So, who's loving March Madness? I know my beloved Mizzou Tigers aren't in the dance this year, but I still love this time of year and I have my Elite Eight intact after the first 2 rounds! I love how excited everyone gets during the tournament and that there always seems to be a huge upset and someone is destined to be crying in their milk at some point.

I'm also getting super excited to head to Miami on April 1^st to speak at the BenefitsPRO Broker Expo annual conference. Make sure you come check me out as the host of the the new Fast & Furious session. It's going to be stellar. You can also see me at Business 101: Advice & Strategies that Will Kick Your Business up a Notch! If you don't learn a ton between these sessions, come find me and I'll buy you a beer. (Emma Passé will also be speaking during the closing keynote, BEN Talks – Why It All Matters.

So now on to the show! This month, I'm very excited to introduce you to Emma, Dawn and Mollie. I'm just in awe of these women; they are all very inspirational and kicking it from all corners of the country, as well as helping others along the way.

“The past 12 months have really been great for me! One of my proudest moments is my move over to E Powered Benefits as COO — I am relatively young (I think 35 is still young!) and an outspoken industry advocate for cost transparency and higher quality of care, which is what landed me right here at the forefront of the industry shift as a leader, contributor, and friend to as many people as possible — like-minded or otherwise!

Another is helping a Denver client of mine take on a fully embedded direct primary care with reference-based pricing plan; again, an emphasis on helping companies lower the cost of health care while maintaining and in most cases, increasing the quality of care that members can access. That plan will go live on 5/1 and was based on a full 24 month claims analysis and financial projection that I worked on and presented to both client and consultant.”

Dawn E. Wolfgram, CLF®, Regional Managing Director at Principal

“Sitting at home one Sunday afternoon I received a 'call of duty' of sorts. I learned WIFS (Women in Insurance and Financial Services) was looking for people to serve on their National Board. My 31 years in the industry have all been with one company, and although I've been active in local association work serving our business, I wanted to do more to truly impact our industry on a national scale. Having always been passionate about attracting women to our industry – coupled with my desire to have a larger impact – I applied. A rigorous interview process ensued and ultimately, I was honored to be selected as the National Vice President of the WIFS 2018-2019 Board of Directors. During my time on the board, I have gained some insight that I didn't have before.:

In a highly male-dominated industry, there's a big need for women to have more female role models that are highly successful.
Although a lot of work has been done within WIFS, there is still a lot of work to do to bring more equity of female representation in our industry.

I feel honored to have been selected to do such important work which will ultimately impact the financial services industry as a whole.”

Mollie Lacher, Sunny Care Services

“Just 10 months after starting my business, I had my second baby in October 2018. It can be daunting to be a business owner and a mother, and it has taken some time to find my groove after kiddo #2, but with each passing month, I am finding it so rewarding to be able to work and raise my little ones!

On the business front, Sunny Care Services was accepted into the InFlight program at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center. This is a highly competitive business accelerator program that I'm very proud to have been chosen for and have participated in since November 2018. This experience has spurred my creativity and led me to start a blog to catalog and document all of my learnings from working with families navigating life after losing a loved one and is becoming a go to resource for this population.”

As always, if you know of great women in the field who are working hard to make this this industry even better, send me an email introduction at scombs@combsandco.com.I'd love to connect! Also, if you are going to be in Miami, please come and meet me!

Instant Insights /

What's the good news, ladies? March Madness edition

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