Ajay Mistry ACMA currently works as the Partnerships Director at Brokerbility (an exclusive network of circa 25 regional Independent Insurance Brokers) and his role has been to grow and develop a new sales & marketing division focusing on new ways to sell insurance to different SME groups.

He has previously worked at both Aviva and Aon and further to this, Ajay co-founded and is Co-Chair of iCAN (the Insurance Cultural Awareness Network) which is the first network to represent BAME and International colleagues in the insurance industry. iCAN is 2 years old and currently has 700 members. Ajay was also voted as a Top 50 EMpower Ethnic Minority Future Leader in the 2019 List presented by Yahoo Finance and named in the Insurance Young Guns list 2018 by Insurance Business Mag. 

“Andrew is a member of the Hiscox Global Claims Leadership Team and has in excess of two decades experience with Hiscox working across London Markets; Continental Europe and the UK. As Group Head of Claims Supplier Management his team is transforming the way Hiscox claims engage with third party suppliers working on claims around the world and is focusing with them on diversity and inclusion initiatives as well as collaborating on improving the service they deliver to policyholders. He is the co-exec sponsor of the LGBT+ Transatlantic-Employee Network and is a Hiscox Partner”.

Annette Andrews is an experienced Chief People Officer. She has worked with organisations on a global basis for 30+ years, has deep knowledge and expertise across the Talent Management agenda.

MBA qualified and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development; Annette is also a qualified Executive Coach and Mediator. She is due to be installed as the Master of the Guild of Human Resource Professionals in 2020.

She has worked with CEOs, Board’s and senior leaders on a global basis in highly regulated organisation’s; including Ford Motor Company, Lloyds Banking group and, most recently, the Lloyd’s Insurance Market; ensuring that People and Culture are integrated into business strategy and on the agenda at the top table.

She is passionate about supporting individuals and organisations achieve their full potential. She has personally supported the recruitment and development of talent at all levels; focuses on what attracts and retains talent, and the supporting culture and practise that needs to be in place. Diversity and Inclusion is the golden thread that runs through all that she does.

She is currently focused on working with individuals and organisations on the impact of the global pandemic, both short term and the longer term; emphasising that the world of work, personal expectations and social norms will have changed fundamentally; we need to pre-empt the transformation that will need to take place and optimise any opportunities identified.

Outside work Annette keeps herself busy; she is a proud mum to two sons; focused on getting fit for a 5k mud run later in the year (hopefully), she does Pet Therapy work with her dog Barkley and is also an NHS volunteer.

I am an independent free thinker, passionate about my purpose to support change in the insurance industry.

I set out 40 years ago to better understand the complexities of what culture change takes in a sector that is complacent. I experienced it during 18 years in retail financial services as a business thought leader and first mover. In my 25 years operating in executive search for the international insurance markets I challenged normal practices and spotted the need, over a decade ago, to bring together women leaders in the London Market, branching out to create an international community of women in insurance and more recently opening our network to aspiring female leaders.

 Today my focus is on growing ISC Group as the female networking platform for all women in insurance globally, encouraging peer to peer networking by city, country and cross border and then bringing these different peer groups together to close the seniority gap. We need community to give ourselves the fortitude and courage to seize opportunities as they are presented rather than wait to be invited.

Alongside ISC Group, I also continue to offer my service to insurance boards seeking to hire independent non executive directors.

I am a Freeman of the City of London and a member of the Worshipful Company of Insurers, I sit on the board and steering committees of the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) Insuring Women’s Futures (IWF) programme leading Careers In Risk, one of the three pillars of the programme. I am also a board member of Insurance United Against Dementia (IUAD) as part of the Alzheimer Society, and an advisor to the founding team of ArcQ, a not-for-profit focussing on workplace inclusion of young adults on the autism spectrum and those with learning differences.

Cathie Bruce

Has more than 30 years’ experience in the insurance industry and has operated at main board director level for insurers, brokers and an MGA; giving her a broad market knowledge.

Cathie is currently a Director at Braes Consulting Ltd, providing interim and consultancy services to the insurance industry and is a Non-Executive Director at Daimler Insurance Services UK Ltd.

Cathie is currently engaged on a transformation project for a niche insurer, covering all aspects of their route to market, with emphasis on strategic planning, trading system selection, business development, distribution, channel management, customer proposition and product development

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 10 years her focus has been on operations. Prior to joining the LMG, Clare was at JLT Specialty Limited where she was Head of Operations. In her role at JLT she was instrumental in implementing PPL and developing JLT’s Brexit plan.

