Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Certification
Timeline
Generic

Linda Varner

Conyers,GA

Summary

Highly accomplished benefits manager experience in corporate group health and welfare insurance. A proven leader with proficiencies that build synergies resulting in a competent team. Possess excellent decision-making skills, a subject matter expert in employee benefits program administration and compliance, benefits plan design, vendor management, and corporate wellness program. Eager to add value by employing skills to advance the company's objective.

Overview

16
16
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification

Work History

Benefits Manager

Watkins Associated Industries
05.2017 - Current
  • Accountable for evaluating and maintaining competitive group health plan benefits design to ensure sustainability to attract and retain talented employees.
  • Conduct annual evaluation of health plans to ensure government regulations and compliance fulfillment according to Department of Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services (HHS), Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), and Affordable Care Act (ACA)
  • Collaborate with the broker, vendor partners, and benefits team to execute an efficient benefits administration platform to effectively manage all employer-sponsored benefits for employees.
  • Conduct nondiscrimination testing for the health care and dependent care flexible spending accounts to ensure government compliance.
  • Manage the annual open enrollment process through a well-designed rollout strategy, efficiently producing and communicating a resourceful benefit packet.
  • Manages the corporate total well-being program (conducts wellness analysis, establishes wellness committee, wellness philosophy), promoting a healthier employee population.
  • Process the annual Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) disclosure to certify the prescription drug program is creditable for Medicare Part D eligible individuals.
  • Collaborate with the benefits director to develop and deliver medium to long-term strategic plans for benefits and plan management.
  • Communicate with legal, tax, accounting, treasury, and human resources representatives to ensure compliance and effective plan administration.
  • Oversee various vendor partners' and insurance carriers' benefits-related projects (i.e., systems integrations, electronic data interchange, coding, etc.), monitoring efficiencies and streamlining processes.
  • Oversee the benefits plan month-end premium billing and vendor invoice and reconciliation process.
    Review various plan contract renewals to set expectations and ensure clear accountability for vendor partners.
  • Partner with the health plan consultant to effectively add a new medical plan option, providing stakeholder choice while positively impacting the overall cost while monitoring and containing the cost of the group plan to mitigate risk.
  • Evaluated and implemented a Spanish translation service partner to resolve the language translation gap in the ESL stakeholder population.
  • Perform requests for proposals (RFP) for qualified business partners to ensure benefit plan competitiveness and align with market trends.
  • Lead implementation and ongoing processes for prospective group plan vendor relationship
    Direct discussion groups for project planning and strategic management of the plans.
  • Implement and manage Affordable Care Act compliance procedures and processes for IRS 1094 & 1095 reporting and auditing for filing.
  • Administer Patient Centered Outcome Research Trust Fund Fee (PCORI) under ACA and oversee the filing of Form 720 Excise tax return.
  • Collaborate with the broker to administrate the Form 5500 process for annual return reporting of the Employee Benefit Plan and oversee filing.
  • Conduct benefit measurement and comparison to mitigate loss or reduction in benefits for employees acquired through company acquisition and divestitures.
  • Organize and administer strategic planning meetings.
    Manage broker, vendors, consultants, and third-party administrator relationships to maintain a healthy plan and assist with minimizing risk by making decisions for best practices.
  • Provide benefit plan and program management through analyzing data, benchmarking trends, and forecasting cost.
    HIPAA Privacy Officers oversee compliance training for new HR benefits partners and management of the data repository system
  • Supervise month-end reporting and billing reconciliation for the group plans.
    Oversee new hire benefits orientation processes for the education of benefits offerings to newly hired corporate employees.
  • Provide sufficient staffing to the department.
  • Manage benefit staff, coach, and evaluate team members to safeguard success in job performances.
  • Vetted and executed the ACA monitoring and reporting process.
  • Identified errors in the medical account structure, ensuring accurate mapping in the Electronic Data file during plan development.
  • Delegate work assignments and various projects to team members.
  • Led classes for new and existing employees to outline benefits choices.
  • Develop recommendations for improvement of the organization's personnel policies and practices.
    Implement benefits and wellness surveys to ensure alignment with market trends.
  • Analyzed employment-related data and prepared reports.
  • Managed [Number] quarter open enrollment each year.
  • Complete yearly evaluations of providers to check service options and coverage plans against competitors.
  • Conduct scheduled audits of benefit plans and SLAs to identify areas in need of improvement.
  • Delegated work to staff, setting priorities and goals.
  • Maintained updated knowledge through continuing education and advanced training.

Benefits Analyst

Watkins Associated Industries
06.2008 - 05.2017
  • Resolved issues and inquiries from plan participants regarding health and welfare benefits and deductions through telephone, email, and in-person interactions.
  • Implemented an enrollment system to streamline benefits processes for employees.
  • Conducted annual open enrollment and new hire benefits orientation for the company-wide employee population.
  • Surveyed employees and conducted focus group meetings to collect benefits plan and wellness data.
  • Established policies and procedures for online HR partner’s HIPPA Awareness and privacy training certification.
  • Processed and upload payroll and benefits data via SFTP for ACA management to support 1094 filing and 1095 form production.
  • Collaborated in quarterly vendor integration meetings identifying medical and prescription benefits gaps and ensuring proper administration of high-risk and potentially high-risk health conditions members.
  • Oversaw the health plan month-end premium billing and reconciliation process.
  • Managed the total wellness programs by conducting surveys, tracking, and analyzing wellness data to increase education and participation to improve employee well-being.
  • Point of contact for employee plan issues, health plan process, or procedure questions and concerns.
  • Provide internal and external customer support for escalated medical claims or benefits issues.
    Manage daily operation and functions of eligibility file uploads to third-party vendors.
  • Performed Quality Assurance measures for eligibility and enrollment.
  • Provide Quality Assurance measurement for open enrollment elections.
  • Made benefits plan design recommendations to
    attract and retain highly talented employees.
  • Provided support to Human Resources Benefits Partners to resolve benefits matters.
  • Prepared benefits communications advancing employee consumerism as it relates to various plan benefits offering, total well-being, and employee assistance programs

Education

Doctoral Strategic Leadership (DSL) - Organizational Leadership/HR

Regent University
Virginia Beach, VA

Master of Arts - Leadership

Luther Rice College And Seminary
Lithonia, GA
05.2012

Skills

  • Group Health & Welfare Employee Benefits Plan Management
  • Total Wellbeing Expert
  • Benefits Administration System Setup (Empyrean, Alight)
  • HR Information Systems (ADP, UKG Ready, UKG Pro)
  • Planning & Organizing
  • Microsoft Office Suites (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, and Adobe Acrobat)
  • Vendor relationship management
  • Implementing skills

Certification

  • International Foundation of Employee Benefits Plan.
  • Certified Employee Benefits Specialist GBA1 Designation

Timeline

Benefits Manager

Watkins Associated Industries
05.2017 - Current

Benefits Analyst

Watkins Associated Industries
06.2008 - 05.2017

Doctoral Strategic Leadership (DSL) - Organizational Leadership/HR

Regent University

Master of Arts - Leadership

Luther Rice College And Seminary

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Linda Varner