Matt Crowner began putting out feelers a year ago in search of potential partners for his firm, Gettysburg Benefits Administrators.
He found a fit with Maryland-based Kelly Benefits, which announced yesterday it has acquired the Adams County firm. Terms of the deal, which closed Oct. 1, were not disclosed.
“When I first met with the senior management people there, we just really hit it off. They have a really good culture,” Crowner said, noting that Kelly Benefits plans to maintain the Gettysburg office of Gettysburg Benefits.
The fit also comes down to geography and technology.
The two companies’ footprints do not overlap, and Kelly Benefits provides the kinds of tools that Gettysburg Benefits has been looking to add, Crowner said in an interview.
“They are just locked and loaded with technology,” he said.
The target: Gettysburg Benefits is a wholesale provider of ancillary benefits such as group vision, dental and life insurance.
Its customers are brokerages that sell to employers, primarily in Pennsylvania but also in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York and West Virginia.
Among the firm’s products is consolidated billing, which lets employers pay a single bill for benefits even if they are from different carriers, Crowner said.
The company was founded in 1979 as Gettysburg Health Administrators by Crowner’s father-in-law, Ron Pack, who retired in 2014; Crowner took over as leader and co-owner in 2014.
It employs about 10 people, said Crowner, who will continue to head the Gettysburg operations.
The buyer: Kelly Benefits provides benefits administration and consulting, as well as brokerage, consulting and payroll services.
Founded in 1976, the second-generation, family-owned company is one of the largest employee benefits administrators in Maryland.
Based in Sparks, Kelly Benefits has nearly 500 employees and operates additional offices in Washington, D.C., and the Philadelphia area.
The acquisition of Gettysburg Benefits “provides significant opportunities for strategic growth and partnership and aligns with our commitment to providing comprehensive benefit solutions to help make businesses better,” said Stephen Kelly, director of business development for Kelly Benefits Advantage, the technology arm of Kelly Benefits.
For Crowner, the transaction creates an opportunity to bring Kelly Benefits’ products and technology to his company’s clients.
Kelly Benefits, for example, offers 401(k) plans and a benefits enrollment system.
What’s next: Gettysburg Benefits Administrators will continue to operate under its own name as a division of Kelly Benefits, Crowner said. But the name is likely to change at some point.
