In this episode of Benefits Influencer, host Dennis Carlson interviews Steve Santangelo , Chief Revenue Officer at Garner Health , about their unique approach to healthcare cost management through provider quality assessment. The conversation offers benefits brokers and consultants valuable insights into innovative solutions for addressing rising healthcare costs at a time when employers are seeking more effective alternatives to traditional health plans. ----------------------------------------...
May 21, 2025•31 min•Season 10Ep. 7
In this episode of Benefits Influencer, host Dennis Carlson sits down with Sina Chehrazi , founder and CEO of Nayya. Nayya is an AI-powered platform that unlocks the value of Health & Wealth programs for employees in real time. They discuss how Nayya is transforming employee benefits by connecting disparate data points to create a personalized experience throughout the benefits lifecycle - from enrollment decisions to ongoing usage and claims. Sina shares insights about the fragmented benefi...
May 07, 2025•35 min•Season 10Ep. 6
In this episode, Dennis Carlson sits down with Kristen Rivers, SVP of Sales at ParetoHealth. They discuss how mission-aligned benefits consultants and employers can access premium healthcare solutions typically reserved for large companies through captive healthcare models, highlighting the limitations of traditional fully-insured and level-funded plans while emphasizing the value of actionable data transparency and stronger contractual protections available through alternative funding approache...
Apr 23, 2025•35 min•Season 10Ep. 5
In this episode of Benefits Influencer , host Dennis Carlson interviews Rachel Schneider , the CEO and founder of Canary, a company revolutionizing how employers support their workforce during times of crisis. Canary manages employee emergency relief funds, allowing companies to formalize a compassionate and equitable response when employees face unexpected hardships. Schneider, drawing from her extensive experience researching the financial well-being of working Americans, shares her journey of...
Jan 22, 2025•29 min•Season 10Ep. 4
Brandy Burch , CEO and founder of benefitbay , joins Dennis to discuss Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangements (ICHRAs). Brandy shares her expertise on the evolution of the ICHRA market, strategic considerations for brokers, and the importance of a comprehensive technology platform for successful ICHRA implementation. Listen in as we discuss how to go from a defensive ICHRA strategy to playing offense to better serve employer clients. Show Notes (generated using AI) Brandy's Backgr...
Dec 26, 2024•35 min•Season 10Ep. 3
Dennis chats with Ryan Koo, an Employee Benefits Consultant who specializes in working with digital health companies. Ryan has just returned from the HLTH conference and shares his recap of the conference as well as his view on the digital health space. Tune in to learn about how digital health companies should be thinking about the employer channel as well as the employee benefits consultant channel. Ryan also shares his view of what's most exciting for the future of digital health. Connect wit...
Nov 06, 2024•31 min•Season 10Ep. 2
Dennis Carlson and Benefits Influencer return with a recap of InsurTech Connect (ITC) with CEO & Co-Founder of Zoë Foundry, Garrett Viggers. Check out Zoë Foundry at www.zoefoundry.com Reach out at [email protected] Benefits Influencer is the #1 podcast for Employee Benefits Brokers and Advisors .
Oct 23, 2024•33 min•Season 10Ep. 1
Dennis chats with Ty Wang, Co-Founder & CEO of Angle Health . Angle Health wants to make health benefits more accessible by connecting vendors that handle different services like telehealth and health savings accounts on a single platform. That way, employers of all sizes can offer a similar stack to the benefits you’d expect from a Fortune 500, but tailored for small to medium-sized businesses. Ty Wang is the Co-Founder and CEO of Angle Health, the digital-first, fully-licensed health insur...
Oct 04, 2024•23 min•Season 9Ep. 2
Dennis welcomes SVP & Senior Partner at Burnham Benefits, Chris Krusiewicz back to the podcast. Chris has been tracking AI as it relates to healthcare and employee benefits for years and brings his latest insights to the benefits community. Chris and Dennis discuss AI and its impact on the employee benefits and healthcare industries today and what we can expect in the future. Check out Season 1 Episode 3 for the earlier interview we reference in this episode. Find Chris on LinkedIn here: htt...
