Joseph (“Jody”) Buyalos, ACBC, is a Senior Partner and Executive Vice President with The Insurance Exchange. He joined the firm in 1995 and leads the firm’s Employee Benefits Practice for over a decade. Over his 20 years with the firm he has introduced many of the value-added tools and services that are now used for our largest clients. Jody has worked with hundreds of employers from startups to Fortune 500 companies with employees around the globe. His portfolio of current clients ranges from several not for profit organizations, large association headquarters, and for profit companies in a wide array of industries including: technology, construction, engineering, professional services, scientific, healthcare, and accounting. His current clients range in size from around 50 employees and two healthcare options up to employers with 5,000 employees and 17 different healthcare options. He also has tremendous experience in designing and negotiating ultra-competitive international fringe benefit programs for his many government contractor clients with employees worldwide including ALL war risk countries.
He is a recognized thought leader in the Employee Benefits arena and has been interviewed over his career by severalnational and regional industry magazines (Business Insurance, Employee Benefit News, ABC Building Washington, etc.) and regional business newspapers (Washington Post, Washington Business Journal, SmartCEO, Gazettes) for his expert opinions on various benefit topics.
Jody also does a number of speaking engagements on the financial impact of the Affordable Care Act on employers and strategies to mitigate the impact. In 2013, he spoke at Deltek Insight in Dallas, TX on the financial Impact of ACA on Government Contractors. Also in 2013 & 2014 Jody spoke at Dulles SHRM, Montgomery County SHRM, WTPF Business Forum for HR Professional, Montgomery Chamber of Commerce and was an Instructor at the GovConNet Institute and also instructor at Veterans Institute for Procurement.
Jody has been in the top 1% of all U.S. insurance brokers for over a decade and is awarded the NAHU Golden Eagle Award every year since 2004. He has qualified for top broker councils with every major insurance carrier over his career. For 2014 – 2015 he currently sits on Guardian’s National Marketplace Advisory Board, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield Broker Advisory Council and Kaiser Permanente’s Broker Advisory Council. In 2013 he visited the home offices of Guardian, Principal, and UNUM where he visited with the senior executives of the insurance companies discussing latest industry trends and giving feedback on products and services that need to be developed to fill existing gaps in the marketplace.
Jody is the driving force behind the The Insurance Exchange Regional and National Mid-Market Benefit Survey www.TIE-inc.com and also theGovernment Contractor Benefits Survey www.GovConInsurance.com which gives employers throughout the region and the country access to real-time high quality benefits benchmarking data at no cost to Survey participants.
Jody also spearheaded the launch of The Insurance Exchange’s new suite of free HR Support services www.HRAssist360.com
Jody attended the U.S. Naval Academy and Old Dominion University where he graduated with a B.S. Political Science degree with a minor in Finance and has since completed work towards his MBA. Jody is married for 19 years with 3 daughters and volunteers time as a member of the 4th Degree Knights of Columbus at St. Ignatius Catholic Church and enjoys working with various non-profit organizations. He currently sits on several committees and boards.
