Gary Kushner

   Mr. Gary B. Kushner SPHR, CBP is the President and CEO of Kushner & Company, an employee benefits consulting and administration firm.

   Internationally recognized as an expert in the field, Mr. Kushner is one of the nation's most sought after speakers on employee benefits. He has advised three U.S. Presidents on health care and has testified before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee and the U.S. House Small Business Committee on employee benefit issues.

   A frequent resource to the media, Mr. Kushner contributes to the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, AP, Knight-Ridder, the Kiplinger Washington Newsletter, CNN News, Fortune, MSNBC and Good Morning America among others. Additionally, he served on the Editorial Review Board of HR Management magazine.

   Prior to establishing Kushner & Company in 1982, Mr. Kushner held human resource policymaking positions in both the private and public sectors including the compensation and benefits area. Mr. Kushner’s academic credentials and certifications include:

• Senior Professional in Human Resources Designation (SPHR)
• Certified Benefit Professional (CBP)
• MPA in Personnel from Western Michigan University

   Highly respected for his expertise and effectiveness, Mr. Kushner is also a much sought after member of many corporate, professional and government boards and advisory councils including:

• Board of Directors, Economic Alliance of Michigan
• Board of Directors, Human Resource Certification Institute
• Board of Directors, Society for Human Resource Management
• Board of Directors, Small Business Association of Michigan
• Board of Trustees, National Small Business United
• Chair, National Small Business United
• Chair, Small Business Association of Michigan
• Delegate, 1986 White House Conference on Small Business
• National Advisory Council, U.S. Small Business Administration
• National Chair of Compensation & Benefits, Society for Human Resource Management
• Special Advisor, U.S. Senate’s Committee on Aging
• State Chair, 1995 White House Conference on Small Business
• Technical Advisor, WorldatWork (formerly American Compensation Association)
• Vice-Chair, Economic Alliance of Michigan

Keynote Topics: 

1) How to Contain Health Care Costs

   An overview of factors impacting the rapidly escalating costs of providing health benefits to employees, and how employers can best address these issues. The session will include items outlining various strategies that involve both employees and the employer in making prudent health care decisions, as well as design and funding alternatives to help both employers and their employees gain greater control over their health care spending. Newer strategies dealing with flexibility and choice as well as consumer-directed health plan designs will also be discussed.

2) Current and Future Trends in Employee Benefits

   An update on employee benefit trends for this year and beyond. The session will include items affecting health care costs, other welfare plans, qualified retirement plans, and legislative and regulatory trends that will impact upon employee benefits and the HR field, now and into the future.

3) Benefits Confidential: 10 Secrets to Better, More Cost Effective Benefits

   Nationally known employee benefits expert Gary Kushner, SPHR, CBP -- one of the Society for Human Resource Management’s most highly-rated annual conference speakers -- will reveal 10 insider's secrets to providing more cost-effective benefit designs which meet the needs of both the organization and its employees. In this session, Mr. Kushner will divulge proven, applicable strategies and tactics to help you expose opportunities to improve your health plan choices, prescription drug plan design, paid time off programs, qualified retirement plans, and more.

4) Consumer-Directed Health Plans: A Strategy for Lowering Health Plan Utilization?

   An overview of Consumer-Directed Health Plans (CDHP). CDHPs are a newer tool that proponents argue have the ability not to shift costs to plan participants, but rather to engage them as prudent consumers and thereby reduce utilization, a win-win proposition for both employers and their employees. Critics argue that these plans erode traditional employer-provided health coverages and only positively affect a small group of employees. Mr. Kushner covers CDHPs and the benefit strategies they try to address, and then delves into the details of how the plans actually operate, using real-world implementations to highlight both what works and where the "bumps in the road" seem to be. The session also covers HRAs and HSAs, tools used in conjunction with CDHPs.