Aug 09, 2023•33 min•Season 9Ep. 1
This episode originally aired in January 2020 Charles Specht from The Permission Group shares how Benefits Brokers who target a micro niche can grow a massive book of business and better serve their clients. Connect with Charles at [email protected]
Jul 19, 2023•26 min•Season 9Ep. 3
This episode orginally aired in March 2022. Ned Schaut talks with Becky Patel, CEO at Amwins Connect, about mentorship. Becky has over 35 years of experience in this business and shares the importance of both having a mentor and being a mentor. During the conversation they focus on the need to be authentic and know your secret sauce in the business.
Jul 05, 2023•28 min•Season 9Ep. 2
This episode orginally aired in July 2020. Dennis and Chesley discuss ways to make employee benefits communication meaningful, relevant and timely in order to drive value for employers and employees. Connect with Chesley: [email protected] http://intrepid7.com/
Jun 21, 2023•20 min•Season 9Ep. 1
Dennis chats with Rachel Rutherford of ArmadaCare about Executive Benefits and how to position Executive Medical reimbursement to attract and retain top talent. Find Rachel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelgann/ Reach out at [email protected] visit https://armadacare.com/ for more info
May 24, 2023•26 min•Season 8Ep. 8
Dennis chats with Spencer Smith about how benefits advisors can leverage social media to grow their pipeline and increase sales. Find Spencer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencer-smith-self-funded/ Check out Spencer's podcast here: https://spencerharlansmith.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SpencerSmithSelfFunded For more info on Plansight visit: https://www.plansight.com/...
Apr 19, 2023•28 min•Season 8Ep. 7
Dennis chats with Kevin Curran, Founding Partner of Salt Margin a Baldwin Risk Company. Listen in as they discuss ways Benefits Brokers can win with a too often overlooked part of the benefits package, ancillary. Kevin outlines three ways brokers and advisors can get started with becoming true consultants on ancillary, just like they already are on medical insurance. Kevin uncovers some key group life and disability policy provisions that every advisor should be aware of. -- for more content for...
Mar 29, 2023•38 min•Season 8Ep. 6
Dennis chats with The D.I. Coach, Chris Carlson about how benefits brokers and advisors can better position (or start positioning for the first time) disability insurance with their clients. Chris began his insurance career as a Brokerage Consultant with Provident Life and Accident in 1984. After working with Provident as a Consultant, District Manager and Branch Manager, he formed his own independent Disability Insurance Marketing Organization in 1995. Chris's organization eventually became the...
Mar 08, 2023•27 min
Dennis chats with Executive Benefits expert, Helen Ornellas. Helen is the President and Founder of Ornellas & Associates Insurance Services. Based in California, Helen Ornellas specializes in Executive Benefits using Life Insurance, Disability, and Long Term Care to provide solutions. With over 25 years of experience in the insurance industry, Helen represents many different insurance companies offering a wide variety of coverage options and price points. Her goal is to take the confusion an...
Feb 22, 2023•25 min•Season 8Ep. 4
Dennis chats with Noyo CEO and Co-Founder, Shannon Goggin. Listen as they discuss how poor data quality prevents the benefits industry from delivering the modern experiences today’s consumers want. Addressing these challenges at the carrier and ben-admin level with clean, always updated enrollment data lets HR professionals and brokers truly remove friction for members — while paving the way for frictionless benefits that are easy to understand and easy to use. Shannon Goggin is the CEO and co-f...
Feb 08, 2023•24 min•Season 8Ep. 3
Dennis chats with Kevin Trokey. Kevin is the Founding Partner of Q4intelligence, a marketing and sales enablement firm committed to the preservation and transformation of the independent agency system. He writes prolifically regarding the many challenges being faced by today’s agencies, providing guidance to overcome those challenges. He is a frequent industry speaker and has been recognized by the National Association of Health Underwriters as their speaker of the year. Kevin is currently servi...
Jan 25, 2023•32 min•Season 8Ep. 2
Dennis interviews Benefits Advisors Andrew McNeil and Rosario Avila of Arrow Benefits Group. They discuss how winning awards and writing columns contribute to their position as thought leaders in the community and with their clients. They also discuss strategies they've found work well with small group clients in a post-COVID environment. Find Andrew and Rosario on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-d-mcneil-5a45559/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosarioavila/ For more episodes and infor...
Jan 11, 2023•30 min•Season 8Ep. 1
Six years ago, Laurel Taylor was on the fast track to reaching her career goals. But the weight of the student debt she and her mother had racked up to fund her education rang in at almost $200,000 — and could have held her back from reaching her full potential. Laurel took matters into her own hands, and in 2016 founded Candidly (formerly FutureFuel.io) to address the unmet and urgent market need for solutions that support other individuals and families through every step of the planning, borro...
