NBLC Principles

Arrow Benefits Group Joins North Bay Leadership Council

Petaluma, CA  North Bay Leadership Council  (NBLC) is pleased to announce that Arrow Benefits Group is their newest member.  Arrow Benefits Group is the third largest HR/benefits company in the North Bay, with 38 employees.  Patty Garbarino, Board Chair of NBLC, said, “Arrow Benefits Group will be a great addition to our membership because they are a leading insurance broker that shares NBLC’s values to be a top employer, and contribute to our efforts to improve workforce attraction and retention.”

Arrow Benefits Group is the North Bay office of United Benefit Advisors (UBA), one of the largest benefits consulting and brokerage firms in the country.  United Benefit Advisors (UBA) is the third largest employee benefits brokerage and consultant group in North America with over 220 offices around the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom.  Jordan Shields previously served on their national board and for one year as Chairman of that Board.

The member representative is Jordan Shields, co-founder and partner with Keith McNeil.  Shields said, “We think being a member of NBLC will be a terrific way to gain knowledge of the issues affecting the business climate in the North Bay and provide us with new ways to make a difference in making this region a better place to work and live.”  Jordan Shields also sits on the advisory boards for North Bay Children’s Center and Big Brothers Big Sisters of the North Bay.

The company is family based, with children from both partners’ sides working at the company together.  Keith McNeil says that the younger generation brings fresh ideas, different perspectives and a better understanding of technology issues.  Prinicipals Mariah Shields, daughter of Jordan Shields, and Andrew McNeil, son of Keith McNeil, will be the alternates.  Andrew McNeil was a North Bay Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 Professionals winner.   Mariah Shields is board member of 100 Sonoma People Who Care, North Bay Children’s Center and United Cerebral Palsy North Bay.

Arrow Benefits Group has been innovative, such as launching the “Arrow Umbrella Program,” offering experienced, dedicated brokers the opportunity to withstand competitive threats, expand client services, and provide a viable, guaranteed exit strategy and protection to brokers. The program, developed by founders Jordan Shields and Keith McNeil, includes numerous new partnerships that expand Arrow’s reach throughout California. The program facilitates the partnership with smaller brokers that often lack resources and are often highly vulnerable to changing market conditions. Shields and McNeil see this as an urgent need right now in the industry.

The company also does community outreach with numerous organizations, such as Committee on the Shelterless in Sonoma County, along with Big Brothers Big Sisters, United Cerebral Palsy, Mentor Me and North Bay Children’s Center, among others.  Arrow has also been honored to be a Best Place to Work in 2016 and 2015.  Andrew McNeil was North Bay Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 Professionals winner.  Arrow Benefits Group won the North Bay Business Journal Community Philanthropy Award.  Karen Alary, Managing Partner at The Personnel Perspective – HR division at Arrow Benefits Group, won a Women in Business Award in 2016.

Another community service Arrow provides is a Community Wellness Series. They are the first local business to partner with healthcare industry leaders to donate trainings and lectures on health and wellbeing. Their goal is to offer a variety of tools and techniques that will vastly improve the lives of the attendees. They’ve partnered with St. Joseph Health for the one-of- a-kind Work@Health® lectures focused on teaching a variety of proven methods for vastly improving overall health at work.

NBLC is an employer-led public policy advocacy organization committed to providing leadership in ways to make the North Bay sustainable, prosperous and innovative.  The Council includes 50 leading employers in Marin, Sonoma and Napa Counties.  Our members represent a wide variety of businesses, non-profits and educational institutions, with a workforce in excess of 25,000.