Keith C. Kakacek, CPA, CPCU, ARM
President/CEO
Nitty-Gritty Solutions, Inc.

Keith C. Kakacek, CPA, CPCU, ARM President/CEO Nitty-Gritty Solutions, Inc.

“Our clients want – and receive -- a value that they can’t get elsewhere. In turn, we help our clients discover and deliver their own unique value within their respective market.”

As President and CEO of Nitty-Gritty Solutions, Keith developed a lasting corporate culture that recognizes the importance of providing small and medium-size organizations with exceptional value through productive solutions to everyday human resources and risk management challenges. For large companies, Nitty-Gritty’s specialized processes, technologies, and talent can solve the toughest HR and risk problems.

The company’s primary value, according to Kakacek, is that it frees clients’ time and dismisses their HR and risk concerns so that they can get back to doing what they like best – growing a successful company that delivers unparalleled value.

Keith combines his experience and that of his associates to provide risk management and human resources and general business consulting services for the purpose of decreasing clients’ expenses and increasing revenues.

It is Keith’s entrepreneurial spirit that drives him to acknowledge that “each client has a different definition of ‘value.’ It’s up to us to find out what that definition is … and deliver it.” Nitty-Gritty Solutions is able to do so because of the expertise and spirit of its professional team.

Human talent is not specific to any position on the Nitty-Gritty Solutions’ corporate ladder. That’s why the company’s workforce is its Number One Asset. Nitty-Gritty believes that more organizations would be successful if they shared that view and backed it up with sound hiring practices and retention programs.

Another area deserving the increased focus of business is risk management. Protecting one’s fixed and human assets and minimizing potential liability in predictable and unforeseeable situations is vital to the success, and even the survival, of any organization. In today’s environment, insurance may not always be available or the most cost-effective means of protecting a company’s assets and minimizing its liability. Organizations can make good use of appropriate safeguards that can help to achieve a level of security that insurance cannot.

Keith’s 35-year career is built on a foundation of “firsts.”

• While in college in 1965, he developed a punch card computer model for a life insurance product that combined the expense factors of term life insurance and a mutual fund. This concept was later marketed as universal life insurance. (1966)
  
  
• In 1974, he achieved several firsts, including writing and implementing the first Errors and Omissions Program based on the Fair Credit Reporting Act for bankers and introducing the first comprehensive risk management program for HR managers to protect their employers from the exposures created by ERISA.
  
  
• In 1976, he participated on a team that produced the first risk management-based medical malpractice program in the U.S.
  
  
• Three years later, in 1979, he produced a joint-rated group health insurance and workers’ compensation program that offered all the advantages of 24-hour coverage.
  
  
• In 1983, Keith formed the first pooled dividend Workers’ Compensation Plan for the Texas Association of Business.
  
  
• In 1986, he drafted the first Employer’s Excess Indemnity Insurance Policy to provide employers combined benefits and liability protection as nonsubscribers to the Texas Workers’ Compensation Act. In addition, he was the first to develop formal policy language and coverage that became a standard for the insurance industry.
  
  
• In 1989, he formed the first pooled nonsubscriber dividend plan for the McDonald Franchises in Texas.
  
  
• In 1993, Keith drafted the first commercial 24-hour coverage single policy, providing consistent group health insurance coverage, nonsubscriber occupational injury, and disease coverage.
  
  
• In 1995, he developed the first self-funded loss of license and life insurance program for commercial airline pilots.
  
  
• In 1999, he developed the first fully integrated, five-part nonsubscriber system consisting of the benefit plan, employee communications program, nonsubscriber insurance policy, claims administration service, and risk management information system.

Today, he holds the record as the leading author of Employers Excess Indemnity Insurance in Texas. He has successfully managed in excess of $2 billion in premiums and claims throughout his career.

Prior to launching Nitty-Gritty Solutions, Keith was founder and president of Self-Insurance Resource, Inc. (SIR), a company providing insurance and risk management services to associations, self-insured employers, insurance companies and agents. For four consecutive years, Inc. Magazine listed the SIR group among its “500 Fastest Growing Privately Held Companies.”

A licensed CPA, Keith has more than 35 years’ experience in successful financial and risk management, including insurance. He regularly serves as an expert witness in these areas. An accomplished author, his articles and textbooks on related subjects have been published in several languages. Nationally, he is a sought-after speaker and instructor on risk management and insurance topics.

A Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) conferred by the American Institute for Property and Liability Underwriters, Inc., Keith is also an Associate in Risk Management (ARM), conferred by the Insurance Institute of America.

In 1971, the Dallas Small Business Administration honored Keith with its Special Score Award. In 1973, the Dallas Interracial Council on Business Opportunity recognized his contributions as Consultant of the Year.”

Click here to contact Keith or another Nitty-Gritty Solutions associate.

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