Sonja’s career spans over 30 years in the Belgian financial services industry, including senior leadership positions in insurance and banking. Most recently she was a non-executive board member for ING Belgium, and member of the board of directors for Kinepolis NV Group and Leasinvest Real Estate. Previously, she was Chief Finance and Data Officer and Executive Member of the Board of Directors of AXA Belgium.

Stephen Catlin began his insurance career in 1973 joining BL Evens & Others, Syndicate 264 at Lloyd's. In 1982 he became deputy underwriter, specialising in the excess of loss and energy accounts where he was supported as a market leader. He founded Catlin Underwriting Agencies Limited in 1984, which later became part of Catlin Group Limited. Stephen served as the Catlin Group’s Chief Executive throughout its history and also served as the active underwriter of Lloyd’s Syndicate 1003 and later Syndicate 2003 until May 2003.

He assumed the position of Executive Deputy Chairman of XL Group Ltd from May 2015 (upon the completion of XL’s acquisition of Catlin Group Limited) to May 2017. From May to December 2017, he acted as a special advisor to XL’s Chief Executive Officer, Mike McGavick.

In April 2019, Stephen and Paul Brand founded international specialty insurer and reinsurer, Convex Group Limited.

Skills and experience

Alison Martin has extensive management, financial and commercial experience within the insurance sector. She was appointed Chief Executive Officer Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) and Bank Distribution in July 2019. Prior to that, she served as Group Chief Risk Officer from January 2018 to September 2019. A qualified accountant, Ms. Martin began her career at PwC, where from 1995 to 2003 she worked with insurance clients in audit and advisory roles. She then served in leading executive positions at Swiss Re, starting in 2003 as Finance Director, Life & Health. Starting in January 2011 she served as Group Managing Director of Swiss Re’s Life & Health Products Division. She was appointed Swiss Re’s Head of Life & Health Business Management in 2013, a position she held until joining Zurich as Group Chief Risk Officer-designate and a member of the Executive Committee in October 2017.

External appointments

In June 2019 Alison Martin became a Councillor of the British-Swiss Chamber of Commerce.

Educational background

Ms. Martin earned a bachelor’s degree in law, with honors, from the University of Birmingham in 1995. In 1998 she qualified with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales as an associate member, and in 2010 she completed the Chartered Financial Analyst investment management certificate.

Nigel joined L&G in 2009 as Group CFO, appointed Group CEO in 2012.

He was awarded City AM’s “Business Personality of the Year”, 2014. He also won ‘Most Admired Leader’, 2017. Nigel recently won ‘Change Maker of the Year’ at the Change Makers Summit.

Nigel was a member of the Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Group (2015- 2016), Chairman of the Investment Association’s review of Executive Pay (2016- 2017) and the government’s review of Mission Led Business (2016- 2017). He was also a member of the government’s Patient Capital Review Industry Panel (2017–2018) and Commissioner in Resolution Foundation’s Intergenerational Commission (2017–2018).

Nigel’s advising on the government’s Social Care Green Paper and Life Sciences Industrial Strategy Implementation Board and is Chair of the Bank of England’s Climate Financial Risk Forum, Innovation Working Group.

Denis Kessler, a French citizen, has been Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of SCOR since 4 November 2002.

He is a member of the Board of the Geneva Association, as well as being a member of the Global Reinsurance Forum, the Reinsurance Advisory Board, the Steering Committee of the Insurance Development Forum and the International Advisory Panel of the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

He has been Chairman of the French insurance federation (Fédération Française de l’Assurance - FFA), Vice-President of the Comité Européen des Assurances (CEA), Senior Executive Vice- President and member of the Executive Committee of the AXA Group, First Executive Vice Chairman of Mouvement des Entreprises de France (MEDEF - the largest employer federation in France), Chairman of the Global Reinsurance Forum, Chairman of the Reinsurance Advisory Board and Non-Executive Chairman of the Association of reinsurance professionals in France (APREF).

Denis Kessler is a professor with advanced degrees in economics and social sciences, and a Fellow of the French Institute of Actuaries. He holds a PhD in economics of the University of Paris and is a graduate of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC Paris). He also holds honorary degrees from the Moscow Academy of Finance and HEC Montreal.

He was elected to join the “Insurance Hall of Fame” of the International Insurance Society in 2014. In January 2016, he was elected to join the French Institute’s Academy of Moral and Political Sciences (ASMP). In May 2016, he was appointed “Honorary Freeman of the City of London”.

