BPM Hot List winner Eric Trudel explains how taking a human-centric approach leads to viable results for insurers and plan sponsors alike
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[00:00:08] Josh Welsh:
Hello and welcome to BPM TV. My name is Josh Welsh, Lead Reporter for Benefits and Pensions Monitor. BPM has just released its 2025 Hot List. The Hot List honorees exemplify the diverse ways leadership is reshaping Canada's benefits, pensions and investment space. They combine entrepreneurial drive, technical expertise, and people-focused strategies to deliver meaningful change across the sector. We'd like to extend a warm welcome to today's guest, Eric Trudel, who is named as one of our hot list honorees. Eric Trudel is Executive Vice President and Lead of Group Insurance at Beneva, Canada's largest mutual insurance company. With over 30 years of experience in the industry, Eric has led transformative initiatives that expanded Beneva's group insurance practice well beyond Quebec, positioning it as a national leader. A fellow of the Canadian Institute of actuaries and a graduate in actuarial science from University Laval, Eric has also completed executive education at Queen's University's Smith School of Business. His career spans a range of functions from underwriting and actuarial to sales, product strategy, and marketing, equipping him with a 360-degree vision of the industry. Eric manages a team of 1,500 professionals, championing innovation and digital modernization. Under his direction, Beneva was among the first insurers in Canada to offer digital wellness solutions, telemedicine, and digital CPT programs. Eric is also deeply involved in industry leadership. He speaks at industry conferences across Canada and internationally, helping shape the future of group insurance. Eric, welcome to the program and congratulations on your achievement and success.
[00:01:44] Eric Trudel:
Thank you. Thank you, Josh. Thank you for the nomination. So for me... For sure, it's truly an honor to be recognized among such a distinguished group of leaders of the industry.
[00:01:59] Josh Welsh:
Absolutely, Eric. And we are going to get into this feeling of, you know, how does it feel to be a BPM Hotlist winner?
[00:02:09] Eric Trudel:
It's always a great feeling to win something. But most importantly, to win the BPM Hotlist. I present a lot because I would say it's a great accomplishment in the benefit and pension industry. But for me, most importantly, that acknowledge and that reflects not just my personal journey, but most importantly, it's the incredible work of all the teams. I have the privilege of leading at Beneva. So for me, it's really motivating to be part of a list that celebrates innovation and people that people in teams that has impact in our industry.
[00:02:59] Josh Welsh:
Absolutely, I mean there's so many obviously your work is being recognized there's so many people who you know could have won you know and obviously we do have a couple of other winners but obviously you stand out for the work that you're doing and you continue to do so again congratulations on that. But I do want to kind of ask on that note, you know, why do you think you were named a hot list winner compared to maybe some other, you know, group leaders out there?
[00:03:28] Eric Trudel:
Good question. I hope probably it's because over the years and most recently also I've worked and my work and the work of my teams is recognized because I think we try more and more to challenge. I would say conventional approach in the group benefit industry and foster solutions that are not only financially sound, but also deeply aligned with the evolving needs of the plan members, plan sponsors, also the advisors. And so I think being now Beneva, the largest mutual insurance in Canada. That's a great achievement also that probably contributes to the winning. But I think also that at Beneva, we are implementing like forward-thinking strategies, like our big program that will modernize our group insurance ecosystem. Also, our innovation and advocating, I would say, we are advocating a lot for mental health, wellness, integration into the benefit programs and also the part that we are doing more and more to leverage data and drive, I would say, more inclusive and equitable outcomes in the workplace. So I think that focus on creating long-term value for plan sponsors and plan members probably is a lot into the winning. So yeah, I think that's, I would say, probably the main reasons.
[00:05:11] Josh Welsh:
Well, I think that's still a really solid reason. I mean, you're obviously doing solid work and the work that you continue to do is shaping the industry and you seem to have kind of a finger on the pulse, so to speak, in terms of, you know, where you kind of see the benefits lens going. So that's fantastic, Eric. What do you think maybe has been the single biggest achievement of your career? Is there anything that maybe sticks out to you as kind of you reflect on this moment?
