AMICE Congress:
The Art of Transformation
Embracing change to create a brighter future
Speakers
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CloseButch Bacani leads UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Principles for Sustainable Insurance Initiative (PSI), the largest collaboration between the UN and the insurance industry. Endorsed by the UN Secretary-General and insurance industry CEOs, the PSI is a global framework and initiative for the industry to address sustainability issues—as risk managers, insurers and investors—and to build resilient, inclusive and sustainable communities and economies on a healthy planet.
Butch leads initiatives that contribute to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Paris Climate Agreement. These include developing “Insurance SDGs”, establishing a Net-Zero Insurance Alliance, convening the world’s leading insurers to pilot the Financial Stability Board’s climate risk disclosure recommendations (TCFD), and working with the California Insurance Commissioner to develop the world’s first sustainable insurance roadmap. He co-led the development of the first global sustainability guide for the insurance business and the creation of UNEP’s Sustainable Insurance Forum for regulators. Butch was part of InsuranceERM’s inaugural list of the most influential people leading and shaping the insurance industry’s response to climate change, and has been recognised as one of the most influential sustainability leaders by Canada’s largest youth-led movement.
Butch led the global process that created the PSI in 2012, and UNEP’s insurance and investment programmes from 2006 to 2010, including activities with the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). He has shaped global insurance industry initiatives to address climate change, disaster risks, tobacco risks, illegal fishing and plastic pollution; and to protect UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Butch has authored pioneering studies on sustainable insurance and responsible investment. Prior to the UN, he was in the insurance industry for over a decade, working with leading insurers and reinsurers worldwide.
Butch is involved in the InsuResilience Global Partnership, Vulnerable Twenty Group of Finance Ministers (V20), California Climate Insurance Working Group, Insurance Development Forum, Microinsurance Network, and World Benchmarking Alliance.
Iona Bain is the UK's go-to voice on young personal finance. She founded the pioneering award-winning website Young Money Blog in 2011, which celebrated its ten year anniversary last month. She appears regularly on TV and radio in the UK and now writes a weekly column for the i, one of the UK's fastest growing national newspapers. She is also a resident financial expert at BBC Radio 1, the national broadcaster's flagship youth radio station, and she has just written her second book Own It! How our generation can invest our way to a better future, out now. She also hosts a podcast of the same name.
Richard Banks is Director of Industry Research, EMEA at AM Best. Based in London, he is responsible for AM Best’s suite of research and reports covering the EMEA region.
Richard joined AM Best in 2020. Previously he was Director of Digital Publishing at Franklin Templeton, and before that spent nearly 20 years at Informa’s Insurance division, including stints as Editorial Director and Editor of Insurance Day.
Jo is a digital pioneer with over 25 years of experience. He is a transformation strategist, passionate about innovation and change and how digital is impacting society and business.
As a well-known keynote speaker, he has been on hundreds of stages, in about every European country and beyond. He is also one of the first to translate his keynotes to Corona-proof digital events.
He has (co-)written several books on different transformational topics. His latest book The World Is Round (De Wereld Is Rond) deals with the transformation of society and how to plan for that, beyond Corona.
He is also an advisor to many companies in different industries: finance, media, retail, industrial, food, ... He does this from his strategy boutique Scopernia, with offices in Ghent and Dubai.
Matt Cullina is Head of Global Insurance Business at Sontiq, an Intelligent Identity Security company arming businesses and consumers with award-winning products built to protect what matters most. Cullina is responsible for driving Sontiq’s global growth and strengthening strategic partnerships throughout the insurance markets.
He brings over 25 years of experience in cyber services, insurance research, development, and claims management. Prior to Sontiq’s acquisition of Cyberscout®, Cullina served as Managing Director of Global Markets at Cyberscout. Before that position, Cullina was CEO of Cyberscout from 2008 to 2018. He helped to guide Cyberscout’s maturity from a single product business focused on the U.S. to becoming the leading provider of personal and commercial cyber solutions to the insurance industry, with both a U.S. and global footprint.