Hans De Cuyper holds a Master Degree in Actuarial Sciences from the University of Leuven (1993) and an Executive MBA in Financial Services from the Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School (2004).

Hans joined Ageas group in 2004 as Director Insurance Management Asia in Hong Kong. In 2007, he moved to Malaysia as Chief Financial Officer in Etiqa Insurance & Takaful, the joint venture between Maybank and Ageas. From 2011 until 2013, he was member of the Executive Committee of Maybank, the leading Malaysian bank, and Chief Executive Officer for Etiqa.

From September 2013 until September 2015, Hans held the position of Chief Financial Officer of AG Insurance, Ageas’s Belgian subsidiary.

In October 2015, Hans became Chief Executive Officer of AG Insurance and five years later he was appointed CEO of Ageas and non-independent executive member of the Board of Directors.

Clare has been in the London Market Insurance industry for over 30 years and has held senior positions at three of the four largest insurance brokers in the London Market. In her early career she was a London Market Reinsurance broker focusing on advising Lloyd’s Syndicates on their reinsurance programmes, but for the last 15 years her focus has been on operations.

Prior to joining the London Market Group, Clare was at JLT Specialty Limited where she was Head of Operations. In her role at JLT she was instrumental in implementing PPL and JLT’s Brexit plan, as well as being active on the TOM Working Group and the strategic design authority.

Nicolas Aubert leads Great Britain at Willis Towers Watson. He also serves as the CEO of Willis Limited, the company’s principal U.K.-regulated entity.

Previously, Nicolas served as the CEO of Willis Great Britain. Prior to joining Willis, he served as the COO of American International Group (AIG) in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and formerly as the managing director of AIG in the U.K. He joined AIG in June 2002 to lead AIG France, and after served in various other senior management positions including managing director of Southern Europe. Prior to AIG, Nicolas held various leadership roles at ACE, CIGNA, and GAN.

Nicolas is an active participant to important market bodies. He is the immediate Past President of the Insurance Institute of London, the immediate Past Chair of the London Market Group, remaining a member of its Board, and a member of TheCityUK’s Advisory Council.

Steve Wardlaw is one of the UK’s top former oil & gas lawyers, who has been an LGBT+ activist for over 30 years, Stonewall ambassador, and is co-founder and chairman of insurance startup Emerald Life. Launched in March 2016, Emerald Life has since won awards both for customer service and its ethical stance, changed several terms in the insurance sector (such as discriminatory pricing for people living with HIV) and also set up several corporate partnerships, where corporates and large organisations want to offer our product as an employee benefit. In 2019, Steve was shortlisted in the OUTstanding LGBT+ Role Model lists, supported by Yahoo! Finance, and was appointed to the Advisory Board of the Terrence Higgins Trust earlier this year

Andrea Battista graduated cum laude in Economics at Luiss University of Rome. He started his career as an analyst at McKinsey & Company. In January 2001, he became Director of Life Business Unit of Cattolica Group, and in 2006, he was Managing Director of Duomo Assicurazioni.

On January 2009, Andrea was appointed CEO of Aviva Group in Italy. Recently he held the role of CEO at Eurovita Assicurazioni, achieving successful financial results.

He is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Archimede SPAC and since 18th October 2018, is the CEO of Net Insurance S.p.A.

Andrea is also an author and writer of several publications; his latest book is “Oltre la crisi”.

CEO of classic car insurance specialist OCC Assekuradeur GmbH in Germany is Désirée Mettraux. OCC is the market leader in the DACH region for the insurance of classic vehicles. The 40 year old joined the company with a wealth of experience from various areas of responsibility in the insurance industry: between 2007 and 2012 she headed the department of motor vehicles and vessels at National Suisse, based in Basel/Switzerland. In this position she held responsible for developing various motor vehicle insurance products. Désirée's focus is digital business, for which she's also consulting the management team of online classic vehicle trading platform 'Classic Trader'. The Swiss national worked as a mentor for various startups in the digital realm and is a co-founder of Swiss camper van hire portal mycamper.ch, where she's still an active member of the board. Désirée left Creadi AG, a Basel based InsurTech startup which she co-founded in 2016 and headed as CEO since, as per 1st July 2019. The music enthusiast and mother of twins lives in Hamburg/Germany with her husband and daughters

Louise Smith is Lloyd’s first Chief Digital Officer. This newly created role within the Corporation is critical in supporting Lloyd’s to further build its digital capabilities and offering across the insurance industry.