[00:05:41] Eric Trudel:
Yeah, I think without a doubt that maybe that's because it's recent, but having the privilege of leading the group insurance part of the merger between SSQ Insurance and La Capitale. So to create Beneva stands for me as the most defining achievement of my career for sure and that that's continuing because now we're integrated completely we are Beneva but we are still have having a lot of work finalizing our insurance ecosystem modernization so that that's a longer scope project than just the integration but yeah to bring two organizations uh together create the fifth largest group insurance carrier in Canada. So that's a transformation that is not only technical, but really requires a lot of strategic alignment, cultural integration, so change management. And for me, I would say that's a big 360 degrees achievement of my career. Also, I think the most rewarding aspect is that I create a leadership team for the group insurance at Beneva that is very strong and that works every day, rallying thousands of employees around the Beneva vision while continuing to implement our new system modernization.
[00:07:17] Josh Welsh:
Yeah, I think that's a really fantastic point you make, Eric. I don't think a lot of people really understand the kind of work that goes into an acquisition, you know, everything from kind of the beginning process of it to the middle to the end result and the long term of it as well like you know the aftermath so to speak of that acquisition and how that impacts you know strategy within the new workplace um you know what what maybe gets carried over versus what you know doesn't and so uh there's obviously a lot of work involved in that so i think that's that is a really great achievement to highlight um absolutely
[00:07:56] Eric Trudel:
And when you look just at, just to maybe to finalize on that, just when you look at the numbers, in 2020, La Capitale was around 800 million of annual premiums. SSQ insurance was 1.8 billion in group. And now we just hit the 4 billion marks at the beginning of 2025. So that's a huge. So we didn't have the chance to celebrate the 1 billion at La Capitale in group. At SSQ didn't have the chance to celebrate the 2 billion, but now we had the chance to celebrate the 4 billion. And for us, that's a big milestone. And now we're already heading at the 5 billion mark at the same time, then redefining our offer and our services.
[00:08:45] Josh Welsh:
Yeah, absolutely. Well, obviously we talk about achievements, but you know, Reflecting on maybe the challenges as well, Eric, what do you think has maybe been the biggest challenge in your current role? And how have you learned to deal with it? Or how do you even continue to deal with it?
[00:09:02] Eric Trudel:
Yeah, for sure. That one is an easy one for me to answer. The biggest challenge in my current role is the big IT modernization of systems program. So the challenge, because I would say that's my first challenge, Big program like that, IT program that I co-lead. I co-lead that program with our CIO, Catherine Desgarniers-Belzile. So she's the IT person and the business person, but we are co-leading the program because it's really a business IT working together program. What is the biggest challenge for me is the time it takes. I'm used to leading projects that would be, I would say, pretty quick from the inception to the delivery. When you launch a new product, things like that. I would say it's between the idea and the launch, usually it's, let's say, 12 months at the most. Now, we launched the program just after the merger, so somewhere in 2021. And we are still working very hard. We are live with a small portfolio of groups, but we still have a lot of work to do to have all the functionalities required to... transfer our existing groups in the new ecosystem. So probably it will take another two, three, four years. So that's a big challenge for me because I'm not very patient by nature, but I learned a lot with that program. And the thing that, even if it's a challenge, the thing is that our board, since the beginning, the first principle was When you will transfer your group in the new ecosystem, it should not impact adversely, I would say, the plan sponsors, the plan members and the advisors. So we would do it when we'd be ready. So that's the first principle. And it is a little bit the thing because we have the luxury also that the existing ecosystem works very well. So we are not in a hurry. But for sure, we will want to finish that program. And from beginning to end, it would be less than 10 years. So 10 years is big for me. But when you look at that scope of IT programs, it's, I would say, probably the usual time lapse.
[00:11:51] Josh Welsh:
I think that's a challenge for you, Eric. But I think also a challenge for a lot of other people as well as they have to, you know. learn how to use AI and all this other tech that, you know, and it's an evolving industry as well, much like the benefits side is, much like the group insurance is. I mean, AI and tech is completely other industry that's ever evolving, ever changing, right? I think same goes for everything else. And so it's how do you keep up? How do you adapt? And like you said, it's going to probably take a couple years but you know it's every every everyone's in this together, right? So I think that's kind of the good thing to keep in mind is that, you know, you're not alone. You have everyone else that you can rely on. You have maybe other team leaders that you rely on as well and other industry experts as well. So I think that's certainly something to keep in mind.
[00:12:46] Eric Trudel:
And part of the challenge is that we are the first group insurance carrier in Canada to implement, I would say, all the admin, I would say, core admin component. All the other carriers still rely on legacy systems that are, I would say, topped with the most more modern, I would say, front line. But everybody rely on the legacy. And I think we are the first one to change the legacy for a SaaS solution. So for sure, that needs a lot of discussion and development with the partner. Because when you are the first one, especially we have a U.S. partner that we are the first client in Canada. So... That means a lot of discussion and a lot of fine-tuning because group insurance is not the same in Canada than in the US.
