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Founder / Operator·Insurance Brokerage

Greg Williams

Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO at Acrisure

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

GW
LinkedIn
Why they matter

Founder-CEO who built Acrisure into a top-6 global broker via ~1,000 M&A deals and now controls its AI/fintech roadmap and capital strategy.

Background

Greg Williams co-founded Acrisure in 2005 with Rick Norris and has served as Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO ever since, growing it from a small Michigan agency into the sixth-largest insurance broker in the world through roughly 1,000 acquisitions. Before Acrisure he was a Vice President at Michigan National Corporation and worked as an investor and board advisor to various companies. Since 2019 he has driven Acrisure's pivot into an AI-powered fintech platform spanning insurance, cyber, mortgage, payroll, and real estate services.

Notable deals

  • 2020
    Oversaw Acrisure's $400M stock-for-stock acquisition of Tulco LLC's AI/data-science insurance business, the company's largest deal at the time and the seed of its fintech pivot
  • 2022
    Closed $725M in Series B-2 preferred equity from ADIA, Guggenheim, and Oak Hill, valuing Acrisure at $23B
  • 2022
    Struck 15-year naming rights deal renaming the Pittsburgh Steelers' stadium 'Acrisure Stadium'
  • 2025
    Secured a $2.1B convertible senior preferred stock round led by Bain Capital, with Fidelity, Apollo Funds, Gallatin Point, and BDT & MSD Partners participating

Call-prep brief

Background

  • Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO of Acrisure since 2005; grew the firm from a small Michigan agency to the world's 6th-largest insurance broker through an aggressive roll-up strategy (~1,000 acquisitions).
  • Former VP at Michigan National Corporation; pre-Acrisure, worked as an investor/board advisor.

Current focus

  • Repositioning Acrisure as an AI-powered fintech platform (insurance, cyber, mortgage, payroll, real estate) rather than a pure broker.
  • Capital markets activity: closed a $2.1B Bain Capital-led preferred round in May 2025, following a $23B valuation round in 2022; IPO speculation (2024 Reuters reporting) has circulated but not materialized.

What he cares about

  • Tech-enabled M&A velocity and margin (EBITDA margins reportedly >18%) over organic growth alone.
  • Brand visibility — personally drove the Acrisure Stadium (Pittsburgh Steelers) naming rights deal as a lifelong fan, showing he values consumer-brand plays alongside B2B distribution.

Recent moves / sensitivities

  • Reported 2026 job cuts (~2,250 roles) explicitly tied by Williams to AI and automation — a sensitive topic given Acrisure's growth narrative and could signal margin pressure ahead of any IPO or refinancing.
  • Heavy reliance on preferred-equity financing (multiple rounds since 2021) rather than a public listing raises questions about balance-sheet flexibility and eventual exit path for investors.

Questions to ask

  1. How is the 2026 AI-driven headcount reduction affecting integration capacity for future acquisitions?
  2. What's the realistic timeline and trigger for an IPO versus continued private preferred rounds?
  3. How defensible is Acrisure's AI/data advantage (Tulco-derived tech) versus larger brokers now investing heavily in the same capabilities?

Outreach draft

Subject
Quick call on Acrisure's AI-fintech roadmap
Hi Greg, I've been following Acrisure's evolution from broker to AI-powered fintech platform — the Tulco integration and the recent Bain Capital-led round both stood out as signals of where you're taking the business next. I'm working with a deal team evaluating the insurance brokerage and MGA landscape, and your perspective on where AI genuinely changes distribution economics (versus where it's mostly narrative) would be extremely valuable. Would you be open to a 20-minute call in the next couple of weeks to compare notes? Happy to work around your schedule. Best, [Placeholder Name]

Linked companies

Sources