Louise is nationally and internationally recognised as a thought leader on digital innovation, disruptive technologies and the emerging workforce. She is currently laying the groundwork to ensure Lloyd’s has a strong, consistent digital approach in its Future at Lloyd’s programme of work. As well as shaping Lloyd’s digital strategy, Louise will also be working with the Corporation on how it uses agile methodologies and collaborative ways of working, as well as growing its digital skills.

With an extensive career in creating and running digital business models, Louise is at the forefront of influencing and changing the shape and evolution of the financial services sector in the UK and globally. In her current role, she uses customer experience, data, and insight to differentiate the services Lloyd’s offers to its customers.

Louise is also a regional FinTech ambassador, appointed by the UK Government. In this role she supports new incumbents in the financial services sector and collaborates with the ‘start up’ community and challengers.

David is RSA’s Group, UK&I Chief Information Officer and leads the long-term technology / transformation vision. He is responsible for transforming the way that IT is operated and how it interfaces with the overall business. Including reshaping new ways of improving the customer experience and optimising business performance.

Prior to joining RSA, David worked for a number of world leading Banking institutions in C-suite roles.

In 2019 he was ranked ninth in the Financial Times Top 100 Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) Tech Leaders. He was also among the final list for CTO of the Year 2019 Awarded by the Inclusive Tech Awards. David was also in the final list for the STEM category Awarded by the Black British Awards.

David was featured in the 2020 Power-list CX50 as one of the most influential Customer Experience influencers in the UK By Marketing Week. He was awarded the prestigious Inspirational Leader in the UK 2020 for services to society, Awarded by Computing and British Computer Society UK IT awards.

David is the Independent Non-Executive for Investec Bank plc Board, member of the Bank of England CIO committee and online author for a number of articles on cloud technologies, digital transformation and a technology advisor.

David is married with three children.

Christine Theodorovics, a Swiss-Austrian national, has more than 20 years management and commercial experience within the financial industry. She was appointed Chief Strategic Development Officer Europe at AXA Group in June 2019. In her role as she reports directly to the Group Executive Board and oversees activities in three European countries where she is also sits in the respective Supervisory Boards. She also drives several European initiatives, such as distribution & digitalisation, customer & innovation and the commercial business. Over the previous decade Christine served in various CEO, Executive Board and Group roles in Switzerland, Austria and Germany for Zurich Insurance. From 2004-2010 Christine had several leading executive positions within Swiss Life in Switzerland, the Middle East, South Asia and France. Her career started in European Institutions in Brussels, in marketing and consulting as well as in senior roles with Credit Suisse in Zurich.

Christine holds a Master in Business Administration from the University of Economics and Business Administration in Vienna, a Master in Arts in European Studies and Economics from the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium and a Diploma of Advanced Studies in Banking of the Swiss Finance Institute in Zurich.

Jérôme Haegeli is Swiss Re's Group Chief Economist and is responsible for Swiss Re’s economic and insurance market research, associated forecasts and consulting, as well as driving their thought leadership in strengthening long-term investing and financial resilience. Prior to this position he served as Swiss Re's Head of Investment Strategy at Group Asset Management and held senior roles at Bank Julius Baer and UBS Warburg. He was also a Senior Economist at the Swiss National Bank and represented the institution at the IMF’s Executive Board. Jerome was a Visiting Fellow at the Harvard University Economic Research Department, holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Basel, and a Master of Science degree in Economics from the London School of Economics. He also serves as Co-Chair of the World Bank's Global Infrastructure Facility (GIF) Advisory Council and is active in committees at the Institute of International Finance and the WEF.

Vicky has held a number of positions in prudential policy, financial stability and monetary analysis in a career spanning over 20 years at the Bank of England. Vicky was at the heart of the macro prudential and micro prudential policy reforms undertaken by the Bank after the global financial crisis.

Vicky has represented the Bank on numerous international committees dealing with central banking and regulatory issues. Vicky is currently Chair of the Executive Committee of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors. Vicky is also a member of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.