Cullina has a rich background in the Property Casualty industry, having held complex claims management roles at Travelers and Allianz. Additionally, Cullina served as Director of Product Development for MetLife®’s P&C company and was responsible for the product development and management of MetLife’s personal lines offering.
Cullina is a sought-after thought leader on cyber risk and insurance and often speaks at industry events and is quoted throughout the media. He has served on several boards. Most recently, he chaired the Board of the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), where he served for six years. Cullina has championed foster youth and adoption issues over the years, serving on the First Start Board. He was the recipient of the Congressional Angels in Adoption Award representing the State of Rhode Island. Cullina graduated Cum Laude from Salve Regina University, majoring in politics.
Everything Paula does is about harnessing the collective power of teams so that we achieve more together than we ever could on our own. As CEO of Strive Management, Paula manages the global operations for Mark Pollock’s professional speaking business, as well as Run in the Dark, a global running series with 25,000 participants in 50 cities worldwide.
As Executive Director of Collaborative Cures, Paula plays a key role in the charity’s mission to bring people together to cure paralysis in our lifetime. She is also a non-executive director on the Boards of Hockey Ireland.
Prior to joining Strive Management, Paula spent 4 years as a strategic communications specialist working on national and international projects in Department of the Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister). She started her career producing TV and radio documentaries broadcast in Ireland and USA.
Chantal Deen, 52 years young.
I have worked for OOM Verzekeringen for twelve years now and still going strong.
In my job there isn’t room for a dull moment. One day I will be talking to our customers at their kitchen table in say Brooklyn, New York and the next day I’ll be explaining our insurances to the press. Especially during COVID-19 we were able to rise to the insurance occasion.
Outside of work I love to write, from columns to an actual book. I teach spinning and boot camp classes in the gym, organize pub quizzes at the nursing home as a volunteer and the time that’s left I love spending it with my family (husband, daughter 19, son 17).
Emmanuel Djengue is Innovation Director of RGAX Europe, the EMEA unit of RGAX, the transformation engine of Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated (RGA). He works closely with life insurers, distributors, fintech companies and digital health startups to help develop a range of innovative life and health insurance propositions.
Prior to joining RGAX Europe, he was Innovation and Marketing Director of INESE, a leading Spanish insurance-focused media company focused on providing services to Spain and Latin American countries. Before then, he was EMEA Marketing Manager for LIMRA.
Emmanuel holds a Master’s degree in international management from IAE Lille (France), a Master’s degree in international marketing from Université Catholique de Lille (France), and a Bachelor’s degree in international business from Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée. Active in the industry, he is vice-president of the association of young leaders in insurance in Spain, and is a member of the Global Shapers community, a group supported by the World Economic Forum, where he leads a social project focused on new generations, digitalization, and sustainability. He has written several published articles about the digital transformation of insurance and has delivered more than 50 workshops and presentations throughout Europe.
Sarah Goddard is Secretary General of AMICE, and has over 25 years' global re/insurance industry experience.
Before joining AMICE, she was CEO of the Dublin International Insurance & Management Association (DIMA) which represented companies writing non-Irish insurance, and life and non-life reinsurance business, including captive management.
Previously, Sarah worked as Editor for Global Reinsurance magazine and as International Bureau Chief for the Business Insurance magazine. She started her career at Lloyd's of London and graduated from the University of Manchester, UK.
Jean-Pierre Grimaud is the CEO of OFI Asset Management, a position he has held since June 2015. Previously, he was the CEO of Swiss Life AMB, before which he was Chairman of Swiss Life AM, the asset management subsidiary of Swiss Life France. He joined the company in 2002 as CIO and Executive Board Member. Grimaud previously worked for HSBC Asset Management (Europe) and CPR Gestion. He began his career in financial and asset management in 1986, at the Banque Française d’Investissement. From 2007 to 2011, Grimaud was also Chairman of the Board of Af2i (Association Française des Investisseurs Institutionnels) and actively participated in public debates related to the French financial industry. He also taught at Rennes University and at the CNAM of Paris, as well as writing a monthly column in Gestion de Fortune between 1992 and 2009. Grimaud is an ENSAE graduate, and also obtained a degree in economics from the University of Economics of Angers.
