Ryan Specialty Benefits has appointed Dave Przesiek (pictured) as president and chief executive officer, effective immediately. The promotion moves Przesiek from chief revenue officer, a position he has held since joining through Ryan Specialty's acquisition of AccuRisk Holdings in December 2023. John Zern, who served as president and CEO since the division's formation, has departed to pursue other interests.
Przesiek brings more than 30 years in the self-insurance market. He began his career across a series of health plan and third-party administrator roles before joining Fallon Health in 2010, where he spent a decade as a senior vice president overseeing product development and commercial sales.
In 2020, he joined AccuRisk Solutions to lead the launch of its captive program, building out the medical stop-loss MGU's alternative funding capabilities before AccuRisk was absorbed into Ryan Specialty Benefits. His career has run almost entirely through the products RSB has built its platform around. Medical stop loss, level-funded plans, and group captives for small to mid-market employers are all territory he knows from the inside.
Pat Ryan, executive chairman of Ryan Specialty, said Przesiek had been "instrumental to the foundation of our benefits platform" and had "built key products and solutions that are in the marketplace today." The company did not disclose terms of the leadership transition.
The appointment comes as stop-loss premiums continue to climb. Medical stop-loss coverage costs rose an average of 12.7% in 2026, up from 9.7% the prior year, according to Segal's 2026 national dataset of 225 health plans. The pressure is concentrated in the mid-market, where specialty drug costs and high-cost claimants are hitting self-funded plans hardest, and where advisers are managing more renewal complexity than in prior years. That is the segment RSB targets, with a product range covering medical stop loss, level-funded plans, and single-parent and group captives built for employers with fewer than 1,000 employees.
Healthcare captives, particularly group medical captives, are among the fastest-growing structures in the benefits market as employers look for alternatives to traditional stop-loss arrangements, according to a February 2026 Society of Actuaries report on the healthcare captive landscape. AccuRisk was already operating in that space when Ryan Specialty acquired it, and Przesiek helped build that capability.
The pressure is concentrated in the mid-market, where specialty drug costs and high-cost claimants are reshaping stop-loss renewals and advisers are managing more renewal complexity than in prior years.
