Executive Moves: BAN, HUB and other employee benefit services firms boost management ranks

With the year winding down, brokerages and others in the employee benefits arena continue to bring in new hires and promote staff. In further proof it’s been a busy and steady hiring year; most of the following new hires started their jobs after Thanksgiving. The market shows no signs of slowing down when it comes to hiring and promoting leading benefit personnel.

In this month’s gallery, HUB hired a pair of employee benefit veterans in the Pennsylvania/New Jersey region and BAN hired a pair for its Ohio and Chicago-area regions. Lockton saw a new hire in its Hartford office and Alcott HR hired a former equities trader for its Melville, N.Y., office.
ConnectYourCare, Globoforce and RxTE also made important hires.

Joanne Apice has joined HUB International Northeast’s Employee Benefits Division as an account executive. She will work out of HUB’s Blue Bell, Penn., office where she will serve as a contact for employee benefit clients. Prior to joining HUB in October, Apice served as an HR benefits analyst at Benefit Allocation Systems.

Michael Garner has joined Lockton’s employee benefit team as a vice president and producer in its Hartford operation. Garner will be responsible for generating new client relationships and overseeing client satisfaction and retention efforts. Prior to joining Lockton, Garner was a principal with Ovation Benefits (now part of OneDigital Health and Benefits), and also served as a sales representative at Rogers Benefit Group and at Liberty Mutual Insurance.

Prescription benefit manager RxTE Health has expanded its executive team with the addition of Sara Linnerooth, PharmD. Her title is senior vice president of clinical operations. She will be responsible for the overall strategy and execution of clinical development activities, including solution design and driving the product roadmap for RxTE. In her prior roles, Linnerooth worked as a clinical pharmacist for p WellDyneRx where she developed clinical programs and utilization management strategies.

HR outsourcing firm Alcott HR has appointed Christopher A. Parlante as a business development consultant. He will work out of Alcott HR’s Farmingdale, N.Y., headquarters. Parlante’s last position was senior sales consultant with TriNet Group where he was responsible for marketing the company’s services to executives. He also worked as an equities trader with Brokerage America and Goldman Sachs.

Social recognition and performance development provider Globoforce has hired Steve Pemberton as its new chief human resources officer. In this role, Pemberton will work with HR managers and senior management executives worldwide to help build workplaces that recognize and respects employees. Prior to joining Globoforce, he served as chief diversity officer and vice president of diversity and inclusion for Walgreens Boots Alliance. He also served as chief diversity officer at Monster.com and in 2015, Pemberton was appointed by United States Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez to serve on the Advisory Committee for the Competitive Integrated Employment of People with Disabilities.

HUB International Northeast has hired Vaughan M. Reale as vice president. He will be responsible for employee benefits brokering and consulting. With more than 30 years of industry experience, Vaughan will be working in the Philadelphia Metro and Southern New Jersey marketplace. Previously, Vaughan has served as an executive for health insurance carriers, a pharmaceutical benefit management company and benefit consulting firms. He has also served four years as the Mayor of the City of Margate N.J.

Benefit Advisors Network has added Maria Stephans as a national account executive. In her new role, Stephans will support the services BAN provides to the agencies it serves. She will work directly with the independent brokerage firms who are BAN members to increase the adoption of their resources within their agencies. Previously, Stephans was at Ameritas where she was a group sales representative.

Benefit Advisors Network has added Caroline Williams as a member support representative. In her new position, Williams will assist in on-boarding new members, manage the information in BAN’s digital properties, which serves as an information center for the BAN members. The position also supports peer groups and committee activities.

For the launch of its new Broker Services Program, ConnectYourCare has promoted Nicole Williams to vice president of sales. Williams will oversee the small and mid-market team focused on brokers. She also spearheaded the new program that offers brokers enhanced services to clients. She has also worked at Choice Strategies, which is a division of WageWorks.