Reed Smith, Benefits Selling's 2016 Broker of theYear, has studied the industry from all angles, givinghim a unique and comprehensive perspective on the needs andchallenges of brokers, clients and carriers. He exemplifies thenext generation of brokers, focusing on consumer-driven healthcare, embracing technology and preaching the idea that change isjust another word for opportunity.

The finalists for the 2016 Benefits Selling Broker of the Yearall have a few things in common. They work hard for their clients.They think strategically. They encourage long-term planning. Theydon't let regulations get in the way of success. They give creditto the people who work with them.

Indeed, they’ve all done more than just survive today'suncertain and unpredictable business climate. They’ve thrived.

Reed Smith's formula forsuccess consists of a few key ingredients that set him apart fromother brokers and agents. For starters, he doesn't just sit downwith a client and review a spreadsheet to see where he can savethem money. He takes it a couple steps further by devising astrategy for his clients to compete in their marketplace. Likeother brokers and agents, he has been a leader in encouragingconsumer-driven health care. But in order to do so, Smith hasembraced technology to engage employees and reduce costs. Whenthe Affordable Care Act(ACA) was passed, Smith conducted webinars forhis clients to learn about the law. During those webinars, morethan a few employers realized that Smith was way ahead of thegame.

Those are just a few reasons why Smith, a senior vice presidentand practice leader at CoBiz Insurance in Denver, is BenefitsSelling's 2016 Broker of the Year.

“He's got a lot of great strengths,” says Todd McLean, presidentof CoBiz Insurance. “He's a passionate champion for employeebenefits and how they impact people. He's also an exceptional teamplayer; he goes 24-7 and will be anywhere for his team and hisclients. He gives great guidance to the team, he's articulate andhe has all the qualities you want to see from someone in control.He's our practice lead to the entire team and he's an individualeveryone on the team feels comfortable going to.”

The 37-year-old Smith joined CoBiz in 2009 and has helped growthe company's employee benefits business from $2 million at thattime to $6 million last year. Smith works with about 50 small- tomid-size companies, and his strategies have helped CoBiz's clientskeep their health care costs significantly below inflation for fouryears running.

“We are always pushing ourselves to think about the help ourclients need to make sure they’re outperforming the nationalaverage and their competitors in attracting and retaining talentbecause they have a better benefits plan that is more costeffective,” Smith says.

Actionable intelligence

While he's helped his clients manage health care costs, Smithsees his role as much more than acting as a spreadsheet analyst. Hetalks with his clients about health insurance and benefits packagesin competitive terms. The way Smith sees it, helping clientsattract and retain top employee talent enables them to beat theircompetition.

“We spend a lot of time in up-front discussions with newclients, talking about how we can align benefits strategy withtheir business strategy,” Smith says.

“We use analytics, employee education and long-term strategicplanning—that's not how insurance and benefits are managed in a lotof places. So when we talk to a new client about whether there areany disparities between their business and how they manage theirhealth care benefits, we tell them we want to be the company thatlives in the benefits world and brings them actionableintelligence.”

Smith has worked with Cochlear—an international manufacture ofimplantable hearing devices with offices in Centennial,Colorado—for the past four years. Kim Coleman, a senior director ofhuman resources with the company, points toward Smith'sunderstanding of her company's culture and business objectives asattributes that have set him apart from other brokers andagents.

In fact, Smith's contributions to Cochlear were deemed sovaluable that CoBiz was able to retain the company as a clientafter the company changed CEOs.

“He looks at and listens for what's going on in the market andwhat's going on in the organization—what we’re trying to achievefrom a benefits perspective,” Coleman says. “We have a very closepartnership to align Cochlear's benefits strategy with what's goingon in the local and national market.”

“We’re very fortunate to have a base in Colorado,” Smith says,“which is continually recognized as one of the fastest growingeconomies and one of the best places in the country to live andwork, so employers are moving here all the time. There are hugenational employers that are building infrastructure here, but wealso have these small and mid-size clients who are competing fortalent. We tell employers—whether you’re a customer today or afuture customer—that if you don't view health care as an advantagetoday, it will become a disadvantage down the road.”

Teaching and technology

One key strategy for helping employers contain health care costshas been to engage employees and help them act as better consumers.That's nothing new in the employee benefits game. Smith's approachis to communicate to employees about their health care choices andeducate them about how their benefits work.

At Cochlear, Smith has been instrumental in helping the companymake fundamental changes to their health care offerings.

“We’ve been shifting and educating our employees about how toengage with benefits,” Coleman says. “We began offering a highdeductible plan, and we’ve been moving toward self-funding. Before,we had a paternalistic, family approach and CoBiz helped usnavigate that.

Again, Reed understood our organization and started havingdiscussions with our carrier. He told us about what was happeningand what we needed to watch. I had not experienced that with anyother advisor.”

At CoBiz, Smith has been a leading proponent of using technologyto help manage health care costs. Talk to Smith for any amount oftime and you will hear him espouse the benefits of telemedicine.Smith says that while telemedicine is relatively new, it hasalready helped reduce costs. For instance, telemedicine has gottento a point where some illnesses can be diagnosed and treatedwithout a trip to a medical facility.

“The emergence of digitalization in health care benefits hasgotten a lot of attention in the media and Reed has been a championof digitalization before it was everywhere,” McLean says.

“Where he's giving us guidance is in the telemedicine area,along with Skype and FaceTime. He's going to be fundamental to ourbusiness as we move forward with the digitalization of health care.He's a great student of what's evolving in the sector.”

A holistic view

After Smith, a native of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, graduated fromthe University of Colorado-Boulder with a degree in businessmanagement, he began looking for a career path. He ended upattending a job fair on campus, which led to a position at GreatWest, a health insurance company active in Colorado at the time.Cigna eventually acquired Great West and Smith found himself on theinside of a publicly traded Fortune 500 company. He worked on thecarrier side of the industry for about 10 years and was a nationalsales leader six years in a row.

It turns out the experience has been a great help to his clientsover the years. Many of the chief financial officers on his clientroster appreciate his carrier background, Smith says, because ithelps them strategize how to represent themselves in negotiations.But Smith has also learned how to make carrier negotiationssuccessful for all parties.

“The years I spent at Cigna gave me such incredible perspectiveabout what goes on behind the scenes and how they’re tasked withmeeting the demands of Wall Street,” Smith says. “Moving to thebroker side, when we’re having a discussion, we’re seeking awin-win proposition. We tell people all the time that a win-losesituation isn't feasible. Our job is to make sure both sides thinkabout a long-term winning situation.”

Navigating the future

In 2012, Smith started a monthly webinar to help educate hisclients about the ACA. In the beginning, he recalls seeing 20 to 30employers in the sessions, but it has now grown to around 300employers.

Smith's webinars have helped attract new clients to CoBiz assome of those attendees realized they weren't getting similarinformation from their benefits companies.

In addition to shepherding clients through ACA, Smith hasrealized that his future success meant shifting his role frombroker to advisor.

He also encourages current and potential clients to investigatechanging the way they do things. In fact, Smith describes much ofhis job as establishing CoBiz as a “thought leader” in theindustry.

“There was a lot of industry clamor that the ACA was going toend the broker,” Smith says. “To one degree, I agree with that. Ina post-ACA world, employers don't need a broker or an agent.

The historic definition of a broker is not the role employersneed in the future. They need an advisor or a consultant to addressa more holistic view of benefits.”