Vicky holds a PhD in Economics, M.Phil in Finance from the University of Cambridge and a B.Sc in Mathematical Economics and Econometrics from the London School of Economics. She has published a number of articles in books, professional journals and Bank of England publications.

Frieder Knüpling is Group Chief Risk Officer of SCOR, responsible for Risk Management, Actuarial, Risk Modelling, and Prudential and Regulatory Affairs. He has been a member of SCOR’s Group Executive Committee since 2010, after having held various actuarial and risk roles at SCOR, Revios and Gerling Global Re. He holds academic degrees in Mathematics and Physics, and a PhD in Economics. He is a fellow of the Deutsche Aktuarvereinigung (DAV) and a Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst (CERA), and current Chairman of the CRO Forum.

Fabrice Brossart is the Chief Risk Officer (CRO) for AIG International General Insurance and oversees AIG’s risk management function in 70+ entities outside of North America, ensuring these operations have a risk management system proportionate to their exposures and in line with local regulatory and corporate governance requirements.

Fabrice joined AIG in February 2011 as Chief Actuary for the European region, subsequently taking additional responsibilities for risk management and leading the Solvency II program. Between 2014 and 2015 Fabrice worked in several risk management roles at the AIG head office in New York, enhancing significantly the Group capital model. Returning to London in 2016, Fabrice played a key role in AIG’s response to Brexit and the standing up of AIG Europe SA. More recently he has focused on business resilience, risk culture and conduct, climate risk and transformation.

An alumnus of France’s Ecole Polytechnique, Fabrice holds actuarial qualifications in France and the UK as well as the Chartered Enterprise Risk Actuary designation. Previous employers include AXA Insurance UK and Willis Towers Watson. Fabrice has represented AIG at the CRO Forum and supported two AIG Group CEOs in their engagement with the Geneva Association. He is a member of AIG’s Executive Diversity Council and has co-led ERM’s Diversity and Inclusion Council since 2017. Fabrice was named CRO of the year by Insurance ERM in January 2018.

As Chief Claims Officer for European Markets, Cyril is driving the Claims transformation journey in line with the AXA strategy.

Cyril is a highly competent and internationally experienced Operations & Claims manager, with a proven track record in the insurance industry, conference speaker, and university guest lecturer.

2020 - today: Chief Claims Officer for European Markets, Director - AXA
2017 - 2020: Chief Operating Officer, Member of the management / Secretary of the Board of Directors - Dextra Insurance Ltd (InsurTech Startup)
2013 - 2016: Head of material and financial loss division / Deputy Head of Claims - Allianz Suisse
2009 - 2012: Senior Claims Expert Casualty / Deputy Head Claims Property, Casualty, Marine - HDI-Gerling Industrieversicherung AG
2007 - 2009: Head of Claims Management / Legal & Compliance - smile.direct versicherungen
1996 - 2007: Various positions within Winterthur Insurance & Winterthur Group

With more than 24 years of working experience in P&C Operations & Claims Management (local and international), and a strong working knowledge of strategy, management and implementation across the insurance value chain, Cyril has an in-depth understanding of end-to-end business processes and customer touch-points; with expertise in technology and digital transformation/acceleration.

Katja joined Zurich in 2016 and as Head of Enterprise Risk Management was responsible for managing and constantly improving the Group-wide enterprise risk management framework, the risk policy and governance, as well as the Group’s risk appetite framework.

Katja became Head of Risk Europe, Middle East and Africa on August 1, 2018. Katja is a member of the EMEA Executive Team, and member of the Group Risk Management Executive Committee. She is also Board Trustee of the UK Zurich pension scheme as well as a Director of Allied Zurich Holdings, UK.

Prior to joining Zurich, Katja worked for HSBC in London where she held various senior risk related roles for almost a decade, the latest before joining Zurich being CRO, Global Banking & Markets, EMEA. Before that, Katja spent eight years with the German regulator, Deutsche Bundesbank, in market risk supervision and in regulatory policy.

In her spare time, Katja sings with, and is Finance Director of, one of Zurich’s leading choirs. She enjoys classical music and the Swiss mountains with her partner.