David Worsfold is best known for his work as an award-winning financial journalist, in particular as a writer on the insurance industry and financial services which he has covered for over 35 years.

As well as editing a range of leading insurance titles, including Post and Insurance Age, David wrote for The Guardian for several years and has contributed to most major national newspapers. He has appeared on TV around the world commenting on news stories affecting the insurance and financial services sectors.

Among his many achievements, David launched the British Insurance Awards – now in its 25th year as the most successful B2B awards scheme in the UK – the Rehabilitation First Awards and the Cover Magazine Protection Awards. In 1991 he established the All Party Parliamentary Group on Insurance & Financial Services which has played an influential role in improving communication between the insurance and retail financial services sectors and Parliament.

He devised the highly-praised graduate-entry Editorial Training Programme at Incisive Media and delivers editorial, writing, communications and media skills training for a range of publishers and financial services firms.

His latest book, From Behind the Desk to The Front of the Stage, was published in December 2018 by Business Expert Press. This is based on David’s range of innovative training courses and coaching modules for people who need to be confident and skilled presenters as part of their job. Twitter for Financial Services was published by Business Expert Press in December 2017 and explains how regulated firms can be successful in the world of social media.

He has also written a military biography, Fighting for the Empire, which was published by Sabrestorm in September 2016. 

Dennis Mahoney is a 50 year veteran of the insurance industry . His started his career in 1968 at Lloyds insurance broker Price Forbes . That firm then merged with Sedgwick Collins and then Bland Payne to create the Sedgwick Group , now part of Marsh& McLennan . During his career Dennis was fortunate to work in most classes of both insurance and reinsurance . After graduating from the Harvard Business School PMD program , he was appointed deputy chairman of Sedgwick North America.

In 1984 he was recruited to lead Alexander Howden the Lloyds broker acquired by US broking giant A & A ( Alexander & Alexander).

Following the acquisition of A&A by Aon in 1997, Dennis was appointed as Chairman and CEO of Aon's Wholesale and reinsurance operations. Dennis relocated to Bermuda in 2007 as Chairman of Aon Global. He retired in 2010.

Appointed as an independent director of Ironshore in 2012, he chaired the underwriting and risk committee. Following the sale of Ironshore to Fosun, he remained with the company until its sale to Liberty Mutual in 2016.

In 2015 Calera Capital acquired RFIB (Robert Fleming Insurance brokers ) and Dennis joined as co-investor and Executive Chairman. RFIB was acquired by Odyssey capital (Integro/Tysers ) in 2019 and Dennis stepped down. He remains with the group until his contract expires in 2021.

Dennis has served on the board of OCML Bermuda (a private equity company) since 2014 .

Dennis's pro bono endeavors included being the first Chairman of W.I.N.( World Insurance Network ) which became part of ACORD (the global insurance industry IT standards body). He served on the board of the organization until 2018.

In the wake of the 9/11 tragedy the 3 largest broking firms established a UK government sponsored entity named Troika for the provision of insurance for the aviation industry. Dennis served as Chairman.

He served as President of the Insurance Institute of London in 2002.

He received The British Insurance Industry achievement award in 2006.

He continues to reside in Bermuda .

I started my career after university in Sydney, first as a marketing assistant for an insurance company and then as a US Treaty Underwriting assistant working for ReAC, (it was sold to me as a business analyst position!) and moved to New York after the Australian reinsurance market dissolved in late 1990’s. I then worked for KPMG as a senior consultant in their insurance practice for a couple of years, before returning to the industry, joining Guy Carpenter’s International division in New York – working in retro and reinsurance predominantly for Bermuda, London and European based clients. After a secondment to London in 2004, I moved to London with Guy Carpenter in 2005 into the EMEA practice. I worked for GC in London for 13 years, covering global clients, then moving to client management for the Nordic Practice. I also built the offering for our Terror Practice in London achieving the #1 position for Terror Pool Market. I have also always held internal roles, EMEA lead and then lead for International on Property specialty practice where I was involved in many internal and external projects. In 2017 I left GC to join Aon moving out of client management directly and into new roles for both myself and Aon, leading the Terror Specialty and also Reinsurer Management for Aon UK.

Heeral Gudka is the founder of Convergent Consulting, she is an Inclusion & Diversity Consultant as well as Leadership Coach. For the last 5 years she has been working with organisations within the insurance sector in London and Bermuda, and also companies in a variety of other sectors and professions. The philosophy behind her work is this - for people to truly thrive at work they need effective leaders who listen, who create inclusive work-spaces and pay attention to their wellbeing.

Prior to starting her business Heeral worked in the City as an actuary for 15 years with PwC, Hiscox and QBE and Enstar in Bermuda.

Helen is the Head of the Insurance practice at DAC Beachcroft LLP in the UK and internationally. In 2015, she was appointed to lead the Insurance practice across all lines of Insurance from motor, casualty , professional & financial lines to international claims. This involves operational responsibility leading DAC Beachcroft's Professional & Financial lines and commercial litigation practise and Specialist insurance claims in London ( covering marine, international casualty, product liability, energy and Property). Helen sits on the Firm's Executive reporting into the Managing partner as the Sector lead for Insurance and is responsible for all Insurance clients across the Insurance practice within the UK and internationally.

Helen also maintains and develops significant insurance client relationships and has considerable experience in defending a wide variety of professionals and advising on coverage issues.
 
Helen qualified in 1992 and joined DAC Beachcroft in 1997.

Julia is the Deputy CEO and Technical Director of Airmic where she heads the Airmic thought leadership and education agendas. Julia has been a risk management professional for over 25 years, as Director of risk management and insurance for global law firm DLA Piper and prior to that as Head of strategic risk, insurance and compliance for insurance company RSA.

Julia worked in various roles at RSA, including Business Manager Scotland, Regional Operations Manager for the North West of England, Broker Marketing Manager for the UK and as an underwriter in the City of London.

Julia is a Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute and a Fellow of the Business Continuity Institute. A past President of FERMA, the Federation of European Risk Management Associations, she is currently a board member of IFRIMA the International Federation of Risk and Insurance Management Associations. Julia is a past Chair of Airmic, a past member of the national Council of the Chartered Insurance Institute and a past Chair of the Manchester and Sussex Insurance Institutes.

Julia is a published author in Business Continuity Management.

She is currently a Non-Executive Director of four captive insurance companies all domiciled in Guernsey.

Julie Chalmers is Senior Vice President, Claims Director, Europe, Eurasia & Africa for Chubb. In this regional executive role she has overall responsibility for the strategy and delivery of Chubb’s claims services, leading our claims teams across these regions.

Having joined Chubb over 14 years ago, Julie has held a number of claims roles of increasing seniority, across both operational and technical roles, in Europe, Latin America and Asia. Most recently she served as SVP Claims, Financial Lines and Personal Risk Services, Chubb Overseas General - the company's international general insurance operation outside North America – before assuming her current role in January 2019.

Julie has been a qualified lawyer since 1992, and has been admitted to practice as a Solicitor in Australia and also the UK. Prior to her move to insurance, she was a partner at a law firm in Australia.

During her time at Chubb Julie has been involved in many diversity projects and committees, including the International Advisory Group, Women’s Development Council, Claims Diversity Council and many mentoring programmes. She is currently Executive Sponsor of our Gender Equality Network, which provides opportunities for networking, education and development of business capabilities for all employees, with the aim of driving positive change towards the goal of gender equality within Chubb and the wider insurance industry.

Kalpana is a non-Executive Director at Asta Managing Agency, RiverStone Insurance UK (a Fairfax Company) and RiverStone Managing Agency where she is also Chairman. She is a Trustee of Unitas (a Barnet Youth Zone). She was Group Chief Actuary and Partner at Hiscox, where she worked for 19 years until 2016. Before Hiscox, Kalpana held positions in various companies including the London Commodity Exchange, Groupama Gan and Disney. She has Chaired and contributed to working parties for the Bank of England, Lloyd's of London and the Bermuda Monetary Authority. Kalpana is a Fellow of the Institute & Faculty of Actuaries and Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Insurers, she is currently a member of iNED committees for both these organisations. She is also a member of the 30% club.

Kalpana regularly speaks to executive groups and student groups, sharing her perspective on issues that help support the principles of D&I. She actively mentors a number of diverse individuals within insurance and through cross-company mentoring schemes. Her support for diversity has been recognised by inclusion in the Financial Times Top 100 ethnic minority leaders list. Also, she was recently in Green Parks Top 100 BAME leaders in business list and a finalist in the regional Director of the Year awards held by the Institute of Directors.

Karen has been working in the Lloyd’s and London market for over 30 years, starting her career in the compliance arena, moving on to a COO and then a CEO role within the Lloyd’s market for an established Lloyd’s Managing Agency. She is the Senior Independent Director for the USAA Limited and USAA SA and a Trustee of the Education & Training Trust CII.

SCOR SE was her first Global Reinsurance role and within scope fall operational matters, oversight and coordination of EMEA satellite offices (Madrid, Milan, Stockholm, Dublin, Moscow, Amsterdam, South Africa and Brussels), Internal Controls, Operational Risk Management, Regulatory Relationships, Property Affairs, Hub Compliance and working with the business divisions on new projects from a strategic perspective. Her experience, prior to SCOR SE, has included establishing offices overseas, taking part in EU College of Supervisors meetings and rolling out compliance processes, with a particular emphasis on corporate governance.

Karen is a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Insurers and Chair of the Independent Women in Insurance Network (iWIN). A Founder Member of European Council for the Advancement of Women in Leadership and addition to this a supporter of the Lloyd’s Military Network for senior officers leaving the Armed Forces. As a supporter of educational diversity Karen is a Trustee of the Education & Training Trust CII, and is a keen painter a member of Lloyd’s Art Group. Age and educational diversity are of particular interest and she often takes part in presentations and conferences on these topics, along with being an ally to LGBTQ colleagues.

Lynn Cufley is Marketing & Communications Director, International at Crawford & Company®. Passionate about communication as a means to inspire and inform, she has excelled at positioning Crawford as the leading loss adjusting and claims management company across EMEA/AP, elevating its status as a thought leader and expert communicator.

In her eight years at Crawford, Lynn has successfully reengineered the company’s communication strategy. Spearheading the ‘Engage through Education’ project, she has brought Crawford’s expansive expertise to the communication fore, creating engaging, ‘on-the-pulse’ commentary across all channels. These include Crawford’s market publication ‘On the FrontLine’ blog, helping customers and partners successfully navigate the claims arena.

Lynn has also exploited her communications skills to promote greater diversity within Crawford and on the industry stage. A prominent member of the Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters’ Women in CILA group, she has championed award-winning initiatives that support female progression in the sector.

Mark’s unconventional career spans (re)insurance broking and financial journalism.

A graduate in Spanish, he spent over 7 years brokering and producing (re)insurance of all classes from Spain and Latin America at Spanish broker Gil y Carvajal (now Aon Iberia) in London and at Heath Re (now AJ Gallagher) in Madrid, before leaving the market for a career in journalism.

Mark was managing editor of regulated share investment advisories Red Hot Penny Shares and The Fleet Street Letter before joining Reinsurance Magazine as editor in 2005.

He joined The Insurance Insider as editor in 2008, leaving in 2019 to found the insurance comment and podcast platform The Voice of Insurance.

He holds the securities certificate from the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment, is a qualified Spanish translator and is former Chairman of the Lloyd’s and London Market IberoAmerican Club. 

Martin began his career in insurance in 2006 as a reporter at Insurance Age before ultimately taking on responsibility of editing the magazine after which he moved into communications with AXA in 2012. Here he was initially responsible for the external communications for AXA Commercial Lines and Personal Intermediary and eventually assumed responsibility for all internal and external communications and public affairs for AXA UK. In 2018, he left AXA to return to journalism where he now operates as a freelancer.

Paula started out in her career in Insurance straight from school in Dublin, had her own brokerage by the age of 35, before moving to London to further her career as a broker in the Lloyd's market. With her long standing experience in the Lloyd’s & London market in different insurance sectors, Paula now works as a consultant for Project Management at the MGAA.

She was one of the founder members of Network Ireland, a forum for women in business in Ireland and is a member of the Insurance Super Club (ISC) in London, again a forum for senior female leaders in the Industry. One of 5 sisters, all entrepreneurs in their own right, and a daughter who is a lawyer, Paula is known for being a champion of women, especially in her own Industry and regularly mentors young insurance entrants. Paula now lives and works from the South of France.

Peter Hubbard, has a long and distinguished career in the insurance and financial services sectors. He is currently Chair of Co-op Insurance. Previously he held senior executive positions as Group Chief Executive for the UK General Group of businesses; Chief Executive of AXA Insurance and Managing Director e-commerce at Lloyd’s Banking Group.

He has also held Non-Executive Director positions at Keoghs, a leading insurance legal specialist; Sure Thing, a specialist UK Motor Underwriter; Q Metric Group, a specialist Household underwriter. In addition he has been a Director of the Chartered Insurance Institute; the Financial Services Skills Council; The Managing General Agents Association; AXA PPP Healthcare; and AXA Art.

He is a Chartered Accountant by profession and worked at Ernst & Young and Kidsons. He has taken the Advanced Management Programme at Harvard Business School, The Corporate Finance Programme at London Business School, and undertook his first degree at Bristol University. 

