A Brief History

In 1985, a humble business graduate of the University of Washington took the Certified Public Accounting exam and set out to learn all that he could of the business world. This CPA from Seattle spent much time in budgeting, job cost and risk analysis working for very large firms up and down the West Coast. Soon he dreamed about starting his own consulting business. He began by learning the ropes from his father, an actuary, who ran one of the few independent third party administration firms in the Pacific Northwest in the 1980s.

This “self-funded health plan administration” firm was centrally located in Yakima, WA to take advantage of lower labor costs and facilitate the delivery of pre-broadband services to all corners of the Northwest. The experience was very hands-on and detailed.  Success brought attention and this firm was sold to a much larger organization. The CPA found this to be an opportunity to become an independent employee benefits broker serving self-funded health plan clients. His reputation, client base and practice grew and his firm was soon purchased by one of the world’s largest insurance brokerages in 1995.

After little more than one year, Daniel W. Fisher had enough of one of the world’s largest brokerage firms and started over with his own small one– FCG Benefits – by incorporating in Spokane, WA where his good friend and fellow past President of the Washington Society of CPAs, Brian Gosline, drew up the papers in 1997.

In these formative years, FCG Benefits doubled in size every 24 months by staying intensely focused on the needs of larger, self-funded health plan sponsors, not-for-profit and healthcare organizations, establishing a strong referral network with independent CPA firms, and expanding the scope and value of services with heavy investments in technology. 
 
In 1994, a humble graduate of Washington State University from Vancouver, Washington, found himself quickly moving up the ladder at one of the world’s largest insurance companies. By 2003, he found himself a Vice President of a substantial office with a growing reputation for understanding the nuances of disability policies and stop-loss insurance. This brought him a nice corner office in downtown Seattle and access to all of the employee benefits firms in the Northwest.  One in particular caught his attention: FCG Benefits. In 2004, Edward E. Haines joined FCG and moved the main office from Main Street in Bellevue to Main Street in Kirkland. 

As FCG Benefits continued to grow, Dan Fisher and Ed Haines recognized that the future of employee benefits was in payroll and human resource systems – specifically, integrating these systems so that employers and employees could get the most out of today’s benefit plans and technology. After a thorough search for a national partner to help bring these new services to employers in the Pacific Northwest, they joined the ProSential Group (formerly HRBA) and in 2009 - EmSpring was born.

EmSpring Today

Today, we are really just a group of focused, dedicated and ethical people bringing cost effective solutions to clients small and large, for-profit and not-for-profit, private and governmental, with self insured or fully insured benefit plans, all while keeping costs well below the big banks and national chain brokerage firms. In this era of healthcare reform, federal bailouts and the whiplash of global economic fluctuations, EmSpring will remain laser-focused on meeting the needs of our clients and their employees. We sincerely hope that appeals to you and encourages you to find out more about us, our services, and our offer to partner with you!