Chief Executive Officer

Rick Strater is CEO of StraterEdge Consulting, a firm he founded in early 2011. Over his career Rick has served the clients of every type of insurance organization: from national carrier and global consultant, to regional broker and specialized start-up. In each case his leadership helped tailor product development, sales, and service delivery to address client needs—and improve results. StraterEdge is fueled by his distinctive experience and success.

Rick held a variety of executive leadership roles at Prudential Insurance, improving revenues, market share and performance. While at Prudential, he orchestrated strategic planning for all Individual Insurance business units, reporting to the Chairman. He also served as senior sales officer for 22 states, managing over $1.5B in revenues and driving a 35% sales increase in his first year.

At Aon and its employee benefits consultancy, Aon Consulting (now Aon Hewitt), Rick served as Executive Vice President and National Sales Manager. He led small business sales, focusing on bringing client-centric solutions from Aon’s Risk Services and Consulting divisions. He also implemented the firm’s customer relationship management platform on an enterprise level, and developed a strategic plan to double one division’s revenues from $1B to $2B.

Rick has also served as President of Liazon Benefits, a web-enabled employee benefits portal that founded in 2008, helping to launch the company and raise capital for this platform, which increased client adoption of CDH to five times the industry adoption.

As Executive Vice President of Frank Crystal & Company, Rick transformed the Employee Benefits department of this privately-held regional brokerage from a small-market business to a strategic consulting practice targeting the middle-market and larger firms. His leadership brought a 25% increase in benefits sales to the firm, and he helped to create the organization’s Human Resources Outsourcing line of business, covering more than 11,000 lives in the first four months of operation.

Rick received his Bachelor of Science and Master of Business Administration from Indiana University. He holds multiple professional licenses and certifications, including that of ISCEBS (International Society of Certified Employee Benefit Specialists) Fellow.