30 top benefit advising innovators
As we head into a new era of employee benefits and healthcare under a President who has promised to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, these trendsetters are sure to lead the way for the industry. Each of these men and women are making significant contributions to the field of advising. Whether it be through focusing on transparency in insurance and healthcare, utilizing technology to improve care, education or bending the cost curve, they are people to watch in the coming year.
Matt Aaron
Founder
Insurance Agency Mobile App
Read more about Aaron: "Mobile strategy is a must-have to attract and retain customers."
Customers expect new ways to interact with advisers, and as an advocate for technological advancement through mobile applications and web optimization, Matt Aaron is a leading disruptor of the status quo. Aaron created his own mobile app and now consults with others in the industry on the necessity of having such a platform.
Insurance Agency Mobile App
Read more about Aaron: "Mobile strategy is a must-have to attract and retain customers."
Customers expect new ways to interact with advisers, and as an advocate for technological advancement through mobile applications and web optimization, Matt Aaron is a leading disruptor of the status quo. Aaron created his own mobile app and now consults with others in the industry on the necessity of having such a platform.
Roger Abramson
General Counsel
Ameriflex
Read more about Abramson: "How this election will change employee benefits."
Roger Abramson is an expert on the Affordable Care Act who has closely followed Republican actions to dismantle and replace it. He has his eye on the future of health reform and the “public hunger” to make further fixes to the system. Abramson predicted back in September that the Cadillac tax will be the first element of ACA to go, but that the pre-existing conditions clause will remain. President-elect Trump has since cited those two points in a post-election interview.
Ameriflex
Read more about Abramson: "How this election will change employee benefits."
Roger Abramson is an expert on the Affordable Care Act who has closely followed Republican actions to dismantle and replace it. He has his eye on the future of health reform and the “public hunger” to make further fixes to the system. Abramson predicted back in September that the Cadillac tax will be the first element of ACA to go, but that the pre-existing conditions clause will remain. President-elect Trump has since cited those two points in a post-election interview.
Bill Bade
Consulting Actuary
Milliman
Read more about Bade: "Hospital indemnity programs expand options."
More and more companies are pushing HDHPs as the universal healthcare plans and Bill Bade, along with his company, is opening up the possibilities of how hospital indemnity plans can effectively couple with high-deductible health plans. Bade also works with his clients in order to hlep them save more and achieve maximum coverage.
Milliman
Read more about Bade: "Hospital indemnity programs expand options."
More and more companies are pushing HDHPs as the universal healthcare plans and Bill Bade, along with his company, is opening up the possibilities of how hospital indemnity plans can effectively couple with high-deductible health plans. Bade also works with his clients in order to hlep them save more and achieve maximum coverage.
Chris Bruce
Co-Founder and Managing Director
Thomsons Online Benefits
Read more about Bruce: "Stale benefit tech frustrates global employees."
Chris Bruce has his eye on the U.S. benefit technology market, calling it “mature and competitive” — and he knows the pitfalls that keep advisers from taking full advantage of it. But Bruce also knows that American firms with subsidiaries and satellite offices overseas face an uphill battle in upgrading their benefit IT up to modern standards. That's why he is working to push for greater IT investment and modernizations for sectors that still operate as if its 1993.
Thomsons Online Benefits
Read more about Bruce: "Stale benefit tech frustrates global employees."
Chris Bruce has his eye on the U.S. benefit technology market, calling it “mature and competitive” — and he knows the pitfalls that keep advisers from taking full advantage of it. But Bruce also knows that American firms with subsidiaries and satellite offices overseas face an uphill battle in upgrading their benefit IT up to modern standards. That's why he is working to push for greater IT investment and modernizations for sectors that still operate as if its 1993.
Sean Clem
VP, Technology, Marketplace and Engagement Solutions
Pacific Resources
Read more about Clem: "Technology Adviser of the Year: One simple question makes all the difference."
EBA’s 2016 Technology Adviser of the Year, Sean Clem approaches this business differently than other advisers. He knows what clients want and works with them to keep them loyal to him and to cut costs. He continues to develop innovative new ideas in the technology space for his clients.
