Bret Quigley, Chairman & CEO

Bret Quigley founded Prime Risk Partners in May 2014. Bret began his career as a certified public accountant with Price Waterhouse before working for ten years in investment banking, where he had full responsibility for new business, client, and deal team management. Bret left investment banking in 1999 to join Hobbs Group, a national insurance brokerage, as its CFO. At Hobbs Group, he took a direct role in focusing the firm on operating efficiencies and expanding the business through acquisitions, producer and team hires, and a renewed emphasis on new business. In 2008, Bret joined Beecher Carlson, another national insurance brokerage, where he served as Vice Chairman, CFO, and President of Agency Operations until its sale to Brown & Brown in 2013. At Beecher Carlson, Bret had overall operating responsibility for agency operations including new business sales and producer recruiting. He also had primary responsibility for all M&A activity in addition to his operating responsibilities. Bret earned his BS in Commerce from the University of Virginia and his MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Adam Meyerowitz, Senior EVP & Co-founder

Adam Meyerowitz co-founded Prime Risk Partners in May 2014. Adam began his professional career as a corporate attorney at King & Spalding in 1997, representing high growth technology companies from formation through exit. After leaving King & Spalding, he was general counsel for a number of companies, including Talus Solutions and SynQuest. Immediately prior to Prime Risk Partners, Adam was the SVP and General Counsel of Beecher Carlson, a national insurance brokerage, from 2004 until its sale to Brown & Brown in 2013. At Beecher Carlson, Adam helped lead all M&A efforts as well as all producer and team recruiting activities. In addition to his duties as the primary attorney and head of HR, Adam also held a leadership role in prospecting, structuring, negotiating, and consummating all such transactions and activities. Adam is a graduate of the University of Michigan and earned his Juris Doctor degree from the Emory University School of Law.

Robert C. Smith, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Robbie Smith joined Prime Risk Partners in November of 2017. Robbie began his career as a commercial banking officer for SunTrust Bank in Atlanta. He joined Hales & Associates in January 1987 and became a Senior Consultant and Principal in 1990. When Hales and Reagan Consulting split into two firms in 1995, he continued with Reagan Consulting as a Senior Consultant and Principal. He participated in the development of the IIABA/Reagan Consulting Best Practices Study and helped develop and implement the Assurex/CIAB E&O Quality Management Program. He has completed over 300 consulting assignment of a variety of topics ranging from agency valuation, producer hiring, sales management, E&O loss prevention and banks in insurance. He has served in senior leadership roles at Hamilton Dorsey Alston Co. and Beecher Carlson in Atlanta, and MHBT Inc in Dallas, TX (now Marsh & McLennan Agency Southwest). He has also participated in more than 50 M&A transactions as either a buyer, seller or intermediary. Robbie graduated from the University of Georgia in 1982 and earned a MBA from Georgia State University in 1988.

Scott Tofil, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Scott Tofil joined Prime Risk Partners in December of 2017. Scott began his career as a CPA with a local public accounting firm in Atlanta. He became the controller at Matrix Resources from 1992 until 1999, then served as controller for several startups from 1999 until 2005 before joining Beecher Carlson in May 2005. From 2005 to 2012, Scott served as Vice President and Controller for Beecher Carlson. After Brown & Brown acquired Beecher Carlson, Scott served as Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer of the Beecher Carlson division from 2013-2017. In these roles, Scott served as the primary accounting officer and was responsible for implementing and managing new accounting systems, business planning & analysis, financial analysis and reporting and M&A analysis and integration. Scott earned his B.S. in Management Science from the Georgie Institute of Technology.

