Truss, Lever1 form strategic partnership to help each other’s clients

By James Dornbrook
Staff Writer, Kansas City Business Journal

Sep 19, 2016, 10:28am CDT

Two Kansas City companies formed a strategic partnership to offer each others clients a wider variety of streamlined and efficient business solutions.

Overland Park-based Truss LLC, formerly known as Cretcher Heartland/Power Group, is the second-largest independent insurance brokerage based in Kansas City, with 170 employees and more than $450 million in premium volume. The company is teaming up with Kansas City-based Lever1, a professional employer organization (PEO) that offers outsourcing services for human resources, payroll, employee benefits and workers’ compensation.

An example of combined services Truss and Lever1 are now offering is a benefit package designed to help business owners find the best solutions for the upcoming health care renewal season.

“We’ve been talking for about nine months about how the success and growth of Truss could benefit from adding a PEO into its fold of service offerings,” said Lever1 President Erica Brune, a 2016 Women Who Mean Business honoree. “Historically, PEOs and insurance brokers have thought of each other as competitors, but we’re going to do more than just share leads. By partnering, we’re going to have a unique relationship where we’ll both be servicing our same set of clients, just doing it together.”