Julian was appointed Director of Public Policy and Regulation at M&G in July 2019 and is currently fulfilling this role alongside that of interim Chief Risk Officer. He was previously Group Regulatory & Government Relations Director at Prudential plc where he covered regulatory, compliance, public policy and government issues globally and sat on the Group's Executive Committee. He joined Prudential in January 2015 after a career at the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority. He was a director in the latter and held a senior role in banking supervision during the financial crisis and latterly served as Executive Director of Insurance Supervision at the Bank of England. In that time, Julian represented the UK on international insurance fora: he chaired the Financial Stability Committee of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors and sat on its Executive Committee; as well as serving as the UK’s board member on EIOPA and a member of its Managing Board.

Julian sits on the board of the Association of British Insurers and is currently its Deputy Chair. He led a new report for CityUK on the UK’s future regulatory landscape after Brexit and has written and spoken widely on a range of subjects including:

• Global regulation: policy and practice, changing nature of risks to financial stability and customer protection
• Brexit and financial services: opportunities and challenges for the UK industry after the EU Referendum
• The role of insurance in mobilising domestic capital for long term investment, including infrastructure, housing, and long-term company financing

Felix HUFELD is President of the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin). Previously he was Chief Executive Director Insurance Supervision at BaFin. Previously he was Partner at Westlake Partners. From 2001 to 2010 he served as Chief Executive Officer of Marsh Germany, Austria and Northern Europe of Marsh & Mclennan Companies Inc. Prior to joining the insurance sector, Felix Hufeld worked from 1999 to 2001 at Dresdner Bank as their Global Head Group Corporate Development. Prior to that, he worked at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) for almost eight years, in the end as a Principal, primarily focusing on the financial services industry as well as attorney focusing on corporate and tax law. Felix Hufeld studied law in Freiburg and received a Master in Public Administration at Harvard University. Felix Hufeld is member of the Supervisory Board of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) and of the Group of Governors and Heads of Supervision (GHOS), the oversight body of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS).

Dimitris Zafeiris is Head of the Risks and Financial Stability Department and is responsible for EIOPA's activities in the areas of financial stability, crisis management and studies and statistics.

Before joining EIOPA, Dimitris ran the risk management unit in a commercial bank where he was responsible for the management of projects such as the implementation of Basel II and external asset quality reviews. Prior to this, Dimitris held roles as investment director, portfolio manager and analyst in a number of firms in the asset management industry. Dimitris holds a Master of Science in Finance and a Bachelor of Science in Economics.

Michael Steel is Global Head of Business Development at RMS. Michael joined RMS in 2016 to bring innovations in modeling and technology to solve the key risk management challenges faced by insurers. He has more than 30 years’ experience in risk and capital management gained in the insurance industry. Prior to RMS, Michael was the Group Chief Risk Officer at AXIS Capital, following a career in reinsurance broking, including 12 years at Benfield (now Aon Benfield) where he led the ReMetrics team in addition to leading teams in the development of innovative solutions in the reinsurance and capital markets.

In addition to his role with RMS, Michael serves as an Independent Non-Executive Director on the board of Allianz Re Dublin dac. Michael previously served as an Independent Non-Executive Director on the board of Berkshire Hathaway’s international business, as an Appointed Director on the Casualty Actuarial Society, and as Chairman of the Geneva Association’s CRO Network. He holds a bachelor’s degree with honors in statistics and mathematics from Brunel University.

Mihkel joined Swedbank in 1997 and has worked with the banc assurance business, covering various leading roles within insurance throughout this time. Currently, he is responsible for company development in the life and non-life area across the Baltic region, and also sits on the management boards of both insurance companies.

Insurance has become an important part of the overall bank services supported by the well integrated, highly digitalized and efficiently managed insurance business model. He is passionate about the insurance market and its developments. Mihkel also acts as a council member of Estonian Insurance Association and is a charter member and past president of the local Rotary Club. He has also received two talent awards from Swedbank – “Hansa Badge” in 2005 and “Group Products Simplicity Award” in 2013.

Two years after the launch of his career at the French Treasury, Martin Merlin joined the Commission, working on insurance and pension funds issues. He progressed to the position of Assistant to the Director General before joining the Cabinet of Commissioner Charlie McCreevy. In 2008, on his return to the Directorate General, he took charge of the unit "Financial Services Policy & Relations with the Council". This unit was responsible, inter alia, for defining and implementing the European Commission‘s policy in the area of financial supervision and the response to the global financial crisis. Since 2014 Mr Merlin has been a Director within the DG. Firstly, responsible for Financial Markets, and since 2016, for Banks and Insurance, covering Regulation &Prudential Supervision of Financial Institutions, Insurance and Pensions, Resolution and Deposit Guarantees. In January 2020, he has also taken on Financial Crime issues.