Pacific Resources
Read more about Clem: "Technology Adviser of the Year: One simple question makes all the difference."
EBA’s 2016 Technology Adviser of the Year, Sean Clem approaches this business differently than other advisers. He knows what clients want and works with them to keep them loyal to him and to cut costs. He continues to develop innovative new ideas in the technology space for his clients.
Ed Fensholt
Senior Vice President, Director of Compliance Services
Lockton Companies
Read more about Fensholt: "Employers confuse CMS data request for phishing scam."
Ed Fensholt is on top of all compliance issues, big or small, and keeps clients informed in a proactive manner to prevent big fines from the government.
Lockton Companies
Read more about Fensholt: "Employers confuse CMS data request for phishing scam."
Ed Fensholt is on top of all compliance issues, big or small, and keeps clients informed in a proactive manner to prevent big fines from the government.
Shan Fowler
Senior Director of Product Strategy
Benefitfocus
Read more about Fowler: "How the future of technology is shaping the benefits industry."
Shan Fowler is focused on how technology and artificial intelligence can be used to make the enrollment process simpler and more comprehensive for all parties. He preaches that A.I. should not be seen as a replacement for human interaction, but rather a tool that can expand a company’s book of business.
Benefitfocus
Read more about Fowler: "How the future of technology is shaping the benefits industry."
Shan Fowler is focused on how technology and artificial intelligence can be used to make the enrollment process simpler and more comprehensive for all parties. He preaches that A.I. should not be seen as a replacement for human interaction, but rather a tool that can expand a company’s book of business.
Co-Owner & Chief Innovation Officer
Borislow Insurance
Read more about Gaunya: "How to solve the ‘real’ healthcare issue."
Mark Gaunya is on a mission to cut back on healthcare costs nationwide by making the system more transparent and user-friendly. He speaks to lawmakers both in his home state of Massachusetts and in the nation’s capital to cut back on what he views as the major problem of the healthcare system.
Borislow Insurance
Read more about Gaunya: "How to solve the ‘real’ healthcare issue."
Mark Gaunya is on a mission to cut back on healthcare costs nationwide by making the system more transparent and user-friendly. He speaks to lawmakers both in his home state of Massachusetts and in the nation’s capital to cut back on what he views as the major problem of the healthcare system.
Executive Managing Director of Employee Benefit Services
Crystal & Company
Read more about Grant: "Enticing young recruits with unique benefits."
Michael Grant is a leader in flexible benefit design. From coast to coast, he’s identified the distinct geographical differences in what employees want in their benefits offering and caters to their unique needs. Grant says West Coast clients seek more flexibility in schedules, while East Coast clients seek increased life insurance and disability coverage. Grant is also a supporter of office “time-out” or “relaxation” rooms as a way of improving workplace wellness.
Crystal & Company
Read more about Grant: "Enticing young recruits with unique benefits."
Michael Grant is a leader in flexible benefit design. From coast to coast, he’s identified the distinct geographical differences in what employees want in their benefits offering and caters to their unique needs. Grant says West Coast clients seek more flexibility in schedules, while East Coast clients seek increased life insurance and disability coverage. Grant is also a supporter of office “time-out” or “relaxation” rooms as a way of improving workplace wellness.
Craig Hankins
Vice President of Digital Products
UnitedHealthcare
Read more about Hankins: "Employees struggle with benefits terminology."
With people “living much of their lives through their smartphones,” Craig Hankins is taking advantage of greater adoption of mobile app technology to improve health insurance resources and empower employers and employees to expect information transparency and easy access.
UnitedHealthcare
Read more about Hankins: "Employees struggle with benefits terminology."
With people “living much of their lives through their smartphones,” Craig Hankins is taking advantage of greater adoption of mobile app technology to improve health insurance resources and empower employers and employees to expect information transparency and easy access.
President
Landmark Benefits
Read more about Harte: "5 ways advisers can effectively communicate with Congress."
Tom Harte testified in front of Congress on how the Affordable Care Act is impacting businesses and their employees. A former National Association of Health Underwriters president, Harte is an advocate for the industry.
Landmark Benefits
Read more about Harte: "5 ways advisers can effectively communicate with Congress."
Tom Harte testified in front of Congress on how the Affordable Care Act is impacting businesses and their employees. A former National Association of Health Underwriters president, Harte is an advocate for the industry.
Dave Jackson
Owner
Jackson Insurance
Read more about Jackson: "How to build a larger business network with Facebook groups."
A marketing guru, Dave Jackson turned a social media page into a huge booster for his business while developing a reputation as the go-to guy for insurance needs in his neighborhood. After three years of being in business, Jackson showed a 4,000% ROI as a result of offering services such as paper shredding, notary services and occasional door-to-door donut delivery.
Jackson Insurance
Read more about Jackson: "How to build a larger business network with Facebook groups."
A marketing guru, Dave Jackson turned a social media page into a huge booster for his business while developing a reputation as the go-to guy for insurance needs in his neighborhood. After three years of being in business, Jackson showed a 4,000% ROI as a result of offering services such as paper shredding, notary services and occasional door-to-door donut delivery.
Michael Jans
Founder and CEO
Agency Revolution
Read more about Jans: "Investing in client loyalty brings ‘huge’ ROI."
The author of multiple marketing books, Michael Jans knows the secret sauce to turn a passive client into a lifelong advocate of an adviser's services. Using specially crafted emails, client data, reduced information silos and incisive proposals, Jans says brokers no longer have to expect to see "low-loyalty clients" just drift away. Ina revolutionary way of classifying client, they have to be treated like patients in a hospital. "Those relationships need to be healed first so they become a high-loyalty client, and the moderate-loyalty clients have to be elevated to high-loyalty clients," he says.
Agency Revolution
Read more about Jans: "Investing in client loyalty brings ‘huge’ ROI."
The author of multiple marketing books, Michael Jans knows the secret sauce to turn a passive client into a lifelong advocate of an adviser's services. Using specially crafted emails, client data, reduced information silos and incisive proposals, Jans says brokers no longer have to expect to see "low-loyalty clients" just drift away. Ina revolutionary way of classifying client, they have to be treated like patients in a hospital. "Those relationships need to be healed first so they become a high-loyalty client, and the moderate-loyalty clients have to be elevated to high-loyalty clients," he says.
Kiki Johnson
Founder
Insurance Agency Mobile App
Read more about Johnson: "Mobile strategy is a must-have to attract and retain customers."
Kiki Johnson’s forward thinking about the benefits technology space is leading advisers to be ahead of the game when it comes to bringing clients the latest in mobile technology to serve the benefits field. Partnered with Matt Aaron, she also consults with other insurance agents to inform them of the need for mobile apps to deter clients from switching over to a competitor after being persuaded by online ads.
Insurance Agency Mobile App
Read more about Johnson: "Mobile strategy is a must-have to attract and retain customers."
Kiki Johnson’s forward thinking about the benefits technology space is leading advisers to be ahead of the game when it comes to bringing clients the latest in mobile technology to serve the benefits field. Partnered with Matt Aaron, she also consults with other insurance agents to inform them of the need for mobile apps to deter clients from switching over to a competitor after being persuaded by online ads.
Michael Lujan
Chief Strategy Officer
Limelight Health
Read more about Lujan: "Owning the ‘confusing’ technology landscape."
Michael Lujan is committed to disrupting and re-imagining employee benefits. A former broker and California state-run exchange official, Lujan helps advisers navigate the constantly changing technology landscape. He frequently speaks at industry conferences across the country on emerging trends, and has his finger on the pulse of the industry.
Limelight Health
Read more about Lujan: "Owning the ‘confusing’ technology landscape."
Michael Lujan is committed to disrupting and re-imagining employee benefits. A former broker and California state-run exchange official, Lujan helps advisers navigate the constantly changing technology landscape. He frequently speaks at industry conferences across the country on emerging trends, and has his finger on the pulse of the industry.
