Eric Eklund is General Counsel and Chief Operating Officer of The Ridgeback Group, where he oversees legal, compliance, and operational functions and provides strategic leadership across governance and firm-wide initiatives. He brings extensive experience in advanced markets, business and estate planning strategies, and legal and compliance leadership, with a practice focused on the intersection of life insurance, trust design, and business succession.

Prior to joining Ridgeback, Eric served in advanced markets and government affairs at M Financial Group, where he advised top life insurance professionals on business, estate, and tax planning strategies. He directed internal government affairs efforts and represented the firm on Federal and State Legislative Task Force and Income Tax Committees for the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI). He is also the co-founder of IL Research, a life insurance think tank focused on modeling and customer education, and Illumine Analytics, a software platform for modeling and predicting life insurance policy performance.