Graduated college from CSU, Chico with a degree in Broadcast Communications, Bob Nienaber worked for CBS Radio for a couple of years and then the Industrial Equipment World and finally decided he wanted to get into the financial services business serving the corporate markets. Started out as a new agent for MetLife in 1994, where he achieved Rookie of the Year honours for most plans sold out of 15,000+ agents.

In his early days, Bob worked twice as hard as others. So, he made twice the mistakes others made, but it was early on, and he got many of them out of the way early, which helped him propel himself forward quicker. At that time, there was extraordinarily little information about executive benefit planning available, so Bob started on his life’s journey to create a platform for brokers and clients to make everything simple. He states, “I spent several years working with companies such as Principal Financial, Phoenix Life, The Guardian, and many others to further my personal knowledge of how benefit plans could be maximized to help clients better recruit, retain, and reward their top talent.”

Bob learned along the way how to maximize these plans and help organizations lower associated cash flows while making a profit by building top programs with maximum benefit offers. According to Bob, no platforms were employing technology to help with their offers at the time, and the required internal expenses from administrators, investment, and corporate owned life insurance (COLI) were too costly to allow for top outcomes. Furthermore, a Fortune 1000 training session revealed that just 3% of the group thoroughly grasped how general benefits, executive benefits, and tax legislation might be tailored to work together to offer greater plan flexibility and financial returns for sponsoring organizations and their top personnel. This meant 97% of the largest companies on earth were confused with all the facets of designing, funding, and managing their executive benefit plans. He asserts, “Company sponsors were left confused, frustrated, and losing money for their companies, and participants were still leaving as they did not have a full understanding of their plan opportunities and were not maximizing their plan benefits, causing the plans to be a negative experience rather than a positive one.” Bob’s first goal was to make these plans easy to understand and a positive experience for everyone involved. After all, money and benefits should always be a fun topic, not a bad one.

Joining benefitRFP

After many years of representing various COLI and investment businesses, Bob recognized in 2009 that his fiduciary duty was to protect them, not the customer. In addition, after seeing how technology might decrease all client uncertainty and expenses while delivering better outcomes and properly satisfying their fiduciary demands, the concept of BenefitRFP was formed. At the time, co-founder and Bob believed they could develop technology that would allow clients to audit current plans via a live diagnostic call and establish their “ideal plan” for their businesses. Using this technology, they could also run financial comparisons from all investment and COLI providers to achieve the best financial results possible, implement plan designs live via Zoom type calls, and plan participants could also get on a live call with their plan managers via a personal concierge plan call to maximize all company benefits, take advantage of all positive tax and regulatory benefits and plan features, and ultimately maximize top net financial results. This had to be a simple procedure in which all of the laws, regulations, and difficult arithmetic components were embedded within the technology, allowing the user to utilize it with ease. They used to joke that they needed to make it simple for a 10-year-old to use, but the duo quickly learned that 10-year-olds are strong with technology, so they changed their approach to make it simple for older people to use, as they have much less time working with technology. As per Bob, what was created initially was the benefitMATRIX™, which included the financial heatMAP™, LiSPT™ liability specific targeting, the benefit planBUILDER™ and participant benefitCONCIERGE™.

This proprietary technology became an immediate game changer as it resulted in significantly improved designing of new plans and redesigning of existing plans with significantly improved financials, allowing for national and international award recognition for technology. With the technology in hand, live customer service improved as the new software also allowed case managers to have more time for relationship building. As a result, they received the highest international service excellence award, not just in the financial services sector, but across the board.This technology has also reduced internal case management costs due to the internal team’s capability of managing fifteen times the normal capability, in addition to improving internal EBITDA to an industry high of 80%. As a result, benefitRFP has been called the “Uber of the Executive Benefits World” as it has been recognized as a market disrupter, rapidly changing how corporate plans are designed, funded, and managed.

BenefitRFP

BenefitRFP offers diagnostics for Executive Benefit Plans, Qualified Plans such as 401k’s, Succession Planning, and Business Valuation. The company offers many solutions utilizing tax reduction and flexibility strategies for sponsoring companies, participants, and shareholders. BenefitRFP’s technologies also deliver the opportunity for companies to build multi-tiered plans or individualized solutions for shareholders, unusual planning, and unique needs. The firm manages all plan facets, from auditing of current plans to implementing, funding, enrolling, and ultimately distributing maximum value. The team can manage the process from end-to-end or anything in the middle. It guarantees to reduce negative cash flows related to the plan and build plans that will profit the companies sponsoring them.

