Jennifer Heiskell
Director of Insurance Design & Analysis

Jennifer has been a member of Gateway Financial Team since 2013. With a skill set comprised of an aptitude for problem‐solving, bulls‐eye focus, strong analytical expertise, attention to detail, a penchant for organization, extensive knowledge of insurance products and exceptional communication skills, Jennifer is ideally suited to conduct and explain insurance audits. She can tackle the most complicated, challenging and information‐sparse insurance portfolios, analyze, organize and summarize the portfolio’s strengths and weaknesses, and most importantly, communicate findings in a clear, understandable way so that clients and their professional advisor team can make educated decisions dramatically impacting their estate plan.

While insurance audits for new clients are Jennifer’s primary focus, as Director of Insurance Design & Analysis, she is also accountable for a whole host of activities as she strives to do what is best for Gateway’s clients, to deliver on our promises and to keep our clients happy. Some of these activities include:

• Identifies the risks inherent in each life insurance product, stress‐tests those risks and determines the effect on policy performance and discloses results to clients and their advisors.
• Maintains competitive studies for each type of life insurance product (i.e., whole life, general account universal life, indexed universal life and variable universal life for both single‐life and survivorship products and term insurance). Each study compares and ranks the performance of the product offerings of major insurance carriers on a risk‐neutral and objective basis.
• Meets with new clients and their advisors to assess their objectives and risk tolerance, to help them to understand their existing policies and to determine if their coverage meets their needs.
• Meets with existing clients on a scheduled basis to present their policy’s periodic Benchmark Report and discuss policy performance, changes in carrier financial‐strength ratings, potential or realized cost reductions resulting from M proprietary product pricing improvements or health improvements, beneficiary changes, and premium/benefit adjustments.
• Coordinates the implementation of all policy changes resulting from insurance audits and Benchmark Report meetings and prepares and delivers updated comprehensive insurance portfolio summaries to clients and their advisor teams.
• Following preliminary underwriting, prepares a summary of viable products from multiple carriers, which lists each carrier, their Comdex (financial strength) rating, the product name, the premium cost and the death benefit rate of return at the client’s life expectancy based on the client’s preliminary underwriting offers, risk tolerance and funding objectives for presentation to the client and their professional advisor team.

Jennifer resides in Bloomfield, PA and in her free time, she can be found in the city’s great libraries and museums. She loves running, tennis, and participates in a recreational bocce league. She is a doting aunt and godmother. Fun fact: Jennifer is a coffee aficionado.

Education & Affiliations:

• University of Pittsburgh, Bachelor of Science in Economics
• Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Volunteer
• United Way, Volunteer