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It took Susie Roberts until her final project for her master of science in business management degree from Iowa State University to realize that her true passion was for wellness. At that point, she was working as benefits manager for Ruan Transport Corp. She then went on to work as a client service executive in employee benefits at an insurance agency for eight years before finally starting her preferred career path. She now is LaMair-Mulock-Condon Co.’s director of health matters, a new division focused on health management services.

What are you doing in your new role?

I’ve been here for five months now and we have started a brand-new department called health management services. The reason that we did that is because on both the employee benefit and property and casualty sides, clients were saying to our account executives and staff, “Our health-care costs are rising. They’re out of control. It’s our hugest expense” and they’ve been hearing so much about wellness and wanting to find out more information about it: how to do that, where to start, what vendors do they use, how do they budget for it, et cetera. So LMC decided to start a service that would provide that expertise and consulting services to our clients.

Is that where the insurance industry is headed?

Definitely. The health insurance industry, the insurance industry itself, the medical-care systems, everyone is moving toward wellness. In fact when I started to evaluate wellness vendors, there are thousands of them and I myself was faced with a similar situation as an employer would be. How do you pick who is the best?

What specific wellness services will you provide?

We will provide at no cost consulting services to help our clients evaluate where they want to go with their program, what goals they want to achieve and how to get it properly set up. Then we look at the vendors that might be able to provide the services to meet their needs and map out a three- to five-year strategy with that client. On top of that, we’ve been working with some key vendors to provide what we call packages, where a client can just start out with a very simple first few steps, which might include a health-risk appraisal. More advanced steps might include having some training sessions for things like medical self-care or prevention.

Is it just you in your department right now?

Right now it is. But we are thinking about adding an account manager already, which is really good for a department just being in place for five months.

What got you interested in health?

I was working at Ruan Transport in the ’90s. Health-care costs were rising. We worked with a wellness consultant called Sue Roberts – no relation – to help design and conduct a truck-driver nutrition program. We conducted a health screening on-site for 30 drivers, divided them into a control group and a test group. The test group got a very in-depth analysis from Sue of their health results. She set goals with them; we gave them educational pieces and healthy snacks to take on the road. The control group didn’t get much information; they didn’t get snacks. At the end of six months, we rescreened everyone and the test group had much more improved results. I saw the difference that Sue Roberts made. She was able to break this whole “how do I get healthier” issue into simple small steps for people to take rather than telling someone you need to lose 50 pounds and stop smoking.

Is there one career accomplishment that you’re most proud of?

There’s actually two. One is taking the risk to go for my passion and to take that leap of faith to where my knowledge base has a lot of room for growth. When I was an insurance agent at my previous job, I knew about 95 percent of what I needed to do my job every day. So to go from that into a position where everything is new is a big challenge and I’m very proud of myself for taking the risk. The second thing that I’m extremely proud of is the driver nutrition study. It actually got published in the Transportation Journal in the spring of 1996.

So the Ruan project changed your career direction?

It changed my whole focus and direction and it did take me a while to get to where I wanted to go, but it just proves to me that it’s really important to figure out what your passion is and then when you’re ready, take the steps forward to achieve that. And even though it’s scary and risky, it is so worth it.

Do you practice what you preach?

I’ve always practiced what I preach. I’m kind of viewed around here as the wellness police lady. We’ll of course be adopting more health management and health improvement types of programs and activities. On a personal basis, my mantra is doing things in moderation and being consistent. The things I enjoy are group exercise sessions at my health club, and walking with my little pal, Buddy (a Bichon Yorkie).

How did you make your first dollar?

Working on my mom and dad’s farm in Lansing. I was the oldest of six kids and I was basically my dad’s right-hand man.