Ovation Benefits Partners

William J. Carew - President & CEO

Bill Carew is President & Chief Executive Officer responsible for the strategic, operational and financial performance of the company. With more than 24 years of experience in the industry, Bill is a recognized authority on health and employee benefits strategy, financing, and insurance underwriting, and is a leading advocate for the incorporation of wellness and health improvement strategies in the workforce. He has held management, consulting and sales positions in various markets around the country with Metropolitan Life, CIGNA Healthcare, and the former Johnson and Higgins (now Marsh) companies. In 1992, he co-founded Carew, Driscoll & Associates, Inc. and in 2002 merged the firm with BENEFITSource to form Ovation Benefits Group.

He is the lead author of the Connecticut Public Sector Healthcare Cost & Benefit Survey, the chairman of the Metro-Hartford Alliance Healthcare Task Force Wellness Committee, a frequent presenter to industry trade groups, and an active contributor to business and industry panels influencing the direction of healthcare policy and legislative activity. He is also the primary author of a the Ovation Benefits blog covering "The Business of Healthcare & the World Around Us" which can be found at www.ovationbenefits.com/blog.

Bill has a BA in History from Boston College and an MA in Economics from Trinity College, is a past recipient of the 40 Under 40 award by the Hartford Business Journal, and currently serves as Chair of the Nutmeg Big Brothers Big Sisters Board of Directors. Bill resides in Simsbury, CT with his wife Karen and their four children.

Brian F. Driscoll - Chief Operating Officer

Brian Driscoll is a founding Partner of Ovation Benefits Group. Prior to founding Ovation Benefits and its predecessor company CarewDriscoll, Brian held a number of positions in the healthcare industry with Johnson & Higgins, Aetna and Travelers.

In addition to his extensive background in the negotiation and financing of employee benefits, Brian has also overseen the area of compliance for Ovation Benefits. He is a frequent participant and speaker in the company’s seminar series and has advised and trained employer groups in various areas including HIPAA and Medicare Part D.

He currently is an active board member of the Connecticut Benefit Brokers (CBB) and participates on the insurance company (Anthem & Connecticare) broker advisory councils.

Brian attended Trinity College where he received a BA in Mathematics. Brian, his wife Kathy, and their daughter Emily reside in Burlington. In his free time, Brian is an active member of St. Patrick’s Church in Collinsville; coaches youth sports and enjoys playing golf.

John Carew - Chief Sales Officer

John Carew is the Chief Sales Officer and responsible for all business development activities for Ovation Benefits. He has more than 16 years of experience in the managed care industry. In the early 1990’s, John worked in several operations positions with Tufts Health Plans in Boston. These positions included claims and enrollment customer service, credit, collections and premium billing. In 1994 John moved into Medicare risk sales with Tufts Secure Horizons (a Pacificare Company), and by 1995 he was responsible for all national group Medicare risk sales.

In 1996, John briefly worked at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care where he was responsible for all aspects of the Medicare Risk sales for the municipal and hospital industry sectors. After a year in the commercial sales program with MedSpan, a provider sponsored HMO in Hartford, he joined Carew, Driscoll & Associates in the fall of 1997.

John has a BA in Economics from Providence College. He, his wife Kirsten, and their three sons, Jack, James and Riley, live in Simsbury. John volunteers with the Connecticut Breast Health Initiative and the Connecticut Jammers (a quadriplegia rugby team affiliated with Gaylord Hospital and the United States Quad Rugby Association). He also coaches youth rugby and plays with the Connecticut Grey, a not so youthful men’s rugby team based in Meriden.

Bill Mauke - Health & Productivity Practice Leader

Bill Mauke is a founding partner and senior officer of the company with over 25 years of experience in the employee benefits industry. As "innovation czar", he is responsible for Ovation’s health and consumer service strategies and many of our pioneering programs in Population Health Management (PHM) and Consumer Directed Health Plans (CDHP). Bill manages our Wellness and Consumer Education practice groups and works closely with our IT and Communications departments to bring leading edge services to our clients. He is a frequent speaker at seminars and conferences on the topics of PHM and CDHP and is active in industry organizations including the National Business Group on Health and the Institute for Health and Productivity Management. Bill spearheads our relationship with the worksite wellness group at the Mayo Clinic and represents Ovation management on the company’s award winning wellness committee.

Prior to joining Ovation, Bill managed employee benefit operations in Atlanta, New York and Boston for several national insurance carriers and has been responsible for such national accounts as NASA, BIC Corp, Reebok, and LL Bean.

Bill has a BA in Economics from Colgate University.

Robert Marino - Partner, Practice Leader

Bob Marino is responsible for overseeing our Account Management staff. He has developed the practices and procedures essential to delivering the standards of service to all of our clients. Bob spent four years as Director of Sales and Account Management at MedSpan Health Options, a Connecticut HMO. While there, he managed all aspects of Customer Service, Renewals and New Business Sales. During his tenure, MedSpan was recognized as one of America’s fastest growing companies by Inc. Magazine as well as the highest rated HMO in Connecticut for overall customer service.

Prior to MedSpan, Bob spent 15 years with CIGNA Health Plans. He held various positions during this time including underwriter and account manager operating in several different marketplaces around the country. His range of responsibilities included renewal and new business pricing; product development and direct account management services.

Bob holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management with a concentration in Accounting from Central Connecticut State University. Bob also holds a Chartered Life Underwriters Professional Designation.

Mike Davis - Partner, Practice Leader

Mike Davis is one of the founding partners of Ovation Benefits and has more than 25 years of experience in the employee benefits industry. He began his career with Aetna in 1982, after which he established an Employee Benefits organization (CM Benefits Group) within the Hartford office of the Connecticut Mutual General Agency. He acquired the business from the General Agency in 1996 when Mass Mutual purchased Connecticut Mutual. The business, renamed BENEFITSource LLC, has been his fulltime focus until the merger, which formed Ovation Benefits.

Mike has a BA from Middlebury College in Economics with a Concentration in French.