[00:13:37] Josh Welsh:
Well, speaking of some challenges, maybe just shifting gears a little bit to the benefits side, what have been some recent challenges that you've seen in the benefits landscape and how have you and your team overcome those challenges?
[00:13:53] Eric Trudel:
Yeah, for me, the major, I would say, challenge The main one is the rising cost of specialty drugs. And in Quebec, and that one is particular to Quebec, so included in the rising cost of the molecule of the specialty drugs, we have also the excessive dispensing fees. So you probably read that in Quebec, we made a complaint to the Concurrence Bureau of Canada because there's only like... eight pharmacies, specialty pharmacies, that distribute all the specialty drugs. And they charge dispensing fees that are like 10 to 12% of the cost of the molecule. So if you have a single patient taking a 2 Million annual cost drug
the pharmacist get 200,000 to distribute that molecule for the year. So that's not... That's not fair. That's non-competitive issue. So that's why we complain. Outside of Quebec, that's another... gain because you can, as a group insurance carrier, you can put caps and control the dispensing fees. But as you know, in Quebec, because of the law for drug insurance, you cannot do that as a carrier. So that's a challenge for us, but a challenge for our plan sponsors. And the complaint we filed was a request for a plan sponsor to try to control those costs because They are okay. They understand that for the molecule cost, that's life-changing drugs. And we should include that in the plan if it's cost-efficient. But they are not okay to pay excessive dispensing fee. So that's the main one for me. And just after, you have also everything related to anxiety, mental health. So we need to continue to tackle on prevention, prevention, prevention. I think that would be the key to control those costs in the future in the group insurance plan.
[00:16:12] Josh Welsh:
Absolutely. And just kind of, I know there was a bit of a two-parter there, but how have you and your team overcome some of those challenges? What are you guys doing at Beneva to help alleviate some of those challenges for you and plan sponsors as well?
[00:16:27] Eric Trudel:
Yeah, for the drug, expensive drug, for sure, we are negotiating product listing agreements with the pharma. So as the other carriers do, but we are now having more than 100 agreements. So for us, that's a big thing. And we have a three pillar, I would say, drug cost strategy. So we have the PLA that is one pillar, but we have also the... the switch to biosimilar drugs. When a biologic has a biosimilar, you need to switch to biosimilar drugs. And we have also all the step therapy, the pre-approval and other pillars that include the third pillar. So I think the global thing, we are really managing those three pillars together. And that, I would say, is our main focus to control the drug cost. On the prevention for mental health we are sponsoring a lot of things notably the chair with laval university and relief on mental health so that would be our fifth years that we are sponsoring that chair so that gave us a lot of insight to to uh to pass through our uh sponsors to to do more prevention and control mental disabilities and uh also we are We are having a lot of discussion with our advisors about the plan design. So, like us at Beneva, our new plan design for employees includes a
[00:19:06] Josh Welsh:
That's great, Eric. Obviously, there's a lot of areas that you guys are tackling and continue to do so on a day-to-day basis. But maybe just one other question on challenges before we move into some other areas. I mean, What future challenges do you see coming ahead for plan sponsors, particularly as they deal with these higher costs of drugs?
[00:19:30] Eric Trudel:
Yeah, I think the big challenge is to decide, to take decision on the plan design. Because group insurance is increasing at a pace that is higher than inflation, let's say around 7-8% per year. And that's been the case for many years. So sometimes when you have increase of 2-3% that's difficult in the long term. So the big challenge for plan sponsors is to decide and to balance what we can do to control costs, and also having employees that are happy about their benefits. So that's not an easy one. So when I say, let's say we discuss with some sponsors to increase like psychological consultation to a higher amount, sometimes they will say, okay, but I need to remove something. And then sometimes we'll say, okay, maybe massage therapy, that kind of thing. but The struggle is that part of the employees really want those benefits to be included. So I think the big challenge for the plan sponsors is to balance, I would say, the long-term and preventive aspect of the plan with the more short-term budgeting part of that same benefit plan. So it's not easy. It should just be aligned with the values of the company. But I would say probably for the future years, that's the big challenge for plan sponsors. And at the same time, one thing that could help probably on that, I think AI will help on a lot of aspects. And maybe that could help on that because we have more... We have the data, but now we will have more, I would say, means to use the data, maybe to try to do informed recommendations with the help of the advisors to the plan sponsors about that.
