Changing industries

Who: Brian Marcotte

Replacing: Helen Darling as president and CEO of the National Business Group on Health. Darling, 71, will retire in April 2014 after nearly 13 years leading not-for-profit advocate for large employers on national health policy.

Current job: Marcotte, 55, is VP of compensation and benefits at industrial technology company Honeywell International, which has 52,000 U.S. employees.

Darling on Marcotte: He “understands where the world ought to be, not just where it is.”

Marcotte on Darling: “I've had the opportunity to work with Helen and watch what she's done with that organization to rebuild it,” said Marcotte, who has served on the NBGH's board for 12 years. Under Darling's leadership, the organization grew to 377 members from 129.

Looking back: “In the early days of consumer-directed healthcare, we made sure people understood what the promise was and focused a lot on evidence of what people would pay for,” Darling said. “That was relatively new thinking, especially in benefits.”

Looking forward: The healthcare reform law, Marcotte said, “has become such a catalyst for change. We all need to understand the implications for employers.”