Víctor Meseguer joined Social Economy Europe, the voice of the 2.8 million social economy enterprises and organization in the EU, in 2014. Since 2018 he represents Social Economy Europe at the European Commission Expert Group on social economy and social enterprises.
He studied a BA in Political Science at the Pompeu Fabra University of Barcelona. In the framework of an ERASMUS exchange, he studied for a year at the King’s College London. Victor holds two master’s degrees: in Corporate Social Responsibility (University of Murcia) and in European Affairs (European Studies Institute, Université Libre of Brussels).
SEE has a permanent dialogue with EU Institutions, Member States and International organisations to support social economy enterprises and entrepreneurs by mainstreaming the social economy in the main socio-economic policies. SEE is responsible for the secretariat of the European Parliament’s Social Economy Intergroup formed by more than 80 Members of the European Parliament belonging to the main political groups.
Martin Mullins is currently Visiting Professor at Vicomtech Foundation in the Basque region of Spain. He is Co-Leader of the Emerging Risk Group, Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick, a Professor in Risk and Insurance and a member of the Expert Group on Digital Ethics in Insurance for EIOPA. This year he is working with the Central Bank of Ireland as a data ethicist. Professor Mullins teaches on the inaugural national (Ireland) Msc programme in Artificial Intelligence in the area of risk and ethics. He has worked on a number of risk governance related research projects, including four EU Commission funded projects in the area of emerging technologies and risk transfer. Two of these focuses on risk metrics, privacy and insurance in the area of assisted driving systems, namely VIDAS and Cloud-LSVA funded under the MG3.6 and ICT 16 calls respectively.
Trained as an engineer (Industrial Engineering), C. OLLIVIER evolved during the first fifteen years of his career in the insurance industry, dedicated to industrial risks analysis, prevention and protection, in positions of increasing responsibility, all within the UAP Group (engineering, management control, through underwriting and reinsurance).
After the merger with AXA (1997), his career quickly deviated to financial reinsurance, with positions in various groups (AXA, Winterthur and Credit Agricole / Calyon), in France then abroad, between 1999 and 2003 (New York, Zurich, London, Bermuda).
Back to France (in 2004), he joined the securitization department of an investment bank (Calyon today CACIB) and two years later moved to the senior bankers department, dedicated to financial institutions where he particularly focused on financial issues for the non-profit institutions (Mutuals and “institution de prévoyance”).
In April 2009, he joined the National Federation of French Mutual (FNMF), where he is presently deputy head of the Insurance department.
He is also Vice President of AMICE.
Fausto Parente is the Executive Director of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), where he presides over the day-to-day management of the Authority. Mr. Parente took up his appointment on 1 April 2016, following selection by EIOPA’s Board of Supervisors and confirmation by the European Parliament.
Mr Parente has a distinguished career in supervisory supervision, regulation and policy at national and international level. Prior to his current role he was Head of the Supervisory Regulation and Policy Directorate at the Italian Insurance Supervisor, IVASS – Istituto di Vigilanza sulle Assicurazioni.
Mr Parente has a degree in Economics from the University Federico II, Naples, and is licensed to practice as a certified accountant and financial analyst. He has attended many post-graduate courses in the fields of management, European Community law, economy and finance of insurance undertakings. He is author of a series of publications on insurance supervision.
Sirpa Pietikäinen is a member of the European People's Party (EPP) in the European Parliament. She is a former Minister of the Environment in Finland (1991-1995), and a Member of the parliament from 1983 to 2003 and Member of the European Parliament since 2008.
At the European Parliament, Ms Pietikäinen is a member of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee and Women’s Right and Gender Equality Committee, and a substitute member of the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee. Within her work, she seeks to combine her two specialities, that of environment and economics. Ms Pietikäinen is a strong advocate of a transition to a circular economy and sustainable finance, and served as the lead negotiator on behalf of European Parliament and the EPP group on the first Sustainable Finances legislative initiatives, Disclosure and Taxonomy Regulations as well as on the Parliament's Own Initiative Report on Sustainable Finance.
