Hickok & Boardman HR Intelligence

What Hickok & Boardman HR Intelligence does

Hickok & Boardman HR Intelligence is a privately held, Burlington, Vermont-based HR consulting and benefits brokerage firm that traces its origin to 1823 and operates today under two principal divisions: HB-HRIQ (HR Intelligence) and HB-Retirement. HB-HRIQ delivers employee benefits administration, compensation consulting, HR services, leadership development training, HR technology integration, and HR compliance support; HB-Retirement provides retirement plan advisory, strategic alliances, and employee financial wellness. Since 2001 the firm has produced the proprietary Vermont Employee Benefits Survey, an annual benchmarking dataset covering medical insurance, wellness programs, HR tech adoption, and benefits practices among Vermont-area employers — sold or licensed for $300 and offered free to survey participants.

The firm serves primarily small-to-mid-sized and select enterprise employers in Vermont and upstate New York, with publicly named clients including Engelberth Construction, University of Vermont, Middlebury College, Vermont Mutual Insurance Group, and Vermont League of Cities & Towns. Its core technology stack consists of HR/payroll software integration services rather than proprietary platforms; its principal proprietary asset is the longitudinal survey dataset. Go-to-market is high-touch consultative sales led by account managers, HR consultants, and benefits advisors, supplemented by thought-leadership content, the Vermont State SHRM Conference, and SHRM Recertification Provider status. As an Agency Partner of Acrisure, LLC, the firm accesses national-scale brokerage resources while retaining its local identity.

Revenue is generated through professional services fees (HR consulting, benefits brokerage, retirement advisory) and modest direct revenue from survey licensing. Pricing for client engagements is quote-based and undisclosed. The firm operates with 11-50 employees across Vermont and upstate New York, has no disclosed institutional investors, no parent company, and no external funding, and is locally controlled with no recent acquisition, divestiture, or capital structure activity in the input data.

Name

Hickok & Boardman HR Intelligence

Legal name

Hickok & Boardman HR Intelligence

Website

https://hbhriq.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1823

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Hickok & Boardman HR Intelligence is a Burlington, Vermont-based HR consulting and benefits brokerage firm serving primarily small-to-mid-sized employers in Vermont and upstate New York through two divisions — HB-HRIQ (employee benefits, HR consulting, HR technology) and HB-Retirement (retirement plan advisory) — and producing the annual Vermont Employee Benefits Survey as a regional benchmarking product.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

HR Consulting and Employee Benefits Advisory

NAICS

Human Resources Consulting Services (541612)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)

akta.pro primary industry

Compensation, Benefits & Rewards Consulting (BPAHAGAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

HR Technology (HRIS/HCM) Advisory & Implementation (BPAHAGAG), Benefits Administration & Total Rewards Outsourcing (BPACAKAE), Core HR & HRIS (BPACAPAA)

Keywords

• HR consulting services
• Employee benefits administration
• Retirement plan advisory
• Compensation consulting
• HR compliance services

Headquarters

HQ city

Burlington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. HR Consulting Services: Professional HR consulting services covering employee benefits administration, HR technology, wellness and cost containment, training and development, HR strategy and compliance, organizational design, talent acquisition, compensation strategy, employee engagement, and performance management. Revenue generated through client service fees, likely project-based or retainer arrangements.
2. Employee Benefits Survey Sales: The annual Vermont Employee Benefits Survey results are sold to employers. Survey participants receive results free (a $300 value); non-participants may purchase results for $300.
3. Retirement Plan Advisory Services: Retirement solutions including plan advisory services, strategic alliances, and employee financial wellness, provided through the HB-Retirement division.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Hickok & Boardman HR Intelligence is an HR consulting and employee benefits firm that delivers employee benefits administration, compensation consulting, HR compliance, training and development, HR technology integration, and retirement plan advisory services to Vermont and upstate New York employers through its HB-HRIQ and HB-Retirement divisions. The firm also produces the annual Vermont Employee Benefits Survey, a proprietary regional benchmarking resource, and sells survey results and related data products to area employers.

Product overview

Hickok & Boardman HR Intelligence operates as an HR consulting firm with two main divisions: HB-HRIQ (HR Intelligence) and HB-Retirement. HB-HRIQ provides employee benefits administration, compensation services, HR services, leadership development training, HR technology solutions, and asset protection services. HB-Retirement focuses on retirement plan advisory, strategic alliances, and employee financial wellness. The firm also produces an annual Vermont Employee Benefits Survey (since 2001) as a research product. Additional offerings include tools and calculators for healthcare reform navigation, compensation and classification consulting, and compliance resources. The overall portfolio consists primarily of professional consulting services rather than a unified software platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Vermont Employee Benefits Survey: Annual survey of Vermont area employers on employee benefits and HR practices, conducted since 2001.

Products and services

• Vermont Employee Benefits Survey Annual proprietary survey of Vermont-area employers capturing data on employee benefits practices, HR technology adoption, wellness programs, medical/dental/life/disability benefits, and compensation trends; sold as a benchmarking data product to HR professionals and employer decision-makers.
• HB-HRIQ (HR Intelligence) Services Core HR consulting division providing employee benefits administration, compensation consulting, HR services, leadership development training series, training and development, HR technology solutions, and asset protection group services to Vermont-area employers.
• HB-Retirement (Retirement Plan Advisory Service) Retirement plan advisory, strategic alliances, and employee financial wellness services delivered through the HB-Retirement division to employer plan sponsors.
• Compensation & Classification Support Compensation consulting practice offering compensation strategy, job analysis, benchmarking, custom market analysis, salary structure design, and internal pay equity analysis, backed by a proprietary compensation database covering 5,000+ benchmark jobs.
• HR Technology Solutions HR technology services providing full range of payroll/HR systems and software options for employers, including integrations with existing HR technology stacks.
• HR Compliance Services Broad range of HR compliance services helping Vermont employers meet regulatory requirements including ACA, ERISA, HIPAA, and FMLA.

Quantifiable outcome

• Participants of the annual Vermont Employee Benefits Survey receive results free (a $300 value per survey).
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Acrisure, LLCcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorHickok & Boardman HR Intelligence operates as an Agency Partner of Acrisure, LLC, a top-six insurance brokerage firm nationally. This partnership leverages expert resources and enables collaboration on effective solutions to better serve existing clients. The relationship provides access to national-scale brokerage capabilities while maintaining the firm's local identity.
• Splendor Design GroupminorOthersSplendor Design Group designed and developed the Hickok & Boardman HR Intelligence website, including logo design, custom website design, banner design, signage design, and branding development. This was a one-time web design engagement.
• Gallagher FlynncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHickok & Boardman directs clients to the Gallagher Flynn Salary Survey as the best source of Vermont compensation data. The company publishes its own annual Vermont Employee Benefits Survey and recommends the Gallagher Flynn survey for salary information. This cross-promotional relationship supports Vermont employers with comprehensive HR and compensation data.
• Pensionmark Financial Group, LLCminorOthersPensionmark Financial Group, LLC and Hickok & Boardman Retirement Solutions are non-affiliated entities, as noted in regulatory disclosures on the company website. No formal partnership is described beyond the legal disclosure.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Insperity: Public Professional Employer Organization providing HR outsourcing, benefits administration, payroll, and HR consulting to small and mid-sized U.S. employers. Comparable because Insperity competes for the same mid-market employer wallet share on benefits administration and HR advisory, though at much larger scale via its PEO/HR-tech platform.
• CBIZ: Public professional services firm providing HR consulting, benefits brokerage, retirement plan advisory, and payroll services to mid-market employers. Comparable because CBIZ's HR/benefits/retirement practice is the closest scaled analog to H&B's HB-HRIQ + HB-Retirement bundled offering.
• Sequoia Consulting Group: HR consulting and benefits administration firm serving mid-sized employers with bundled HR, benefits, payroll, and retirement services. Comparable to H&B because of the similar advisory-led delivery model and overlapping mid-market employer target customer.
• Gallagher Flynn & Company: Vermont-based benefits, insurance, and HR-consulting firm that publishes a competing Vermont salary survey that H&B explicitly cross-promotes. Highly comparable because both are regional HR/benefits consultancies serving Vermont employers with the same advisory and benchmarking value proposition.
• OneDigital: National employee-benefits and HR-consulting firm focused on mid-market employers, offering benefits brokerage, retirement, HR consulting, and HR technology advisory. Comparable because OneDigital's regional-agency model and bundled benefits/HR/retirement value proposition directly mirror H&B's go-to-market.

Broad incumbents

• Hub International: Large North American insurance brokerage with deep employee-benefits and HR-consulting practices. Comparable because Hub serves mid-market employers with bundled benefits advisory, HR consulting, and retirement services through a high-touch regional agency model similar to H&B's.
• Acrisure: Top-six U.S. insurance brokerage and H&B's explicit Agency Partner. Comparable because both sell commercial insurance, employee benefits, and HR-adjacent advisory services to mid-market employers; Acrisure operates at vastly greater national scale while H&B operates as a local delivery node within the Acrisure network.
• Brown & Brown Insurance: National insurance brokerage with significant employee-benefits and HR-consulting capabilities. Comparable because Brown & Brown serves regional and mid-market employers with the same bundled benefits/HR/retirement offering that H&B provides locally.
• Marsh McLennan Agency: Mid-market-focused arm of Marsh McLennan providing benefits consulting, HR advisory, and insurance brokerage. Comparable to H&B because both deliver high-touch HR/benefits advisory to mid-sized employers via a regional-agency distribution model backed by national resources.
• USI Insurance Services: National insurance brokerage and benefits consulting firm serving mid-market and larger employers. Comparable to H&B because both deliver property/casualty, employee benefits, and HR risk/advisory services through a regional-agency delivery model with corporate-level resources.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/hbhrintelligence-com
• Facebookfacebook.com/HBHRIQ
• Instagraminstagram.com/hbhriq
• Xx.com/HBHRIQ

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Hickok & Boardman HR Intelligence