Simon Lee, 51, is Group Chief Executive of RSA Insurance Group plc.  Previous to this appointment in 2011, for eight years he was Chief Executive of the Group’s International businesses, covering the operations in Canada, Scandinavia, Ireland and Italy. He was appointed as a main Board Director in 2007. 

Simon has extensive experience in international financial services, having spent 17 years with the National Westminster Bank Group, working in a variety of international roles in the UK and US.  He was variously Chief Executive, NatWest Offshore, Head of US Retail Banking, CEO NatWest Mortgage Corporation (US) and Director of Wholesale Markets.  Immediately prior to joining RSA, Simon was involved in several private equity related ventures.

Simon is married with three daughters and enjoys cricket, golf, skiing, travel and reading.

Andy Watson joined Ageas UK as the Managing Director, UK Retail in February 2010. He was
responsible for leading the company’s UK retail strategy, building on the success of Ageas’s retail
businesses RIAS, Castle Cover, Kwik Fit Financial Services and Ageas Insurance Solutions. In
addition, Retail focuses on providing compelling propositions and first class service to customers
through Ageas’ Affinity Partnerships strategy. In January 2013, Andy was appointed Chief
Executive Officer of Ageas UK.

With over 25 years experience in financial services, Andy has built a wealth of knowledge of the
Insurance industry with previous senior management roles. Most recently he held the position of
Head of Insurance UK at HSBC Insurance. Previously he was Managing Director UKI
Partnerships at RBS and also worked for Cooperative Financial Services and Direct Line.
Andy has an honours degree in Mathematics, holds a Fellowship of the Institute of Actuaries and
successfully completed the General Manager Programme at Harvard Business School.

Nicolas Aubert was appointed Managing Director in the UK in July 2011.  He joined AIG in June 2002 as Deputy General Manager, France and was promoted to General Manager in 2003 and Managing Director, South Europe, in July 2010, leading 12 country operations in South Europe. 

Prior to AIG, Nicolas worked at Generali, as a P&C underwriting surveyor, and worked through various leadership positions at GAN and Cigna-ACE.

Nicolas graduated from Pantheon-Sorbonne University of Paris with a Master of Advanced Studies of Insurance Law and from the Insurance Institute of Paris (IAP).  He has also completed an MBA at the High Insurance Studies Center (CHEA), and at International Executive Program of INSEAD.

Bill is Global Head of Insurance in Commercial Banking at Lloyds Bank.  He joined Lloyds in 1986 and has specialised in the insurance sector since 1995.  He has extensive experience of the provision of financing solutions for the insurance industry.

Karl worked at Zurich for two years as Managing Director of Personal Lines in the UK prior to becoming Managing Director of Insurance at Tesco Bank in January 2013.

He has spent most of his career working in the insurance industry. Before Zurich Karl worked for RBS, with the main insurance businesses which included Direct Line and Churchill.

Karl has also had the good fortune to work in Europe and Australia.

Brendan McManus joined Giles Insurance Brokers and Ink Underwriting as CEO on 20th April 2012.
Prior to that, Brendan had been UK CEO of a major global broker, and had previously spent much of his career at RSA, becoming Managing Director of Commercial in 2003.

Brendan is Deputy Chairman of BIBA, had been a founding member of the CII Underwriting facility, was Chair of the Distribution Committee of ABI, and recently became honorary Vice-President of the CII.

Steve is the Retail Director for Aviva GI in the UK & Ireland, responsible for developing and growing our retail consumer business. Most recently he successfully launched the Quote Me Happy business and also instigated Aviva’s Multi Vehicle product.

He joined Aviva from RBSI, where he spent 14 years, most recently as Managing Director for the Motor business, a role that encompassed the Green Flag breakdown business, as well as the motor insurance businesses for Direct Line, Churchill, Privilege and NIG.

After initially training as a Chartered Accountant, Steve spent some time at Nurdin & Peacock, a large wholesaling business, before joining Direct Line, where he held various positions up to Commercial Director.

Steve lives with his wife, Lisa, and 3 daughters in Surrey. A keen follower of all sports, and passionate about cricket.

Diane has over 25 years experience within the financial services sector and over the last 12 years her customer centric and commercial focus has delivered strong financial performances across a range of markets and businesses. A results driven leader, whose pace, energy and ambition combines with strategic thinking to deliver impressive results with and thorough people.

She became Legal & General’s IFA Operations Director in 1998 and was actively involved in the successful implementation of their e-business strategy. She was  appointed as IFA Director e-Business in 2000 and  in 2002 Diane was responsible for the creation of the Corporate Pensions Business Division. 

In 2006 she was appointed Managing Director of Group Protection.

In 2010, her leadership skills were recognised at the Group Protection Industry Cover Excellence Awards where she was awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award.

She believes that the insurance industry has an important role to play in protecting individuals and businesses against the financial consequences of a wide range of risks and by reducing the financial impact of these events, the insurance industry allows people to bear risks with greater peace of mind and reduces potential reliance on the state.

Neil commenced his career in Consumer Packaged Goods, with a range of roles in Store Management & Retail Head Office (Buying and Marketing), then moving across to the distribution/manufacturing side in Sales and Marketing positions.