Attributes of Success Leader

Bob considers the attributes of a successful leader to be careful thought and constant communication. He claims that one must be willing to conduct extremely detailed due diligence on what he or she sees in the future, but that changes must be communicated constantly or you will confuse and lose your team.He says, “Change is scary to most people due to the uncertainties. Communicate with everyone so they can digest and clearly understand the direction you are moving. This can be a juggling act, as you also must continue working in the present during these transitions. Communicate daily, ask for feedback, include everyone, get their understanding, and they will provide you with the buy in and support you will need to be successful.” They are your business family, and just like any family, everyone wants to know how everything is going and will be inclined to assist when necessary.

Recognition and Accolades while Leading  

All of the honors and public acclaim he has received over his career have been excellent, and the fact that the firm has never been sued, lost any client audits, or received any customer complaints is without a doubt astonishing to Bob, and he feels extremely flattered by this. The biggest honor he has received over the years is being able to coach hundreds of clients, consultants, and young individuals entering the company. He states, “It feels genuinely nice to know that the financial services we offer and employ change people’s lives for the better and, in many cases, change the lives of their children and grandchildren for generations to come.” Bob has also had one of the most incredible experiences in his life in the last several years, which has revolutionized not just how he thinks about himself and approaches people, but also how he does business. He met someone who got in his way and taught him to self-reflect and see things from a fresh perspective. He shares, “I have had very few people mentor me during my journey, and it took a lot of work for this individual to get me to see different opportunities in the world.” During this time, he learned that mentorship is not always sought, but it can sometimes jump up and surprise you, especially when you are not ready for it. He opines, “Always try to keep an open mind for innovative ideas or new ways of seeing things; you will be amazed.”

As the CEO, Bob has the responsibility of heading up one of the most prolific cloud-based artificial intelligence service providers in the financial services industry. He and his team continue to capture awards for the company’s A.I. technology and client-centric consulting processes.

• Recent awards include All Industries Service Excellence 1stPlace Award Winner – Go Global

• Best National Benefit & Insurance Plan Solutions Provider – US Business News

• I. Global Media International Financial Award Winner – Client A.I. Risk and Wealth Management

• Celent International I. Award Winner – Asset and Risk Management

• Excellence in Financial Servicing – US Commerce

• Current Periodical Recognition – CIO Cover Story December 2021

• Entrepreneur Magazine Top 10 Risk Wealth Management Providers January 2022

• Silicon Valley Review – Top 20 Tech Firms To Watch in 2022

• Silicon Review Magazine 2022 – Cover Feature

• Industry Wired Magazine – Cover Story – 10 Best Innovative Management Companies June 2022

• CIO Views Magazine – Cover Story – The 10 Most Inspiring Business Leaders Making a Difference May 2022

• Industry Era Magazine – Top 10 Admired Leaders for 2022

• Money 2.0 – CEO Lifetime Achievement Award

• Digital First Magazine – Cover Story 10 Most Innovative Fintech Companies – 2022

In addition to his role at BenefitRFP, Bob currently serves on multiple boards and work with the Senate Finance and House Ways & Means committees as an ambassador through the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA).

Living a Fulfilled and Successful Life

Bob enjoys auto racing, downhill mountain bike racing, and pretty much everything that is exciting. He has been interviewed and written chapters for a number of industry publications, but his favorite books are those created for pleasure. The most recent, American Bloodline – the rightful heir reclaims Europe, has been compared to Dan Brown’s “da Vinci Code” and Ken Follett’s “Pillars of the Earth” and has been picked up for a Hollywood treatment to become a movie adaptation, along with my book, Blur, which has been positioned as an upcoming sitcom.

Bob believes that success does not cease when people see you on stage or working on boards or committees with prominent individuals. It is the hours of hard effort, commitment, research, and refusal to tolerate fear in your pursuit of success. When he thinks back on his career, he recalls beginning from nothing with nothing. He disregarded it, worked long hours, and completed his CLU, ChFC, RICP, Registered Securities Principal, and Securities examinations so he could fully comprehend the financial sector. Over time, this has repaid him monetarily to heights previously imagined. All of this has taught Bob that success is a process that anyone who is willing to work hard enough can achieve.

Vision for Upcoming Years

As a company BenefitRFP is working towards the future every day. The company is currently completing the final phases of taking its technology out to every company nationwide as it completes its app processes. This will give every company in the nation the ability to build their “perfect plans” in the comfort their own offices without any help. This will be final propulsion comparable to the Quickens or Oracles of the world.

Website: www.benefitrfp.com