Privacy Statement

Protecting your private information is our priority. This Statement of Privacy applies to www.blueridgeesop.com and Blue Ridge ESOP Associates (“BREA”) and governs data collection and usage. For the purposes of this Privacy Policy, unless otherwise noted, all references to BREA include www.coastalpension.com, www.esopconnection.com, www.esopadvantage.com, and other online services owned or operated by BREA and its affiliates (known jointly as “Sites” in this policy). By accessing and continuing to use the Sites you acknowledge that you agree to the practices described in this Statement.

Collection of your Personal Information

We collect information from you and your Employer for the sole purpose of performing our administrative services with respect to your retirement program.  We will use your information for, but not limited to, communicating with you in relation to services we provide to your Employer and you, as a participant.  We also may gather additional personal or non-personal information in the future as required by the Internal Revenue Code and/or the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”), to perform any required testing or reporting obligations.

Sharing information with Third Parties

BREA does not share, sell, rent, or lease its customer lists or individual participant data to third parties.

BREA may share data with trusted partners to help perform our contracted administrative services.

BREA may disclose your personal information, without notice, if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to: (a) conform to the edicts of the law or comply with legal process served on BREA or the site; (b) protect and defend the rights or property of BREA; and/or (c) act under exigent circumstances to protect the personal safety of users of BREA, or the public.

Tracking User Behavior

BREA may keep track of the websites and pages our users visit within the Sites in order to determine what information has been accessed. This data is used to improve the Sites and may be used to deliver customized content within the Sites to customers whose behavior indicates that they are interested in a particular subject area.  This information may be shared with your Employer, as the sponsor of the retirement program.  This information is not shared with any third parties outside of BREA and the client itself.

 Automatically Collected Information

Information about your computer hardware and software may be automatically collected by BREA. This information can include: your IP address, browser type, domain names, access times and referring website addresses. This information is used for the operation of the service, to maintain quality of the service, and to provide the general statistics regarding use of the Sites.

Use of Cookies

The Sites may use “cookies” to help personalize your online experience. A cookie is a text file that is placed on your hard disk by a web page server. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer. Cookies are uniquely assigned to you and can only be read by a web server in the domain that issued the cookie to you. One of the primary purposes of cookies is to provide a convenience feature to save you time. The purpose of a cookie is to tell the Web server that you have returned to a specific page. For example, if you register at one of the Sites, a cookie helps BREA to recall your specific information on subsequent visits. You have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most Web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to fully experience the interactive features of the Sites or services you visit. This Privacy Policy covers the use of “cookies” by BREA and its affiliates and does not cover the use of “cookies” by any third-party sites to which we provide links or third-party sites which may link to our website.

Security of your Personal Information

The Sites secure your personal information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. BREA uses the following methods for this purpose:

• TLS 1.2 or above Protocol

When personal information (such as a birthdate) is transmitted to other websites, it is protected using encryption, such as the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol. We strive to take appropriate security measures to protect against unauthorized access to or alteration of your personal information. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet or any wireless network can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your personal information, you acknowledge that (a) there are security and privacy limitations inherent to the Internet which are beyond our control; and (b) security, integrity, and privacy of all information and data exchanged between you and us through the Sites cannot be guaranteed.

E-mail Communications

From time to time, BREA may contact you via email for the purpose of providing retirement program related information and/or other general communication. In order to improve our Services, we may receive a notification when you open an email from BREA or click on a link therein.

External Data Storage Sites

We may store your data on servers provided by third party hosting vendors with whom we have contracted.

Changes to this Statement

BREA reserves the right to change this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you about significant changes in the way we treat personal information by sending a notice to the primary email address specified in your account, by placing a prominent notice on our Sites, and/or by updating any privacy information. Your continued use of the Sites available after such modifications will constitute your: (a) acknowledgement of the modified Privacy Policy and (b) agreement to abide and be bound by that Policy.

Contact Information

BREA welcomes your questions or comments regarding this Privacy Statement. If you believe that BREA had not adhered to this Statement, please contact BREA at:

Blue Ridge ESOP Associates
154 Hansen Road, Suite 102
Charlottesville, VA 22911

Telephone: 434-979-5500
Email: webmaster@BlueRidgeESOP.com

Last updated: 2023-07-28