Neil joined Allied Domecq (No.2 global spirits business), and in 10 years at Allied held a number of UK, Europe and Global senior sales and marketing positions; most latterly as Global Brand Director for Ballantine’s Scotch Whisky (Allied’s No. 1 brand, and No.3 Whisky world wide). Neil then joined William Grant & Sons, as Global Brand Director to re-energize growth in their largest global brand.

Just over 5 years ago, Neil moved into financial services joining Allianz UK. As a member of the Retail Board, Neil has P&L responsibility for the Direct business unit, primarily Home, Car & Petplan (UK’s largest and most successful pet insurance brand).

Christophe de Cacqueray joined Covéa Group in 2003 and occupied several executive roles within the sales department of MMA in France, the parent company of Swinton Group. He was seconded in 2007 to Eurapco in Zurich, where he managed commercial lines and motor projects for insurance companies across Europe.

In 2010 he joined the International department at Covéa in Paris and in August 2011 he moved to Covéa UK. Christophe has taken the role of Strategy and Transformation Director at Swinton.

Christophe de Cacqueray is a graduate of the Military Academy of Saint-Cyr and of the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris.

Annabel is Global Brand Director at Hiscox. In this role Annabel is responsible for driving the effectiveness of Hiscox marketing across the Group, specifically in key markets of UK, US, France and Germany. Her key deliverables are; running and sustaining the ‘Hiscox Marketing Excellence’ programme, owning the Hiscox brand architecture and ensuring its local activation, and providing technical support, guidance and best practice to all markets.
 
Annabel joined Hiscox in January 2009, as Head of Marketing and prior to her current Global role was UK Marketing Director, reporting into Steve Langan, Managing Director Hiscox UK, and sitting on the UK Leadership Team
 
Previous to her time at Hiscox, Annabel was at Coca-Cola for nine years working across a number of brands including; Coke, Diet Coke and Coke Zero, Powerade and Oasis, and on both GB and European projects. She led projects including the launch of Coke Zone, consumer activation of Beijing Olympics, and a pan European promotion with i-Tunes.
 
Annabel holds a chemistry degree from the University of Bristol and is a member of the Marketing Society and Financial Services Forum. She is married, with two young boys, and lives in West London.

Ross Dingwall is the Sales Director of Hiscox UK & Ireland. Hiscox is a leading insurer of professional and service based businesses throughout Europe with Professional Indemnity being an area of particular expertise.  As is more widely known, Hiscox are also the leading European provider of specialist cover and services for High Net Worth individuals.

Ross joined Hiscox in 2000, originally based in their Glasgow office to run the High Net Worth team. He has held a number of positions since then and has been the Sales Director for the last 4 years. He is responsible for distribution of all Hiscox products across the broker division with leadership responsibility of their 10 regional offices, schemes and partnership division and broker marketing function. Prior to joining Hiscox Ross hard worked for General Accident/CGU for 11 years in a variety of broker development roles. Ross is a Chartered Insurer.

Ross lives in Scotland although communicates to Colchester on a weekly basis. Ross has 2 children from a previous marriage and 2 step children and lists running and cycling amongst his interests.

David has over 25 years’ experience working in insurance claims having worked for CU, CGU and Aviva before joining Chubb as UK /Ireland Property Claims Manager. In 2006 he joined the Ecclesiastical group where he has responsibility for leading the Claims and Risk Services functions, setting strategy and philosophy in partnership with key stakeholders, with the aim of delivering unsurpassed levels of Customer Service and technical standards in support of Group business objectives.

Paul Wishman is ecommerce director of the LV= group. He joined LV= in 2007 as ecommerce director for LV=’s general insurance business and his role was extended to include responsibility for the pensions, retirement and investment businesses within the LV= group in 2008. Paul’s remit at LV= includes overseeing all ecommerce related activity including digital marketing, aggregator and life portal relationships, management of LV.com and other group websites plus emerging new channels such as social media and mobile.

Prior to joining LV= Paul worked both as a broker and underwriter and held senior roles at InsureCom and Esure / Sheila’s Wheels.

Paul is married with twins.

I played rugby from the age of 6 having been stitched up (physically rather than metaphorically) by the famous rugby playing Doctor JPR Williams. Rugby has entirely shaped my perspective on teamwork, leadership and culture.

I studied at Nottingham University for a BA in Economics and an MA in Corporate Strategy & Governance. As a sabbatical year in between I was Athletic Union President of the University. The 2 main features of this were overseeing the sports infrastructure for 5,000 students, and having a free bar tab every weds evening at our sponsoring nightclub. I can't imagine why I was really popular that year...

I started my career in Mars and stayed there for 10 years working on a number of their famous brands across sectors and geographies. This included a stint in Greece where I lived very close to the epicentre of the 1999 earthquake, but fortunately I flew home from my assignment the day before it happened.

Since Mars I have worked at 118118 (I will wear a moustache upon request) and HSBC. I joined DLG 7 months ago and am very excited at the future prospects of the company as we become the masters of our own destiny.

Outside of work I run a thriving taxi service for VIP clients (6 year old son and 10 year old daughter) and I love to run to stay young and beautiful.

