you for it. I’m going to be attending and participating in a private event in October for 100 top hedge funds and 100 of their top investors. If you know of a hedge fund or an investor who might want to participate please let me know. I will also be attending an environmental summit this fall and I’ll be at Art Basel Miami Beach for my fifth year in December. In the immediate future, I’m excited about a meeting I have next week with the awesome team at SongCircle Music. Wow. Do you know any musicians? If so, send them to these folks. I also recommend attending some of their Live Artist Showcases, they are fantastic. The whole concept is fantastic. I’m listening to their website songcirclemusic.com right now. Sunlight is splashing all over my home office, cool winds are blowing through, I’m looking out towards an interesting fourth quarter and great music is playing. Quite groovy, quite nice. And about the fourth quarter of 2010, hang in there folks. I know the economy is creating a lot of challenges in people’s lives. We’ll get through it, we always do. Life Hikers.

Ventura: Regarding an update on Ventura Insurance Brokerage, we have just added Medical Mal Practice (for hospitals & individual doctors) to our menu of risk management services. We are licensed for all lines of P&C insurance in 50 states and we write globally. Please remember, I insure jet companies/individual aircraft, films, fine arts, corporations and I have a strong private client practice as well. We have been working on a program for group personal umbrellas which is a fantastic concept for top executives in your company.  Please feel free to inquire about same. This is a great product that is well liked and well received by nearly executive team we have introduced it to.  It also saves quite a bit of premium for the individuals in the group. I am also available for “Lunch & Learns” to go into your company and educate your CFO’s and various executive teams and employees about P&C insurance issues. Think of us as your full time risk management arm that works for you 24/7. It may not be necessary to hire a risk manager. When you insure with us it’s as if you have one on staff, full time.

If my event had a color, it would be BLUE. I have been spending some time with Edie Weiner of Weiner, Edrich ,Brown. Edie is a published author and she runs one of the leading futurist firms in the world. I met her when she was speaking at a conference I attended in Washington, DC and we’ve been working together on various projects ever since. She shares my passion for environmental issues and she has explained to me that blue is the new green. Green is old news. Green is not enough. It’s now important to recognize what Edie calls “BLUE”.  Edie says “It’s important to put back even more than what was there in order to enhance any ecosystem.”  Putting back more than what was there. Wow. I like that one. I thought you might, too.  I’m now turning BLUE and I hope you think about doing this as well. Putting. Back. More. Imagine if we were blue in our personal and business relationships as well?

That’s all of the news from Lake Wobegon for now, folks.  I look forward to seeing you at upcoming St. Armand Ventures Experieince; The Spirit of Engagement on September 27th.  These events only take place twice a year and they are pretty impactful.  Please see below for some of the RULES OF ENGAGEMENT for the event and photo challenge. We’re going to start connecting you NOW. As Lou Sagar would say “The conversation starts now”. Information is below. I hope the upcoming fall season leads you everywhere you dream of going. If there is anything I can do to help along the way, please don’t hesitate to advise me so; we’re all in this together. 
I look forward to engaging you soonest.

Turning Blue and trusting,
Tam

PLEASE READ BELOW: 
For the upcoming event we’d like to start the conversation before the event and so we have set up a private group on Facebook page for those of you who have signed up for the event.  Once you have purchased your ticket please immediately “Friend” me under St.Armand Ventures Experience on Facebook so that you can be a part of the group. PLEASE: NO SOLICITATIONS FOR BUSINESS ON THIS PAGE.  Please DO NOT categorically go through all of the members and start ‘friending’ everyone on the page. Please be respectful.  Do not ask to “friend” people you do not know. This is not the purpose of this page. This page is designed to have a stimulating flow of conversation and it’s for you to upload your cell phone photo for the contest.  If you don’t want to upload your photo for the photo contest on the Facebook page then you can email me your photo. PLEASE BE ON TIME.  We are  starting the event early this year, at 5:00 PM. The event has a schedule and so please be at the event at 5:00 PM Sharp. Thank you for respecting this. There will be an after party after that will continue on at The Ainsworth where the event is hosted.

CellPhoto Challenge:  We are asking you to take a photo, using your cell phone only, regarding what the “Spirit of Engagement” means to you. We will jury this and choose the top three winners. The 1st place winner will receive a 3 night/four day luxury trip as mentioned above.  Info is attached in a document. The two runner up winners will receive two tickets each to the next St. Armand Ventures Experience in April 2011 and a $75 gift certificate to The Ainsworth, New York City. Please enter only one photo per person. Sponsors are allowed to participate in our challenge as are the individuals in their company who are attending the event. This makes it even more interesting! And it keeps it fun for everyone!


RECAP:
1.       Please click on September Invitation in the menu and follow the instructions to procure tickets. If you do             not procure a ticket your name will not be on the guest list and you will not be admitted to the event.               Thank you for respecting this.
2.       Once you have registered for the event and purchased your ticket  (instructions are on the attached                     invitation) send us a “Friend” request on Facebook under St. Armand Ventures Experience in order to                   being the conversation with us and our sponsors.
3.       Upload a photograph of what the ‘Spirit of Engagement’ means to you on the St. Armand Ventures                     Experience Facebook page or email me your photo if you do not participate in FB.

 Tam St. Armand
Executive Vice President
VENTURA INSURANCE BROKERAGE
475 Park Ave South 17th floor
New York, New York 10016
T  212-702-3308
F  212-702-3358
M 732-556-7080
www.venturainsurance.comwwwsaintarmand.blogspot.comwww.linkedin.com/in/tamstarmand www.saintarmandventures.comThis email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed and may be legally privileged.  If you are not the intended recipient or the person responsible for delivering this email to the intended recipient, be advised that you have received this email in error and that any use, dissemination, forwarding, printing, or copying of this email is strictly prohibited.  Ventura Insurance Brokerage, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries is neither liable for the proper and complete transmission of the information contained in this communication nor for any delay in its receipt.