Steve Germundson, Senior VP

Steve Germundson joined Prime Risk Partners in August 2014. Steve began his professional career as a consultant at Chicago-based Hales & Associates, working with independent agency owners and managers in both financial and operational consulting engagements. He left Hales & Associates in 1994 to become a founding partner in NSIA, Inc., a Minneapolis-based insurance agency. At NSIA, he was the partner responsible for financial and operations management and the firm’s acquisition activity. Starting in 1999, Steve returned to the consulting business by forming The Germundson Company, which later became a founding member of OPTIS Partners, LLC. His practice was focused on internal agency operations, strategic and annual planning, ownership succession planning, and general business consulting. Through OPTIS, Steve worked with many leading insurance distribution firms and agent/broker association groups on a wide variety of engagements. Steve earned his B.A. in economics from St. Olaf College.

Matthew McKenna, Senior VP

Matthew McKenna joined Prime Risk Partners in November 2014. Matt began his professional career as an investment banker with Credit Suisse First Boston. He left CSFB in 2001 to join Macquarie Capital’s investment banking division where he was ultimately promoted to Vice President. At Macquarie, Matt sourced and executed mergers, acquisitions, LBOs and capital raising activities for insurance and insurance services companies, among other responsibilities. In 2010, Matt joined First Niagara Bank as a Senior Vice President on the Corporate Development team. In that role, he had lead responsibility for the sourcing, valuation, coordination, and execution of all financial services acquisitions for the bank, including First Niagara Risk Management (“FNRM”), the bank’s insurance agency. He transitioned to FNRM in 2013 and added operational management of a number of specialty practices to his existing responsibilities. Matt earned his B.B.A from the University of Notre Dame.

Scot Kees, Executive Vice President and General Counsel

Scot Kees joined Prime Risk Partners in November 2015. Scot began his career as an associate and, later, partner with Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough as a corporate, M&A, and securities attorney, practicing from the Atlanta and Washington, DC offices. From 2008 to 2010, Scot served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Goldleaf Financial Solutions, a Nasdaq-listed technology solutions provider, which was sold to Jack Henry & Associates in the fall of 2009. From 2011 to 2015, Scot served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel for TransCentra, Inc., a technology and billing/payments processing outsourcer for large financial institutions, public-sector entities, insurance companies and utilities. In this role, Scot served as the chief compliance officer of the company and oversaw the legal, human resources, information security, compliance and risk, development, and information technology functions of the organization as well as helping lead all M&A efforts. Scot graduated with a B.A. from Washington & Lee University and earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Florida.
Scot can be reached via telephone at 404-285-6706 as well as via e-mail at skees@primeriskpartners.com.

Tod Ashby, Chief Information Officer
Tod joined Prime Risk Partners in July 2016. Tod began his insurance career in 1986 at the Talbert Corporation, which became part of HRH. At Talbert/HRH, Tod worked in Surety, Operations, and Information Systems. Tod later went on to become the Senior Vice President of Information Technology for Van Gilder Insurance Corporation. Most recently, Tod also served as a Vice President in Information Technology and Corporate Operations at HUB International. At HUB, Tod was responsible for oversight of IT operations, compliance (including PCI, HIPAA, and Sarbanes-Oxley), the delivery of technology, and mergers and acquisition activity for HUB’s western region. Tod brought operational efficiencies to the company by designing and implementing end-user support structure and processes, along with training and development programs for all HUB employees. Tod earned his B.S. in Management Information Systems from Colorado Christian University.

Lesley Dresch, Senior Vice President of Human Resources
Lesley joined Prime Risk Partners in June 2016. Lesley began her career in Southern California with Reynolds and Reynolds and brings 20 years of HR expertise working for growing public and private financial services companies. Prior to joining Prime Risk Partners, Lesley served as the Director of HR and Administration for Blueskyrisk, LLC., a managing general agency. Before that, Lesley was the HR Director for Beecher Carlson where she was responsible for day to day HR operations and served as HR Business Partner to the leadership team. Lesley previously served as Vice President of Human Resources for Lynk Systems Inc., later RBS Lynk, and PracticeWorks, both headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Lesley graduated from California State University, Chico with a degree in Organizational Communications. She holds designations as a SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP) and Certified Compensation Professional (CCP).
