It is perhaps symbolic that Walker Forge, a heavy industrial employer in Milwaukee, was among Megan Zimmerman's first clients when she changed her business model. The alliances she forged at the 350-employee company opened her eyes to the reality of designing and implementing an affordable employer-sponsored health plan that provides better care at lower cost for its members.

Zimmerman, a finalist for the 2021 Broker of the Year, is vice president of Employee Health & Benefits at Marsh & McLennan's Milwaukee office. She landed in the benefits world after a journey that took her around its edges, offering keen insight into the components of employee health care. When she joined Walker Forge's health plan management team as a consultant, she found herself among like-minded revolutionaries ready to reinvent employee benefits.