About Us

We help employers attract, retain, and reward employees through innovative, customizable, cost effective, healthcare and benefit packages. Through our responsive and empathic customer service, compliance tools, and HR resources, we support your employees with access to physical, financial, mental, and social protections to safeguard their wellbeing.

History

We started as Compensation Systems NW in the early 1970’s as an in-house group benefit solution within the MassMutual Agency in downtown Portland. In 2005, our president Dan O'Doherty took over from Lee Thurber. The agency grew organically by word of mouth, driven by Dan's passion for solving his clients' benefit challenges.

In 2018, we updated our name to CSNW Benefits to better describe our work as a full-service employee benefits firm.

National Leverage with Local Knowledge & Service

In 2021 we became part of the Alera Group to be able to offer the resources, technical knowledge, and best practices of a large national firm, while maintaining our personalized, local relationships. The innovative culture of Alera Group allows us to collaborate with national partners to meet your unique needs. Our national size gives us the buying strength to keep costs low for our clients. We pair that with our powerful local relationships, built on years of doing what is right for our clients and communities.

Our Approach

Our approach is simple: we’re transparent, comprehensive, and ultra-responsive to whatever the client and market demands. We measure our success by the strength of the relationships we have with both our clients and our business partners. Our client retention rate exceeds industry averages by a significant margin with an average retention for the last three years of 98%.

Whether you’re the owner of a business, a finance/human resource manager, or an individual seeking insurance advice, you’ll appreciate our breadth of knowledge, attention to detail, and our friendly staff.