About Tess
An insider
who works for
you — not the carrier.
My career started on the inside — and I mean the part of the system most employers never see. I spent nearly seven years at a national brokerage, where I learned how plans are really sold: by firms that present themselves as the employer's advocate while quietly collecting from the carriers on the other side of the table. Then I went to Kelsey-Seybold Clinic, one of Texas' most respected multi-specialty health systems, as Director of Strategic Employer Engagement — where I watched, from the provider side, exactly how healthcare dollars move. Where they go. Who keeps them. I was there when Optum acquired the system firsthand — a front-row view of how the largest players consolidate providers, pharmacy, and data under one roof, and what that vertical integration does to the cost and choice employers are left with. I saw the company change overnight.
From there I moved to ParetoHealth, the country's most established group captive — the carrier side of the table. And that's where it crystallized: I saw how many employers were placed in the wrong structures, sold the wrong story, and left paying for it. So, I decided to come back to consulting, with a private firm that I have incredible respect for, and on the only side that answers to the employer.
Most advisors have stood on one side of that table. I've stood on four: the brokerage that sells the plan, the health system that bills it, the captive that underwrites it, and now the chair next to you, reading the contract line by line.
That cross-sector view is the foundation of everything I do at Hotchkiss Insurance. I hold the CEBS® — the gold standard in benefits — and the CSFS® designation for self-funding expertise. I work with employers of 40 to 10,000 employees who are tired of being told what their plan costs and never told why.
I specialize in self-funded arrangements, group captives, and cost-containment strategies, with deep expertise in alternative funding structures, and completely tailored contracts. I partner with the best people in the industry, and love helping employers take back control and learn the system.
MS Degree
CEBS®
CSFS®
Self-Funded Plans
Group Captives
Risk Management
Cost Containment
