Rich Hamer

Executive Leadership:
- CEO, Deft Research, LLC (2005-2016)

Rich was a member of The CEO Roundtable from 2016-2021 and returned as Roundtable Facilitator in 2021:
He joined the CEO Roundtable Board of Directors in 2024 and brings both entrepreneurial and roundtable experience to the board of directors. In 2005 he was a founder of Deft Research, LLC a market research company focused on health insurance and Medicare. He was CEO of that company for eleven years before selling it to Integrity Marketing Group, Dallas, TX. From 2016 through 2021, Rich was a member of the CEO Roundtable. Upon retiring from his CEO job, Rich became one of CRT's facilitators, serving to organize and run the meetings for one table.

Over his career, Rich most consistently excelled in new product development and marketing. He enjoyed the process of understanding the unmet needs of clients, responding with a market research solution, and developing creative marketing and sales campaigns. Under his leadership, Deft Research and his previous employer, InterStudy Publications, grew from start up to very profitable companies with stellar brand recognition and reputations.

Rich has earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of Minnesota (Sociology and Economics) and a Master of Arts from the University of Toronto (Sociology). He has been married for 34 years and has two children.