What happens when you put an auditor in charge of employee benefits?

You stop accepting assumptions.

In this episode of Broken Benefits, Brian Duclos shares how a non-traditional background in accounting and internal audit shaped his approach to benefits strategy—and ultimately led him to challenge many of the industry's long-standing norms.

Rather than accepting annual cost increases as inevitable, Brian applies financial discipline, operational rigor, and data-driven decision-making to one of the largest expense categories organizations face. The result has been a series of innovative plan design strategies, stronger vendor accountability, and a fundamentally different way of thinking about benefits management.

This conversation explores the importance of data ownership, performance guarantees, vendor oversight, and why benefits leaders should start thinking more like business operators.

If you're responsible for managing healthcare costs, improving employee outcomes, or driving value from your benefits program, this episode offers a practical blueprint for doing things differently.

Chapters:

00:00 The Audit That Changed Everything

00:26 Introduction to Brian Duclos

01:16 From Accounting to Benefits Leadership

04:16 Why Brian Left Internal Audit to Fix Benefits

08:09 The Advantage of a Non-Traditional Background

11:05 Challenging Industry Assumptions

14:09 A Case Study in Benefits Innovation

18:13 Why Operational Excellence Matters

20:34 Building Innovative Benefits Strategies

21:53 Start with the Data

24:01 Turning Insights into Action

25:36 Getting Team Buy-In for Change

29:13 Psychological Safety and Innovation

30:12 How to Sell New Ideas to Leadership

33:00 Building the Executive Business Case

34:56 Vendor Accountability and Performance Guarantees

38:00 Finding Hidden Costs in Your Health Plan

39:53 Following the Data to Better Outcomes

43:10 Eliminating Misaligned Incentives in Healthcare

45:12 Contracting, Transparency, and Employer Leverage

47:42 Choosing the Right Advisors and Partners

49:36 What Industry Conferences Actually Teach You

51:33 The Traits of Successful Benefits Leaders

53:15 Brian's Framework for Driving Change

55:10 Final Advice for Benefits Professionals

56:49 Closing Thoughts