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Steve Presser is the President & Chief Operating Officer of BeniComp, a health tech company that is reinventing health insurance for employers with prevention and technology at its core. Hailing from Fort Wayne, Indiana, he has an artist’s vision and a thirst for invention. He is an individual for which the term “outside the box” was invented.
Presser attended DePauw University as a Management Fellow and Presidential Scholar where he attained a degree in Art and Economics. He later attended the prestigious Savannah School of Art and Design where he studied 3D animation and earned a Masters in Fine Arts. Never one to remain idle, Presser and his brother headed west after graduation to soak in the warm weather and sunny beaches of San Diego. This is where he began his first business, New Medical Web, a web design and multimedia company. Presser had a large client base that spanned the country, which he ran for over 19 years.
“I asked myself, ‘What do I want to do with my life? What will I work toward?’ I categorized things and came to the conclusion that I wanted to work in health, education, and technology; and have an impact on society,” Steve reflected.
One of Presser’s first clients was BeniComp. He developed a strong relationship with the CEO, Doug Short, and felt passionate about his vision. “They wanted to empower people with actionable health data. BeniComp could work with companies to prevent and reverse chronic disease, which makes up 75% of our nation’s healthcare spending. This personalized approach is not the same as the one-size-fits-none model that healthcare companies offered in the early 2000s,” he said.
Years later, Steve, his wife Cynthia (a native Brazilian) and their two children were searching for the perfect location to raise their children. They wanted to live in a city where they could be close to the beaches, which was a large part of his wife’s childhood, and have exposure to culture. They decided Tampa was the perfect location. “Miami was too busy. In Tampa you have professional sports, beaches, a family community, and the growing presence of health technology,” he explained. Unbeknownst to him, it was also the perfect location for Doug who had just opened up a second office in the heart of the city, inspired by the developing “Well District”.
When Doug and Steve reconnected right here in Tampa, the distinct synergy between their missions became undeniable. “I found that Doug was revolutionizing the healthcare system through prevention, and I was inventing the technology and resources needed to help people and manage the health of populations.”
Doug and Steve quickly became business partners and began to grow their innovation team in Tampa, which became the new location for BeniComp’s headquarters. BeniComp’s operations team is still located in Fort Wayne, IN where the company was founded 58 years ago, “The separation between the two offices gives us the chance to be creative,” said Presser. “We constantly invent and create new software apps to run the business better, and then we train the staff in Indiana.” He admits that for a company their size it’s unusual for Operations and Innovation to be separated, but it gives them a unique format to grow.
Presser continues to be inspired by BeniComp’s mission and Doug’s support in creatively tackling projects and spearheading new business approaches. When talking about Doug, Presser beams. “He’s such a dreamer. He would never stifle anyone’s dreams. He has been hands off, but he’s willing to educate while allowing you to run things. He has kept this company alive for nearly 40 years because he is open to reinvention.”
One of the most important aspects of the business for Presser is company culture. “You can read things about what a company culture should be, but you can’t really tell people what it is,” he said. BeniComp cultivates an innovative, performance-based culture with a strong can-do attitude. They celebrate their wins and are excited to build new things. They don’t expect their employees to stay at the office for long hours as they know they all have families and lives outside of the workplace. “BeniComp is three generations deep. It’s built upon family. Doug and I are family men. Work hard, play hard is our motto,” said Presser.
Steve Presser will continue to use his innovative and artistic vision to grow BeniComp. He knows that the future of healthcare is in the hands of the people, and he intends to continue to develop health technology and insurance products to manage the health of entire populations and empower individuals. “There are a lot of companies in our space, but there is absolutely no one doing what we are doing,” he said.
About BeniComp:
BeniComp takes a stand for “the good side of healthcare” by addressing two of the biggest challenges in the industry: skyrocketing costs and prevalence of chronic disease. BeniComp has reinvented health insurance for employers with prevention and technology at the core. With a refreshing approach that leverages 58 years of industry experience with a team of software developers and preventive health specialists, BeniComp commands 96% participation in employee annual health screenings. This allows Pulse (their health tech platform) to analyze unique data on entire populations, expose risks, and empower individuals to prevent and reverse root causes of disease. www.benicomp.com
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