Learn more about each author below.
Aaron Ault
Aaron Ault
CFO - Ault International Medical Management
Aaron Ault serves as the CFO for Ault International Medical Management (AIMM) and has been a part of the organization since its inception. He has been involved in the development of both the P3CM process and the Bridge Program. Previously, he has worked with several non-profit organizations including the Nazarene Foundation and the Arkansas Dream Center. He graduated from Mount Vernon Nazarene University in 2017 and is currently pursuing a master’s degree.
Phone: 614-905-1770
Email: aaron@ospreybenefits.com
Website: ospreybenefits.com
Ben Conner
Ben Conner
After graduating with a degree in finance from Indiana Wesleyan University in 2006, Ben signed on with Conner Insurance as an insurance advisor. Using his strengths in strategic planning, finance, and communication, Ben’s exceptional vision and execution with his clients led him to be recognized as a top advisor in both the firm and the US insurance industry. By his late 20’s, he had been hired by some of the largest and most reputable privately held and publicly traded companies in Indiana.
Because of his outstanding efforts, Ben was promoted to CEO in 2013. In 2015, Ben Conner and his business partners acquired Conner Insurance from the previous owners. In the 15 years since the joining the firm, Conner Insurance has retained 90% of its clients, the firm has grown 3x, Conner has tripled their number of insurance advisors on staff, and the firm has grown the average customer size by more than 10 times, positioning the firm as one of the highest-growing and most trusted consulting firms in Indiana. Utilizing his leadership, work ethic and expertise, Ben’s benefits clients have experienced best in class national results in managing their health plans. Eighty percent of Ben’s clients have experienced flat or reduced healthcare expenses over the last 5-10 years, which is unheard of in the benefits healthcare industry.
Through his guidance and focus on workplace culture, Conner Insurance was recognized as one of the 100 Healthiest Workplaces in American in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017. Conner Insurance was also named the Healthiest Employer in Indiana in 2016, and was a finalist in 2012, 2014, and 2015. Additionally, Conner Insurance was a Top 10 finalist for the Best Places to Work in Indiana in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2020. Ben has also been recognized by BenefitsPro magazine as a finalist for the 2020 Broker of the Year award and in 2019 by Employee Benefit Adviser as a Rising Star in Advising, which are both national awards programs for advisors who are making a difference in the benefits consulting field. Ben was also recognized in 2021 by the Indianapolis Business Journal as a 40 under 40 recipient. Ben was a Board Member and President for a local household goods moving company, Jay’s Moving, from 2008-2019. Jay’s was recognized in 2018 as a FAST25 Company by the Indianapolis Business Journal, which recognizes the 25 fastest growing companies in the Indianapolis market.
Ben lives in Fishers, IN with his wife, Alyssa, and their three children. Ben loves to read, play/watch sports, travel, and spend time with his family.
Deborah Ault
Deborah Ault
Deborah Ault (aka Nurse Deb) has been a Registered Nurse for thirty years. Before getting into Care Management, her bedside nursing experience included ER, ICU, Doctor's Office, Home Health, and Telephone Triage. Now she is the President of Ault International Medical Management (aka AIMM). Her team of nurses and doctors helps patients navigate both the health delivery and the health insurance systems. By ensuring that the right patients are getting the right care at the right time in the right place and at the right price, AIMM creates situations where the patient, provider, and plan all win! She is the author of 16 published outcome case studies as well as several editorials/articles and is a sought-after public speaker on these topics. Her passion and dedication to managed care has driven her success in the industry, saving employer-sponsored health plans countless dollars and improving the quality of patient care.
Access a complete resource library from Deb and AIMM here: https://nursedeb.lpages.co/book/
Griffin Meredith
Meredith Griffin
Griffin has been involved in the Risk Management and Healthcare industry since obtaining his bachelor’s degree from Centre College. Griffin’s company, Commonwealth Insurance Partners (CIP), has a hyper-focus on risk management of health plans. Griffin and his CIP team guide their clients to understanding that surface-level changes without the proper underlying fixes are only temporary solutions to long-term problems.
