Rachel Means is the founder and CEO of Employee Benefits Consulting in Tyler, Texas. Along with her team, she works to increase bottom line profits and improve care and access for every client.

Paul Wilson: How did you get your start in the benefits industry?

I never wanted to be in insurance, because my Mom had been an executive at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas since I was a kid. She just retired last May, so we can finally have Thanksgiving together without arguing across the table! My husband used to make a pitcher of margaritas and let us debate the merits (or lack thereof) of PPO discounts on the back porch without him.

I had a really good upbringing, went to college and wanted to go into medicine. I failed Chemistry and decided med school wouldn't work, so I went the business/marketing route. I had a buddy who owned an energy trading firm so I entered a internship program there and really thought it was the life before I realized the job entailed sitting in front of a computer for 14 hours a day. But the HR person there went on maternity leave and the CEO asked if I'd help with benefits renewal. I didn't know what he was talking about, but started exploring it and ended up getting a job offer from a tiny one-man shop in Houston.

I was doing account management for him and grew a block of business from the ground up by managing his self-funded clients and groups.