BIP Winter 2024

BROKER VOICES SERIES

Mark Gaunya turns a lifetime of experience into real healthcare solutions

“I became an employee benefit advisor because of my deep understanding of how the healthcare system works,” says Mark Gaunya. Gaunya, principal at Borislow Insurance in Methuen, Massachusetts, has been an advisor for 35 years, but that understanding goes back to his roots. Gaunya worked for his parents’ outpatient physical therapy management company for the first five years of his career in accounting, finance and business development. After his parents sold the business, Gaunya went to work for a couple of large health insurance companies, first in Washington, D.C., focused on small employers, then in Chicago, focused on large employers where he handled complex, alternately funded cases. Next, he joined the executive leadership team for a start-up consumer-driven health insurance company that allowed him to move to Boston to be closer to his family. “Growing up on the provider side of the business, I knew what it felt like to run a provider operation. When I worked for the insurance companies, I understood what it meant to be on the payer side of the business,” says Gaunya. “Using that experience now, I decode the healthcare system for our clients and help them make healthcare easier and more affordable for people.” Gaunya met his business partner, Jennifer Borislow, at a carrier golf event after his return to Boston. The two became fast friends, and a few years later, in 2005, Borislow asked Gaunya to join her as her business partner. Committed to the broker side of the industry, he joined NABIP soon after. “My desire to become a broker goes back to my vision for my life. I want to make healthcare easier and more affordable for people. What better way to do that than working with employers who provide that benefit to their employees,” Gaunya says. The business impact Borslow Insurance’s average client tenure is 17.3 years. “The most rewarding part to me is serving a client as their trusted advisor, helping them realize their vision, eliminate dangers, seize opportunities and build on internal strengths,” says Gaunya.

32 bip magazine Winter 2024