Simone Grimes is an experienced corporate board member and senior financial executive who brings an independent, values-driven perspective grounded in integrity, respect, and clear, thoughtful communication. She is widely regarded as a collaborative board partner who supports informed decision-making while maintaining the independence and fiduciary rigor required to steward long-standing institutions through periods of change.

Ms. Grimes has deep expertise in Property & Casualty insurance company investment management, including asset allocation, capital deployment, liquidity management, and alignment of investment portfolios with underwriting risk, regulatory requirements, and rating agency expectations. In her executive and board roles, she has worked closely with investment committees, external asset managers, actuaries, and regulators to ensure disciplined portfolio construction, prudent risk-adjusted returns, and strong capital adequacy.

Ms. Grimes’ corporate board experience includes serving on the corporate board of CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, serving on the boards of Sutton National Insurance Company and Acadia Insurance Company, supporting two startup boards through complex mergers and acquisitions and exit strategies, and acting as a strategic advisor to Fortune 100 boards during capital restructuring initiatives. She has also served on the finance, audit, and governance committees for large nonprofit organizations, where she provides independent oversight of financial reporting, investment performance, external auditors, budgets, remediation of audit findings, and tax filings.
Simone is an Audit Committee Financial Expert, as defined by the SEC, with six years of experience in public accounting as an independent auditor. During this time, she held senior leadership roles at national and regional firms, overseeing audits across insurance, banking, real estate, private equity, healthcare, and nonprofit sectors. She later served as a practice leader advising high-growth companies on IPO readiness, capital restructuring, mergers, acquisitions, and dispositions—experience that directly informs her approach to balance sheet strength and investment governance.

Ms. Grimes currently serves as Chief Financial Officer of Sutton National Group, a national program insurance carrier. In this role, she leads enterprise finance, investment and capital strategy, financial reporting, risk management, and operational scalability. Her responsibilities include overseeing investment governance frameworks, evaluating portfolio performance and risk, managing surplus and liquidity, and aligning investment strategy with underwriting, reinsurance, and growth objectives.

Previously, Ms. Grimes served as Chief Financial Officer of Acadia Insurance, a >$2 billion W.R. Berkley Company (NYSE: WRB) subsidiary, where she built and led a highly sophisticated corporate finance function with direct responsibility for investment oversight and capital management. She also served as a Vice President at Progressive Insurance (NYSE: PGR), where she owned the P&L for a multi-million-dollar national book of business and gained firsthand experience balancing underwriting performance with capital and investment considerations. Earlier in her career, she served as CFO of a special purpose entity, negotiating government contracts, acquisitions, and dispositions, and as a public accounting practice leader guiding teams through complex audits and reporting results directly to executive management and boards.

In addition to her executive and board roles, Simone teaches nationally and internationally for the Institute of Internal Auditors, delivering courses on corporate governance topics including Enterprise Risk Management, Ethics and Compliance, Fraud and Corruption, Accounting Standards Updates, and Cybersecurity.