Griffin has served as President of the Louisville and Kentucky chapters of the National Association of Health Underwriters (NAHU) and received personal certifications from NAHU in Self-Funding, PPACA, Wellness, and Consumer Driven Healthcare. Commonwealth Insurance Partners is the exclusive provider and risk manager for the Kentucky Association of Manufacturers Association Health Plan, which collectively manages the risk for hundreds of employers and thousands of employees.
In addition, Griffin serves as Secretary and Director of Lincoln National Bank, a $380 Million Kentucky-based community bank. He has been recognized as one of “Kentucky’s People to Know in Insurance,” a Mastermind Partner with the Next-Gen Benefits Healthcare Network, and a Health Rosetta Certified Employee Benefits Advisor. Griffin resides in Louisville, KY, with his wife Sara, who works with the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, and his two children Maddox and Margaux.
Commonwealth Insurance Partners
550 S. 5th St., Ste. 101 Louisville, KY 40202
Main 502-631-9600
linkedin.com/in/griffin-meredith-healthcare-advisor-manufacturers-consultant-082a8122
Jen Berman
Jen Berman
CEO - MZQ Consulting
Jen Berman is an employee benefits attorney and entrepreneur. She is a leader in analyzing healthcare reform developments and frequently serves as a speaker and commentator on a wide variety of healthcare reform and employee benefits issues. In addition to her work leading MZQ, she is a member of Holder Law Group LLC. Jen graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she was Editor-in-Chief of the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Labor and Employment Law. Jen also completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating magna cum laude. She is an avid lover of textile arts, frequently wearing stunning pieces she hand-crafted herself.
Contact Info
(443)-948-6800
engage@mzqconsulting.com
www.mzqconsulting.com
Marc Wilson
Marc Wilson
CEO - The Wesmarc Group
Marc Wilson’s passion is to positively impact the health and wealth of organizations and their employees. Marc has over 14 years of experience working in the employee benefits industry. He believes that there is a better way for employers to deliver high-quality healthcare at a lower cost to their employees. He launched The Wesmarc Group after realizing that the traditional health insurance model with misaligned incentives was contributing to the problem in our healthcare system.
The Wesmarc Group is a transparent fee-based consulting firm that helps organizations retake control and reclaim precious capital so that they can reinvest in their company, people, corporate social responsibility or cause. The Wesmarc Group identifies unrecognized financial opportunities that are “trapped” inside operating expenses as excess funding or over insuring and then help you manage risk, recover millions, free up cash flow, and show you how to invest in your organization’s healthcare system so that your employees will have more access to higher quality care at lower costs while increasing your bottom line.
Contact Info
(480)-707-8182
marc@refreshmybenefits.com
Michael Smith
Michael Case Smith
The Benefits Department Mike was on the frontlines of 401(k)’s massive reduction of conflicts and fees. Over the subsequent 20 years, healthcare costs went in the opposite direction. So today he applies proven processes to ameliorate conflicts, waste, and poor employee outcomes in group healthcare plans.
In addition to heading the agency, Mike is the Director of the Florida Manufacturers Healthcare Consortium. He began his career in the London and Los Angeles offices of a global pension advisor. In 1998 he and a group of colleagues joined Nobel Laureate Harry Markowitz to patent and license a series of financial technologies. In 2008, they purchased a New York investment firm. After a fivefold growth in assets, the company was sold, and Smith moved to Florida where he resides with his wife Karen and four (very) young children.
Smith has been a commentator for CNBC, MSNBC, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. He is a vocal opponent of conflicts of interest on Wall Street, having testified before the Department of Labor, SEC, and the United States Senate. He has been a volunteer for Big Brothers, Los Angeles and Chicago prison mentoring programs, and Board member of Boys & Girls Clubs Chicago, Papua New Guinea US AID, Irish Georgian Society, and Notre Dame Club of Jacksonville.
Contact Info
(904)-206-8642
msmith@benefits-department.com
www.benefits-department.com
Naama O. Pozniak
Naama O. Pozniak
Founder/CEO - Rightplan.com A force within the healthcare and insurance industries, award-winning strategic health insurance advisor Naama O. Pozniak is a mother, lifelong yogi, Primordial Sound Meditation coach, NFT artist, collector, author, and Founder/CEO of Paz Holding, Inc. / RightPlan.com. Naama brings a unique balance of proven mindfulness leadership techniques and corporate wisdom to clients across industries. With the mind of a rock star, the heart of a healer, and the generosity of an avid volunteer, Naama’s programs inspire and educate from her 30+ years in the benefits industry and her experiences as a meditation teacher and radical speaker.
