Content area
Full text
When Jennifer Eilers took on a new client in the summer of 2012, the medical device company was facing a $1.2 million renewal increase. Unacceptable to Eilers, she and her team at Intercare Insurance Solutions, a Hub International Company, dove into the details of the account and didn't give up until that renewal dropped from 12.8% to 3.3% - with added plan enhancements.
After a month-long nomination process that asked applicants to describe innovative efforts, achievements and growth in the last year, the EBA editors are proud to name Eilers as our 2013 Employee Benefit Adviser of the Year. Her long-term strategic approach to benefits, combined with a team-oriented dedication to constant improvement, sets an example for the entire industry.
Creative innovation
Growing up just outside Washington, D.C., in the Maryland suburbs, Eilers earned a degree in psychology with a concentration in biology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She intended to use her education as a springboard to becoming a physical therapist, but after spending time with her ailing grandmother at her retirement home Eilers realized the treatment side of the health care equation wouldn't be the right fit for her.
Instead, she took a job in Baltimore on the financing side as an underwriter with Performax, a company specializing in packaging self-funded health plans. "I could still feel like I was a part of health care, but I didn't technically treat," she says. "It worked out well, because I feel health care is really important."
After a few years there, Eilers moved to the Bethesda, Md., offices of Willis, where she served as an account manager before her husband Erik's job moved the couple to San Diego. Eilers soon found a job as a senior associate with Mercer, where she stayed for nine years until Linda Keller, who'd hired her at Mercer, recruited her to be an account executive for Intercare, also in San Diego, in the spring of 2012.
After nearly 16 years in the industry, Eilers appreciates the lessons learned from each of her employers. Performax gave her a place to get her feet wet, and then Willis and Mercer provided the opportunity to understand the process of benefits, she says. "There's a process for everything at those large...