Mr Merlin represents the Commission at the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, on the Board of Supervisors of both EBA and EIOPA, in the Financial Stability Board’s Resolution Steering Group and in the intergovernmental Financial Action Task Force (FATF/GAFI).

He holds Masters Degrees in Political Sciences and Philosophy.

The Mission of DG FISMA is to monitor the effectiveness of an ambitious and unprecedented series of reforms to secure financial stability and improve the supervision of financial markets. It aims to take further steps to develop well-regulated, stable and globally-competitive financial markets in the interest of businesses and consumers, to improve access to capital for businesses, especially SMEs, and thereby promote growth and job creation.

Graeme Dean is Head of Insurance EMEA for Cover Genius, one of the fastest growing insurtechs globally. Cover Genius has received dozens of awards within insurance and tech circles for its patent-pending platform and global capability that ensures user-centricity throughout the entire customer journey, an approach that has led to global partnerships with, amongst others, Booking Holdings (NASDAQ:BKNG).

Graeme and has been instrumental in building the global underwriting and regulatory framework for Cover Genius. Prior to joining Cover Genius, Graeme led the accident & health division for Allianz and has held numerous other leadership positions across the insurance industry. Graeme is passionate about InsurTech and is an advisor to multiple InsurTech startups.

Peter Smith is Head of Strategic Partnerships - Travel, EMEA, at Cover Genius, one of the fastest growing inurtechs globally. In his role, Peter is responsible for leading and executing the company’s travel strategy throughout EMEA, and creating growth for partners by delivering a seamless insurance experience for their customers.

Prior to Cover Genius, Peter was Head of New Business at Holiday Extras, a UK and European provider of travel extras, responsible for developing their partnerships and driving revenue. He has also gained insight into e-commerce platforms as Head of Sales for the UK for CarTrawler, one of the most widely distributed car rental booking engines in the world.

Peter also worked closely with the founders of TravelSupermarket.com and MoneySupermarket.com and played an instrumental role in helping build these leading price comparison websites. During his tenure here, he took on a variety of roles, culminating in Head of Partnerships for TravelSupermarket.com.

Peter has an HND in Travel and Tourism from the University of Chester, and more recently, he completed his NVQ level 5 in Management.

Tiago is a Commercial Director overseeing in-funnel monetisation and innovation at Skyscanner. He has been with the company since 2013 and prior to his present role, headed up the Flights Commercial team in EMEA and led commercial efforts to scale Skyscanner’s mobile booking service.

Before joining Skyscanner in Edinburgh, Tiago spent five years in the online gaming industry across several customer- and partner-facing roles. He has a bachelor’s degree in music and is originally from Portugal, where he spends much of his time travelling.

Florian Stärk, Head of Risk Management Alternative Investments, MEAG (MUNICH ERGO Asset Management GmbH)

After studying math and physics, Florian began his career in finance at the former Hypobank (today part of Unicredit) as Quant Analyst and later International Bond Market Strategist. After that, he was Portfolio Manager for bonds and alternative assets at Swiss Life. In 2000, he joined the newly founded asset management branch of Munich Re Group, MEAG, where he became Head of Risk Controlling in 2002, responsible for market and ALM risk measurement, derivative pricing etc.

Since 2013, he is Head of Risk Management Alternative Investments, which provides ex-ante risk opinions and valuations for all direct investments of Munich Re Group in Infrastructure Equity and Debt, Venture Capital, Real Estate and Forestry & Agriculture. Additionally, he is part of the Country Risk, Emerging Risk and ESG working groups of Munich Re.

Alessandro has 15+ years of experience in the Insurance industry developed across countries and business segments.

He started his career in the Strategic Department of Allianz in Italy where he worked in the Life and in the P&C business as responsible for the preparation of the forecast and 3y plan.

After 4 years in Allianz, he joined McKinsey and Company where he was in charge of providing technical intelligence on the Insurance market and where he was involved in a series of client projects.

