Who We Are

Years of Experience, an Intentionally Different Approach

Founded in 1979 by a group of insurance experts and former educators, EBI provides customized solutions based on the specific needs of schools or districts. EBI has served Arkansas public schools for almost 50 years, but has grown beyond the state, packaging benefits for more than 170 school systems (including eight Educational Co-Ops) around the South and meeting the needs of the dedicated employees in these districts.

EBI is a JTS company. JTS was founded in 1998 by John T. Starling, J.D., who worked as both an insurance consultant and attorney. In 2011, JTS entered the school benefits market and, in 2017, acquired EBI in order to expand this education-focused division. JTS is now one of the largest employee benefits brokerage firms in Arkansas. Its family of companies operate in 13 states and the employee count has grown to almost 200.

The EBI approach to employee benefits is “intentionally different” from the rest of the industry. Rather than focusing on products and offerings that generate the most revenue, we leverage relationships and our reputation in the employee benefits market to obtain the best options for our clients and this continues through the renewal process. Carriers understand our unbiased approach to selecting vendors and, as a result, aggressively position their rates and benefits to win our business.