President and Founder
HR Technology Advisors
Read more about Markland: "How brokers can capitalize on external changes."
Joe Markland knows how to compete in this new and challenging space technology, giving frequent talks on the subject at conferences around the country, often pushing advisers to think outside the status quo.
HR Technology Advisors
Read more about Markland: "How brokers can capitalize on external changes."
Joe Markland knows how to compete in this new and challenging space technology, giving frequent talks on the subject at conferences around the country, often pushing advisers to think outside the status quo.
Paul Markowich
Executive Vice President
Firstrust Financial Resources
Read more about Markowich: "A stronger financial future starts the first day on the job."
It’s the adviser’s responsibility to educate new employees on the true value of a retirement plan, says Paul Markowich – a retirement advocate who is focused on connecting the dots between employee education and financial wellness. Markowich advises clients to utilize an HSA the same way they would a 401(k) or bank savings account. He also educates clients on why current healthcare standards are hindering increased saving for retirement.
Firstrust Financial Resources
Read more about Markowich: "A stronger financial future starts the first day on the job."
It’s the adviser’s responsibility to educate new employees on the true value of a retirement plan, says Paul Markowich – a retirement advocate who is focused on connecting the dots between employee education and financial wellness. Markowich advises clients to utilize an HSA the same way they would a 401(k) or bank savings account. He also educates clients on why current healthcare standards are hindering increased saving for retirement.
Robert Massa
Director of Retirement
Ascende - An EPIC Company
Read more about Massa: "Retirement Adviser of the Year Rob Massa: A strategic vision."
A 25-year industry veteran, Rob Massa created EPIC’s investment advisory firm that has grown to $3 billion in AUM. Massa’s goal is to let employers establish best practices for their plans, with a growing emphasis on financial wellness and fiduciary responsibility.
Ascende - An EPIC Company
Read more about Massa: "Retirement Adviser of the Year Rob Massa: A strategic vision."
A 25-year industry veteran, Rob Massa created EPIC’s investment advisory firm that has grown to $3 billion in AUM. Massa’s goal is to let employers establish best practices for their plans, with a growing emphasis on financial wellness and fiduciary responsibility.
Gayle McCann
Partner, President, Risk Advisor
NorthRisk Partners
Read more about McCann: "EBA’s top pick is a hands-on broker."
Armed with a nursing degree, Gayle McCann has forged innovative partnerships with providers and carriers and by listening to clients. The results? The 2016 Employee Benefit Adviser of the Year has grown North Risk Partners into a true Minnesota powerhouse. With a keen eye for finding solutions, McCann established new offerings and help build a network when a new state law stifled coverage for medical professionals, which is the cornerstone of her client base.
NorthRisk Partners
Read more about McCann: "EBA’s top pick is a hands-on broker."
Armed with a nursing degree, Gayle McCann has forged innovative partnerships with providers and carriers and by listening to clients. The results? The 2016 Employee Benefit Adviser of the Year has grown North Risk Partners into a true Minnesota powerhouse. With a keen eye for finding solutions, McCann established new offerings and help build a network when a new state law stifled coverage for medical professionals, which is the cornerstone of her client base.
Brian Nate
Insurance Marketer
Read more about Nate: "4 paths that led one adviser to multi-million dollar growth in one year."
The hunt for new clients is the foundation for growing a brokerage. But you have to retain those clients to make them loyal for the future. Brian Nate, an insurance marketer and retention specialist based in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, has grown his agency by 23% the first year and 24% last year as he increased retention from 80% to 94.6%.
Read more about Nate: "4 paths that led one adviser to multi-million dollar growth in one year."
The hunt for new clients is the foundation for growing a brokerage. But you have to retain those clients to make them loyal for the future. Brian Nate, an insurance marketer and retention specialist based in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, has grown his agency by 23% the first year and 24% last year as he increased retention from 80% to 94.6%.
