Mercer Announces Health & Benefits Hires in Midwest

Jeff Smith has joined Mercer as a principal, and senior health and benefits consultant. Tyler Harshey has rejoined Mercer’s consulting team in Chicago as a principal and lead actuary for the Mercer Marketplace Group Active Exchange. Matthew Rehmann has been named the Midwest exchange sales leader, where he will be responsible for implementing the client development strategy for Mercer Marketplace in the Midwest. Rey Balcazar has assumed the role of Midwest exchange solution leader, in which he will focus on market education, sales support and client engagement around Mercer Marketplace.

Smith will consult with large employers on strategies to manage health care costs, to achieve improved employee health and productivity, and to capitalize on emerging changes in the employer-sponsored health care arena. He has more than 25 years of insurance and benefits consulting experience, most recently as a senior vice president and senior strategy/design consultant in Aon Hewitt’s health and benefits practice. He graduated from Illinois State University with a bachelor’s of science degree in finance.

Prior to rejoining Mercer, Harshey spent two years as an actuarial services director for national accounts at Aetna, where he also worked on firm relationship management and health care reform. He graduated with a bachelor’s of science in actuarial sciences from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

During his career, Rehmann has worked with Automatic Data Processing and most recently with Integrated Health Systems, where he was vice president of sales and marketing. He received a bachelor’s of science degree in business administration, with a focus in marketing and international business, from Marquette University.

Balcazar has more than 20 years of experience in sales, account management, carrier relations, international benefit programs, and full suite product and plan design. Previously, he worked with MetLife, Aetna, and Principal Financial Group. He received a bachelor’s of arts degree in liberal arts from Wabash College.