In 2010, he decided to move to Switzerland to join the Internal Consulting Unit of Zurich Insurance Company.
In Zurich, Alessandro had the opportunity to manage several transformation projects across regions and countries (e.g., UK, Italy, Russia, Austria, Spain, Hong Kong, Mexico)

After 5 years in the Internal consulting unit, Alessandro was appointed Head of Claims Strategy Development & Delivery for the Global Corporate business.
In this role, Alessandro has been responsible for the development and execution of Claims strategic initiatives in order to enhance customer service, efficiency and cost control.

After 3 years in the Claims unit, Alessandro moved to Bank Distribution with the aim to develop new solutions, propositions and operating models to further strengthen existing agreements and develop new strategic partnerships.

Alexandru Ciuncan has more than 18 years’ experience in the insurance and private pensions industries in Central and Eastern Europe, with specific expertise on business conduct, regulation, consumer protection, financial media and journalism.

Since September 2018, Alexandru is the General Manager of UNSAR – the National Union of Insurance and Reinsurance Companies in Romania, and since August 2019 he is a Member of the Managing Board of ISF – the Institute for Financial Studies.

Between 2013 and 2018, Alexandru was a member of IRSG and OPSG, the two Stakeholders Groups within EIOPA – the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority, being an active contributor to drafting and debating bills with long-term impact on the insurance and private pensions industries. At the same time, he occupied the positions of Secretary General of APPA – the Association for Insurance Promotion – the NGO that developed the first national campaigns to inform and educate consumers – and Managing Partner of XPRIMM, a Romanian media company that specialises in the insurance industry in CEE and SEE.

Alexandru Ciuncan attended the Management Faculty within the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, holds a Professional Certificate in Management (OPEN University Business School, UK) and is a licensed PMP – Project Management Professional and ACP – Agile Certified Professional (Project Management Institute, USA).

Professor Klime Poposki lectures at the insurance department of the University of St. Kliment Ohridski in Ohrid, Republic of N. Macedonia. Recently he was appointed as a Supervisory Board Member in Winner non-life, part of the Vienna Insurance Group, Vienna, Austria.

He served as President of the Council of Experts, the management body of the Macedonian Insurance Supervision Agency, since the establishment of the authority in 2009, running two terms till 2019. He started his professional career in 1995 as a banker on treasury department for e period of 4 years. After 1999, Poposki joined the University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, starting with building his academia career as a researcher and lecture in the area of risk management and insurance.

Professor Poposki is a member of the Board of Governors of the Asia Pacific Risk Insurance Association, member of the European Group of Risk and Insurance Association and International Insurance Society. During his Chairmanship at the Insurance Supervision Agency, Poposki participated in several working groups at the International Association of Insurance Supervisors, including his membership in the Supervisory Forum.

Peter is currently EY Global Insurance Consulting Leader and EY EMEIA Insurance Leader. He led the build-out of the EY Insurance Technology Enabled Transformation solution and established the market-leading Guidewire Centre of Excellence. Peter has over 25 years of experience in professional services providing advice to insurers across the globe, he has a special interest in transformation change.

Executive MBA graduate and CIMA qualified Finance Business Partner at AVIVA with extensive post qualified experience of working with senior stakeholders within the Insurance sector.

Chartered Manager with strong commercial, strategic and technical skills with a proven track record in performance improvement, IFRS reporting, embedding KPI's and Scorecards with an interest in driving innovation through diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Co-Founder and President of Yolo Group, Simone is also the President of the DigiTouch Group, Entrepreneur & Co-founder of Multiple Ventures. Prior to his current roles, Simone was formerly CEO of Goswiff, President & Founder of Glamoo, Co-founder of Buongiorno Spa and, also, manager in Andersen Consulting (now Accenture).

Nikhita Iyar leads the Strategic Business Development team at Moxtra. Moxtra’s Customer Collaboration Platform powers your OneStop Digital Channel, in every customer's pocket. Your Moxtra-powered private digital channel provides a one-stop experience for your customers to reach your organization and connect with your team to get premier service - anytime, anywhere. Moxtra enables organizations to manage continuous connections with clients and teams through their own one-stop portal experience, under their brand, making it easy and convenient for customers to do business with the organization in one-stop. Nikhita works with businesses across verticals to help organizations deliver a premier service experience to their customers through their own private digital channels. Being a key team member at Moxtra, Nikhita has helped the company grow its business over the course of Moxtra’s journey in a number of different industries including financial services, insurance, lending, and more. Nikhita has worked closely with several of the world's leading financial institutions, such as MUFG and Van Lanschot, to help them power their digital strategy for customer engagement with their own one-stop digital channel.

