About Richard DeCoster

Richard DeCoster (Rick) has over 40 years of risk management and insurance industry experience that  includes risk control and account engineering, insurance brokering, servicing and production. In conjunction with his account focused responsibilities for large and middle market clients over the years, he has also held various senior leadership positions with two of the major global insurance brokers.

Rick began his career as a loss prevention consultant after receiving a Marsh internship in his college senior year at Illinois institute of Technology in 1975, majoring in Fire Protection and Safety Engineering. In 1980 he moved to FM Global where he focused primary on account servicing and new business development for property and related insurance lines. Starting in 1987, and over the next 30 years, Rick worked with two of the major global insurance brokers, Willis and Aon. Here he expanded his risk management background to include all aspects of property and casualty insurance, including management liability and financial loss exposures, along with assisting clients in the development of alternative risk financing options to further support achieving their overall risk cost objectives and mitigation strategies.

Rick’s insurance background incorporates specific industry expertise in a variety of industries that include real estate, manufacturing, pulp and paper, public utilities, rail transportation, global package delivery, logistics & supply chain, food & agricultural, textile, construction, healthcare, and global staffing services. This industry experience spreads across several insurance product lines such as property, casualty, including loss sensitive and risk financing programs, captives, umbrella and excess liability, professional liability, marine cargo, and international.

 Following retirement from Aon at the end of 2017, Rick joined Durrett & David in April 2018. His consulting services include risk management and insurance reviews and audits; due diligence assistance in mergers, acquisitions and divestitures; risk funding and retention analyses; insurance and risk management program analysis and recommendations; strategic planning and continuous counsel.

Rick received his Bachelor of Science, Fire Protection/ Safety Engineering (FPSE) at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in 1976. In 1990, he received a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Keller Graduate School of Management. Rick also holds designations for Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU), and has an Associate in Risk Management – Enterprise Risk Management (ARM, ARM-E). He is a member of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers and the CPCU Society of Atlanta. He is active with the Junior Achievement of Georgia and appointed to their Executive Counsel. Occasionally, Rick is a Guest Lecturer for the Risk Management Program at the University of Georgia.