Meet our Leadership

Simon Hedley is the Chief Executive Officer of Acrisure Re. Acrisure Re is a reinsurance intermediary, and part Acrisure, a fintech leader and top-10 global insurance broker. Simon is focused on the strategy of Acrisure Re and the origination and execution of reinsurance transactions for US and global re/insurance companies. Simon has 35 years of reinsurance experience in the US, London and Asia-Pacific insurance markets Simon is involved in all aspects of Acrisure Re’s global operations. He started his career at Minet Insurance Brokers in London, and then moved to Australia in 1987 with reinsurance broker, Minet Burn & Roche where he pioneered the US and international reinsurance market in Sydney, Australia. In 1997, he joined GIO/AMP to lead reinsurance underwriting operations focused on US and London market casualty cedants. In 2003 Simon joined Acrisure Re (previously Beach, acquired by Acrisure in March 2018) in Sydney and opened its Australian office and in 2010 he moved to New York City to establish Acrisure Re in the US.

Dexter Des Vignes, Chief Financial Officer, leads our global Finance and Treasury group and is part of the executive management team at Acrisure Re (formerly Beach). Dexter is a Canadian CA, CPA and is a seasoned insurance and reinsurance professional with over 25 years of experience in the industry. Prior to joining Acrisure Re in 2005, Dexter held senior management positions both at a large reinsurance group and a large mutual captive in Bermuda. Dexter began his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers both in Toronto, Canada and Hamilton, Bermuda, servicing clients in the reinsurance, retail, financial services, and business systems and technology sectors. Dexter also holds the Associate in Reinsurance professional designation.

Stephen has worked in the London insurance/reinsurance market for 30 years performing a variety of roles in that period. Stephen started his career at Minet Re performing various technical roles in the reinsurance field. He gained insurance and binding authority experience at Cogent, and in 1997 helped start up a new Lloyd’s broker Special Risks Insurance Brokers Ltd. In 2001, Stephen joined R K Carvill as an account manager and later became a Divisional Director running the operations/technical side of the binding authority and London market reinsurance divisions. In 2009, he moved over to the Carvill owned MGA businesses under the umbrella of Avoca Holdings performing various roles from finance, compliance, and board functions. In 2011, Stephen re-joined his Ex Carvill colleagues at Willis Re working on global reinsurance accounts. Stephen joined Acrisure Re (formerly Beach) in November 2012 as SVP utilizing his extensive experience in reinsurance and binding authorities to support the growth of the London office. In 2016, Stephen was appointed COO of London & International, and became Group COO in January 2020.

Josie joined Acrisure Re (formerly Beach) as the HR lead in 2013 and was responsible for upgrading HR policies and procedures. She was instrumental in devising the partnership structure and established the company’s talent management framework including the development of the firm’s very successful graduate program. As a business partner to senior management, she provides advice and support to the Executive team and is responsible for all Acrisure Re HR initiatives, as well as overseeing global payroll. Previously, Josie spent 9 years at Willis within the HR department. Prior to that she worked in Executive Search within Financial Services and Pharmaceuticals. Josie has a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Modern Languages & Linguistics and is CIPD qualified.

Ben joined Acrisure Re in February 2021, to lead a new unit which provides corporate advisory services to carriers, MGAs and reinsurers.

Previously Ben held the position of managing director at Arch Insurance Group where he was responsible for leading the managing agency. Prior to this, he was group chief actuary of Barbican Group for 10 years, as well as director of Barbican Managing Agency from 2011 to 2016. He previously held roles at Liberty Syndicate, Whittington Capital Management and PwC, Ben is a Fellow of Institute of Actuaries and previously chaired the Committee for Actuaries in the London Market Ben also has an accreditation from Harvard Business School having completed a course on Leadership for Senior Executives.

Michael Cross has over 32 years of experience in the reinsurance industry. From 2011 to 2014, he was Chief Executive Officer of Axiom Re until the acquisition of Axiom by Acrisure Re (formerly Beach) in December of 2014. Michael presently leads the Burlington, NC, office. Michael spent the majority of his career with Willis Re from 1983 through 2011 where he managed the Southeast region. During his career, his focus has been on property and casualty lines with special emphasis on large property reinsurance programs in the Southeast. At Willis, he was involved with the FL Citizens program, the NCJUA, and the California Earthquake Authority. In addition, he has been involved in handling the reinsurance structure for the largest program covering wind exposed condominiums in Florida, with aggregate limits peaking at $36B. During his tenure in the industry, he has established excellent relationships throughout the global reinsurance marketplace. Michael holds a Bachelor of Arts from Gettysburg College.

Nigel has 40 years of experience working in the insurance and reinsurance industry. In November 2002, as Managing Director, Nigel was responsible for setting up and running the London office for Acrisure Re (formerly Beach).

Nigel started his insurance career in 1980 at Sedgwick Payne with the North American casualty team. Over the next 10 years, he worked on both sides of the Atlantic gaining wide exposure to a myriad of different classes ranging from crop insurance to property catastrophe and professional liability. In 1989, along with three colleagues, Nigel set up the reinsurance broker Fox Craig to provide an independent outlet for US intermediaries seeking access to the London market. Following five consecutive years of growth, Fox Craig elected to sell to Bradstock in 1994. Nigel was subsequently appointed Managing Director of their Non-Marine division.