[00:21:45] Josh Welsh:
That's great. It makes sense. Thanks for highlighting all that, Eric. I do want to ask you, because this is really actually really interesting, how you've had to take something that maybe... or multiple things that have been isolated and then kind of expanding them. And I'm talking about initiatives that you've overseen that expanded Beneva's group insurance practice well beyond Quebec. What kind of initiatives were you looking at there and how did you do that?
[00:22:15] Eric Trudel:
Yeah, in fact, for sure, in Quebec, our market share is 27% of the market. So we are the first in Quebec. The second position is at 20% of market share. So we're well installed in Quebec. But outside of Quebec, our market share is 2%. So we have a lot of room to grow. And you've probably seen we're more and more present with our sales force everywhere in Canada, especially in Ontario. So we have some people in the West, Calgary, Vancouver, but the big team is in Toronto. And we need to tackle the GMA, the GTA, the Great Toronto Area. So we are working on that. You've probably seen our advertising at the Billy Bishop Airport. We sponsored the tennis last summer. So we don't have unlimited budget. So we want to tackle the advisors, the plan sponsors, those people responsible for taking the group insurance decisions. So we are really going like precise precisely, but yeah, for sure that that's the kind of initiative that we are doing to, to expand and to grow our business share outside of Quebec.
[00:23:41] Josh Welsh:
So it really is just more or less exposure, exposure for, for Beneva, just letting other provinces know that you guys are, are out there. And so how, how is that? How is that reflecting so far? What's the success like for you guys?
[00:23:55] Eric Trudel:
Yeah, so far it's going well, but for sure we are a big brand in Quebec. We are not really known outside of Quebec. For sure, things like the acquisition of Gore Mutual, the merger with Gore Mutual will help in the future because that would help the brand to be spread across Canada, especially for PNC insurance. There's more marketing allowance included in the rate, so you're able to do more branding. That's the case in Quebec because we are a big PNC insurer in Quebec also. So that helps the group insurance because the brand is already known. For the moment, we are not a big brand in PNC outside of Quebec, so that's an additional struggle for the group. But I think we see already results of that. More and more, we are getting finalists against the big three. And before, I would say, maybe a few years ago, sometimes the plan sponsors would just say, OK, I know some life, I know Canada's life, but who's been ever? Now, more and more... they at least heard about Beneva and that helped because when, let's say, a VP of HR decides to switch a plan to Beneva, they have to be confident that we'll do the job. And I think our big challenge is to, we have a big notoriety across the advisors community in Quebec. When we do some market survey, we rank very well. It's to bring that outside of Quebec. And when a broker knows us, they rank us highly. But the problem is, for the moment, we're not enough known, I would say, across the advisors community and also the business community outside of Quebec. But that's increasing and we continue to unfold our plan and we'll invest more and more every year. The budget for advertising is increasing at the same pace than our growth plan.
[00:26:08] Josh Welsh:
Well, we look forward to seeing how big you guys get, Eric. I think it's an exciting time for you guys and for Beneva, certainly overall. I do want to ask about this because I think this is something that we also need to, that we also overlook. In your opinion, what areas of benefits are largely being overlooked right now?
[00:26:31] Eric Trudel:
I would say probably prevention. We talk a lot about prevention, but do we really put specific things in place? That's not always the case. So I think, let's say, if you're a plan sponsor, you say, I want to do prevention with my employees. Okay, but what are the specific things that are in place? So that's a big discussion to have and to put, I would say, concrete things in place. with the advisor, the plan sponsor, and the carrier. We are working as a trio on that. So that's one, I think, that we don't put, I think, enough energy. The other thing I would say that is probably overlooked is maybe the impact of all the medical innovation and that would be the case more and more with AI. like Just that I would say I would take cancer treatment. If you look at cancer treatment, they are more and more focused. So if you look at stats from disability in Canada over the, if you compare 20 years ago and today, we have 15% less long-term disability because of cancer than 20 years ago. And that's... largely due to the great impact of the new drugs for the cancer. So I think we should be better to anticipate that. And to explain also the ROI to the plan sponsor. Because sometimes we say, ah, that's another new drug that is expensive. But if we're able to project the future and explain to the plan sponsor that in the long term, that would be... a great ROI. And that's often the case, I think, for all the mid-scale innovation that would help with the long-term previsibility because if you're the plan sponsor and you just have new costs, you need to understand it's like investing in a new system. Yes, it costs a lot of money at the beginning, but you have an ROI over 10, 15 years. So that's a little bit of the same. And I think we should be better as carrier to use all the tools that we have to present that to our partners.
[00:29:03] Josh Welsh:
Great. Well, Eric, after being named a Hotlist winner, has this adjusted or impacted your mindset and aims for the rest of your career? What do you plan on maybe doing differently, if anything?
[00:29:18] Eric Trudel:
I think it's just maybe, for me, it's a sign that I'm aiming and the team is aiming in the right direction. So that's like a tap on the shoulder to continue in the same direction. So I think we will continue to work very hard to expand our market share across Canada. And also, we have a characteristic at Beneva that we are working on the infrastructure actually for that. But we are a multi-line insurer. There's not a lot of multi-line insurer in Canada. so you For the moment, it's more the case in Quebec. So in Quebec, we can do PNC. We can do individual life savings and group. Outside of Quebec, for the moment, we are mainly group individual life savings with a little bit of PNC. But now with the Gore partnership, if we project in a couple of years, we'd be a truly multiline insurer also everywhere in Canada. So I think for me as the leader of the group, that's a great advantage that we should use because for our plan members, To have a one-stop shop that can cover all your insurance needs, that's great. So that's something that as soon as we'll have the infrastructure to be able to do it. Also, technically, I would say, because for the moment, we can sell a product to a group plan member, but it's not fully integrated into our client space. But we're working very hard on that. And in a few years, we'll be able to offer all the benefits at one stop shop so that will be a great advantage for us. And we want to do it with the greatest simplicity as possible. So that I think for the future, that's the plan. Not to differentiate just by the fact that we are a mutual company and we are a little bit different because of our values, but also with the fact that we can cover all the needs, the insurance needs of the Canadians.
[00:31:35] Josh Welsh:
I think that'll be fantastic. We'll definitely be watching for that and be rooting for your success. I think that's really important that you know and it's certainly a move that a lot of insurers are doing there too is making sure that we are kind of integrating all areas of well-being, all areas of wellness, all areas of benefits to ensure that you know employers are basically set up for success for their employees at the end of the day. And it'll be interesting to see what trends come out of that, what trends maybe fade away, what trends even kind of coexist or stay current. So it's going to be a really interesting time. A little bit of a final question here for you, Eric, and also on the note of forward looking here. What should plan sponsors be doing differently going forward?
[00:32:30] Eric Trudel:
That's a good one. I would say probably more, and maybe I tackled that a little bit before, but move, I would say, from a transactional view of the benefit plan to really a strategic view of the benefit plan. So really an employee-centric approach. So really working hard on the design of the plan to reflect and to account for the needs of their people. They know their people, they are probably those that know their people the best, the most. So, how can you fit a benefit plan that would fit those needs and be accessible and relevant to your employees? So, I think that's probably one thing that they should do differently and that will fit with the fact to maybe for us, the carrier, to be able to provide some dashboards, I would say, of the long-term impact of the actual expense, like the innovation, medical innovation. And so moving, I would say, from tactic to strategic approach, because the benefits plans are really, and it's the same for pension. It's now in the marketplace, it's really a strategic differentiator for all the employers.
[00:33:53] Josh Welsh:
Well, Eric, that sums up the our time together. I really appreciate the time that you took out of your day to, to chat with us today, to give us some insight, not only in terms of benefit, benefit of his offerings, but a little bit of your success as well. And so we, we congratulate you again on, on being named one of our hot list winners. That's a very exciting time for you. And again, we'll be, we'll be watching to see what else you guys continue to do in the space with, with great interest. So I really appreciate your time. But before I do let you go, any final thoughts you want to share? Any messages that you care to leave our plan sponsors or our viewers today?
[00:34:40] Eric Trudel:
Yeah, just try us. I think a lot of plan sponsors never try us. So let's try Beneva. You will feel what is the Beneva difference. I like to say that we have a Beneva difference. are way too... to handle the fact that we're mutual. We're really a human approach, and I think you will like that. And just final thanks to all my teammates. We are six. employees now across Canada at Beneva. So I think that achievement would have not been possible with the contribution of all the employees of Beneva across Canada.
[00:35:19] Josh Welsh:
Amazing. Great. Eric, thank you very much again. Really appreciate your being here and all the best going forward in the future at Beneva.
[00:35:29] Eric Trudel:
Thank you very much.
[00:35:31] Josh Welsh:
Thank you for watching. This is Josh Welsh with BPM. Take care. Have a great rest of your day.
