US employers are recalculating what they want from their benefits advisors, just as demand grows for expertise in an entirely different corner of commercial risk: the infrastructure behind data centers and communications networks.
UNICO Group, an Omaha-based insurance broker, has added advisors covering both fronts, naming Nick Leinen a benefits advisor in Omaha and Grant Johnson a risk advisor based in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The Leinen hire lands directly on top of a shift in what employers are asking their benefits advisors to solve for. Lockton's 2026 National Benefits Survey, drawn from 1,705 plan sponsors, found that 54% of employers now name cost reduction as the top factor in benefits decisions. That's up from 38% in 2025, while the share citing talent attraction and retention fell to 19% over the same period.
Among self-funded plan sponsors specifically, who typically have the most room to make changes, 46% said they'd consider international drug sourcing for pharmacy benefits to manage costs.
For any benefits broker whose pitch still leads with retention alone, that's a problem - clients are asking for cost containment first, and advisors who can't argue both at once risk losing the account.
Leinen's background points to that dual capability. He brings more than 10 years of employee benefits experience to UNICO, moving from analytical roles into strategic leadership, with a track record in self-funded solutions for mid-to-large organizations - the segment where cost and retention pressures collide hardest.
UNICO isn't the only firm reading this signal. Alliant Insurance Services recently added senior hires across its employee benefits and M&A teams, citing rising employer health costs as the driver.
KFF put the average family premium at $26,993 in 2025, and Mercer projects employer health costs will top $18,500 per employee in 2026. Two firms making the same hiring bet within months of each other usually signals that the talent needed to sell cost-plus-retention is getting harder to find, not easier.
On the commercial side, Johnson's background points to a different but equally competitive gap: risk advisors who already understand infrastructure exposure before it becomes a mainstream line of business. He spent close to three years in sales and business development, including managing sales operations for a large communications infrastructure company, and will now advise UNICO's commercial clients on risk.
That's a head start worth having. Lockton recently launched a global Data Centers & Digital Infrastructure Practice, citing a shift in the construction and property insurance market driven by data center demand.
Average insured project values in that sector have climbed from roughly $150 million to $3 billion over five years, according to Zurich North America, with hyperscalers planning close to $710 billion in capital expenditures in 2026 alone.
Brokers without an advisor who already understands that risk profile are effectively starting from zero on a line of business that's already scaling fast.
UNICO's own framing of the hires is more client-facing than competitive, which is worth reading with that in mind.
“Nick's decade of experience in employee benefits and self-funded solutions will be a tremendous asset to our clients. Meanwhile, Grant's background in the communications sector brings valuable industry insight into risk management. Both understand that delivering impactful service means truly knowing the industry and the challenges our clients face, and that approach will enable us to serve even better as we continue to grow,” said Shane Ideus, UNICO's president, board member and partner.
