The son of Yugoslavian immigrants, Rick brings over twenty years of president and CEO level leadership experience operating within venture, private equity, public (IPO), and public service (cabinet level government) environments.
Rick’s leadership efforts are now solely focused on healthcare services to vulnerable populations (elderly; I/DD; mental health; at-risk youth).

Recently, Rick led system-wide reform efforts through public service, as North Carolina’s Secretary of Health and Human Services. This was a cabinet-level position for a $20 billion agency with approximately 15,000 employees. The system-level change included Medicaid reform, mental health and substance use system redesign, construction of state-operated psychiatric hospitals, integrating data analytics into program operations, and new program initiatives targeted at improving the population health and work readiness of North Carolina’s 10 million citizens.
Previously, he led health care service, diagnostic, diabetes, medical device, and technology enabled service businesses ranging from $24 million to $1.2 billion in revenue through a broad variety of complex challenges including turnaround to growth, merger, change in service delivery models, and shift from private company to public company status (IPO).

Rick earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University and a Master of Business Administration from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.