Being at the right time and place is important; but what is far more important is how a leader responds to external forces, and the resulting skills they develop. These experiences codify their leadership approach and journey. An early start-up success gave Simone Grimes, CPA the confidence needed to establish her reputation in the business community as someone who can execute on complex strategies, consummate business deals, and shape company culture. That is why doing the right thing is the cornerstone for success.
All of these things have led to getting to know the story of Simone, let’s check it out.
Unconventional Path to Business Success
Simone Grimes, CPA started her career, not in finance, but by venturing into the world of the culinary arts, opening restaurants and crafting specialty vegetarian delights. Her unexpected success in the culinary domain prompted a shift from perfecting recipes to navigating the intricacies of scaling a business.
In her early twenties, Simone found herself raising capital, presenting growth strategies to investors, and delving into the meticulous quantification and communication of key performance indicators (KPIs). Despite her relative inexperience, she viewed the capital entrusted to her as a personal mission to generously reward investors who placed their trust in her. As she approached her mid-twenties, she successfully expanded her culinary empire to encompass multiple restaurant and real estate assets.
As the business expanded, Simone was careful to ensure she had the full support and buy-in from the communities in which she operated.
Within a span of five years, she steered her ventures through a prosperous M&A disposition, culminating in a significant payday for everyone involved. This pivotal experience not only solidified Simone’s approach to subsequent endeavors but also instilled in her a profound understanding of the importance of delivering returns to shareholders, comprehending valuation multiples, fostering bottom-line growth, executing ambitious strategies, and building a team of talented and reliable individuals to support her vision.
Simone Grimes, armed with early career confidence and a burgeoning reputation in the business community, was recognized for her business acumen being offered the opportunity to play a key role in the insurance industry.
After two decades of experience in the financial services industry, including working with a large P&C carrier, auditing large banks and insurance companies with Big 4 public accounting firms, and close to a decade spent in real estate finance, she joined Acadia Insurance as their Chief Financial Officer in 2021.
About Acadia Insurance
Acadia Insurance a member of the W. R. Berkley Corporation group of companies stands as a beacon of reliability and understanding in the realm of commercial property casualty insurance. With a rich history rooted in Maine, they have expanded their footprint to serve small and midsize businesses throughout New England and New York. Their commitment to being a “Closer Coverage” provider, goes beyond geographical proximity; it reflects their dedication to comprehending the unique needs of each community and business they serve. Acadia Insurance continues to uphold its mission of providing superior service and tailored insurance solutions, ensuring that clients receive the utmost support and coverage for their evolving needs.
Crafting a Vision
Acadia Insurance passionately emphasizes a deep understanding of customers, tackling unresolved challenges, and delivering personalized solutions. Positioned as a favored risk partner for both insurance distributors and business owners, Acadia Insurance maintains a small company ethos amid substantial growth, ensuring a unique blend of expertise and personalized service.
The Guiding Principles and Robust Culture of Acadia
The team culture at Acadia is an embodiment of its guiding principles, which form the bedrock for a robust future. With an unwavering commitment to integrity, professionalism, and ethical conduct in all endeavors, Acadia places a premium on achieving financial objectives to ensure strength, viability, and continued investment in both its people and business. The culture is characterized by a relentless pursuit of improvement, rejecting complacency and embracing a proactive stance to enhance operations.
In building strong relationships with customers, Acadia prioritizes decisions made closest to the customer, attentive listening to agents, and adopting a common-sense approach. The business believes in providing outstanding service, even if it adds complexity to internal processes, emphasizing the augmentation of personal relationships by technology rather than transcending them.
Acadia’s commitment to the success and well-being of employees is at the core, fostering fairness, dignity, and respect within the team. Acadia encourages continuous learning, creative thinking, and measured risk-taking, empowering employees to own their career development with the assurance of support. The team operates cohesively, valuing what is right over who is right, emphasizing individual accountability, and recognizing and rewarding achievements.
