Client: American Express Company is a diversified global financial services company headquartered in New York City. “Amex” cards account for roughly 24% of the total dollar volume of US credit card transactions, the highest of any card issuer.
Service provided: Redesigned and rewrote its Cardmember Agreement to comply with new federal law.
Client: American Skandia Advisors funds are a family of mutual funds managed by a variety of top asset managers. The Shelton, CT firm is noteworthy for its wide choice of investment styles and its product innovation.
Service provided: Streamlined customer forms, reducing original eleven to six.
Client: Ariel Investments is a privately owned Chicago-based money management firm with $5.1 billion in assets under management at the end of 2009. It’s separate account investment strategies are known for their focus on small and mid-sized American companies.
Service provided: Rewrote and redesigned prospectuses to comply with SEC plain English regulations.
Client: The Leumi Group is an Israel-headquartered bank serving clients in 21 countries throughout the world through more than 300 branches and offices and a broad network of correspondent banks.
Service provided: Redesigned bank’s customer statement
Client: Bankers Trust Co. was founded in 1903 by a group of bankers to handle trust business for commercial banks. Along with subsidiary Alex.Brown, it was absorbed by Deutsche Banc in 1999.
Service provided: Rewrote and redesigned 27 mutual fund prospectuses to comply with SEC plain English regulations.
Client: Barclays Global Advisors was a major global financial services provider engaged in retail banking, credit cards, corporate banking, investment banking, wealth management and investment management services. It is now part of Black Rock, Inc.
Service provided: Simplified mutual fund prospectuses to comply with SEC regulations.
Client: BearingPoint is a management consulting and systems integration firm that operated in some 60 countries before declaring bankruptcy in 2009. At its peak, the company drew nearly 30% of its business from government agencies.
Service provided: Wrote major research report to be used in an important industry ranking.
Client: Booz Allen Hamilton consultants at have been helping US government agencies operate more efficiently at home and abroad for more than 95 years. The firm provides management consulting and technology integration services.
Service provided: Consulted on sales materials developed for major federal government prospect.
Client: Conseco is a Fortune 1000 company, with more than $4 billion in annual sales to underserved markets. Its products include supplemental health insurance, life insurance and annuities.
Service provided: Developed a unique concept for disclosure materials for a special-purpose NASCAR-themed mutual fund.
Client: Davis Selected Advisers manages a family of mutual funds and holds significant equity interests in several public firms. Serving both individual and institutional investors, the company oversees approximately $35 billion in assets.
Service provided: Rewrote and redesigned prospectuses to comply with SEC regulations concerning plain English.
Client: Guardian Life, founded 150 years ago, protects more than six million employees and their families at 120,000 companies with a wide range of insurance and investment products.
Services provided: Designed a customized, streamlined enrollment kit for group health division; reengineered a proposal development system, also for group health; developed a simplified retirement products statement.
Client: Leyden Energy, formerly known as Mobius Power, Inc., was founded in 2007 to offer heat-resistant products based on its patented, breakthrough lithium ion technology.
Service provided: Wrote new web site required when corporation introduced its new name.
Client: MassMutual was founded in 1851 and provides full financial services including life insurance, annuities, money management, and retirement planning.
Service provided: Led brainstorming session of retirement marketing managers on simplification of its customer statement.
Client: Merrill Lynch, now a division of Bank of America, is one of the world’s premier providers of wealth management, securities trading and sales.
Services provided: Macrosimplified it retail marketing literature; streamlined its customer correspondence system; reengineered and redesigned customer statement for retail division; consolidated and customized account opening materials for retail division.
Client: MetLife, Inc. is a leading provider of insurance and other financial services throughout the United States. With over 140 years of experience, MetLife is a recognized leader in protection planning, retirement and savings around the world.
Service provided: Consulted with Information Systems department on improving the clarity of its communications to internal stakeholders.
Client: Morgan Stanley, one of the world’s top investment banks, operates in three primary business segments: institutional securities, global wealth management; and asset.
Service provided: Consulted on simplifying it’s account opening system.
Client: National City offered the full range of retail banking services through 1,300 bank branches in eight states before it was acquired by PNC Financial in 2008.
Service provided: Developed materials explaining complex student loan products for use on affiliated college campuses.
Client: The New York City Department of Transporation oversees one of the most complex urban transportation networks in the world including 5,800 miles of streets and highways. It also operates the Staten Island Ferry, which serves over 20 million people annually.
Service provided: Simplified six frequently used forms, writing them in plain English and designing them for ease-of-use.
Client: Chicago-based Nuveen Investments is a money manager for individual and institutional investors in the US. It has $120 billion of assets under management.
Services provided: Simplified its unit trust suite of materials which included disclosures; provided product launch materials and broad consulting on brand and product/service messaging.
Client: The Rochester City School District provides a quality education for approximately 32,000 students in pre-K through 12th grade and 10,000 adults.
Service provided: Through spin-off, Simply Student Aid, LLC, wrote, designed and produced two workbooks for use in the district by its college admissions counselors and high school parents.
Client: Scudder Investments is the US retail asset management arm of Deutsche Bank Investments. Serving large corporations, financial institutions, governments, foundations and individual investors, the firm has more than $80 billion of client assets under management.
Service provided: Reconceptualized, wrote and designed a statement for its high net worth clients when the company was a standalone investment manager.
Client: Sun Life Financial offers insurance and wealth management products to individuals and business entities, primarily in Canada and the US. It also has operations in Asia and the UK.
Services provided: Macrosimplified all customer-facing materials of its then two brands, Sun Life and Clarica; later created comprehensive literature system for a consolidated brand launch.
Client: SunAmerica Financial Group, sells a variety of investment products, including fixed and variable annuities, group retirement services for education, health care, and not-for-profit organizations.
Service provided: Recommended and prototyped streamlined point-of-purchase sales materials for complex annuity products.
Client: T. Rowe Price Group administers a family of approximately 100 mutual fund; has offices in Asia, Europe, and South America and serves clients in some 30 countries.
Service provided: Reduced 18 critical transactional forms to just 11 by streamlining their content and simplifying their language and design.
Client: TIAA-CREF is one of the largest private retirement systems in the US, providing for more than 3.5 million members of the academic, cultural, medical, and research communities and for investors outside the academic world.
Services provided: Redesigned its quarterly member statement to improve its clarity and reduce excessive calls to company help line; created a new reporting tool that summarized and explained company’s recommendations to its members.
Client: Universal American is a Fortune 500 company offering affordable healthcare products and programs for senior markets through four subsidiary companies.
Service provided: Created a systematic, streamlined literature system across the four subsidiaries to replace what had been a voluminous and unwieldy set of materials.
