CRC Benefits, a division of CRC Group and one of the nation's leading general agencies, has added Forrest Breeding (pictured) as benefits sales executive, ancillary, based in Denver, Colorado.
In the role, Breeding will partner with brokers and their clients to consult on non-medical health solutions, with a primary focus on life, disability, leave and absence management, while also helping employers explore nontraditional benefit strategies aimed at industries and employee populations that are often underserved.
Breeding brings more than eight and a half years of carrier-side benefits experience across small, mid-size and large group segments, giving him a background in underwriting, risk evaluation and the role accurate employer data plays in securing sustainable, competitive pricing. He holds Life & Health, Long-Term Care, and Property & Casualty licenses across all 50 states.
Jamie Zelewicz, SVP of growth and strategic partnerships for CRC Benefits, said Breeding's combination of technical knowledge and market insight would help the firm's broker partners win business, and that his experience and consultative approach would be an asset to the team, its brokers, and the clients they serve as CRC Benefits continues expanding its ancillary capabilities.
"Forrest brings the exact combination of technical knowledge, market insight, and relationship-first energy that helps our broker partners win," Zelewicz said.
The hire comes as ancillary and voluntary benefits move from supplemental add-ons toward a more central part of employer benefits strategy. USAble Life noted in February 2026 that enhanced ancillary packages, including expanded life, disability and non-medical offerings, are becoming a central strategy for employers looking to support wellbeing and compete for talent without significantly increasing core benefit costs.
Employee Benefit News reported in July 2026 that brokers and employer groups are seeing increased interest in benefits that reflect employees' actual financial circumstances, with employers exploring a wider range of offerings beyond traditional life, disability and accident coverage, particularly for smaller and underserved segments.
CRC Benefits sits inside a parent company that has undergone significant change in recent years. CRC Group was formerly known as Truist Insurance Holdings, historically the fifth-largest insurance brokerage in the US, before Stone Point Capital, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and Mubadala acquired it from Truist Financial Corporation in a deal valuing the business at $15.5 billion.
As part of that transition, the group sold its retail brokerage, McGriff, to Marsh McLennan for $7.75 billion and divested Crump, its life insurance distribution arm, before rebranding as CRC Group to reflect a renewed focus on wholesale and underwriting.
CRC Group now places more than $33 billion in annual premium through its specialty wholesale and underwriting businesses, operating from more than 100 offices with roughly 6,000 employees and partnerships with more than 650 carriers.
Breeding's leave and absence management focus lands in a state with an active paid leave program. Colorado's Family and Medical Leave Insurance program is set for two changes effective January 1, 2026. The combined premium rate will ease slightly to 0.88% of wages, split evenly between employer and employee, while a new law will allow eligible employees up to 12 additional weeks of paid leave to care for a child in a neonatal intensive care unit, on top of the program's standard 12-week allowance.
Colorado employers can meet their FAMLI obligations either through the state program or an approved private plan offering equal or better benefits, a choice that gives brokers and general agencies a direct role in helping employers weigh cost and coverage design.
That local dynamic is precisely the kind of consultation Breeding's Denver-based, leave-focused role is built for, giving CRC Benefits' Mountain West broker partners a dedicated resource as more employers weigh the state program against private FAMLI-compliant plans.
