The Fedeli Factor
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WINTER 2020 Building Relationships, Solving Problems, Adding Value & Networking plus THE FEDELI GROUP IS BUILDING ON ITS PRINCIPLES TO CREATE A PLATFORM FOR FEDELI THE NEXT GENERATION SARI FELDMAN TRANSFORMED THE CUYAHOGA COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY BY EMBRACING NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND FACTOR WORKING WITH THE FEDELI GROUP SHIFTING GEARS TRANSTAR INDUSTRIES IS BACK ON THE ROAD TO GROWTH, GUIDED BY A SOLID TEAM WITH A STRONG FOCUS CEO Neil Sethi and Founder Monte Ahuja, Transtar Industries FEDELIWINTER 2020 Building Relationships, FACTORSolving Problems, Adding Value & Networking Building The Fedeli Group for the next generation Neil Sethi, President, Monte Ahuja, Founder, 6 Transtar Industries 16 features 6 CONNECTIONS 16 COVER STORY: 24 COMMUNITY Umberto Fedeli discusses how SHIFTING GEARS Sari Feldman transformed the The Fedeli Group is building on its Transtar Industries is back on the Cuyahoga County Public Library by principles to create a platform for road to growth, guided by a solid embracing new technologies and the next generation team with a strong focus working with The Fedeli Group 2 u FEDELI FACTOR Cleveland Clinic Children’s Gala 22 Sari Feldman 24 departments HOW TO REACH US: CONNECTIONS 5 Giving back 10 The Ohio Government Benefit Cooperative was established by The Fedeli Group with the assistance of Medical Mutual of Ohio Phone: (216) 328-8080 / Toll Free: (800) 837-7191 11 The Fedeli Group’s representatives help clients find Crowne Centre, 5005 Rockside Road, Fifth Floor insurance placement in a global marketplace Independence, OH 44131 12 Jamar Precision Grinding focuses on high-volume grinding to continuously grow the business Published by Convero 13 Chalfant Manufacturing Co. designs and produces cable 835 Sharon Drive, Suite 200, Westlake, OH 44145 tray and cable management systems here in the USA. (440) 250-7000 www.converoinc.com WHAT’S COOKING 26 Sauteed broccolini Publisher: Michael Marzec Editor: Sue Ostrowski Art Director: Amanda Horvath Project Manager: Kate Castrovince Cover Photography: Joe Albert www.thefedeligroup.com u 3 RELATIONSHIP BUILDER Change is healthy Evolving a business requires an innovative mindset, a Warren Buffet has poignantly said that, “The ballooning willingness to change and grow and to embrace new costs of health care act as a hungry tapeworm on the ideas. It also takes the discipline to plan thoughtfully and American economy.” With Cerner, we will deliver a create a strategy. Nurturing a sustainable business that unified platform that empowers employers and their remains healthy for years to come only happens when a employees to help control rising health care costs. committed, talented team is working on that plan. We think you’ll be impressed with what Cerner offers. In this issue of Fedeli Factor, we are honoring the past Their user-friendly app platform is a dynamic resource, — our history and where it all began (page 6). We share and you can tap into data presented in a simple way. how our family business has transitioned through the When we have better engagement with our health, and years, embraced change and evolved with the market. more member participation, clients achieve better results. The key to our success and longevity is simple. Because This technology evolution is part of what we’re calling we are committed to earning the respect and loyalty of Fedeli 2.0, moving the organization forward and our clients, everything we do is centered on serving them sustaining the future of a family business devoted to — service to others. Of course, how we serve clients serving clients. When we can make a positive impact now is different than a few decades ago. Today, we can on the lives of those we serve, in business and life, we leverage technology to capture data, analyze information are doing our job. This collaboration will allow us to and help clients make better-informed decisions. continue enhancing the value we bring to our employer clients and their people. We are pleased to announce a partnership with Cerner, a global health platform and innovation company. With this technology, by taking operations to the next This unique venture is the first of its kind for The level, we’re opening a new chapter at The Fedeli Group. Fedeli Group. Cerner will allow us to provide a wide And, as always, we like to share how other organizations range of advanced population health services, including are changing, growing and thriving. HealtheIntent® Cerner Wellness. With these programs, We hope you enjoy this issue of Fedeli Factor. And we we are able to serve clients’ needs by delivering ask, how are you evolving your business to meet modern intelligently tailored population health programs. market demands? What can we do to help you achieve Ultimately, The Fedeli Group will have the ability to your next milestone? We’d love to hear from you. make more data-driven