Vince Chaney is the Managing Director of Bennetts, the UK’s No.1 bike insurance specialist and part of the BGL Group. Vince is responsible for maintaining Bennetts’ continued success at the forefront of the bike insurance market, driving both customer and commercial growth for the brand.

He was appointed to the role in 2012 from Junction, the partnerships arm of the BGL Group, where he was Associate Director, eCommerce & Marketing, and was subsequently promoted to Director.  Previously, Vince was Head of Customer Strategy for HBOS.  He graduated from Cambridge with a Masters in Engineering. 

Michael Sicsic is leading the global operational risk function across Aviva group. 

Over 16 years experience working in Financial Services across EMEA in the different areas of Risk Management - Credit Risk, Financial Risk, Capital Management, Compliance and Operational Risk.

Specific expertise in implementing and leading ERM functions and in managing complex international program to reach regulatory compliance in various domains – Basel II, Credit Risk Classification, Internal Control, Solvency II.

Joined Aviva in 2011 in order to create and lead the Operational and Regulatory Risk Function across Europe Region. Since July 2012, lead the Global Operational Risk Function across Aviva plc.
Spent +11 years within GE Capital where his last position was ERM & Capital Allocation Director for EMEA Region.

Michael is a non-executive director, member of the board of ORIC – Operational Risk Consortium, the leading international consortium, which collects, standardizes and reports operational risk loss data for the insurance industry.

Michael is a regular speaker at international conferences and industry panels. He is also a visiting professor at the University Paris-Dauphine-France, for the Master in Actuarial Sciences.

Paul has a long financial services background and started his insurance career at Allianz in Birmingham where he held various underwriting and survey roles. After 12 years at Allianz, Paul joined Ecclesiastical in 1987. He has remained with the company ever since undertaking a variety of roles, including working closely with overseas operations in Australia, Canada and Ireland.

In 2009 Paul was appointed Ecclesiastical’s Underwriting Director for UK General Insurance.

Paul has more than 30 years’ experience in the insurance industry, is a Chartered Insurer and an Associate Member of the Chartered Insurance Institute.

Steven is CEO and Co-Founder of Bought By Many, a new business which enables individuals to group together to facilitate the provision of better insurance offers that would be available to the individuals alone.

Gina Fusco is Head of Marketing and Strategy at NFU Mutual, having been appointed in October 2011 to facilitate and inform the long-term direction of the company through effective formulation and articulation of strategy, development of long-term planning processes and market insight.  She is also directing the Marketing function, ensuring the successful delivery of its contribution to both long and medium term plans.

Gina has a wide experience in the Financial Services industry having previously set up her own consulting company, undertaking various client projects with Glitnir Bank, Tesco Bank, Ovo Energy, The Swiss Forum, NFU Mutual and O2 Ireland.  She was appointed founding director of ING Direct, a leading direct bank in the UK, where, alongside the CEO and the CFO she built up a customer base of over one million and achieved 80% brand awareness. 

As Head of Communications at Andersen, London she created, set up and managed an internal marketing services department of 40 people which became a Centre of Excellence and in her role as Head of Advertising at Barclay’s Bank, Coventry, she implemented brand changes across product lines and brought about a more efficient use of the £80 million spend. She increased market share in Savings and Investment brand awareness and loyalty and introduced telephone banking when holding a number of Senior marketing roles with Abbey National, and in her early career co-founded and headed up a successful event management company, A Sense of Occasion.

Gina has a degree in Management Science with French and a postgraduate Diploma in Marketing.  She is married with two teenage daughters and follows a regular keep fit and training programme for participation in local triathlon events.

Surinder joined Allianz in 2011 as an Innovation Manager and became Head of Innovation in 2012. She previously worked at QinetiQ, an aerospace, defence and security technology company. She has a broad an innovation skill set spanning research through to product development and exploitation. She has experience of working across sectors and believes that this is fertile ground for new ways of working and the development of new products and services

Her focus at Allianz is on delivering maximum value through innovation both by incremental improvements and best practice as well as more disruptive techniques.

Surinder has a technical background with an engineering degree from Imperial College and a DPhil from Oxford University.

With over 15 years’ insurance experience, Paul has worked his way up through Hastings Direct and its various changes in management through to the present day.

Paul has extensive experience across all aspects of claims handling and management including personal injury, AD, theft and total loss.

As head of counter fraud, Paul is responsible for the management and success of the entire fraud team, which includes application, claims and analysis. Under his leadership, the company has won many awards for its anti-fraud strategy and practices.

Tom has worked in Financial Services for 30 years, starting life in Midland Bank in the late 1970’s. Tom moved into the insurance sector in the mid 1980’s working for the Life Assurance company formed by a number of Lloyds syndicates. Spells with Royal & Sun Alliance and Guardian Royal Exchange followed before switching to general insurance and NIG at the start of the 1990’s. Here Tom worked in a variety of roles before becoming Head of Household for the Dial Direct brand - a role he carried through to the Budget Insurance Group when they acquired Dial Direct at the turn of the century.

A complete change of direction took place in 2003 when Tom moved from underwriting into the position of E-commerce Director and oversaw a 20 fold increase in new business sourced online as the price comparison sites began to emerge, and indeed was the head of the team that created and managed Comparethemarket.

Tom used this knowledge to create iGO4 alongside BGL Business Development Director Matt Munro in 2007. In 2009 the company won the Insurance Times Broker Innovation award in its first full year of trading and in July 2011 the company moved its administration from BDML Capita to create its own contact centre in Peterborough.

As Director of the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB), Ben Fletcher leads the insurance industry’s collective fight against organised fraud.

Using cutting-edge technology, the IFB analyses a consolidated dataset of 130 million insurance records to identify networks of organised fraud that insurers alone could not uncover. Combined with various sources of intelligence obtained through partnerships with law enforcement, government and public sector organisations, the IFB is the industry’s central hub in the fight against organised fraud.

Fraud investigations handled by the Bureau – a not for profit organisation – are expected to exceed £100 million for the first time in 2013. Working closely with police, Ben’s operations team and fraud analysts have secured over 750 arrests of organised criminals, resulting in more than 200 years combined prison sentences.

Ben also sits on the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department’s Steering Group; the ABI’s Financial Crime Committee and Chairs the Insurance Fraud Register Steering Board.

Prior to joining the IFB in 2007, Ben worked in a variety of counter-fraud roles within the insurance industry, setting up and managing fraud teams.

Anthony Finkelstein is a graduate in systems engineering. He is Professor of Software Systems Engineering at University College London (UCL) and Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and of the City & Guilds of London Institute. He is currently Dean of UCL Faculty of Engineering Sciences. He was formerly Head of UCL Department of Computer Science. He is a Visiting Professor at Imperial College London and at the National Institute for Informatics, Tokyo, Japan. He is a Fellow of both the Institution of Engineering & Technology (IET) and the British Computer Society (BCS) and has been active professionally in both, serving on numerous Boards and Committees.

His research is in the area of software development processes and on the construction of large computational models. In 2009 he received the Oliver Lodge Medal of the IET for achievement in Information Technology. He has been recognised for his contributions to the field of requirements engineering and for his professional service by the IEEE and the ACM. He served on the 2008 UK Research Assessment Exercise in Computer Science & Informatics and currently serves on the 2014 Research Excellence Framework.

He was a member of the Committee of Visitors for the US National Science Foundation. He has provided consultancy advice to a large number of high profile companies and government organisations. He has acted as an expert in complex technology disputes and frequently technology due diligence on start-up companies working with leading VC and other investors.

He has established three successful ‘spinout’ companies providing respectively professional services, product software and an innovative software service. He has a widely read blog ‘Serious Engineering’ (http://prof.so) commenting on issues in engineering, technology and education.

Mr. Schapiro has more than 20 years of marketing, technology and business experience in senior management positions. He has helped define the marketing, product, and overall business strategy for venture capital funds and leading startup companies. Prior to Earnix, Mr. Schapiro served as Executive Vice President of Markets and Products at ClickSoftware (NASDAQ: CKSW), where he was a key factor in driving the company from its founding, through its IPO and finally to leading provider of service optimization solutions. Earlier, Mr. Schapiro held management and development positions at Applied Materials, Scitex, and Control Data Corporation. Mr. Schapiro holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and computer science from Tel Aviv University and a master’s in computer science from Bar Ilan University.

Simon Lee, 51, is Group Chief Executive of RSA Insurance Group plc.  Previous to this appointment in 2011, for eight years he was Chief Executive of the Group’s International businesses, covering the operations in Canada, Scandinavia, Ireland and Italy. He was appointed as a main Board Director in 2007. 

Simon has extensive experience in international financial services, having spent 17 years with the National Westminster Bank Group, working in a variety of international roles in the UK and US.  He was variously Chief Executive, NatWest Offshore, Head of US Retail Banking, CEO NatWest Mortgage Corporation (US) and Director of Wholesale Markets.  Immediately prior to joining RSA, Simon was involved in several private equity related ventures.

Simon is married with three daughters and enjoys cricket, golf, skiing, travel and reading.

Andy Watson joined Ageas UK as the Managing Director, UK Retail in February 2010. He was
responsible for leading the company’s UK retail strategy, building on the success of Ageas’s retail
businesses RIAS, Castle Cover, Kwik Fit Financial Services and Ageas Insurance Solutions. In
addition, Retail focuses on providing compelling propositions and first class service to customers
through Ageas’ Affinity Partnerships strategy. In January 2013, Andy was appointed Chief
Executive Officer of Ageas UK.

With over 25 years experience in financial services, Andy has built a wealth of knowledge of the
Insurance industry with previous senior management roles. Most recently he held the position of
Head of Insurance UK at HSBC Insurance. Previously he was Managing Director UKI
Partnerships at RBS and also worked for Cooperative Financial Services and Direct Line.
Andy has an honours degree in Mathematics, holds a Fellowship of the Institute of Actuaries and
successfully completed the General Manager Programme at Harvard Business School.

Diane has over 25 years experience within the financial services sector and over the last 12 years her customer centric and commercial focus has delivered strong financial performances across a range of markets and businesses. A results driven leader, whose pace, energy and ambition combines with strategic thinking to deliver impressive results with and thorough people.

She became Legal & General’s IFA Operations Director in 1998 and was actively involved in the successful implementation of their e-business strategy. She was  appointed as IFA Director e-Business in 2000 and  in 2002 Diane was responsible for the creation of the Corporate Pensions Business Division. 

In 2006 she was appointed Managing Director of Group Protection.

In 2010, her leadership skills were recognised at the Group Protection Industry Cover Excellence Awards where she was awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award.

She believes that the insurance industry has an important role to play in protecting individuals and businesses against the financial consequences of a wide range of risks and by reducing the financial impact of these events, the insurance industry allows people to bear risks with greater peace of mind and reduces potential reliance on the state.

Karl worked at Zurich for two years as Managing Director of Personal Lines in the UK prior to becoming Managing Director of Insurance at Tesco Bank in January 2013.

He has spent most of his career working in the insurance industry. Before Zurich Karl worked for RBS, with the main insurance businesses which included Direct Line and Churchill.

Karl has also had the good fortune to work in Europe and Australia.

Simon Lee, 51, is Group Chief Executive of RSA Insurance Group plc.  Previous to this appointment in 2011, for eight years he was Chief Executive of the Group’s International businesses, covering the operations in Canada, Scandinavia, Ireland and Italy. He was appointed as a main Board Director in 2007. 

Simon has extensive experience in international financial services, having spent 17 years with the National Westminster Bank Group, working in a variety of international roles in the UK and US.  He was variously Chief Executive, NatWest Offshore, Head of US Retail Banking, CEO NatWest Mortgage Corporation (US) and Director of Wholesale Markets.  Immediately prior to joining RSA, Simon was involved in several private equity related ventures.

Simon is married with three daughters and enjoys cricket, golf, skiing, travel and reading.

Andy Watson joined Ageas UK as the Managing Director, UK Retail in February 2010. He was
responsible for leading the company’s UK retail strategy, building on the success of Ageas’s retail
businesses RIAS, Castle Cover, Kwik Fit Financial Services and Ageas Insurance Solutions. In
addition, Retail focuses on providing compelling propositions and first class service to customers
through Ageas’ Affinity Partnerships strategy. In January 2013, Andy was appointed Chief
Executive Officer of Ageas UK.

With over 25 years experience in financial services, Andy has built a wealth of knowledge of the
Insurance industry with previous senior management roles. Most recently he held the position of
Head of Insurance UK at HSBC Insurance. Previously he was Managing Director UKI
Partnerships at RBS and also worked for Cooperative Financial Services and Direct Line.
Andy has an honours degree in Mathematics, holds a Fellowship of the Institute of Actuaries and
successfully completed the General Manager Programme at Harvard Business School.

Diane has over 25 years experience within the financial services sector and over the last 12 years her customer centric and commercial focus has delivered strong financial performances across a range of markets and businesses. A results driven leader, whose pace, energy and ambition combines with strategic thinking to deliver impressive results with and thorough people.

She became Legal & General’s IFA Operations Director in 1998 and was actively involved in the successful implementation of their e-business strategy. She was  appointed as IFA Director e-Business in 2000 and  in 2002 Diane was responsible for the creation of the Corporate Pensions Business Division. 

In 2006 she was appointed Managing Director of Group Protection.

In 2010, her leadership skills were recognised at the Group Protection Industry Cover Excellence Awards where she was awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award.

She believes that the insurance industry has an important role to play in protecting individuals and businesses against the financial consequences of a wide range of risks and by reducing the financial impact of these events, the insurance industry allows people to bear risks with greater peace of mind and reduces potential reliance on the state.

Karl worked at Zurich for two years as Managing Director of Personal Lines in the UK prior to becoming Managing Director of Insurance at Tesco Bank in January 2013.

He has spent most of his career working in the insurance industry. Before Zurich Karl worked for RBS, with the main insurance businesses which included Direct Line and Churchill.

Karl has also had the good fortune to work in Europe and Australia.

Paul Wishman is ecommerce director of the LV= group. He joined LV= in 2007 as ecommerce director for LV=’s general insurance business and his role was extended to include responsibility for the pensions, retirement and investment businesses within the LV= group in 2008. Paul’s remit at LV= includes overseeing all ecommerce related activity including digital marketing, aggregator and life portal relationships, management of LV.com and other group websites plus emerging new channels such as social media and mobile.

Prior to joining LV= Paul worked both as a broker and underwriter and held senior roles at InsureCom and Esure / Sheila’s Wheels.

Paul is married with twins.

Vince Chaney is the Managing Director of Bennetts, the UK’s No.1 bike insurance specialist and part of the BGL Group. Vince is responsible for maintaining Bennetts’ continued success at the forefront of the bike insurance market, driving both customer and commercial growth for the brand.

He was appointed to the role in 2012 from Junction, the partnerships arm of the BGL Group, where he was Associate Director, eCommerce & Marketing, and was subsequently promoted to Director.  Previously, Vince was Head of Customer Strategy for HBOS.  He graduated from Cambridge with a Masters in Engineering. 

As Director of the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB), Ben Fletcher leads the insurance industry’s collective fight against organised fraud.