Further, Acadia demonstrates a commitment to improving communities and the environment. Actively engaged in community initiatives, the business empowers local employees to positively impact their communities, focusing on environmental sustainability. The overarching goal is to make a lasting difference for key constituencies and contribute to a better future.
Pioneering a People-First Approach
Being the first in the U.S. to receive the Mindful Employer Designation, Acadia Insurance underscores its dedication to prioritizing people within its business framework. This accolade symbolizes a steadfast commitment to fostering purposeful work, engaging leadership, and overall well-being for all employees. The designation is a testament to Acadia’s proactive approach, as reflected in the results of an anonymous survey crafted and conducted by Mindful Employer.
Maximizing Risk Adjusted Returns, Nurturing Talent, and Upholding Integrity
In pursuit of maximizing long-term risk-adjusted returns, the business maintains a proactive approach, comprehensively assessing current exposures while anticipating the impacts of a dynamic environment on future risks. With a decentralized structure, the business remains intimately connected with customers, offering tailored and innovative solutions with swift decision-making capabilities.
Insurance Industry Outlook in 2024
When asked what trends finance leaders should anticipate in 2024, Simone Grimes shared the following:
Finance Industry Improvements
When asked what changes she would like to see in the finance industry, Simone Grimes responded that there is a need to refine the value proposition of sustainable investing.
“We still have a long way to go in terms of proving out the ESG hypothesis statements,” she said. “There is much more to be done to demonstrate above average returns for sustainable investing which means creating quantifiable metrics that resonate with Wall Street.” The cumulative flow of investments into US ESG funds has been flat to slightly negative since the first quarter of 2022. So much of ESG is qualitative, which makes it challenging to get to materiality. “I am hopeful that Artificial Intelligence will help reinvigorate this space because of the immense amount of data it can access and analyze,” Simone states. If you can incorporate the immense computational capabilities of an AI model into crunching all the data with transparency that will bring legitimacy back to it.
Paving the Way for Progress
Simone Grimes’ words to young business leaders is to not shy away from the financial services sector as a great place to make a difference for society while having a great career. The finance industry has historically been a catalyst for progress. Financial products shape behaviours (both instances) and help organizations manage through economic and societal changes. Young business leaders who invest in the industry and are ambitious enough to develop new products and services could help shape behaviours and norms for years to come, and in so doing help create the society they want to see.
The views and opinions expressed are those of Simone Grimes and do not necessarily represent the views of W. R. Berkley Corporation or Acadia Insurance.
The escalating frequency and severity of global risks will require a renewed focus on the industry’s capacity and readiness to react as society’s financial safety net.
Insurers will need to invest in proactive risk management by leveraging analytics, technology and the internet of things (IoT). By embracing cutting-edge technologies, insurers are seeking to detect and prevent threats early on.
The impact of three years of heightened M&A activity will reshape distribution channels and require insurers to adapt.
As tech savvy customers continue to expect insurers to meet them where they are, insurers will need to invest in advanced technologies, which includes investing in augmenting employee’s skill sets. With an increase in technology, insurers are looking to AI to help them maintain a customer centric look and feel.
Changes in tax rules for global companies will require insurers to adopt International Financial Reporting Standard 17 (IFRS 17) which requires a company to measure insurance contracts using updated estimates and assumptions that reflect the timing of cash flows and any uncertainty relating to insurance contracts.
U.S. Public Companies and foreign private issuers will need to adopt the SEC’s final rule on cybersecurity risk management, strategy, governance, and incident disclosure which requires silers to disclose material cybersecurity incidents they experience and, on an annual basis, material information regarding their cybersecurity risk management, strategy, and governance.
A fundamental question remains on the degree to which insurers will need to report on their role as sustainability ambassadors, influencing and propelling purpose-driven decisions and the strategies of clients across industries.
The views and opinions expressed are those of Simone Grimes and do not necessarily represent the views of W. R. Berkley Corporation or Acadia Insurance.
