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We recently had the opportunity to chat with Jason Werner, CIO and  a key member of the leadership team at ClaimsBridge to uncover their unique journey with the company and explore what makes ClaimsBridge an exceptional place to work. Their story is one of dedication and growth, supported by a company culture that values stability, family, and personal development, all within the framework of a thriving and dynamic work environment.

You’ve been with the company for a long time.  Tell us a little bit about what it was like in the early days and how the company has evolved since then.

In the early days, we operated paycheck to paycheck like many young companies. Jak, Bob, Melissa, and Jessica were here before me.   We scrutinized every expense, ensuring each project or client relationship was worth it. Bob often shared stories of driving to collect checks to make payroll.

For years, our main challenge was managing limited cash flow without incurring debt. Despite this, we grew organically and steadily, never retreating. I occasionally read that once a company hits a certain financial threshold, such as $200,000 in the bank, growth accelerates. Initially, our 10-30% growth was consumed by expenses. It took time before our growth translated into significant profits.

The first decade was tougher because every penny earned was reinvested. Today we have grown to the point where this is still in the back of our mind, but we have more flexibility overall.  This financial stability is the biggest change.

What hasn’t changed is our family-oriented culture. We’re supportive of employees with new children and prioritize their needs without pressuring productivity. This support, initiated by Bob, remains a core value at ClaimsBridge, even as we grow.

What has made you stay with ClaimsBridge?

Before joining ClaimsBridge, I worked for a consulting company where I traveled extensively. I spent a year in Oklahoma City, three years in California and Chicago, and was slated to go to Albany.  My wife and I were starting a family and moving to Annapolis, so I needed to find something different.

Coming here I found a local job that offered growth opportunities. It allowed me to do things I only got to do briefly in consulting, where you come in, do a job, and then leave. This job gave me long-term experience in IT and the chance to be involved in different aspects of the business.

When I joined the company, I started as a programmer. Although I had extensive programming experience, it wasn’t in the language we used here. I had worked a lot with MUMPS in VA hospitals, where most programmers were much older. I wanted to learn a more marketable language, and Jak Eskinazi hired me, saying he could teach me what I needed to know.

I started by learning the new programming language and evolved from there. As we grew, I took on more supervisory and managerial roles, though managing isn’t my strongest skill. My style is more consultative—I expect people to do their jobs and move on. Now, I run the IT department and am involved in business decisions. I try to stay away from some decisions to avoid conflicts, but my job is to keep everything running smoothly and advance our capabilities.

I don’t program as much as I used to and am more specialized in what I do, but I still code daily. One thing that hasn’t changed, which I’d like to change, is my involvement in customer support. Many customers reach out to me directly for issues, and I spend a lot of time troubleshooting and fixing problems. Being a hands-on company is important to us, and maintaining that during growth is one of our biggest challenges.

Can you describe your most significant achievement or project during your time at the company and how it impacted the organization?

About five or six years ago, before our new leadership team came onboard, and the new team joined us, Bob and I received a call from a long-term client, the Loomis Company, a TPA subcontracted through Bright Health Group for their commercial operations. They needed help with pricing claims, and we told them, “That’s what we do.”

This project was a significant revenue boost for us. I handled all the coding, logic, and pricing, integrating our system with their complex, hospital-based pricing rules. These were challenging tasks, representing the difficult 10% of the work that takes most of the time.

Over that year, we successfully implemented the system and supported them for three years until Bright Health moved on from that business.  Despite this, the project was a major success for us, both personally and as a company.

The revenue from this project allowed us to hire Kevin Gibson – CEO, Mike Tosti – EVP Sales, and our current sales team, which has driven our growth. This project was our “hockey stick” moment, accelerating our success significantly.

“From an employee perspective, we’ve consistently taken care of everyone, prioritizing their well-being over the company’s bottom line. This approach hasn’t changed.”

Where do you see ClaimsBridge heading in the future?

Looking ahead, from a business and investor perspective, we’re focusing on substantial growth. We plan to continue expanding, potentially by acquiring or partnering with like-minded or complementary businesses. There’s also the possibility that someone might see value in us and want to invest further.

Overall, the company is on solid footing for long-term growth and continued industry support.

How do you think ClaimsBridge’s culture and values impact the way you work as a team and how you make decisions with a company?

That’s a great question. From an employee perspective, we’ve consistently taken care of everyone, prioritizing their well-being over the company’s bottom line. This approach hasn’t changed.

