De’Andre M. Salter

33 President and Founder - Professional Risk Solutions LLC, Somerset, N.J.

In 2001, De’Andre M. Salter launched Professional Risk Solutions LLC, an insurance brokerage specializing in professional liability products, in particular directors and officers coverage and errors and omissions coverage. President of the firm, Salter, 33, has developed a significant customer base of more than 400 publicly traded, privately held and nonprofit clients, and has gained more than 30 insurance company appointments for the firm. The firm has grown to more than $30 million in written premiums and gross revenues in excess of $2.5 million since its inception.

Salter, who holds a B.A. in economics from Drew University and associate degrees in international business from the universities of Brussels, Belgium and Mexico, has an extensive leadership background in insurance management and underwriting. He previously was a vice president at Crum & Forster, where he developed, launched and managed the directors and officers line of business, established underwriting guidelines and pricing and rating formulas to achieve profitability, and secured reinsurance for multiple product lines. Salter also was executive vice president at American Marketing Center of New Jersey Inc. and an assistant vice president at the Chubb Group of Insurance Cos.

A leader in his community, he is the director of Project Restoration, helping families to become debt-free through financial and budget counseling and grants; co-founder of Living Word Ministries, which is dedicated to counseling those suffering from emotional trauma and crisis; and a sponsor of the Franklin Township, N.J., boys’ high school basketball team, providing players with sneakers annually. Salter also provides annual book scholarships to minority students at Drew and mentors at-risk Black men.

But, the devoted husband and father declares, “My family is my lifeline and I will always put everything else second, including work and ministry.” His wife gives him unstinting support and encouragement, and his parents instilled in him an entrepreneurial spirit that made starting his own firm easier, he says. Most of all, Salter, a profoundly religious man, credits his success to God, who provided “every tool and advantage for running a successful and ethical business.”