Jeff Oldham
Vice President of Consumer Strategy
Benefitfocus
Read more about Oldham: "How voluntary benefits are alleviating financial stress."
Jeff Oldham is a strong advocate for voluntary benefits that assist millennials with student loan debt, and believes that physical and mental wellness can be achieved through relieving the financial burden first. Through the use of nontraditional benefits, Oldham says employers should expand the use of debt assistance to more than just education loans, but home, auto and other forms of debt.
Benefitfocus
Read more about Oldham: "How voluntary benefits are alleviating financial stress."
Jeff Oldham is a strong advocate for voluntary benefits that assist millennials with student loan debt, and believes that physical and mental wellness can be achieved through relieving the financial burden first. Through the use of nontraditional benefits, Oldham says employers should expand the use of debt assistance to more than just education loans, but home, auto and other forms of debt.
Mary Catherine Person
President
HealthSCOPE Benefits
Read more about Person: "Employees slow to adopt healthcare transparency tools."
Benefit managers love the idea of transparency in healthcare programs – comparing the prices of MRIs from one facility to another, for example – but getting employees to use the data in their healthcare decisions remains a challenge, one that Mary Catherine Person is working to overcome. She is also working hard to decipher the wide swaths of data from state data, Medicare data, commercial data and more for her firm and fellow employees. The data often reveals that the supposed "low-cost" medical facility actually has plenty of competition for that title.
HealthSCOPE Benefits
Read more about Person: "Employees slow to adopt healthcare transparency tools."
Benefit managers love the idea of transparency in healthcare programs – comparing the prices of MRIs from one facility to another, for example – but getting employees to use the data in their healthcare decisions remains a challenge, one that Mary Catherine Person is working to overcome. She is also working hard to decipher the wide swaths of data from state data, Medicare data, commercial data and more for her firm and fellow employees. The data often reveals that the supposed "low-cost" medical facility actually has plenty of competition for that title.
President
twentytwenty Insurance Services
Read more about Reid: "How listening to customer needs led one adviser to create her own exchange."
Sima Reid is an insurance broker who does not like following others in pursuit of the best products for her clients. It’s about finding the best options on the market for clients of twentytwenty Insurance Services, even if she has to build the technology herself.
twentytwenty Insurance Services
Read more about Reid: "How listening to customer needs led one adviser to create her own exchange."
Sima Reid is an insurance broker who does not like following others in pursuit of the best products for her clients. It’s about finding the best options on the market for clients of twentytwenty Insurance Services, even if she has to build the technology herself.
T.J. Revelas
Managing Partner, Employee Benefits
Lawley Benefits Group
Read more about Revelas: "How to develop a private exchange strategy."
At a time when some advisers are struggling with what to do with private exchanges, T.J. Revelas is making them a unique selling point for his firm, reaping the rewards by attracting new clients and keeping them satisfied with lower healthcare costs and more consumer-decision support.
Lawley Benefits Group
Read more about Revelas: "How to develop a private exchange strategy."
At a time when some advisers are struggling with what to do with private exchanges, T.J. Revelas is making them a unique selling point for his firm, reaping the rewards by attracting new clients and keeping them satisfied with lower healthcare costs and more consumer-decision support.
Craig Schmidt
Senior Wellness Consultant
EPIC
Read more about Schmidt: "Wellness Adviser of the Year Craig Schmidt: Making wellbeing personal."
Within the past year at EPIC, Craig Schmidt has been hitting the wellness grindstone hard, building the company’s employee benefits specialty consulting practice, developing content for client-facing webinars, educating staff on wellness productivity planning and writing a whole chapter in EPIC’s wellness playbook tool for internal account teams.
EPIC
Read more about Schmidt: "Wellness Adviser of the Year Craig Schmidt: Making wellbeing personal."
Within the past year at EPIC, Craig Schmidt has been hitting the wellness grindstone hard, building the company’s employee benefits specialty consulting practice, developing content for client-facing webinars, educating staff on wellness productivity planning and writing a whole chapter in EPIC’s wellness playbook tool for internal account teams.
