NEW YORK, August 24, 2010 — Inc. magazine ranked Quest Continuing Education Solutions (Quest CE) NO. 2006 on its fourth annual Inc. 5000, an exclusive ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. The list represents the most comprehensive look at the most important segment of the economy—America’s independent-minded entrepreneurs. Music website Pandora, convenience store chain 7-Eleven, Brooklyn Brewery, and Radio Flyer, maker of the iconic children’s red wagon, are among the prominent brands featured on this year’s list.

“The leaders of the companies on this year’s Inc. 5000 have figured out how to grow their businesses during the longest recession since the Great Depression,” said Inc. president Bob LaPointe. “The 2010 Inc. 5000 showcases a particularly hardy group of entrepreneurs.”

About Quest

Over the past 20-plus years, Quest CE has built a reputation of being the premier provider of Compliance Education to the financial services industry. In addition to offering Providership Administration for insurance continuing education (CE) for professionals holding insurance licenses and professional designations like the CFP, CPA, CLE, CIMA and CLU/ChFC designations, Quest also provides a complete spectrum of compliance training solutions including the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) annually required  Firm Element Training for registered representatives, On-demand Annual Compliance Meetings, Annual Compliance Questionnaires, Needs Analysis Surveys, Outside Business Activity Tracking, Gifts and Entertainment Tracking and Political Contributions Tracking.

With a client retention rate of 95.17% and a growth rate of over 400% since January 1, 2005, more and more people are discovering why Quest CE is the Next Generation of Compliance Training Solutions. Quest CE serves more than 160 leading insurance carriers, broker/dealers, banks, and other financial institutions. Quest is a privately held firm which allows us to quickly meet the ever-changing needs of their clients. Quest’s commitment is to provide advanced custom solutions at cost effective rates while providing a level of service that greatly surpasses that of our competitors.  Quest provides a single source solution for organizations training and compliance needs, saving you both time and money.

The 2010 Inc. 5000, unveiled on Inc.com, serves as a unique illustration of the profound changes taking place in the U.S. economy. The Government Services sector showed the biggest gain in terms of the number of companies on the list, up 33 percent from last year to 335 companies. Government Services was also the second-fastest-growing sector in terms of median revenue growth, posting a 202 percent gain over the 2006-2009 measuring period. More than half of these companies are based in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. The fastest-growing sector by median revenue growth was Real Estate, now just a tiny group of 38 young, small companies, which showed 231 percent median growth over the period. (There were 121 Real Estate firms on the inaugural Inc. 5000 in 2007.) Business Products & Services is the top industry by number of companies on the list (640) and total revenue ($80.7 billion), while Health is the biggest by total employment (287,726  jobs).

Despite the fact that most of this year’s measuring period of 2006-2009 took place during the latest recession, aggregate revenue among the companies on the list actually increased to $321.6 billion, up more than 50 percent from last year. The effects of the recession are seen, however, in the median three-year growth rate, which dropped to 96 percent from last year’s 126 percent. This year’s Inc. 5000 employ a record 1.4 million people, up from one million on last year’s list. With unemployment remaining stubbornly high, policymakers and business leaders will do well to look to the Inc. 5000 companies for fresh ideas on achieving growth and creating jobs.

Complete results of the Inc. 5000, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, region, and other criteria, can be found on www.inc.com/5000.

Media Contact:
Alex Krenke
alexkrenke@questce.com
877-593-3366

However, we would not have been able to accomplish this without our clients. It has been a pleasure to work with you and we truly value your business. At Quest CE, we strive to satisfy our clients by providing a level of customer service unparalleled in this industry.

We would like to show our appreciation by extending to you a 10%* discount on our suite of products listed below:

• Instructor Filings
• New Course Filings
• Custom Course Authoring
• Voucher Card Orders
• Custom Portal Development
• Quest Proprietary Course Licensing
• Firm Element Training
• ACM - Annual Compliance Meeting
• ACQ - Annual Compliance Questionnaire
• NA - Needs Analysis Survey
• OBA’s - Outside Business Activities
• G&E’s - Gifts and Entertainment
• AML – Anti-Money Laundering Training
• State Insurance Training

As an additional thank you to our retail customers, we are proud to offer a 10%* discount on our CE courses at learn.questce.com during the month of September. Simply use the discount code “THANKYOU” during checkout to receive the discount.

For more information on this limited special promotion, please contact Quest CE at 877-593-3366 or e-mail us at info@questce.com.