Philip Grant has enjoyed a career of nearly forty years in the London Insurance Market, holding senior roles in reinsurance and specialty insurance risk carriers. He is an independent non-executive director and chair of the Audit Committee for Argo Global. Since retiring from full-time employment, Philip has focused on his commitment to diversity and inclusion in the financial and professional services workplace. He is Chair of The Brokerage, the City-based social mobility charity connecting young Londoners and employers. He is also a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Insurers and a trustee of its charitable trusts.

Rosemary serves as the Senior Warden (key officer) and Court Assistant on the governing body of the Worshipful Company of Insurers. She is a non-executive director and former Head of International Regulatory Affairs for Lloyd’s of London. She is a member of the Actuarial Council at the Financial Reporting Council, a member of Lloyd’s Enforcement Tribunal Panel, a former member of the Board and Council of the Chartered Insurance Institute, a Vice President and former Council member of the Insurance Institute of London and an Associate of the Girls’ Day School Trust.

Rosemary has a Master’s degree in Classics from Cambridge University and is a Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute. She is married and lives in London with her husband and two daughters. Her main interests are scuba diving in British waters, open water swimming and visiting Italy.

Winner of the Northern Power House Outstanding Entrepreneur 2018, Sam is a true business initiator having set up her first company at 24. Motivated by a desire to change the insurance industry for the better and level the playing field, Sam has become known for her promotion of women and diversity in the financial services sector.

Founder and CEO of insurance services provider, Action 365, insurance provider, Pukka Insure and the newly launched brokerage, Freedom Brokers, Sam prides herself on operating a true meritocracy. With a collective turnover in excess of £15 million, Sam employs over 240 people in the UK, Gibraltar and Australia. A vocal supporter of equal rights in the workplace, 67% of Sam’s directors are women.

As a mother of two, philanthropy is important to Sam, she has established a foundation with the goal of supporting some of the most worthy humanitarian causes locally, nationally and internationally.

I am currently the Chief Executive Officer of Premium Finance. This position reflects a 19 year journey across a variety of businesses and roles within the Close Brothers Group - the latter 6 years as a member of the Banking Division Board as Bank Chief Operating Officer and most recently CEO of the fastest growing business in the Group. Over this period I have repeatedly demonstrated my ability to build, lead and motivate exceptional teams, combining clarity of strategic direction and unparalleled intensity of execution.

Hobbies / Interests: Equestrianism: having established a horse breeding business from my farm in Wiltshire, I am proud to have achieved unexpected but exciting results and now have the ambition to breed an Olympic Three Day event horse to represent Great Britain.

Sian Fisher became CEO of the Chartered Insurance Institute in February 2016, following a distinguished career in the Insurance sector. A graduate of Oxford University with an Exec MBA from Harvard, Sian is a strong advocate for equality. Sian is a founding member and Executive Chair of the Insuring Women’s Futures initiative, a Committee Member of the Insurance Supper Club and Board Member of Insurance United Against Dementia (IUAD). Ms. Fisher is also a Non-Executive Director at Asta Underwriting Management and a Vice President of the Insurance Institute of London.

Diversity is something that she is extremely passionate about and this passion has driven her to launch a series of Women in awards and conferences in the tech and finance space over the last two years. Launching these awards has been about celebrating and recognising the achievements of women in sectors where they are currently under-represented. She believes diversity events like these will help tackle the gender imbalance.

Victoria (Vicky) Carter is Chairman of Global Capital Solutions, International for Guy Carpenter & Company Ltd. She is a key member of the Guy Carpenter leadership team, responsible for driving new business production across the firm’s global operations. She is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee.

Vicky is a member of the Council of Lloyd’s and a Member of the Lloyd’s Nominations and Governance Committee. In addition, she is Chairman of the Lloyd’s Charities Trust, a Trustee of the Sick Children’s Trust and a Board Member of the Lloyd’s Community Programme. Vicky is a Freeman of the City of London and a Liveryman of The Worshipful Company of Insurers, for which she also serves as a Court Assistant.

Vicky has close to 40 years of experience in the reinsurance industry. She was the first female founder of a Lloyd's intermediary and has operated in a number of senior executive positions within the broking sector.

In 2019, Vicky was honoured at Incisive Media’s Women in Insurance Awards, winning the award for ‘Insurance Woman of the Year (large firms)’ and the judges’ choice ‘Outstanding Achievement’ award ‘In recognition of a woman who has risen to the top of the career ladder and is an inspiration to future female leaders’.