Before becoming Head of Learning, David worked as Senior Product Owner with a wide range of experience from product design through to implementation, training and support at Enate.

Prior to Enate, David worked as an ERP Consultant on a number of global implementations in the FMCG sector. Scrum-Certified Product Owner with MEng degree in manufacturing and engineering systems, and a Mastère Spécialisé in information systems from École Centrale de Lille.

Alex is a consultative sales leader with substantial experience across a range of technologies. Alex began her sales career by representing many leading vendors within a UK VAR, and has worked with clients across industries from public sector to financial services.

At Enate, Alex works closely with prospects to understand their business challenges, working quickly to evaluate whether or not Enate can address them

Mark is an experienced technology leader, strategist and innovatory, with global experience in a number of senior technology leadership roles within major Insurance Groups. He is passionate about insurance, technology, innovation and architecting eloquent solutions.

Mark has over 25 years of experience in technology delivery, consulting, IT architecture and technology strategy leadership.

He leads the Professional Service teams and architecture function at IBA for all clients. His focus on speed of delivery, innovation and best practice architecture, leads to the delivery of solutions Insurance Businesses can trust, thrive and innovate upon.

Above all Mark is driven to support the continuous evolution of our industry, through appropriate technology adoption, but always with a clear focus on end customer and the business outcome.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/markdegenaar/

With over 25 years’ experience in the insurance claims and crash repair sector, David is a well-known and influential figure in the industry. David joined Audatex in 2008 and has had various missions from Global Account and Programme Manager, to Managing Director and Regional Managing Director positions.

David’s mission is to achieve sustainable operational excellence throughout the business by building on the already-strong local and global relationships, solutions and service levels that Solera offers in these markets.

David also focuses on spearheading future enhancements and innovation to Solera’s digital solutions portfolio, ensuring its customers continue to receive the best possible service.

Previous to his role as CMO at Cortical.io, Steven held executive leadership positions in marketing, business development and sales at leading high-tech companies as well as in start-ups including VP of Products and Marketing at CivicConnect, CMO at Edgar-Online, and VP of Product Marketing at Oracle. Steven earned a B.S. in Computer Science from Southern Methodist University.

Axel Threlfall is Editor-at-Large, Reuters, based in London. Alongside his editorial duties, he hosts high-profile engagements and thought leadership events for and on behalf of Reuters and Thomson Reuters, such as the Newsmaker series and the World Economic Forum news programming in Davos. He was previously Lead European Anchor for Reuters Digital Video. Prior to joining Reuters, Axel spent five years as an anchor for CNBC in London. Before that, he was an editor with The Wall Street Journal in New York and a news reporter for Bloomberg in London. He has also advised businesses and NGOs on their dealings with the international media. Axel is frequently asked to moderate events for international organizations, including the United Nations, the IMF and the OECD. He has a BA in History from Durham University and a postgraduate degree in journalism from City University, London.

Carolyn Cohn is Insurance and Fund Management Correspondent at Reuters. She has been a financial correspondent at Reuters for 27 years, covering insurance for the past six years.

Carolyn will be hosting the Reuters Live Interviews with:

• Nigel Wilson, CEO, Legal & General
• Andrew Horton, CEO, Beazley
• Stephen Catlin, Chairman & CEO, Convex

Carolyn will also be moderating the Reuters Live Panel: Reinforce Diversity as a Priority in Your Workforce, alongside the CEOs from Zurich, Lloyd’s, and Emerald Life.

Huw Jones is European Regulation Correspondent at Reuters. He has been financial correspondent at Reuters for 25 years, covering Wall Street in New York and the European Union in Brussels before covering regulation for the past 11 years.

Huw will be hosting the Reuters Live Interview with Victoria Saporta, Executive Director of the Prudential Policy Directorate, Bank of England.

Huw will also be moderating the Reuters Live Panel: Analysing Regulatory Risk For Britain & The EU, with panellists including:

• Hans de Cuyper, CEO, Ageas
• Felix Hufeld, President, BaFin
• Julian Adams, Director of Public Policy & Regulation, M&G
• Dimitris Zafeiris, Head of the Risks & Financial Stability Department, EIOPA

Tom Sims has covered German finance for Reuters since 2017. Previously, he was with the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal with postings in Europe and Asia.