Using cutting-edge technology, the IFB analyses a consolidated dataset of 130 million insurance records to identify networks of organised fraud that insurers alone could not uncover. Combined with various sources of intelligence obtained through partnerships with law enforcement, government and public sector organisations, the IFB is the industry’s central hub in the fight against organised fraud.

Fraud investigations handled by the Bureau – a not for profit organisation – are expected to exceed £100 million for the first time in 2013. Working closely with police, Ben’s operations team and fraud analysts have secured over 750 arrests of organised criminals, resulting in more than 200 years combined prison sentences.

Ben also sits on the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department’s Steering Group; the ABI’s Financial Crime Committee and Chairs the Insurance Fraud Register Steering Board.

Prior to joining the IFB in 2007, Ben worked in a variety of counter-fraud roles within the insurance industry, setting up and managing fraud teams.

With over 15 years’ insurance experience, Paul has worked his way up through Hastings Direct and its various changes in management through to the present day.

Paul has extensive experience across all aspects of claims handling and management including personal injury, AD, theft and total loss.

As head of counter fraud, Paul is responsible for the management and success of the entire fraud team, which includes application, claims and analysis. Under his leadership, the company has won many awards for its anti-fraud strategy and practices.

Michael Sicsic is leading the global operational risk function across Aviva group. 

Over 16 years experience working in Financial Services across EMEA in the different areas of Risk Management - Credit Risk, Financial Risk, Capital Management, Compliance and Operational Risk.

Specific expertise in implementing and leading ERM functions and in managing complex international program to reach regulatory compliance in various domains – Basel II, Credit Risk Classification, Internal Control, Solvency II.

Joined Aviva in 2011 in order to create and lead the Operational and Regulatory Risk Function across Europe Region. Since July 2012, lead the Global Operational Risk Function across Aviva plc.
Spent +11 years within GE Capital where his last position was ERM & Capital Allocation Director for EMEA Region.

Michael is a non-executive director, member of the board of ORIC – Operational Risk Consortium, the leading international consortium, which collects, standardizes and reports operational risk loss data for the insurance industry.

Michael is a regular speaker at international conferences and industry panels. He is also a visiting professor at the University Paris-Dauphine-France, for the Master in Actuarial Sciences.

Paul has a long financial services background and started his insurance career at Allianz in Birmingham where he held various underwriting and survey roles. After 12 years at Allianz, Paul joined Ecclesiastical in 1987. He has remained with the company ever since undertaking a variety of roles, including working closely with overseas operations in Australia, Canada and Ireland.

In 2009 Paul was appointed Ecclesiastical’s Underwriting Director for UK General Insurance.

Paul has more than 30 years’ experience in the insurance industry, is a Chartered Insurer and an Associate Member of the Chartered Insurance Institute.

Mr. Schapiro has more than 20 years of marketing, technology and business experience in senior management positions. He has helped define the marketing, product, and overall business strategy for venture capital funds and leading startup companies. Prior to Earnix, Mr. Schapiro served as Executive Vice President of Markets and Products at ClickSoftware (NASDAQ: CKSW), where he was a key factor in driving the company from its founding, through its IPO and finally to leading provider of service optimization solutions. Earlier, Mr. Schapiro held management and development positions at Applied Materials, Scitex, and Control Data Corporation. Mr. Schapiro holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and computer science from Tel Aviv University and a master’s in computer science from Bar Ilan University.

Neil commenced his career in Consumer Packaged Goods, with a range of roles in Store Management & Retail Head Office (Buying and Marketing), then moving across to the distribution/manufacturing side in Sales and Marketing positions.

Neil joined Allied Domecq (No.2 global spirits business), and in 10 years at Allied held a number of UK, Europe and Global senior sales and marketing positions; most latterly as Global Brand Director for Ballantine’s Scotch Whisky (Allied’s No. 1 brand, and No.3 Whisky world wide). Neil then joined William Grant & Sons, as Global Brand Director to re-energize growth in their largest global brand.

Just over 5 years ago, Neil moved into financial services joining Allianz UK. As a member of the Retail Board, Neil has P&L responsibility for the Direct business unit, primarily Home, Car & Petplan (UK’s largest and most successful pet insurance brand).

Christophe de Cacqueray joined Covéa Group in 2003 and occupied several executive roles within the sales department of MMA in France, the parent company of Swinton Group. He was seconded in 2007 to Eurapco in Zurich, where he managed commercial lines and motor projects for insurance companies across Europe.

In 2010 he joined the International department at Covéa in Paris and in August 2011 he moved to Covéa UK. Christophe has taken the role of Strategy and Transformation Director at Swinton.

Christophe de Cacqueray is a graduate of the Military Academy of Saint-Cyr and of the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris.

Ross Dingwall is the Sales Director of Hiscox UK & Ireland. Hiscox is a leading insurer of professional and service based businesses throughout Europe with Professional Indemnity being an area of particular expertise.  As is more widely known, Hiscox are also the leading European provider of specialist cover and services for High Net Worth individuals.

