Small Business Group Insurance Specialists
While most companies would use this page just to talk about themselves, we think it should really be about YOU. After all, without you, there'd be no reason for us.
So...here's what you can expect to get when you select BBI Benefits as your group insurance broker:
Maximum cost efficiency - really- Well-thought-out, strategic insurance plans - not just knee-jerk reactions
- Better communications -- between your insurance broker (that's us!), you, and your employees
- Better use of your time - because we handle the insurance administration problems when they arise, free of charge
- Happier, more productive employees - because they're getting better, more cost-efficient benefits than ever before
OK, we
really should tell you something about us.
First
and foremost, we're small business group insurance specialists. Our 300+ clients run the gamut - from retail companies to manufacturing establishments, from professional practices to technology companies.
That enables us to be your ideal resource for every benefits-related problem you will ever have. Think of us as your "benefits quarterback" - helping guide your business toward success with an insurance game plan designed specifically for you and your business and not just some generic, off-the-shelf plan from an anonymous mega-insurance company.
Our specialties include:
- Group Health Insurance
- Group Dental Insurance
- Group Short Term Disability Insurance
- Group Long Term Disability Insurance
- Group Life Insurance
- Group Voluntary Insurance (LTD, STD, Dental, Life)
Our Team
What helps make BBI different is our people - our team is made up of the most caring, experienced, and dedicated insurance professionals in the business. Each one brings specialized skills to the party, with combined expertise to address every aspect of group insurance.
Learn more about the people who make up the BBI Team:
- Jim Edholm
- Doreen Mason
- Chip Brogan
- Kathi Levine
- Amanda Flood
- Debbie Dubois
Jim Edholm
I entered the insurance business in -- God
help me -- 1975, and I first began dabbling in group insurance in 1982.
I quit doing anything else in 1992, and candidly, I've never looked back. But it's not all about BBI...
I legitimately love the group benefits business (and pardon my
burgeoning ego, but I think I have a bit of a flair for it), but I have
to admit, I'd prefer to find a warmer climate in which to do it.
But New England is now home (Chicago used to be, and it still exerts its siren song at least a couple of times a year), so warm or cold, here I am and here I'll remain.
While I spend most of my time thinking about BBI, my other passions are travel (anywhere's fine, but Europe is both my particular favorite and that of my wife, Kathy.)
I also like -- no love -- golfing, although as you can see from the picture above, boating isn't so bad either... as long as I can get my friend, Clark, to do the maintenance on the boat!
In fact, anything in warm weather is OK with me.

And speaking -- I love that too.
Some people say perhaps too much... but I don't let that stop me. If you have ANY professional organization that would like to hear from someone on benefits, benefit cost control, the latest developments in health care... anything to do with benefits -- let me know.
Click on the contact page and call me, email me, whatever. I'll be there. I promise you, it won't just be about BBI... I work very hard to pack up-to-the-minute information that's useful to whatever audience I address!
Doreen Mason
Doreen's been with me longer than anyone -- since
1999. When you're talking about BBI, she's the first subject to come
up.
Doreen heard about BBI through the husband of a former employee, and I heard about her when I was looking for help.
When we first met, we decided in about five minutes that I couldn't afford anyone as experienced as she is with as much executive talent as she has.
She was an underwriter at both Delta Dental and Blue Cross of New Hampshire. Then she went into marketing management... she'd done everything except work for a (then) pipsqueak company.
But we enjoyed each other's company and the thought processes we both shared, to say nothing of the complimentary strengths (She's organized, I'm not. I'm a global thinker (big picture), she figures how to get things done on time... you get the idea.)
So we spent the next half hour figuring out how we could make the "deal" happen, irrespective of my inability to afford her.
Doreen's primary responsibilities are
- working with a select group of clients to keep their accounts running smoothly,
- implementing our state-of-the-art HR Information System and training clients in how to get the most value from it
- overseeing all internal operations of BBI
Chip Brogan
Then there's Chip Brogan. He joined me in March of 2006, after spending
11 years with Mutual of Omaha's Boston sales office -- as both manager
and as a broker representative sales executive. He found out about BBI
because he was our representative while there.
Prior to that, he was with the Grandaddy of all Disabiliy companies, UNUM for 8 years.
As they say, he's forgotten more about group STD, LTD, Life, and Dental than most brokers ever knew.
We met while he was with Mutual of Omaha, and he helped me help clients, so long before he joined us, he was around and about BBI for a while.
He works with existing clients and is also active in selectively adding new members to our family of happy clients.
Kathi Levine
Kathi started with us in the later winter/spring of 2007.
How did she find out about BBI? We did the benefits for her husband's company until it was sold, so when she decided to get into the benefits and insurance business, she looked us up.
She comes from a totally different insurance background than the rest of us. She cut her teeth in the Property and Casualty field as a risk analyst for a major firm.
This gives her a unique perspective when she approaches a case analysis, and it makes her amazingly quick to grasp new concepts and to suggest alternative ways of doing traditional things.
Her insight has helped us modify our plan design process, and the results have pleased quite a number of our clients -- despite never having met her face-to-face.