As a market disruptor and influencer, Naama is an Associate Publisher and Editorial Board member of Cal Broker magazine, NAHU Region 8 Media Chair, and serves on the LAAHU’s board as a HUPAC Chair. In addition, she has led meditation sessions with dozens of organizations over the past 10 years, including Women In Cloud, major insurance carriers, BenefitsPro, ASCEND, and the National Association for Health Underwriters. She brings her wisdom for holistic wellness, leadership, and healthcare costs discussions directly to industry stakeholders in the hybrid meta workforce environment.
Naama teaches timeless techniques proven to help reduce stress and instill a sense of peaceful well-being to family, friends, clients, students, and colleagues. She has developed and led two continuing education courses approved by the Departments of Insurance in California, Florida, Arizona, Nevada, and Texas, showing that implementing an intelligent heart connection and 360-degree care will reduce stress, help us know ourselves better, create happiness, reduce the costs of care, and raise collective awareness.
Contact Info
(818) 508-7177 | naama@rightplan.com | www.rightplan.com
Nelson Griswold
Nelson Griswold
Founder & Chairman NextGen Benefits Network
A controversial industry disrupter, bestselling author, and in-demand keynote speaker, Nelson Griswold is Founder and Chairman of the NextGen Benefits Network, a national alliance of independent healthcare advisory & consulting firms. NextGen Benefits Network members are revolutionizing employee benefits and healthcare delivery by helping executives improve the quality of care and make healthcare a controllable cost by managing their company’s healthcare supply chain. Their success and strategies have been featured in prominent business publications including Chief Executive and CFO magazines.
The author of DO or DIE, a trade best-seller for leaders of employee benefits firms, he is lead author of two #1 bestsellers on healthcare reform, BREAKING THROUGH THE STATUS QUO – How Innovative Companies Are Changing the Benefits Game to Help Their Employees and Boost Their Bottom Line and NEXTGENERATION HEALTHCARE – Proven Secrets of Managing the Healthcare Value Chain to Improve Outcomes and Reduce Costs.
An authority and popular speaker on healthcare reform, Nelson has spoken in 46 states and the District of Columbia and has keynoted numerous conferences. Nelson has been honored as a Health Value Awards Finalist at the World Health Care Congress and was presented the prestigious Industry Leadership Award by the Voluntary Benefits Association. He is a featured columnist for Employee Benefit News magazine and writes for other publications including BenefitsPRO and Entrepreneur.
Contact Info
NextGen Benefits Network
(615)-369-0618
www.NextGenBenefits.Network
Robin Flaherty
Robin Flaherty
Founder & President
Benefit Link
Robin Flaherty started consulting in the employee benefits industry in 1997 after a career as a CPA in the tax department at Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers).
Robin leads Benefit Link, an employee benefit consulting company that advises employers who have strategic options for using their claims data to aggressively manage affordable, high-quality healthcare for their employees. Benefit Link also helps employers and employees take the guesswork out of selecting health insurance plans for companies with less than 100 employees. As part of her employee benefit consulting client work, Robin is a thought leader on the budding disruptions in healthcare and advises companies that are transforming how healthcare is purchased and delivered.
Contact Information:
(585)-349-8000
robin@benefitlink.net
Ryan Spencer
Ryan Spencer
Ryan is an advisor and partner at Conner Insurance, a co-founder of City on a Hill Health, and Director of the medical stop loss captives within the organizations. He has found a passion in helping business and schools create efficiencies within their operations and providing enhanced care, additional benefits, and engagement for their workforces.
Before entering the healthcare business, Ryan worked as an engineer for an engine company spanning several roles, including powertrain optimization, combustion performance, and customer relationships and quality. The curiosity and analytical skills he developed during his time as an engineer has aided in his pursuit of better and more efficient care inside of our healthcare system.
His educational background consists of a Bachelor’s of Science in Engineering Physics from Taylor University, and a MBA in Marketing and Finance from IU Kelley School of Business. Outside of work, Ryan lives in Carmel, IN and enjoys spending time with his wife and 2 kids. His hobbies include reading, hiking, and playing cards with friends.