Remembering Jack Kwicien, benefits advisor and M&A dealmaker

Editor’s note: If you would like to share your own memories about Jack Kwicien or see additional thoughts from others who knew him, you can do so on this LinkedIn post.

Jack Kwicien, a recognized speaker and columnist with more than 30 years of executive management and entrepreneurial experience in the insurance, benefits, financial services and workforce management market sectors, passed away on September 19.

A registered investment advisor who co-founded Daymark Advisors LLC, a Baltimore-based boutique management consulting and advisory services firm, he was a contributor to BenefitsPRO, was one of Employee Benefit Adviser’s founding columnists and contributed to Employee Benefit News. He was also president of the Workplace Benefits Association Advisory Board.

His expertise included business development, as well as mergers and acquisitions. He founded RewardsPlus (later rebranded RealLife HR), which leveraged Internet technology and worksite-marketing strategies to deliver customized core and voluntary benefit solutions. The company was later purchased by Hewitt Associates. In addition, he co-founded a private equity fund that invested in early stage technology companies.

“Jack and I had many meetings, calls, texts and emails over the years,” says fellow Baltimorean Eric Silverman, founder of Voluntary Disruption, a division of the Silverman Benefits Group, “and they were all full of his passion for us to succeed, as well as our industry.” He recalls his first one-on-one meeting with Jack years ago at his favorite wine bar/restaurant. “We sat for hours talking,” he says. “It was an amazing afternoon I’ll never forget.”

Elizabeth Galantine, editor of Employee Benefit Adviser for nearly a decade, has many fond memories of Jack, who she says “was a sounding board. An idea-generator. A listener and story finder. He knew what it took to shake up stale mindsets and wasn’t afraid to lay it out in his monthly columns.”

Suzy Johnson, agency leader and managing director of The Hilb Group Southeast/Employee Benefit Advisors of the Carolinas, LLC, notes that Jack was helpful in connecting people as well as a big advocate for women in the employee benefits industry. Rachel Miner, founder and owner of Thrive Benefits LLC, echoes that observation. She found Jack very motivating, saying he encouraged her to “use my voice as a force of change.”

His presence in the benefits space was nothing short of impactful, according to Megan Chiarello, founder and president of Grassetto Creative and vice president of marketing for WellNet Healthcare. “He was extremely dedicated to educating the industry and was an active collaborator for so many of us,” she says.

Nadine Cunningham, a virtual event planner and former senior program manager for Arizent, the parent company of Employee Benefit Adviser, appreciated Jack’s “tremendous impact on all who got to know his skills, humor and personal strength. He was smart, knowledgeable and was always willing to serve and speak at our events.”

His many friends and admirers, including myself, found him to be both thoughtful and spirited about our industry. I interviewed him several times, then became his friend during the final two years of his life, texting and emailing quite a bit, as well as an occasional Zoom Happy Hour during the pandemic. I’ll never forget how on that first video call, I commented about a beard he was sporting at the time, wondering why he would cover up such a handsome face. Jack was straight out of Central Casting, with old-Hollywood grizzled good looks – sort of a cross between Jack Palance and the Marlboro Man.

His explanation turned light-hearted banter into a serious and emotional moment. Jack had met a young boy with cancer who was undergoing chemotherapy and admired the beard. So he vowed not to shave it off until the child was five years cancer-free. I remember him telling me the story and choking up. I was floored by this anecdote, which summed him up better than anything else.

Jack was the consummate storyteller and always full of life – a jazz aficionado and connoisseur of good food and fine wine who would randomly text details of eye-popping homemade meals, along with dozens of recipes, one of which became my birthday dinner last December. He also was a huge Baltimore Ravens fan, whose high-rise condo boasted a killer view of Inner Harbor, as well as a proud alum of Notre Dame and a golf fanatic with a colorful family background.

He told me about a cousin on his mother’s side who was running numbers for the New Jersey mob and being intimately familiar with all the haunts featured in “The Sopranos” on HBO. Then he’d break into some spot-on impressions. He was exceptional with accents. He also mentioned how knowledgeable he became about wine from shopping with his Italian mom at the local market as a young boy, remembering how she assigned him the daunting task of matching evening dinners with appropriate spirits.

I became very worried about Jack the final two months of his life. He wasn’t answering my texts, which was not like him. So I also emailed and then left a voicemail when that didn’t work. Finally, he texted to say it had been a rough three weeks, full of suspected food poisoning, spinal pain and condo issues. He said, “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Then, silence until a family friend broke the news of his passing. Although his final text helped prepare me for the inevitable, it was still crushing to learn that he was gone – a class act and old-school gentleman, both of which are in short supply these days.

I can only hope that he lived long enough to know the final score of the Ravens vs. Chiefs game on the day he died and bask in the glow of that upset victory for his beloved home team. He wouldn’t have stopping texting a gleeful reaction.

The irony of how Jack and I became friends is that I emailed him regarding a touching tribute he wrote about someone in the employee benefits industry who had passed away and was greatly admired. He appreciated my condolences and kindness, and here I am two-plus years later doing the same for him.

Bruce Shutan is a journalist and ghostwriter in Portland, Ore., who has covered the employee benefits industry for 33 years.