Happy pumpkin spice season! I know this post is a little later in the month than usual. Last month, I had reported that my father was in hospice and a few short days after the post went to press, I headed back home to Missouri once again and was with him and my immediate family when he took his last breath. Many of you have reached out to me during this time and I am grateful. It really is amazing how we have built such a fantastic community of rock star women here at BenefitPro who are all about supporting each other. This month, I'm excited to continue our second year with stories from Christina and Rosemary, who bring a combined total of over 40 years of experience to the table and are always looking to put their clients first!

Through long-term client relationships, my company has been referred into several associations that have endorsed us and chosen to partner with C&A to offer employee benefit strategies to their members. This has allowed us to expand our footprint on a national level. We have spent very little money on marketing through the years, because all of our growth has come from referrals. I'm very proud of this because it tells me we must be doing something right! The second accomplishment I'm extremely proud of is the development of our team. Everyone is crossed trained in multiple departments and takes ownership of their clients and roles. “Above and Beyond. That's what we do” is not just our tag line, it's our service model. I also think my staff takes pride in the fact that I don't have to be involved in a lot of “things” anymore. It's a great place to be!

Rosemary Manning Hughes, EPIC Brokers & Consultants

“In the past 12 months, I have enjoyed working with clients of varying sizes, from the small (60 employees) to much larger (several thousand employees). They also represent multiple industries, such as professional services, manufacturing firms and tech firms. We address business issues using benefits and perks as a tool.

I am most proud of finding affordable health and welfare options for companies that are not as attractive to carriers, such as those with historically low enrollment, high risk industries, and companies growing so fast that it is difficult to assess the risk. It has challenged me to learn about non-traditional products and firms and to spend time discussing the individual cases with underwriters, sales and service people at the carriers. Presenting the results to employees in open enrollment meetings and seeing the impact of a solid benefits package is just a great feeling.

As always, if you know of great women in the field who are working hard to make this this industry event better, send me an email introduction to scombs@combsandco.com. I'd love to connect!

Instant Insights /

What's the good news, ladies? September edition

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