Ross joined Hiscox in 2000, originally based in their Glasgow office to run the High Net Worth team. He has held a number of positions since then and has been the Sales Director for the last 4 years. He is responsible for distribution of all Hiscox products across the broker division with leadership responsibility of their 10 regional offices, schemes and partnership division and broker marketing function. Prior to joining Hiscox Ross hard worked for General Accident/CGU for 11 years in a variety of broker development roles. Ross is a Chartered Insurer.

Ross lives in Scotland although communicates to Colchester on a weekly basis. Ross has 2 children from a previous marriage and 2 step children and lists running and cycling amongst his interests.

David has over 25 years’ experience working in insurance claims having worked for CU, CGU and Aviva before joining Chubb as UK /Ireland Property Claims Manager. In 2006 he joined the Ecclesiastical group where he has responsibility for leading the Claims and Risk Services functions, setting strategy and philosophy in partnership with key stakeholders, with the aim of delivering unsurpassed levels of Customer Service and technical standards in support of Group business objectives.

Tom has worked in Financial Services for 30 years, starting life in Midland Bank in the late 1970’s. Tom moved into the insurance sector in the mid 1980’s working for the Life Assurance company formed by a number of Lloyds syndicates. Spells with Royal & Sun Alliance and Guardian Royal Exchange followed before switching to general insurance and NIG at the start of the 1990’s. Here Tom worked in a variety of roles before becoming Head of Household for the Dial Direct brand - a role he carried through to the Budget Insurance Group when they acquired Dial Direct at the turn of the century.

A complete change of direction took place in 2003 when Tom moved from underwriting into the position of E-commerce Director and oversaw a 20 fold increase in new business sourced online as the price comparison sites began to emerge, and indeed was the head of the team that created and managed Comparethemarket.

Tom used this knowledge to create iGO4 alongside BGL Business Development Director Matt Munro in 2007. In 2009 the company won the Insurance Times Broker Innovation award in its first full year of trading and in July 2011 the company moved its administration from BDML Capita to create its own contact centre in Peterborough.

Steve is the Retail Director for Aviva GI in the UK & Ireland, responsible for developing and growing our retail consumer business. Most recently he successfully launched the Quote Me Happy business and also instigated Aviva’s Multi Vehicle product.

He joined Aviva from RBSI, where he spent 14 years, most recently as Managing Director for the Motor business, a role that encompassed the Green Flag breakdown business, as well as the motor insurance businesses for Direct Line, Churchill, Privilege and NIG.

After initially training as a Chartered Accountant, Steve spent some time at Nurdin & Peacock, a large wholesaling business, before joining Direct Line, where he held various positions up to Commercial Director.

Steve lives with his wife, Lisa, and 3 daughters in Surrey. A keen follower of all sports, and passionate about cricket.

I played rugby from the age of 6 having been stitched up (physically rather than metaphorically) by the famous rugby playing Doctor JPR Williams. Rugby has entirely shaped my perspective on teamwork, leadership and culture.

I studied at Nottingham University for a BA in Economics and an MA in Corporate Strategy & Governance. As a sabbatical year in between I was Athletic Union President of the University. The 2 main features of this were overseeing the sports infrastructure for 5,000 students, and having a free bar tab every weds evening at our sponsoring nightclub. I can't imagine why I was really popular that year...

I started my career in Mars and stayed there for 10 years working on a number of their famous brands across sectors and geographies. This included a stint in Greece where I lived very close to the epicentre of the 1999 earthquake, but fortunately I flew home from my assignment the day before it happened.

Since Mars I have worked at 118118 (I will wear a moustache upon request) and HSBC. I joined DLG 7 months ago and am very excited at the future prospects of the company as we become the masters of our own destiny.

Outside of work I run a thriving taxi service for VIP clients (6 year old son and 10 year old daughter) and I love to run to stay young and beautiful.

Steven is CEO and Co-Founder of Bought By Many, a new business which enables individuals to group together to facilitate the provision of better insurance offers that would be available to the individuals alone.

Annabel is Global Brand Director at Hiscox. In this role Annabel is responsible for driving the effectiveness of Hiscox marketing across the Group, specifically in key markets of UK, US, France and Germany. Her key deliverables are; running and sustaining the ‘Hiscox Marketing Excellence’ programme, owning the Hiscox brand architecture and ensuring its local activation, and providing technical support, guidance and best practice to all markets.
 
Annabel joined Hiscox in January 2009, as Head of Marketing and prior to her current Global role was UK Marketing Director, reporting into Steve Langan, Managing Director Hiscox UK, and sitting on the UK Leadership Team
 
Previous to her time at Hiscox, Annabel was at Coca-Cola for nine years working across a number of brands including; Coke, Diet Coke and Coke Zero, Powerade and Oasis, and on both GB and European projects. She led projects including the launch of Coke Zone, consumer activation of Beijing Olympics, and a pan European promotion with i-Tunes.
 
Annabel holds a chemistry degree from the University of Bristol and is a member of the Marketing Society and Financial Services Forum. She is married, with two young boys, and lives in West London.

Gina Fusco is Head of Marketing and Strategy at NFU Mutual, having been appointed in October 2011 to facilitate and inform the long-term direction of the company through effective formulation and articulation of strategy, development of long-term planning processes and market insight.  She is also directing the Marketing function, ensuring the successful delivery of its contribution to both long and medium term plans.