We are happy to have served you in the past, and we look forward to continuing to meet your Continuing Education needs in the future.

* Discount not applicable to State Fees

Quest CE offers non-company sponsored courses, therefore all continuing education courses may be taken online. Minnesota insurance producers need 24 hours of continuing education during each licensing period. Additionally, three (3) of those hours must be an ethics course. To view our library of Minnesota Insurance CE courses please Click Here.

NAIC adopted this Model Regulation to set standards and procedures for suitable annuity recommendations. In addition, it is to require insurers to establish a system to supervise recommendations so that the insurance needs and financial objectives of consumers are appropriately addressed.

Insurers will be held responsible for ensuring that annuity transactions are suitable. Prior to recommending a particular annuity to a consumer, an insurer or producer must make reasonable efforts to obtain the consumer’s suitability information. Producers will be required to be trained on the provisions of annuities in general, and the specific products they are selling. Where need be, the suitability standards will be consistent with suitability standards imposed by the Financial Industry Regulation Authority (FINRA).

If a producer receives substantially similar training in another jurisdiction, it would satisfy an insurance department’s training requirements. Prior to allowing a producer to sell its annuity products, insurers shall verify the producer has completed the mandated training.

If you have any questions about the new training requirement call Quest CE at 877.593.3366 and ask to speak with one of our qualified compliance specialists or e-mail us at info@questce.com.

Effective January 1, 2011, Iowa Administrative Rule 191-15.72 requires all Insurance Producers selling or soliciting Annuity Products in the State of Iowa to obtain four (4) continuing education credits by an APPROVED vendor offering an Annuity Products Course. This is a one-time requirement and is not a condition of license renewal.

This is a separate requirement from the already existing rule 15.80 for Indexed Insurance Products.

To purchase the course or view our Iowa Online Course Library please Click Here.

Every non-resident producer who becomes a resident producer on or after August 9, 2010, must also submit to a fingerprinting and background check.

To view our library of Washington DC Insurance CE courses please Click Here.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule (Rule 206(4)-5) sets forth several restrictions on investment advisers that are meant to help minimize or eliminate manipulation of the market for advisory services provided to state and local governments.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) Rules G-37 and G-38 prohibit municipal brokers and dealers from engaging in municipal securities business with an issuer after making political contributions to officials of that issuer.

Like all of our other surveys, your Political Contributions Tracking will be built directly into our proprietary learning management system. The application is web based and available to edits, additions and reporting instantly. You will have the ability to flag questions to receive automatic e-mails based on specific responses and incorporate pipe logic so that certain responses ask for additional information.

If you are already tracking one of your Annual Surveys with Quest CE the Political Contributions Tracking Survey will be an easy addition to your Compliance Suite. If you are new to Quest or would just like more information about our Survey Solution contact us at 877.593.3366 or e-mail sales@questce.com and request a demo.

If you would like to view a demo of our surveys on your own click HERE.

Fortunately, Quest is able to offer an affordable online solution to implementing your surveys, collecting the data, and reporting on this data instantly. Our online survey solution is web-based meaning your data is infinitely accessible because you never know when FINRA may audit your firm. If FINRA does audit your firm, you will be able to pull easy to use excel spreadsheets, instantly reporting on your reps activities and maintaining your compliance.

Surveys through Quest insure total control over your program with minimal effort on your part.

Your reps fill out the surveys you create directly in our Learning Management System (LMS). Any change made to pre-existing conditions sends off an automatic e-mail directly to you to allow or deny activity, thus creating an automatic audit trail.

Easy audits + easy queries + more compliant + fully integrated in our LMS = your ideal survey solution.

For more information on our Survey Solution contact our Sales Team at 877.593.3366 or e-mail sales@questce.com

For more information on this change or for updates visit the SEC’s website www.sec.gov

A common problem advisors run into when recommending alternative investments is not fully understanding the risks and potential consequences of the products because they are new and/or complex.

Quest CE offers a course which provides an introduction to alternative investments and the importance of understanding the risks associated with them before selling them.

Course Summary:

Portfolio diversification can be achieved through alternative investments. Investments made into assets that do not fall under one of the three traditional asset types (cash, stocks and bonds), are called alternative investments.

This course will cover the most often utilized alternative investment options:

• Futures
• Options
• ETFs
• Hedged Funds
• REITS
• Gold

For more information on this course or to speak to a representative from Quest call 877.593.3366 or e-mail sales@questce.com.