A graduate from the Helsinki School of Economics, Ms. Pietikäinen holds MSc in Business, and teaches university courses on negotiations theory and practices. She is active in several organisations, her positions of trust including Chairmanship of the Globe EU.
Dr.-Ing. Stefan Plesser is an expert in quality management for buildings. He is co-founder and managing director of synavision GmbH, Bielefeld, the leading provider of quality management software for sustainable buildings in Germany.
Dr. Plesser has a university degree in Architecture, Germany, and received his Ph.D. from the TUBS in 2013. After several years of practice as architect and consultant for energy efficient buildings he is also head of SIZ energieplus at Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany. His scientific work comprises numerous projects on innovative building technologies, the development of software tools for energy and quality management and research both on national and international level. His work includes cooperation with other disciplines among which are software engineers, psychologists and building chemists and the coordination of Horizon 2020 projects funded by the European Commission.
Unbroken by blindness in 1998, Mark became an adventure athlete competing in ultra-endurance races across deserts, mountains, and the polar ice caps including being the first blind person to race to the South Pole. He also won silver and bronze medals for rowing at the Commonwealth Games and set up an international motivational speaking business.
In 2010, a fall from a second story window nearly killed him. Mark broke his back and the damage to his spinal cord left him paralysed. Now he is on a new expedition, this time to cure paralysis in our lifetime by exploring the intersection where humans and technology collide.
Chairman of Collaborative Cures and founder of the global running series Run in the Dark, Mark was selected by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader, served on the Global Futures Council on Human Enhancement and as a UBS Global Visionary. He is on the Board of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation (USA) and is a Wings for Life Ambassador (Europe).
Author of ‘Making It Happen’, Mark is the subject of the acclaimed documentaries' Blind Man Walking ’and ‘Unbreakable – The Mark Pollock Story’. He has been awarded honorary doctorates by The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and also from Queens University Belfast. Furthermore, he holds a diploma in Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century from Harvard University, degrees from Trinity College Dublin and UCD Smurfit Graduate Business School.
Eeva Salmenpohja is the newly appointed Vice President for Sustainability and Public Affairs for LocalTapiola. Before starting her position at LocalTapiola in April 2021 Eeva headed the public affairs and strategic sustainability work at K-Group, one of the largest retailers in Northern Europe.
Having worked in the Prime Minister´s Office, the Confederation of Unions for Professional and Managerial Staff as well as the Ministry for Foreign Affairs – Eeva has a broad understanding of sustainability issues as well as the growing and changing stakeholder expectations.
LocalTapiola is a mutual group of companies providing non-life, life and pension insurance as well as asset management and real estate asset management to private customers, farmers, entrepreneurs, corporate customers and organizations. LocalTapiola has a network of 19 regional mutual insurance companies employing approximately 3,500 people servicing nearly 1.6 million customers.
CEO of Länsförsäkringar non-life for more than 20 years, now retired. Horse Farmer and Senior Advisor.
Pierre Tournier is an associate director in AM Best’s analytics division. Based in Amsterdam, he is responsible for the analysis and financial ratings of a portfolio of insurance and reinsurance companies across Europe.
Pierre joined AM Best in 2018 as a Senior Financial Analyst and became an Associate Director in 2020. Pierre is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder, a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA), and a Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst (CERA).
Liesbeth van der Kruit is Director of Corporate Social responsibility at Dutch insurance company Achmea. Since her appointment in 2010 as Achmea’s first CSR director she is responsible for the CSR policy of Achmea and its subsidiaries. The CSR department gives advice on the integration of sustainability in investment, insurance, procurement and operational management. Liesbeth is also responsible for the micro insurance program and CSR reporting.
She is the secretary/treasurer of the Achmea Foundation.
As an active member of the UNEP FI Insurance Working Group she has played a significant role in the development of the Principles for Sustainable Insurance. Before starting at Achmea in 2007 as director of Corporate Communications she has been working as a journalist, for the most part of her career as an all-round radio and TV host for regional and national networks.
She has been a frequently asked moderator, interviewer and chair on conferences and congresses. Both as a journalist and as a moderator she was a generalist, but with a special interest in economic, social and environmental issues.