Gina has a wide experience in the Financial Services industry having previously set up her own consulting company, undertaking various client projects with Glitnir Bank, Tesco Bank, Ovo Energy, The Swiss Forum, NFU Mutual and O2 Ireland.  She was appointed founding director of ING Direct, a leading direct bank in the UK, where, alongside the CEO and the CFO she built up a customer base of over one million and achieved 80% brand awareness. 

As Head of Communications at Andersen, London she created, set up and managed an internal marketing services department of 40 people which became a Centre of Excellence and in her role as Head of Advertising at Barclay’s Bank, Coventry, she implemented brand changes across product lines and brought about a more efficient use of the £80 million spend. She increased market share in Savings and Investment brand awareness and loyalty and introduced telephone banking when holding a number of Senior marketing roles with Abbey National, and in her early career co-founded and headed up a successful event management company, A Sense of Occasion.

Gina has a degree in Management Science with French and a postgraduate Diploma in Marketing.  She is married with two teenage daughters and follows a regular keep fit and training programme for participation in local triathlon events.

Nicolas Aubert was appointed Managing Director in the UK in July 2011.  He joined AIG in June 2002 as Deputy General Manager, France and was promoted to General Manager in 2003 and Managing Director, South Europe, in July 2010, leading 12 country operations in South Europe. 

Prior to AIG, Nicolas worked at Generali, as a P&C underwriting surveyor, and worked through various leadership positions at GAN and Cigna-ACE.

Nicolas graduated from Pantheon-Sorbonne University of Paris with a Master of Advanced Studies of Insurance Law and from the Insurance Institute of Paris (IAP).  He has also completed an MBA at the High Insurance Studies Center (CHEA), and at International Executive Program of INSEAD.

Bill is Global Head of Insurance in Commercial Banking at Lloyds Bank.  He joined Lloyds in 1986 and has specialised in the insurance sector since 1995.  He has extensive experience of the provision of financing solutions for the insurance industry.

Nicolas Aubert was appointed Managing Director in the UK in July 2011.  He joined AIG in June 2002 as Deputy General Manager, France and was promoted to General Manager in 2003 and Managing Director, South Europe, in July 2010, leading 12 country operations in South Europe. 

Prior to AIG, Nicolas worked at Generali, as a P&C underwriting surveyor, and worked through various leadership positions at GAN and Cigna-ACE.

Nicolas graduated from Pantheon-Sorbonne University of Paris with a Master of Advanced Studies of Insurance Law and from the Insurance Institute of Paris (IAP).  He has also completed an MBA at the High Insurance Studies Center (CHEA), and at International Executive Program of INSEAD.

Brendan McManus joined Giles Insurance Brokers and Ink Underwriting as CEO on 20th April 2012.
Prior to that, Brendan had been UK CEO of a major global broker, and had previously spent much of his career at RSA, becoming Managing Director of Commercial in 2003.

Brendan is Deputy Chairman of BIBA, had been a founding member of the CII Underwriting facility, was Chair of the Distribution Committee of ABI, and recently became honorary Vice-President of the CII.

Bill is Global Head of Insurance in Commercial Banking at Lloyds Bank.  He joined Lloyds in 1986 and has specialised in the insurance sector since 1995.  He has extensive experience of the provision of financing solutions for the insurance industry.

Anthony Finkelstein is a graduate in systems engineering. He is Professor of Software Systems Engineering at University College London (UCL) and Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and of the City & Guilds of London Institute. He is currently Dean of UCL Faculty of Engineering Sciences. He was formerly Head of UCL Department of Computer Science. He is a Visiting Professor at Imperial College London and at the National Institute for Informatics, Tokyo, Japan. He is a Fellow of both the Institution of Engineering & Technology (IET) and the British Computer Society (BCS) and has been active professionally in both, serving on numerous Boards and Committees.

His research is in the area of software development processes and on the construction of large computational models. In 2009 he received the Oliver Lodge Medal of the IET for achievement in Information Technology. He has been recognised for his contributions to the field of requirements engineering and for his professional service by the IEEE and the ACM. He served on the 2008 UK Research Assessment Exercise in Computer Science & Informatics and currently serves on the 2014 Research Excellence Framework.

He was a member of the Committee of Visitors for the US National Science Foundation. He has provided consultancy advice to a large number of high profile companies and government organisations. He has acted as an expert in complex technology disputes and frequently technology due diligence on start-up companies working with leading VC and other investors.

He has established three successful ‘spinout’ companies providing respectively professional services, product software and an innovative software service. He has a widely read blog ‘Serious Engineering’ (http://prof.so) commenting on issues in engineering, technology and education.

Surinder joined Allianz in 2011 as an Innovation Manager and became Head of Innovation in 2012. She previously worked at QinetiQ, an aerospace, defence and security technology company. She has a broad an innovation skill set spanning research through to product development and exploitation. She has experience of working across sectors and believes that this is fertile ground for new ways of working and the development of new products and services

Her focus at Allianz is on delivering maximum value through innovation both by incremental improvements and best practice as well as more disruptive techniques.

Surinder has a technical background with an engineering degree from Imperial College and a DPhil from Oxford University.