Weatherhead 100, No. 10: Benefits Resource Group
Enhancing Client Success
BENEFITS RESOURCE GROUP IMPROVES ITS CLIENTS' BUSINESS THROUGH HR, CONSULTING AND INVESTMENT SERVICES.
Where most benefits companies provide one or two specialty products for their clients, Benefits Resource Group (BRG) furnishes a full range of services, from health and retirement to voluntary and executive benefits.
"We bring proficiency in all the different levels and types of benefits to the client," says Charles J. Farro, chairman and CEO of the Independence-based firm." We have experts that head up each one of the multiple disciplines for us. According to Joseph R. Crea, president, BRG continues to grow by increasing its offerings. For example, the company now supplies software programs such as HR Connection or My Way to enhance an employer's ability to interact with employees. "Those programs give HR departments access to a wealth of information that helps them facilitate their activities," he says. "So, we're constantly introducing new products and services to improve our clients' businesses."
Another attraction for BRG'S clients is the fact that the company develops partnerships with major providers such as M Financial Group, a distributor of financial services with more than 100 offices nationwide. BRG serves as M Financial's affiliate office in Northeast Ohio.
While approximately 40 to 45 percent of BRG'S clientele are in the manufacturing sector, the remainder are retail and service companies, from public entities such as FirstEnergy Corp. or Developers Diversified Realty Corp. to law firms such as Calfee Halter & Griswold LLP. Approximately 90 percent of the clientele are located in Ohio, as well, although the company does provide services to several specialty clients like the Bank of Bermuda.
"If the Bank of Bermuda chooses a Cleveland company to do all of its benefits and pension work when they can select from anywhere in the world, that says a little bit about the quality of the work that we do," Farro says. But BRG has no plans to expand its reach significantly beyond its home state. "We like to stay close and build relationships with our clients he adds. 'That's hard to do when they are far away."
But when it launches Aurum Wealth Management this month, BRG will grow into an entirely new area: investment services for high net worth individuals. The new company will be a joint venture with Skoda, Minotti & Co., an accounting and financial services firm in Cleveland, with whom BRG has worked closely over the past several years. Farro and Greg Skoda, CEO of Skoda, Minotti, will run the company jointly. Both companies are heavily involved in managing qualified plans, and both maintain a number of clients who are high net worth individuals. "We thought that this would be a great opportunity to bring additional services at a much higher level than those people are getting today," Farro explains.
Ultimately, what is the most rewarding aspect of the multidisciplinary services they provide their clients? "The cost of benefits represents a tremendous amount of money in any company's budget," Farro concludes. "They entrust us to provide those benefits, to be resourceful and solve problems for them, so we play an important role in our client's financial success."
-CHRISTOPHER JOHNSTON
From Inside Business magazine, December 2006
