Welcome back to the No BS. No sales pitch. Just real solutions podcast.  This week our host Chelsea Ryckis sits down with Justin Held, CEBS of the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP) to unpack what HR, CFOs, and CEOs need now: neutral education, fiduciary guardrails, and a practical path to future-proof employee benefits.


In this episode:

• What IFEBP is and how it helps plan sponsors with objective, non-lobbying education
• CEBS breakdown: curriculum, timelines, and why employers fund it
• Fiduciary duty basics after ERISA and why CAA 2021 put health plans under the spotlight
• The 2025–2026 benefits agenda: PBM contracts, data analysis, chronic conditions, GLP-1 coverage, mental and behavioral health, peer support models, and AI in plan administration
• How to run a strategic review of your plan: surveys, focus groups, utilization data, KPIs

Simple, high-impact changes most members won’t even notice, but your budget will.

Timestamps:

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:08 What IFEBP does and why it’s neutral
• 6:35 Conferences, toolkits, and daily benefits headlines
• 10:12 CEBS overview and chapter network
• 14:45 ERISA fiduciary duty in health and retirement
• 19:18 Trends: PBM contracts, GLP-1, mental health, AI, fraud prevention
• 28:40 Peer support models for mental health
• 33:10 How to future-proof benefits with data and KPIs

If you are an employer, CFO, or CEO who is tired of trend increases and status quo advice, this conversation will give you a path to real savings and better outcomes. 

If this helped, like, subscribe, and share with a leader who needs to hear it.  Tell us in the comments: What is the first change you will make to your benefits strategy?

Whether you're an HR professional, CFO, CEO, or just tired of rising healthcare costs, this is your call to rethink benefits strategy and finally take control.

Connect with our guest today at: 
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-held-cebs/
Website: https://www.ifebp.org/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/IFEBP
Listen to their podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-benefits/id1183535454

Connect with Chelsea and Donovan:
Website: www.businessofbenefitspodcast.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ethoseffectpodcast/
Chelsea: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chelsea-ryckis-8508a192/
Donovan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donovanryckis/