Relationship Manager
The Meltzer Group
Read more about Schulman: "How one broker is fighting to amend the ACA."
Alan Schulman works hard to lobby lawmakers on a local and national level to continue to improve health reform. He is heavily involved in the National Association of Health Underwriters, fighting tooth and nail to amend the Affordable Care Act.
The Meltzer Group
Read more about Schulman: "How one broker is fighting to amend the ACA."
Alan Schulman works hard to lobby lawmakers on a local and national level to continue to improve health reform. He is heavily involved in the National Association of Health Underwriters, fighting tooth and nail to amend the Affordable Care Act.
Brian Sideris
National Sales Director
MetLife Expatriate Benefits
Read more about Sideris: "How to maintain a strong benefits program beyond U.S. borders."
Brian Sideris has his finger on the pulse of the growing expatriate market and how benefits are evolving to assist this niche employee market. Under expat benefits, Sideris says healthcare needs to be universal no matter where the client might be and should be provided with a translator, should the need arise. As more Americans seek employment outside the U.S. borders, expat benefits are starting to play a larger role in the benefits market.
MetLife Expatriate Benefits
Read more about Sideris: "How to maintain a strong benefits program beyond U.S. borders."
Brian Sideris has his finger on the pulse of the growing expatriate market and how benefits are evolving to assist this niche employee market. Under expat benefits, Sideris says healthcare needs to be universal no matter where the client might be and should be provided with a translator, should the need arise. As more Americans seek employment outside the U.S. borders, expat benefits are starting to play a larger role in the benefits market.
MD Sam Smith
President
Genesis Financial
Read more about Smith: "14 politically active brokers to know across the U.S."
MD Sam Smith is former president of the California Association of Health Underwriters, and is involved in influencing policies that affect brokers in his state and across the country. He is well-known on the national stage as an outspoken broker who makes his voice heard on important issues facing the field.
Genesis Financial
Read more about Smith: "14 politically active brokers to know across the U.S."
MD Sam Smith is former president of the California Association of Health Underwriters, and is involved in influencing policies that affect brokers in his state and across the country. He is well-known on the national stage as an outspoken broker who makes his voice heard on important issues facing the field.
Former CEO
benefitsCONNECT
Read more about Underwood: "Exit interview: Troy Underwood on benefitsCONNECT departure."
Troy Underwood has no plans to slow down after selling his company benefitsCONNECT to cloud-based benefit provider benefitexpress. The serial entrepreneur plans to invest in another startup or benefits agency to continue serving the industry he loves. No fan of the complexity and sweep of the Affordable Care Act, Underwood believes that good health and nutrition should be the cornerstone to solving the nation's health woes. "We spend too much on healthcare because we eat poorly and don’t work out," he says.
benefitsCONNECT
Read more about Underwood: "Exit interview: Troy Underwood on benefitsCONNECT departure."
Troy Underwood has no plans to slow down after selling his company benefitsCONNECT to cloud-based benefit provider benefitexpress. The serial entrepreneur plans to invest in another startup or benefits agency to continue serving the industry he loves. No fan of the complexity and sweep of the Affordable Care Act, Underwood believes that good health and nutrition should be the cornerstone to solving the nation's health woes. "We spend too much on healthcare because we eat poorly and don’t work out," he says.
John Zern
EVP and Global Health Leader
Aon
Read more about Zern: "14 politically active brokers to know across the U.S."
John Zern is a leader at Aon, meeting frequently with lawmakers to influence the future of the benefits industry. As a member of Aon’s political action steering committee, an employee-funded effort to support business-minded candidates seeking election office, Zern hosts elected leaders at Aon facilities around the country.
Aon
Read more about Zern: "14 politically active brokers to know across the U.S."
John Zern is a leader at Aon, meeting frequently with lawmakers to influence the future of the benefits industry. As a member of Aon’s political action steering committee, an employee-funded effort to support business-minded candidates seeking election office, Zern hosts elected leaders at Aon facilities around the country.
