America's Benefit Specialist December 2022

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

Alliant Insurance Services has hired Maria Barron as vice president within its Employ ee Benefits Group. The healthcare industry professional will provide a full range of solutions and services to a diverse client base across the West Coast. Based in San Francisco, Barron has extensive experience working for health and wellness organizations, providing service and support to individuals facing a range of medical conditions and businesses looking to support their employees through high-val ue services and solutions. Barron also has expertise within the women’s health, fertility and family-building sectors, delivering customizable solutions to add benefits from preconception through postpartum. Prior to joining Alliant, Barron served as senior director, employer sales at a healthcare services firm. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Pitzer College in Claremont, California. Alliant is also expanding its employee benefits presence in the Midwest with the

addition of Cameron Troxell and John O’Connor . Based in Indianapolis, Troxell joins Alliant as vice president. He has more than 10 years of experience, which includes the role of director of health & wellness for the State of Indiana. Before joining Alliant, Troxell was vice president, benefits strategy with a national insurance brokerage firm. O’Connor joins Alliant as vice president in Columbus, Ohio. He has worked in the employee benefits field for more than 20 years, serving in leadership roles focused on business development and maintaining client relationships. O’Connor has extensive experience designing and developing cus tomized benefits solutions for clients across a broad range of sectors within the Ohio market. Prior to joining Alliant, O’Connor served as vice president for the Midwest region of a large benefits consulting firm. Troxell and O’Connor will report to Brian Stratton.

Gravie recently announced the addition of Kevin Kickhaefer as president and chief growth officer. Kickhaefer comes to Gravie with extensive healthcare leadership experience. Prior to joining Gravie, he was the CEO of Consumer Medical, a leading shared medical decision and second-opin ion service. Kickhaefer was instrumental in the company’s six-fold market value growth and 2022 sale to Alight, a multi-billion dol lar publicly traded HR services company. Before joining Consumer Medical, he was the head of sales and market develop ment at Bloom Health, where he worked closely with Gravie’s co-founders and co-CEOs Abir Sen and Marek Ciolko. Prior to that, he was a top sales performer in the U.S. for both Cigna and Aetna, with over 16 years selling through consulting and direct to employers in the large self-insured marketplace. Kickhaefer will lead Gravie’s sales, ac count-management and revenue operations.

COMPANY NEWS

Holmes Murphy is excited to announce its $100,000 in phil anthropic contributions to 27 different non-profit organiza tions through the Holmes Murphy Foundation Community Footprints Program. “Giving back to the communities where we live, work, and play has been a staple of the Holmes Murphy way dating back to our founders, Max Holmes and Ray Murphy,” said Dan Ke ough, Holmes Murphy chairman & CEO. “Knowing that we’ve been able to continue this tradition into our 90th year, I’m positive Max and Ray would be incredibly proud. They always believed we all play a vital role in caring for those around us, and I know all of us at Holmes Murphy are honored to keep this tradition alive.” The Holmes Murphy Foundation Community Footprints Program allows employees to select 501(c)(3) or non-profit organizations in their specific geographical locations that align with the Holmes Murphy Foundation giving pillars of Safety, Health and Wellbeing; Youth Opportunities; Arts & Culture; and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

For the third consecutive year, Trustmark earned recognition as a Chicago Tribune Top Workplace, signifying it as one of the best places to work in Chicago. Companies are chosen based on re sults of an anonymous survey taken by Chicago-area associates. The survey measures drivers of an engaged culture. “Trustmark is a special place to work,” said Kevin Slawin, president and CEO. “Each day, our associates live our caring and inclusive culture and work collaboratively to transform lives and help people, communities and businesses thrive.” In the survey, associates are asked the three words that best describe Trustmark. By a significant margin, the three words that came to the forefront were caring, flexible and inclusive. Trustmark scored higher than the benchmark in a num ber of key areas. Some examples include operating by strong values, flexibility and work-life balance, and the way manag ers care about associates’ concerns. Additionally, Trustmark received high marks from recent hires.

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