NHEX Explores the Human Side of Business Efficiency
NHEX Member Amanda Lapar
As insurance applications and enrollments move online, Amanda Lapar is helping her agency rethink how it works. She also values the personal relationships that help clients make sense of complicated choices.
“It’s nice to be able to be in person with them and create relationships,” said Lapar, a consultant at Doran Independent Insurance.
As a member of the New Hampshire Entrepreneurship Exchange (NHEX), Lapar brings that experience to conversations with other young professionals who are improving systems in their own businesses. By sharing what works at Doran, she supports fellow members while learning from the changes they are making.
Together, those discussions raise a practical question. As technology changes daily work, how can better systems support better service?
For Lapar, who has worked at Doran for four years, improving efficiency includes examining how the agency uses its software and what other tools might help. As more applications and enrollments become electronic, she and her colleagues are asking practical questions about the systems they use.
“How are we benefiting from this?” she said. “Should we be getting this to be more efficient?”
Those questions have relevance beyond insurance. NHEX members include professionals updating systems within established companies and owners developing processes for newer businesses. Founded in 2025, NHEX brings together young professionals from different industries to share knowledge, solve business problems, and build careers in the Lakes Region.
Their conversations create opportunities to examine a change before making it and learn from someone who has already worked through a similar problem. For NHEX co-founder Ethan Keslar, the value comes from connecting those decisions to a clear purpose.
“A useful conversation about efficiency starts with what you are trying to improve,” he said. “Is the process easier for your staff? Is the experience clearer for your customer? Those questions help us think beyond simply adding another tool.”
In Lapar’s work, that customer experience depends on understanding individual needs. She helps people compare health insurance options, with much of her work focused on Medicare.
Knowing the plans is one part of the job. Helping someone understand which option fits their circumstances requires conversation.
“Everybody’s health insurance needs are different,” she said.
Clients may need help understanding benefits or comparing options they did not know were available. Lapar sees the consultant relationship as a way to make that complexity manageable.
“They don’t need to understand it 100 percent, because that’s why they have us,” she said.
Her experience helps NHEX members consider both the systems behind a service and the people using it. Although she does not own the agency, she brings knowledge of how its processes function in daily work.
“When someone is starting from scratch with their systems, we can share what we already have in place and what we’ve learned,” she said.
For Keslar, those observations are an important source of ideas for improving a business.
“Young professionals often see opportunities to improve systems because they work with them every day,” he said. “NHEX gives them a place to test those ideas with people who understand different parts of running a business.”
That exchange allows members to bring a specific challenge to the group, draw on experience from other industries, and consider what might work in their own setting.
“We’re bouncing ideas off of each other and kind of working to help each other grow,” Lapar added.
NHEX invites interested professionals to attend a session to experience the collaborative environment firsthand. For more information, contact Ethan Keslar at ethan@keslarinsurance.com.
