Frederick (Rick) Funston

Chief Executive Officer

Rick is the Chief Executive Officer of Funston Advisory Services LLC (FAS). FAS is recognized as one of the nation's preeminent advisors to public retirement systems in the areas of governance, operations and risk intelligence. He is also the CEO of Board Smart LLC, a Governance eLearning Resource for pension trustees and executives at www.boardsmart.com. 

In 2001, he created the concept of risk intelligence for both value creation and value protection. He is a frequent public speaker and is the principal author of Surviving and Thriving in Uncertainty: Creating the Risk Intelligent Enterprise®, published by John Wiley & Sons in April 2010. This book was specifically targeted to the governance and risk oversight needs of boards and executives in both the public and private sectors. Most recently, he was the editor and a primary contributor to the recently-published One of a Kind! A Practical Guide for 21st Century Public Pension Trustees. He is currently working with Jon Lukomnik on a new book: Five Keys to Improving Governance Effectiveness. 

Rick left Deloitte & Touche LLP in May 2010 and formed Funston Advisory Services LLC. Prior to his departure, he was the National Practice leader for Deloitte’s Governance and Risk Oversight Services. In that capacity, he served many of Deloitte’s largest domestic and global clients and was responsible for the thought leadership that has underpinned Deloitte’s globally pre-eminent position in governance and risk intelligence. 

He has over 45 years of experience in both the not-for-profit and for-profit sectors. Before joining Deloitte, Rick was the CEO of Continuous Improvement Services Inc. He began his career in the public sector consulting on strategy and operations, organization and leadership development, performance management, program evaluation and survey research.  

He served on the Board of Visitors for the Oakland University School of Business Administration from 2009-2011 and was an Adjunct Professor for the executive MBA program. He served as special advisor to the Risk Institute of the Max Fisher School of Business at the Ohio State University. He was awarded a B.A. from York University in Ontario and an M.S.W. from Tulane University.

Rick is based in Naples, Florida.