Nizel Pradhan
With 20+ years of experience building and transforming world renowned brands, Hurley’s experience will support Stride’s continued growth and awareness efforts
Stride Health, the leader in portable benefits technology, today announced that Lee Hurley has joined the company as Chief Marketing Officer. An accomplished marketing executive and purpose-driven change agent, she brings more than 20 years experience building and transforming brands while delivering explosive growth and long-term competitiveness for startups and Fortune 100 companies. Lee will be an integral part of growing Stride and furthering its vision of ensuring every American, regardless of employment type, has a financial safety net. She will be responsible for overseeing all of Stride’s marketing activities including brand, acquisition and product marketing, content, and communications.
Stride has experienced rapid growth in 2022 after raising its Series C in October of 2021. The company is on a mission to build a modern portable benefits system for every American who lacks an employer safety net. Stride has doubled its team in the last 9 months and its membership has continued to grow to over 3.3 million Americans. The independent workforces using Stride’s complete Benefits Platform have also expanded to include Gopuff and Grubhub, adding to its existing roster that includes Amazon, Uber, Instacart, DoorDash, Red Lobster, Patreon, The Gap and 100+ others. To-date Stride has helped independent American workers save over $3.7 billion on their benefits and taxes.
Stride also recently expanded its reach to support non-benefited Americans by introducing a first-of-its-kind Enrollment Platform which enables health plans, agents and their customers to have a seamlessly integrated means to help their customers qualify for government Advanced Premium Tax Credits and enroll in Affordable Care Act coverage. It is now being used by health plans including Oscar Health Insurance, agent groups like Allstate’s National General, and leading Individual Coverage HRA (ICHRA) administrators.
“The current employer benefits system is antiquated and is letting Americans down at an alarming rate, so we founded Stride to transform it into a portable benefits system for every worker,” said Noah Lang, CEO and Co-founder of Stride and Aspen Institute Fellow. “This year has been a monumental year for the company and Lee’s expertise will ensure Stride reaches the 90 million Americans who will work independently by 2028. Lee has helped scale a number of organizations that have a massive impact on individual health and financial well-being, in addition to building world class brands. Her experience will be key to Stride’s future growth and success and I’m thrilled to welcome her to our team.”
Lee joins Stride from Northwestern Mutual, where she was Chief Marketing Officer, responsible for overseeing the company’s marketing strategy, including brand and advertising, customer acquisition, field marketing and engagement, client marketing, consumer insights, and creative. During her tenure, she spearheaded a brand and digital transformation that contributed to 2 record years during the pandemic – the best in the company’s 165-year history. Previously, Lee spent over a decade at WW (formerly Weight Watchers) where she played an instrumental role in scaling the digital subscription business from $30M to $500M and modernizing the brand.
“It is an incredible time to join Stride and take part in building a company that is improving the physical, mental, and financial well-being of millions of Americans,” Hurley noted. “With macro shifts having taken place during the pandemic that forever altered the future of work and the labor market, there is an escalating and critical need for our benefits system to be transformed. I’m excited to join this innovative team on a mission to redefine the future of benefits, making them affordable, accessible, and portable for all.”
Stride provides a comprehensive platform used by consumers, employers, health plans and brokers to streamline individual benefits recommendations and enrollment. Since launching in 2014, Stride has helped over 3 million Americans save $3 billion on their benefits and taxes. Stride partners with the world’s leading work platforms and employers of non-benefited workers including Uber, DoorDash, Instacart, Amazon, GrubHub, Etsy, Patreon, Rover, TaskRabbit, and more so they can provide their workers with access to a full marketplace of health and wealth benefits and perks. The company is backed by Venrock, New Enterprise Associates, Fidelity’s F-Prime Capital Partners, Mastercard, Allstate and King River. For more information, visit https://www.stridehealth.com.
