Wellness provider beefing up new Carmel office

A year after announcing plans to move its headquarters from San Diego to Carmel, wellness provider American Specialty Health has about 170 employees working in central Indiana—including 60 who relocated from other offices.

Among those who volunteered to move: company CEO George Devries, who graduated from Culver Academies in northern Indiana. The others run the gamut from entry-level workers to senior executives, said Kristin Bragg, ASH’s associate vice president of human resources.

“We were excited to have that much interest,” said Bragg, who chose to remain based in California.

The headquarters relocation is part of the firm's strategy to establish operations and redundancy offices in three distinct geographic regions. The company opened a Southlake, Texas, office in July 2012 and also opened a health technology innovation center with the University of South Carolina's Innovista incubator in Columbia, S.C. It plans to maintain its office in the San Diego area.

American Specialty Health expects to have up to 450 employees in Carmel by the end of next year, Bragg said. To win state incentives, American Specialty Health promised to create as many as 675 jobs by the end of 2016.

The company is in staff-search mode now, hoping to fill another 30 jobs before its January crunch time begins. It has held two job fairs already, and a third is scheduled for Thursday at 12800 N. Meridian St., in the Hamilton Crossing III office building.

Bragg said interest has been strong, but the company still has a particular need for customer-service workers and claims examiners—entry-level jobs that could lead to more.

“It’s a great way to get into our company,” Bragg said, adding the several company directors and executives started out in the call center or processing claims.

ASH also is looking for IT programmers, account-management staff and health coaches.

Thursday’s career fair is expected to appeal to candidates who already are employed. Human-resources staff and hiring managers will meet with job-seekers from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

As the company grows its local presence, it will fill out other departments, Bragg said.

“We’ll be recruiting throughout the year,” she said. “We’re always looking for people.”

American Specialty Health has more than 1,200 employees nationwide.