Adam has 28 years of global reinsurance broking experience across all lines of business. He has been at Acrisure Re (formerly Beach) for over 15 years, working out of both the Toronto and the London offices. Adam focuses mainly on the streamlining and efficiency of complex placements.

Clark has 34 years’ experience in reinsurance, initially working in New York and London and most recently, 19 years in the Bermuda reinsurance market in both the underwriting and brokering side of the business. Clark has devoted much of his time and expertise in the execution of Capital Market transactions ranging from property catastrophe retro placements to developing short tail casualty structures. Clark joined Acrisure Re (formerly Beach) in 2010 and works with all of the group offices globally.

Tom has 18 years of experience in reinsurance. He joined Acrisure Re (formerly Beach) London in 2006 and relocated to Bermuda in 2011 to assist with establishing the office. Tom's main area of expertise is working with both traditional and non-traditional reinsurance clients, structuring complex property and specialty solutions. Tom has an Advanced Diploma from the Chartered Insurance Institute.

Andy has 20 years’ experience in the reinsurance industry, including a year spent in the USA and a year in the UK direct insurance market. 

He has been with Acrisure Re (formerly Beach) since 2006, having started his career on the graduate scheme at RK Carvill & Co in 2001. 

Andy has spent much of his career working on Specialty & Casualty lines, providing clients with global or local reinsurance and facility solutions, and leads a team at Beach in these fields.

Marc P. Piccione, Partner, joined the New York office of Acrisure Re (formerly Beach) in 2015 from U.S. RE Corporation, where he led client and production teams since 2003. Prior to that he worked at the Munich Re Group’s head office in Munich, Germany in the Ceded Retrocession Department and assisted in the placement of over $1 Billion of limit in the reinsurance marketplace with reinsurers throughout the globe. Prior to Munich Re, Marc worked at the head office of Assicurazioni Generali in Trieste, Italy in the Generali Group’s Reinsurance and Retrocession Department.

Marc currently handles the account management and placement of a number of property catastrophe excess of loss programs, with a specific focus on high severity territories including, but not limited to, Florida, Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. With his strong catastrophe background, Marc has a full understanding of catastrophe risk and exposure management, including knowledge in the use and interpretation of catastrophe modeling and related innovative portfolio optimization methodologies. He works very closely with his clients to implement these and other related strategies to help them achieve the optimal combination of return on capital, reinsurance costs, and comprehensive coverage.

In addition, Marc has been instrumental in the placement of some of the world’s largest property catastrophe excess of loss programs, an example of which is the Turkish Catastrophe Insurance Pool with more than $3 billion of Earthquake limit placed with reinsurers and capital markets throughout the world. Such placements have given Marc extensive experience and credibility with domestic, London, European, and Asian traditional reinsurers, as well as capital markets and collateralized (ILS) capacity.

David entered the London market in 1989 as a Graduate Trainee for CT Bowring, now Guy Carpenter. He joined Acrisure Re (formerly Beach) in 2012 in order to help grow the London platform, having previously held positions at BMS Re, JLT Re, Willis Re, and RK Carvill, where he was a Director of the London business. David has spent most of his career in the London Market property, casualty, and multi-line reinsurance and retro markets. Since joining Acrisure Re, David has also been involved in the development and placement of insurance risk, notably Lloyd’s consortia and MGAs. David has been a Partner at Acrisure Re since the Partnership was formed in 2013.

John has nearly 40 years of insurance and reinsurance industry experience. He joined Beach in March 2018, to establish a new wholesale broking platform in London – Acrisure London Wholesale.

John started his insurance career in 1982 gaining wide exposure in the professional liability arena, first as a reinsurance broker and then as an underwriter. In 1989, he joined Marsh FINPRO where he helped to further establish the FINPRO Re book of business for the London operation. In 1994, along with two colleagues, John established a new Lloyd’s wholesale brokerage firm, Humphreys Haggas Sutton & Co (HHS), representing independent retail brokerage firms, MGAs and reinsurance clients in the Lloyd’s market. In 2005, HHS elected to sell to the newly formed Integro Insurance Brokers, and John was appointed CEO of their London market wholesale platform.

Jeff Turner is a Partner and Managing Director of the Toronto office, as well as a senior actuary at the firm. He joined Acrisure Re (formerly Beach) in 2007 as the second actuarial employee, and worked alongside Beach founder Jonathan Beach for a large part of his career. Jeff also worked in London for three years overseeing and developing the Analytics team. During that time he worked on traditional and innovative reinsurance structures for Lloyd’s syndicates, and had significant involvement arranging delegated authority contracts with Lloyd’s and other company markets. Jeff returned to Toronto in 2016 to manage the Toronto broking team and has since been involved with structuring and placing reinsurance for property, casualty and specialty lines clients, as well as working with programs business and MGA clients to secure both Lloyd’s and domestic capacity. His actuarial responsibilities include the technical analysis of portfolios of insurance business, risk management, capital modelling, and the structuring and pricing of reinsurance solutions. Jeff holds a Bachelor of Applied Mathematics and Engineering and is a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society.