Benefits industry newsmakers: DailyPay, Hub International, PSCA, SCAN Health Plan, AIG Retirement Services

People on the move, new company names, mergers, promotions, partnerships, awardwinners — there’s much to celebrate in the employee benefits industry. Here we go:

VALIC, a retirement plan provider for health care, K-12, higher education, government, religious, charitable and other not-for-profit organizations, will now be known as AIG Retirement Services. AIG Retirement Services includes the VALIC family of companies which are not changing their legal names: The Variable Annuity Life Insurance Company and its subsidiaries, VALIC Financial Advisors, Inc. and VALIC Retirement Services Company.

Scout Investments, an investment management firm and affiliate of Carillon Tower Advisers, announced that Timothy Burger, CFA, has joined Scout Investments as a senior analyst on the Small Cap team. Based in Scout’s Kansas City headquarters, Mr. Burger joins the team led by James McBride, lead portfolio manager of the Scout Small Cap Equity Strategy, and will work with the team to conduct bottom-up fundamental analysis and valuation modeling to identify opportunities within the small-cap market.

SCAN Health Plan, a not-for-profit senior-focused organization and one of the largest Medicare Advantage plans in the country, has announced a new photo campaign called “stages: 100 Over 100.” Each week SCAN will post a portrait of one of its members who has reached their 100th birthday and beyond, along with a biographical essay to honor their life so far.

Northeast Business Group on Health, a New York-based employer-led coalition of health care stakeholders, and Yelp Inc.  announced a partnership to add onto Yelp pages maternity care measures for the roughly 50 New York City and Long Island hospitals that provide maternity care services. NEBGH will provide Yelp with maternity care data from ExpectNY.com, a website NEBGH runs that includes publicly-available, searchable data on maternity procedures and practices at all New York City and Long Island hospitals that deliver babies.

The National Association of Plan Advisors (NAPA) announced Jania Stout as its 2019-2020 president at the opening session of the 2019 NAPA 401(k) Summit early April in Las Vegas, Nevada. Stout is practice leader and 2014 co-founder of Fiduciary Plan Advisors at Hightower in Owings Mills, MD.

Other changes on the NAPA Leadership Council for 2019-2020:

• Last year’s Vice President Pat Wenzel is this year’s president-elect. Wenzel is managing director of wealth management at Merrill Lynch in Houston, TX.
• Alex Assaley, principal at AFS 401(k) Retirement Services in Bethesda, MD, replaces Wenzel as vice president.
• Jeff Acheson replaces his predecessor, 2017-2018 President Paul D’Aiutolo, as an ex officio member.
• Kevin Mahoney of Raymond James replaces Assaley as an at-large member.
• Brendan McCarthy of Nuveen joins the Leadership Council as a firm partner representative, replacing Yaqub Ahmed of Franklin Templeton.

Plan Sponsor Council of America has announced its 2019 Signature Award Best-in-Show winner, the “Let’s Taco-Bout Retirement” campaign by Massey Services, a pest prevention and landscape care company, with Chepenick Financial. PSCA’s Signature Awards recognize excellence in retirement plan communications to both plan sponsors and plan participants. The “Let’s Taco-Bout Retirement” campaign used a local taco truck and meal vouchers along with an on-site educational counselor to provide information and answers to employee questions and enrollment forms with catchy slogans such as “Sign up now or you’ll be living la vida broke-a” and “Put away a little extra just in queso.”

Insurance Brokers’ Assoc of New York announced IBANY’s 2019 Emerging Leader class, which recognizes the bright young lights of the industry:

• Michelle Abecasis, HUB International Northeast
• Matthew Berliner, RT Specialty
• Dwayne Callender, CPCU, API, ARM, The Travelers Companies, Inc.
• Matthew Culkin, PL Risk Advisors, Inc.
• Nick DelVino, AmWINS Brokerage of NY
• Patrick Farrell, Philadelphia Insurance Companies
• Cheryl Karim, Gallagher
• Stephanie Maes, ARM, Foa & Son Corporation
• Victoria Marciano, FCAS, Sompo International
• Rudy Milfort, Integro Insurance Brokers
• Ryan Murphy, Allied World Assurance Company
• Caroline Nolan, CHUBB
• Johanna Ospina, Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance
• Matthew Price, Aspen Insurance
• Lauren Randall, Marsh & McLennan Agency, Northeast
• Debra Simon, Preferred Concepts, LLC

Hub International Limited and Tennessee REALTORS announced the launch of an association health plan (AHP), established under the Department of Labor’s new association rules.

Health Alliance Plan President and CEO Teresa Kline has announced plans to retire. Kline’s last day with HAP will be June 30, 2019. Kline spearheaded HAP’s major transition in 2017, pivoting the health insurance company toward more profitable group contracts and government programs, resulting in a $30 million turnaround. Michael Genord, M.D., HAP’s current senior vice president and chief medical officer, will serve as interim president and CEO while Henry Ford Health System conducts the search for Kline’s successor.

Green Circle Health announced it has renamed the company Green Circle Life. It also launched new products: Green Circle HR, Green Circle Health, and Green Circle Wellness.

Third-party administrator Flume Health launched. It raised over $4M in venture capital from Primary VC, Accomplice, and Founder Collective.

Provider of automated benefits technology, EverythingBenefits, announced its partnership with Picwell, the provider of advanced predictive decision support solutions for consumer and employee benefits plan selection information.

DailyPay is partnering with Berkshire Hathaway’s Clayton Home Building Group, to provide its 10,000+ employees with the ability to make secure, instant transfers of earned but unpaid wages.

Bronfman Rothschild, an independent investment advisor, announced the closing of its sale to Sontag Advisory (a subsidiary of NFP Corp.). Bronfman Rothschild will integrate with Sontag Advisory and the combined firms will manage $11.93 billion as of March 31, 2019. Mike LaMena will assume the role of chief executive officer, Eric Sontag will become president and chief operating officer and Howard Sontag will become chairman of the combined entity.

Brightway Insurance continues to expand across the country. New businesses include the following:

• Dan Carmichael will open Brightway, The Carmichael Agency in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.
• Charlee Amos-Coles will open Brightway, The Amos-Coles Agency in Wesley Chapel, Florida.
• Sisters-in-law, Ana and Maria Villafana, will open Brightway, The Villafana Agency in Houston, Texas.
• Heather Hoffman opened Brightway, Heather Grace Agency in Centennial, Colorado.
• Jetarika Pearson opened Brightway, The Jetarika Pearson Agency in Jersey City, New Jersey.
• Juanita Reddish opened Brightway, The Reddish Agency in Ellenwood, Georgia.
• Tamika Brown opened Brightway, The Dublin Agency in Dublin, Georgia.
• Alton Knapp opened Brightway, The Knapp Agency in Saratoga Springs, New York.
• Melissa Holst opened Brightway, The Melissa Holst Agency in Lakewood, Colorado.
• Karen Spinelli opened Brightway, The Spinelli Agency in Phoenix, Arizona.
• Calvin Johnson opened Brightway, The Johnson Family Agency in College Park, Georgia.

Benefitfocus announced it will offer personal lines insurance, including auto and renters coverage, on its BenefitsPlace platform, partnering with insurance carriers and specialty product suppliers to offer brokers and employers P&C and life insurance products, and expanded Consumer-directed health account, COBRA and direct-billing options for consumers.

Banner|Aetna, the Arizona health plan owned by Banner Health and Aetna, announced a collaboration with 98point6, an on-demand, text-based primary care service that delivers personalized consultation, diagnosis and treatment to patients. Through Banner|Aetna’s collaboration with 98point6, members will have unlimited, 24/7 access to virtual primary care.

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