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Marsh Broker Dennis Donovan Recognized as a 2019 Hospitality Power Broker
Dennis Donovan, Managing Director, Marsh Dennis Donovan regularly works with the biggest organizations in sport and the gaming industry. One major international manager of sports arenas and convention centers asked Donovan to negotiate multi-year guaranteed rate commitments from underwriters for their 2018 general liability, umbrella and environmental liability renewal programs. The new liability structure was… View Article
Aon Broker Martyn Clark Recognized as a 2019 Hospitality Power Broker
Martyn Clark, Executive Director, Aon Four Seasons is among the hotel sector’s best-known names, but isn’t actually a hotel owner. Instead, the company manages owners’ assets and its group insurance policy. Four Seasons suffered a $30 million claim from last January’s California mudslides. Securing attractive terms for the 2018 renewal was a challenge for Martyn… View Article
Aon Broker Matt Maloney Recognized as a 2019 Employee Benefits Power Broker
Matt Maloney, Partner, Connecticut Practice Leader, Aon Matt Maloney is a problem solver. When a large chemical company faced massive premiums resulting from having multiple pension programs — the result of a complex ownership structure that evolved over the years — he sprung into action. Many participants had benefits under several plans, and the company… View Article
Gallagher Broker Michael Rankin Recognized as a 2019 Employee Benefits Power Broker
Michael Rankin, Area Vice President, Gallagher Fighting rising health care costs is no easy task. That’s especially true in Southern California, a predominately HMO market which is less able to capitalize on the consumer-driven plan designs being popularized in much of the rest of the country. LPA Inc., an integrated design firm, found itself caught… View Article
Mercer Broker Lisa Wurster Recognized as a 2019 Employee Benefits Power Broker
Lisa Wurster, Principal, Mercer Lisa Wurster can come up with a strategic solution for any complicated situation. Her work for a national sports marketing company is a great example. Tasked with harmonizing benefit plan designs and establishing a common administration platform for the company’s six different business units, Wurster came through in fine style. The… View Article
Gallagher Broker Tamra Walton Recognized as a 2019 Employee Benefits Power Broker
Tamra Walton, Area President, Philly Metro Branch, Gallagher At a major art gallery on the East Coast, a high-level employee took their own life. Needless to say, the staff and leadership were shocked. Tamra Walton sprung into action immediately, sending in a counselor to do group and individual sessions with employees — even though that… View Article
Mercer Broker Melanie Stangl Recognized as a 2019 Employee Benefits Power Broker
Melanie Stangl, Principal, Mercer Advantage Solutions, a 50,000-employee retail sales and marketing company, recently acquired a similarly sized business. Integrating everyone on the same benefits plan was no easy task. Doing it in just four months made the task that much harder. But Mercer’s Melanie Stangl was more than ready. She helped Advantage develop accurate… View Article
EPIC Broker Matt Sears Recognized as a 2019 Employee Benefits Power Broker
Matt Sears, Executive Vice President, EPIC Brokers and Consultants For a home builder that acquired another, Matt Sears helped integrate hundreds of new employees to the benefits program. He analyzed plan comparisons, costs and employee satisfaction, then created a targeted communication strategy, including web portal, mobile app, paper collateral, webinars, in-person seminars and telephone assistance…. View Article
Gallagher Broker Joshua Rubich Recognized as a 2019 Employee Benefits Power Broker
Joshua Rubich, Area Senior Vice President, Gallagher Consumerism may be popular in health care these days, but getting employees to agree to high deductible plans is no easy task. The benefits team at a multi-state construction staffing firm with 1,600 employees has first-hand experience with that challenge. In fact, the organization saw a mere 5… View Article
Gallagher Broker Jeff Ries Recognized as a 2019 Employee Benefits Power Broker
Jeff Ries, Area Vice President, Gallagher When two health systems in the southeast merged, Gallagher’s Jeff Ries helped them integrate both sets of 15,000 employees on to one platform. His expert negotiating skills with vendors led to $10 million in savings. “Jeff delivers on his promises. If he tells you he’s going to do something,… View Article
