Jessica Brooks Woods. Credit: Pittsburgh Business Group on Health
The board of the National Association of Benefits and Insurance Professionals has announced plans to replace Jessica Brooks Woods as its chief executive officer.
Susan Rider, NABIP's president, told members in a letter that the fourth quarter of 2025 "posed significant challenges for the association" and led to "several board resignations."
"After careful consideration, the board determined that a leadership transition was necessary to reset and strengthen NABIP's governance and reinforce stability moving forward," Rider wrote in the letter.
She said in the letter that one focus will be enforcing budget discipline.
Brooke Willson, a senior vice president at NABIP, and Trace Hall, the group's controller, will serve as interim leaders while the group is looking for a new CEO.
"The board's priority is ensuring stable leadership and uninterrupted service to our members," Rider said in a statement about the leadership transition. "We are confident in our interim leadership team and in the resilience of our organization. NABIP is financially sound, operationally steady, and fully engaged in advancing our advocacy, member services and Vision 2030 priorities."
Vision 2030 refers to NABIP's initiative to reshape the organization and the health benefits industry.
In an exclusive statement to BenefitsPRO, Brooks Woods said that she has "had the privilege of serving as CEO of NABIP during a period of significant structural transition and modernization."
"During that time, we reduced a nearly $700,000 operating deficit by more than 60%, strengthened non-dues revenue through diversified commercial growth, and permanently lowered fixed overhead through a strategic real estate reset. We also modernized core infrastructure and established the Office of Transformation to align governance, operational discipline, and long-term financial sustainability."
In addition to taking steps to stabilize NABIP, "we elevated professional standards across the industry — preparing the launch of the Certified Integrity Broker designation, advancing the Healthcare Fiduciary Certificate Program, establishing a first-of-its-kind broker-led Precision Medicine Task Force, and expanding Medicare Certification and policy engagement nationwide," Brooks Woods said. "Leadership during structural correction requires discipline and resolve. I'm proud of the measurable progress made and the foundation laid for long-term durability and professionalization."
Brooks Woods added that, as her time as NABIP's CEO ends, she remains "deeply committed to advancing transparency, integrity and alignment within the benefits and insurance industry. I look forward to the next chapter of impact."
NABIP: NABIP — a group formerly known as the National Association of Health Underwriters — was founded in 1930 and now represents more than 100,000 health insurance professionals.
NABIP helps shape health policy in Washington and in state capitals.
In the past year, NABIP has been active in discussions about issues such as prescription drug cost reduction efforts and efforts to regulate level-funded plans, or arrangements that help small employers offer self-insured health plans.
Jessica Brooks Woods: Brook -Woods is a longtime health care access advocate.
She's the co-founder and CEO of Pittsburgh-based EARN Staffing Solutions, an employment services firm.
She also is the founder and CEO of U.S. Health Desk, a volunteer group that tries to help patients who believe they are having trouble getting health care professionals to respect their health care needs.
She was the CEO of the Pittsburgh Business Group on Health from 2013 through 2022.
She became CEO of NABIP in September 2023. She appeared last week, at a panel discussion on the state of health, at a conference that was organized by the California Agents & Health Insurance Professionals.
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