decisions and perform advanced analytics for clients, giving them the ability to design benefit programs that really work for them. Umberto P. Fedeli, President and CEO of The Fedeli Group 4 u FEDELI FACTOR CONNECTIONS GIVING BACK BY AMANDA EDE In March 2019, two groups of employees from The Fedeli Group volunteered at the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank. The first group helped assemble 1,827 meals, and the second group helped assemble 2,067 meals. The Foodbank, located in downtown Akron, serves eight Northeast Ohio counties — Carroll, Holmes, Medina, Portage, Stark, Summit, Tuscarawas and Wayne. More than 500 food pantries, hot meal sites, shelters and relief programs are run by the organization. The Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank was awarded Food Bank of the Year in 2012 based on accomplishments that included increasing distribution to 19.4 million pounds of food, increasing fund raising by 100%, and creating a new Feeding Kids Initiative. www.thefedeligroup.com u 5 CONNECTIONS EMBRACING CHANGE Umberto Fedeli discusses how The Fedeli Group is building upon the principles that made the firm successful to create a platform for the next generation n his 40-plus years of business, Umberto Fedeli has seen a Nick Fedeli has increasingly taken on a leadership role lot of change. in the company. Nick has been with the firm for just over Since its formation in the 1980s, The Fedeli Group has 12 years. Ievolved from a small insurance agency into a formidable risk management and employee benefits consulting firm. Achieving UMBERTO, HOW DID YOU START THE FEDELI GROUP? success required that the firm adapt to a changing insurance When I was 19 years old and attending John Carroll industry, a more complex regulatory environment, technology University, I started selling property and casualty policies developments and greater client needs and expectations. to small businesses. When I was 21, I formed a partnership What did not change at The Fedeli Group was an with a gentleman who was in his late 40s. Within a few unwavering belief system of positively impacting the lives of years, around 1988, I bought him out and changed the those touched by the firm. name of the firm to The Fedeli Group. As The Fedeli Group prepares for the next generation, a collaborative process of dialogue, engagement and NICK, TELL US HOW YOU STARTED IN THE BUSINESS. brainstorming is taking place. Already, this process is I officially joined The Fedeli Group in 2008. I say officially paying off. In recent years, The Fedeli Group has built because I literally grew up here. I spent almost every day an increasingly diverse talent pool, added services and during summer vacation at the office. On the terrace, I consulting capabilities and, just this past year, in its played baseball with taped paper towels and a Blue Cross employee benefits division, embarked on reinventing Blue Shield miniature bat. If I recall, my first insurance class population health and analytics through an exciting, new was with our late colleague, Pat Phelan, who presented on relationship with Cerner Corp. the topic of aviation. I was just twelve years old. 6 u FEDELI FACTOR “We have evolved our business model to become risk managers and UMBERTO, HOW HAS THE BUSINESS WORLD WHAT HASN’T CHANGED IN THE BUSINESS employee benefit CHANGED SINCE YOU STARTED THE FEDELI WORLD SINCE YOU STARTED THE FEDELI consultants, and the GROUP? GROUP? In some ways, the world hasn’t changed much, Relationships are still very important, but depth of resources but in other ways it has changed a lot. Today, certain products and services are no longer we have available at everything happens so much faster. When I relationship dependent. For example, there our firm is greater started in business, you mailed a letter (three are very few travel agencies left, but a small or four days), and then it was Federal Express group of travel consultants has figured out than ever.” (overnight), then it was the fax machine, and how to thrive in a changed world, where then email changed everything. specialized knowledge and personalized Over that same time, people in business have services matter. become more sophisticated. Clients expect Technology has made a large number of more and better service in every industry, goods and services commodities. If you don’t not just ours. In the past, people weren’t as have value-added services and you are not a – Umberto Fedeli technical. Today, clients want insight and student of your industry, you will become guidance. You need to be a consultant in your extinct. business; if not, you are a dinosaur. Adding value, networking and exchanging information and resources have not gone HOW HAS THE INSURANCE BUSINESS CHANGED out of style. It is critical to instill confidence SINCE YOU STARTED THE FEDELI GROUP? in clients, and effective communication The insurance agent who sold insurance is remains the difference between winning and now a commodity and therefore less valuable.