Alliant Broker Mark Patrick Recognized as a 2019 Employee Benefits Power Broker
Mark Patrick, First Vice President, Alliant Insurance Services It’s no secret that saving money is crucial in the education sector. The Washington Education Association (WEA) certainly got cost-savings help through a creative offering led by Mark Patrick. He helped launch the Premera Education Pool in 2017-18 to great success, with 25,000 enrolled employees in its… View Article
Aon Broker Megan Nichols Recognized as a 2019 Employee Benefits Power Broker
Megan Nichols, Associate Partner, Aon Megan Nichols has a knack for saving clients money. Take Giant Eagle for example. The supermarket chain in Western Pennsylvania froze its $200 million defined benefit plan at the end of 2016 — but still faced high annual administration costs and premiums to insure the plan. Nichols realized that a… View Article
2HB Broker Laurie Miller Recognized as a 2019 Employee Benefits Power Broker
Laurie Miller, President, 2HB Human Resources & Benefits Solutions When Kaney Aerospace acquired a company twice its size, the benefits challenges were substantial. The organization needed to find a less expensive benefits program that didn’t sacrifice benefit levels or providers; bring a paper enrollment process online; and communicate the program to and assimilate newly acquired… View Article
Gallagher Broker Pepper Krach Recognized as a 2019 Employee Benefits Power Broker
Pepper Krach, Area Vice President, Marketing & Communications, Mid-Atlantic Region, Gallagher Employee benefits are complex. Thankfully we have people like Pepper Krach to explain them in easy, simple and innovative ways. Her communication skills were on full display with Genex Services — which surveyed 3,000 employees, finding that many lacked an appreciation for the consumerism… View Article
Mercer Broker Jamil Jaffer Recognized as a 2019 Employee Benefits Power Broker
Jamil Jaffer, Principal, Mercer Northrop Grumman added 14,000 employees through an out-of-state acquisition in 2018. Its carrier’s limited geographical reach left out 3,000 of the new employees, frustrating attempts to offer uniform benefits without disruption. Jamil Jaffer proposed one solution after another, said Leslie Melton, director of health and welfare plans. Working with the carrier,… View Article
Gallagher Broker Ethan Hendrickx Recognized as a 2019 Employee Benefits Power Broker
Ethan Hendrickx, Area Vice President, Gallagher When the three-year guaranteed-cost health insurance pilot program for Koinonia Homes’ low-income employees ended in 2018, the nonprofit faced 100 percent premium increases, said Diane Beastrom, CEO. To mitigate the increase while preserving the company’s goal of high-quality, low-cost insurance, Ethan Hendrickx worked hard with the carrier on four… View Article
ABD Insurance Broker Cristina Varner Recognized as a 2019 Technology Power Broker
Cristina Varner, Senior Vice President, ABD Insurance and Financial Services Cristina Varner’s dedication to her clients and her knowledge of their business is so deep that clients trust her to expertly tell their story to underwriters. “Cristina can speak on my behalf all day, every day,” said a risk manager for a company in the… View Article
Aon Broker Karen Sullivan Recognized as a 2019 Technology Power Broker
Karen Sullivan, Senior Vice President, Aon According to her clients, Aon’s Karen Sullivan is as dedicated as they come, seamlessly becoming a part of the risk management teams of the companies she services. “Karen goes above and beyond what your average property broker would do,” said one admiring risk management director, who is employed by… View Article
Gallagher Broker Wes Grigston Recognized as a 2019 Employee Benefits Power Broker
Wes Grigston, Area Vice President, Gallagher Wake Forest, North Carolina wanted to save taxpayer dollars on its health care spend by self-insuring, but it didn’t have a reserve fund set aside. “Wes offered a solution,” said HR director Virginia Jones. Gallagher had set up public entity health care risk pools in Illinois, and Wes Grigson’s… View Article
Marsh Broker Frannie Epps Recognized as a 2019 Technology Power Broker
Frannie Epps, Senior Vice President, Marsh Frannie Epps and her teammates at Marsh pride themselves on how well they communicate the risk profiles of their clients to the market. She describes her team’s mantra as, “We know this client, we know this space, you know us.” Pretty effective if you can pull it off, and… View Article