From a management perspective, growth has made things more challenging. With more employees, there’s a greater responsibility to ensure everyone gets paid. When the company was smaller, decisions were easier and risks were manageable. Now, with around 25 employees, there’s more at stake, which affects our decision-making structure.

Despite the growth and changes we remain heavily client focused.  Keeping our clients happy is key to enabling us to continue to grow.  This is something I take great personal pride in.

Anything Else you’d like to add?

This is a great place to grow, especially in the tech sector. We’re an IT company providing valuable services to our clients, but without our IT backbone, we wouldn’t have much to offer. The company’s growth potential is enormous in terms of client product offerings, and both business and personal development.

You often hear we’re a 20-year-old startup because, for the first 16-17 years, we operated with minimal resources. Now, we’re fixing things we should have done from the beginning. We’ve achieved SOC 2 compliance, moved our hosting to an Azure cloud environment, and added new tools to stay current with the evolving tech landscape.

Our modernization efforts mean new employees can find their niche and grow. I’m happy to delegate tasks because I can’t manage everything like I did a decade ago. When new hires express interest in areas like cybersecurity, we can support them in those roles.

From a growth standpoint, it’s like my adult soccer team where everyone wants to play offense. We need balance, hiring people for specific positions we need, even though we have many roles to fill.

There are many opportunities and a lot of fun in the process. It’s a great place for hiring and future growth.

At ClaimsBridge, we pride ourselves on our close-knit community and the dedication of our team members. Today, we’re shining a spotlight on one of our long-time employees, Melissa Barrios, who has been instrumental in our growth and success. Melissa has held many roles during her time at ClaimsBridge and is currently HR Administrator. Melissa has been with ClaimsBridge for over 16 years

What initially attracted you to join our company, and what has made you stay?

The opportunity for growth! 16 years later I feel as though I am a testament to the great opportunity for growth within our company. The evolution of our company is what has attracted me to stay. There has been continuous growth and change for the good. It has been very cool to see where we started to where we are now and have had the honor to be here for the journey.

How would you describe the work-life balance at our company? What support or resources have you received to help maintain that balance?

Understanding and accommodating is how I would best describe it. We all understand our roles, responsibilities, and dedication to a successful and productive work week, but we are all very aligned when it comes to the importance of family life and employees’ lives outside of the office. I had my first child in 2020 and I was able to work out a slight change in work hours and a hybrid work schedule with our leadership team. This was beneficial not only for the timeliness of pick up and drop off schedule, but also because the time I would have usually been traveling on my commute, could now be spent with my family. More recently with the collapse of the Key Bridge, a few employees were affected by their commute, including myself. Taking into account the much longer commute, my in-office hours were quickly adjusted.

” Our company has dedicated time and resources to not only making sure our work environment is a place where we feel comfortable, but a place where we are inspired to grow along with it.”

Can you describe your most significant achievement or project during your time at the company and how it impacted the organization?

It is hard to pick one, but the revamp of our contract was not only an achievement but also probably my favorite project. I was assigned the task of restructuring our Master Services Agreement back in 2022. Prior to this, our contract was 4-5 separate documents which all needed to be reviewed and signed off on by each new prospect. I redesigned the document and consolidated all the legal language as well as product pricing into one single document. This not only made the sales process more seamless and efficient, but it also helped the finance department easily identify and build the items for billing.

How has your role evolved since you joined the company, and what steps have you taken to adapt to those changes?

I started out working in our mailroom. Opening claims, answering customer support calls, and day to day tasks like filing and shredding. During my time at ClaimsBridge I have gained a wealth of knowledge about the company and every aspect of each department. With that type of knowledge and tenure, I’ve been deemed the title of Swiss Army Knife. Easily being able to jump in to act as a liaison for finance, sales, operations, and even back to my roots, the mailroom. In my latest role as HR Administrator, I’ve taken advantage of our employee education reimbursement policy and enrolled in the Society of Human Resources Management course in hopes to gain my SHRM-CP this summer.

How do you think our company’s culture and values impact the way we work and make decisions?

Our company has dedicated time and resources to not only making sure our work environment is a place where we feel comfortable, but a place where we are inspired to grow along with it. We involve employees in big decisions. Genuinely taking into consideration their thoughts and ideas.

Anything else you’d like to share?

If you would have asked me at the age of 18 when I first started working for this company, where I thought I would be now…I never would have thought I would be here. In a position where I work with wonderful people, who work so hard and well together as a team, and have a career that I am very proud of and love.