Ryan Hegarty (Hegarty Consulting Group)

Ryan Hegarty is the co-owner of Hegarty Consulting Group, which is an insurance broker in Minnetonka. 

From the time he was in kindergarten, Hegarty has been an athlete.

That is until he sprained his ankle playing pickup basketball during his freshman year at St. Cloud State University, a college many have deemed the preeminent academic institution in the state of Minnesota. 

Standing 6-4, Hegarty is tall, and even though his ankle was in shambles, his professional aspirations were not affected.

That’s because Hegarty was studying criminology in hopes of becoming a police officer after graduation. 

Upon graduating, Hegarty sought out positions with local law enforcement, but this was back in 2008, when government budgets were thinner than runway models.

Hegarty could have left Minnesota and went down to Texas to patrol the border, but a paltry salary and the elevated inherent danger dissuaded him from going, so instead Hegarty went to work for Target Corporate. 

“I was working on the meat and seafood team,” Hegarty says.  

“It was riveting stuff,” he facetiously adds. 

Tired of climbing the ladder at Target, Hegarty shifted to Best Buy, but ascending the rungs there was equally laborious.

It was around this time that Hegarty’s parents, who owned Hegarty Consulting Group, urged him to join the family business that they had started back in 2000 after acquiring the insurance brokerage from a man who was leaving the industry in order to become a magician. 

“Some things, you just can’t make up,” Hegarty says. 

While we may never know just how things unfolded for the magician, one thing is certain:

When Hegarty joined the family business in 2017, he discovered his professional purpose.

Today, Hegarty is one part of the Hegarty Consulting Group that sells benefits packages to small and mid-size businesses across the Twin Cities. 

“We exist because finding qualified individuals to be an asset to your company is challenging, and small businesses don’t usually have all the resources to attract top-level talent,” Hegarty says. 

“So how we help companies retain and attract great employees is by implementing, managing, and administering excellent benefits packages.”

Benefits. 

Employees love them, but the term itself is vague, devoid of real clarity, particularly for small businesses who have little to no experience navigating the complexities of benefits packages. 

For context, companies can offer all types of benefits to their employees. 

This includes health insurance, retirement plans, and life insurance/disability coverage, among other things. 

“Having a comprehensive benefits package makes employees feel valued, and that they’re being taken care of by their employer,” Hegarty says, and it’s not like companies have to offer all these accoutrements at once. 

Where Hegarty Consulting Group excels is sitting down with business owners and determining what kind of offering works best for them, factoring in things like budgets and how a company may grow in the future to ultimately set them up with a plan that aligns with their needs. 

“Nine times out of ten, when employers are meeting with potential job candidates, that prospective employee is going to ask about the benefits package as part of their total compensation,” Hegarty reminds business owners.  

“That’s where we are a valuable resource for business owners because we want to ensure that no qualified candidate passes on a position with your company because the benefits package wasn’t sufficient.”

Like most things in 2025, benefits packages, namely health insurance, are expensive, but for that business who wants to expand and needs high-performers to assist with that endeavor, offering a benefits package is arguably nonnegotiable.  

“It’s an investment in your business, and an investment in your people,” Hegarty insists.  

“Like many things in business, taking that plunge into the unknown can be scary and intimidating, but the reality is that if a prospective or current employee can’t get certain benefits from their employer, then they are apt to go elsewhere.”

Hegarty Consulting Group typically helps businesses with anywhere from 5-150 employees, but they can also assist those companies who may only have one or two W-2 people on staff. 

“And we are industry-agnostic,” Hegarty emphasizes.  

“It doesn’t matter what type of business you have. We can still provide you with the same high level of service.”

Again, there are many options for employers, but per employee, a business owner should expect to spend around $3,000-$5,000 per year in order to offer a competitive benefits package. 

“And that figure does not even include dependents,” Hegarty notes.  

“If an employee has a spouse and/or children, then the cost to insure them increases exponentially.”

On the surface, providing benefits to your employees may sound expensive, but for those business owners who are reluctant to invest in their staff, Hegarty points out that inaction this year may lead to bigger problems in the future when talent exits in order to secure something like health insurance or disability coverage. 

“This is again where we shine because we want our clients to keep their employees, so if we can create a plan that works for them and their budget, then not only is a company likely to retain their workforce, but they’re also likely going to grow when top talent stays and outside talent is enticed to come in,” Hegarty explains. 

At present, Hegarty Consulting Group is in the midst of an impressive 25-year run as an insurance brokerage, but by 2027, Hegarty’s parents will be retired, and their succession plan will be in full effect when Ryan and his brother Jason take over operations. 

From there, Hegarty Consulting Group will continue to serve their book of business and work to attract new clients, and part of that may include offering larger compensation packages to the firm’s clients. 

“I can see us one day offering executive benefits, which are those golden handcuffs-type of plans that people just don’t want to walk away from,” Hegarty says. 

“These packages include things like bonus plans, business continuation and life insurance policies as funding vehicles, which are intended for the retention of an established organization’s key employees.”

Adds Hegarty:

“Beyond that, servicing our customers and continuing to differentiate ourselves through professionalism and expert guidance will be at the core of what we do, and I’m excited to see how everything unfolds in the coming years.” QS

**

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