Principal Consultants

Garry Straker - Principal
David Landsberg – Principal
Robin Ostrum – Human Resources Generalist

Garry Straker– Principal
Garry Straker is a Compensation Management Specialist (CMS) and Certified Employee Benefits Specialist (CEBS) and has an extensive consulting background in employee benefits and compensation.

Garry’s benefits expertise includes controlling employee benefits costs through the creative design and efficient financing of active and retiree health plans, group life, disability and workers compensation plans. In handling group insurance renewals for a number of clients he has preserved benefits and generated considerable savings as a result of aggressive negotiation with carriers combined with a thorough understanding of the risk characteristics of each group. Garry has successfully controlled health care costs for clients by closely monitoring health plan provider utilization and discounts, administrative fees, stop loss attachment points and fees, and pharmacy benefits management. 

His areas of compensation expertise include design of salary surveys, compensation structures, job evaluation, salary administration, and performance management programs.  Garry has conducted a number of compensation reviews for executives, administrators, faculty, and support employees for higher education clients and for administrators, allied health professionals and service staff in the healthcare industry.

David Landsberg – Principal
Dave is a seasoned professional with over 25 years of human resources and management experience who joined PSL Consulting as a principal in 2004.  Dave has tackled a broad range of client projects in the areas of human resources management, employee benefits and compensation. Recent assignments include a complete benefits audit and pension plan redesign for a community hospital, assessment and interim management of the HR function for a behavioral health facility (including the recruitment of a highly qualified new HR director), serving as the Board’s representative in the development of a new contract for a not-for-profit CEO, and several compensation reviews including dedicated market surveys for executives, administrators and support staff at a number of higher education institutions.

Dave served as Director of Human Resources and Risk Management for Wesleyan University for sixteen years where he had overall responsibility for all human resource functions including compensation, benefits administration and recruitment. Dave’s human resources accomplishments at Wesleyan include development of a state-of-the-art compensation program, including variable pay and bonus incentives,  re-design of all benefit programs; negotiation of both physical plant and clerical collective bargaining agreements within budget and with no disruptions over a sixteen year period; and design of a web-based performance management program. On the risk management side, Dave brought about substantial reductions in Wesleyan’s property and liability insurance premiums; and in workers compensation, health, life and long term disability insurance costs through aggressive negotiations with carriers, and more cost effective plan design and financing.

Prior to Wesleyan, Dave held several positions over a fourteen year period with Schlumberger, Ltd., a major oil-field service and electronics multi-national company; including Director of Human Resources for a 10,000 employee subsidiary and Director of Compensation for a $400,000,000 unit where he had responsibility for developing and implementing sales incentive and merit based compensation programs.  He holds a BS degree in Economics from San Francisco State University. Dave has served as Chair of the State of Connecticut Insurance and Risk Management Board and chairs a sub-committee of the Middlesex County Health Insurance Task Force. He currently sits on a cost and financing workgroup of the HealthFirst Connecticut Authority which is charged with presenting to the Connecticut legislature a proposal for universal health care in the state.

Robin Ostrum - Human Resources Generalist
Robin Ostrum offers expertise in compensation program development and as a human resources generalist specializing in employee relations, labor relations, the administration of compensation systems, and benefits administration.

Robin has provided comprehensive human resource administrative leadership in both corporate and academic settings, including nine years at Wesleyan University. Most recently she has been the acting director of Human Resources at Saint Joseph College (Hartford, CT) where her skills in departmental management insured a successful transition, as well as continuity of service to the organization and uninterrupted functioning of the department throughout her appointment.

Robin also brings skill in completion and analysis of various surveys focused on the higher education market, including staff and faculty compensation surveys such as IPEDS, AAUP, and CUPA-HR; and implementation of HR data management systems.

Robin has a BA Cum Laude from Bucknell University and a Certificate in Human Resources from the Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations.