Jennifer Benz

Chief Strategist and Founder

Jennifer Benz has a passion for getting people to go to great lengths—for themselves. Her mission in consulting, as in life, is to empower people to become their best. And when employees take advantage of health care, wellness, and financial plans, they can’t help but better themselves.

Many years at a global HR consulting firm gave Jen a solid foundation in employee health care and wellness, benefits, and strategic HR communication. Today, Jen combines that big-firm experience with a big helping of creativity to help companies—and their people—get results that last lifetimes.

Of course, Jen can light up your next meeting by discussing the advantages of consumer-directed health plans—programs she helped establish at Hewitt Associates before the acronyms “HRA” and “HSA” were widely recognized. She can give you the nitty-gritty on boosting participation in 401(k) plans or designing effective wellness incentives. And she’d be honored to tell you about her numerous awards.

But what she’s most excited about is engaging people with busy lives so they understand their benefits.

That’s why Jen has worked with dozens of companies to create communication strategies that get employees using their benefits. At Benz Communications, she leads a talented team of consultants, writers, designers, web developers and project managers to meet the needs of clients big and small. She also devotes as much time as she can to pro bono work with nonprofit business incubators in San Francisco and Guatemala. After all, the biggest difference we make in the world is the one we help people make in their own lives.

Jen holds a BS in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia—which means she has the AP Style Guide and isn’t afraid to use it.

A long-time San Francisco resident, Jen is an active member of the Council for Communication Management, the International Association of Business Communicators, the Northern California Human Resources Association and Women in Consulting. She contributes to Employee Benefit Adviser, blogs for Benefits Buzz, and has published articles in several industry publications.

You can connect with her on LinkedIn, follow her on Twitter or send her an old-fashioned email.