Dec 28, 2022•30 min•Season 7Ep. 9
Dennis chats with CEO of Beneration, Josh Winigrad. They discuss why every benefits broker should be talking about self-billing with their clients. Josh shares: How to master self-bills by learning the COUNTIFS and SUMIFS formulas. Why you should encourage your clients to use self-bills with carriers rather than EDI feeds. The danger of self-auditing invoices against payroll deductions. Connect with Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jwinigrad/ Check out Beneration: https://beneration...
Dec 14, 2022•30 min•Season 7Ep. 8
Dennis chats with Jaclyn Chen, Co-Founder & CEO of Benepass. Benepass is a flexible technology platform that allows employers to offer employees robust categories of perks and benefits around things like wellness, mental health, entertainment, and more. Check out https://www.getbenepass.com/ to learn more. Benefits Influencer is the #1 highest rated podcast for Employee Benefits Brokers and Advisors. Visit www.benefitsinfluencer.com for more great episodes and to get in touch....
Nov 30, 2022•31 min•Season 7Ep. 6
Dennis interviews Co-Founder & President of SolV Independent Insurance Associates, Brittney Bello. Employee Benefits Brokers and Advisors will want to listen in as Dennis and Brittney go beyond the buzzword of "transparency" to uncover what it looks like when advisors, employers, and the benefits ecosystem all align around transparency. Find Brittney on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittney-bello/ Check out SolV here: https://solvins.com/ ---- Benefits Influencer is the #1 highest r...
Nov 16, 2022•40 min•Season 7Ep. 6
Dennis chats with Advisor, Keynote Speaker, Podcast Host and President & Owner of Olympic Crest Insurance, Nancy Giacolone. Reach out to Nancy and follow her via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancy-giacolone/ Check out Olympic Crest Insurance here: https://olympiccrest.com/ ---- Benefits Influencer is the #1 highest rated podcast for Employee Benefits Brokers and Advisors. Visit www.benefitsinfluencer.com for more great episodes and to get in touch....
Nov 02, 2022•21 min•Season 7Ep. 5
Dennis sits down with Lewis Mosley, Founder & Director of UK-based BAS to discuss how US-based benefits brokers and advisors can help their clients with global employees. Lewis is a Director, Founder and lead Guardian Consultant at BAS He has over 10 years’ experience working within the global employee benefits space, most of which have been spent advising US multinationals on all aspects of their global benefits, from their first overseas hire’s benefit program in a new country to managing ...
Oct 19, 2022•37 min•Season 7Ep. 4
Dennis interviews CEO and Founder of GenuineShift, Jenn Walsh. Follow Jenn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/walshjenn/ About Jenn: Jenn Walsh is the founder and CEO of GenuineShift, a business consulting company that delivers learning & development programs to fuel growth, optimize profitability and minimize friction for insurance brokerage firms of all sizes. She created the Client Service Academy in 2019 to address our industry's talent crisis when she realized her clients weren't ...
Oct 05, 2022•31 min•Season 7Ep. 3
Dennis interviews ThreeFlow Co-Founder and CEO, Ryan Sachtjen. ThreeFlow is a benefits placement system that benefits brokers and carriers can use to work together to be more efficient. Visit https://www.threeflow.com/ to learn more. --- Benefits Influencer is the #1 highest rated podcast for Employee Benefits Brokers and Advisors. Visit www.benefitsinfluencer for additional episodes and to get in touch....
Sep 21, 2022•35 min•Season 7Ep. 2
Dennis Carlson returns as host of Benefits Influencer to interview Employee Benefits Broker Vinny Catalano, SVP & Partner at Lockton Insurance Brokers. ---- Benefits Influencer is the #1 highest rated podcast for Employee Benefits Brokers and Advisors. Visit www.benefitsinfluencer for additional episodes and to get in touch.
Sep 07, 2022•36 min•Season 7Ep. 1
Benefits Influencer is taking a short hiatus this summer but will return soon with exciting new guests and topics. Stay tuned! Want to engage new leads on auto-pilot and increase your benefits revenue? Check out heyhunter.io and schedule a demo today.
Jul 16, 2022•1 min
