Practical LawConferences

Monica Risam is the General Counsel of Lombard International where she has responsibility for legal, company secretarial, risk and compliance and regulatory affairs.  Monica joined Lombard International from Aviva plc, where she held the positions of General Counsel & Company Secretary of Aviva UK Life, General Counsel, Aviva Group and General Counsel, Aviva Europe. Prior to joining Aviva, Ms. Risam spent seven years at GE Capital where she held a variety of senior roles. She began her legal career as an associate with Weil, Gotshal & Manges in London and New York, and is dual-qualified to practise law in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Monica is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and The George Washington University in Washington DC. She is also a non-executive member of the Elton John Aids Foundation’s Finance & Investment Committee.

James Bellini describes himself as ‘an historian of the future’ with a close interest in key trends and strategic challenges facing current and future business into the 2020s and beyond.

Bellini was the first British staff member of the US futurology ‘think tank’ the Hudson Institute. He has also worked with the Henley Centre for Forecasting, the Economist Intelligence Unit and the Global Future Forum and worked for a number of years in advertising and corporate communications.  In 2007 Bellini was elected Fellow of the World Innovation Foundation, founded by Nobel Laureate Glenn Theodore Seaborg. In 2015 he was awarded the Professional Certificate in Coaching (with Merit) by Henley Business School.

Bellini also has more than twenty-five years experience as an award-winning TV broadcaster. He presented The Money Programme for BBC TV for three years before moving to Newsnight and Panorama and then to various independent networks. He was Editor and studio presenter at Financial Times Television and Sky News for seven years, heading up their financial and business coverage. He is a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).

Joe is a Policy Adviser in the General insurance team at the ABI, focussing on cyber and specialist lines.

Previously, he worked in the protection insurance team at the ABI, leading on the industry’s engagement with the Government’s work and health agenda.

He joined the ABI in August 2014 from the New Schools Network where he worked in the communications team. Prior to that, he worked in the constituency office of Andrew Jones MP.

Matthew joined the UK retail division of Hiscox in 2011 and managed a large customer service initiative that included structural changes and the identification, improvement and measurement of behaviours that focussed on customer service. In 2013 he transferred to the London Market division where he developed the e-commerce strategy for both the London and Guernsey businesses. In 2016 he moved to head up a new division within Hiscox UK, looking at innovation and disruptive trends in the insurance and fintech sector. Matthew works with start ups, VCs and entrepreneurs; finding ways to trial new ideas and innovations in a quick, cost effective way.

Matt Cullen is the ABI’s Assistant Director, Head of Strategy, Data & Analytics. As Head of Strategy he provides thought leadership on the long term strategic challenges and opportunities facing the insurance industry, and works with policy and executive colleagues to incorporate this thinking into planning and policy development. Much of his time has been spent building the ABI’s policy agenda and public profile in three key emerging areas: technological change and data, cyber risk and climate change.

As Head of Data & Analytics, Matt leads the team of analysts collecting industry data from ABI members to produce the ABI’s market statistics and insight, and is driving a modernisation programme to ensure that the Data & Analytics function adds maximum value internally and externally.

Matt joined the ABI in September 2010 as Policy Adviser, Flooding, and became Manager, General Insurance in 2013. In these roles, he led the development of Flood Re, building stakeholder support for the model, working on its negotiation, and leading the project team implementing the scheme.

Matt began his career in the UK and US nuclear industries – with roles at the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, the Department for Energy and Climate Change, and the US Department of Energy – after reading Geography and Management at Cambridge University.

José Ramón González joined QBE North America as Chief Legal Officer in April 2014.  In this role, José has overall responsibility over legal, compliance, corporate governance and regulatory affairs for the US and participates as a member of QBE’s Global Legal Leadership Team.

Previously, José was General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Torus, a Bermuda-based commercial insurance organization providing property, casualty and specialty insurance and reinsurance products to a client base located primarily in the UK and continental Europe.

José began practicing law as a corporate associate at the law firm of Weil, Gotshal and Manges, working in the firm’s London and New York offices.  In 1999, he joined the Mergers and Acquisitions Group of the law department of American International Group representing AIG on a worldwide basis in acquisitions, joint ventures and investments relating to its insurance and asset management businesses, before eventually moving to a senior legal position within AIG’s insurance businesses.

Ben is the ABI’s Brexit Manager and leads the ABI’s analysis of Brexit’s impact on the insurance industry. Previously, he was the ABI’s Senior Policy Adviser for Motor and Liability, where he was closely involved in working with Government to develop the new insurance regime for autonomous vehicles and also lead the ABI’s work on motor insurance, road safety and claims management company regulation.

Before joining the ABI in 2015, he was Research Manager at a policy and regulatory affairs consultancy and before that was a parliamentary analyst for political information provider DeHavilland. He began his career in the office of a Member of Parliament. He has a BA in History and Politics and an MRes in Economic and Social History, both from the University of Exeter.

Alex Marcuson is an experienced consulting actuary.  He founded Marcuson Consulting Ltd, a general insurance actuarial advisory firm, in 2010.  The team of ten consultants working at the London-based practice helps firms in three core areas:

• Financial modelling and risk consultancy,
• Interim specialist resources, and
• Expert witness and advisory, including M&A and Part VII transfers.

Prior to establishing his own business, Alex was an insurance partner with Deloitte advising across the spectrum of insurers and classes of business.  During his 16 years there, he advised the European Commission on Solvency II and the Australian Royal Commission into the collapse of HIH Insurance.

Currently Alex and his colleagues are heavily involved in assisting firms with their Brexit preparations; acting as independent expert for some Brexit Part VII insurance business transfers.

Professionally Alex is a past chair of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries’ General Insurance Professional Standards Committee and sat on its General Insurance Board.  He is a member of its Professional Support Service, a team of recognised experts who provide confidential assistance to UK Actuaries on ethical and technical situations.

Bill Mitchell is a founding partner of US nationwide firm Cruser Mitchell, LLP. Bill has a reputation with clients for “resolving the unresolvable.” As a result, he serves as national counsel, monitoring counsel, and national mediation counsel for a number insurance companies in high-exposure cases and national programs. Bill’s litigation management philosophy is at the forefront of the legal industry in establishing metrics, processes, and algorithms for litigation management, and focuses on delivering excellent results with economy and efficiency. Bill consults with insurance companies in establishing metrics for legal counsel and implementing protocols to execute and enforce these metrics. Bill co-authored The Disruptive Lawyer’s Little Black Book of Litigation Management in 2015 and Stories from the Disruptive Lawyer in 2017.

Paul joined Beazley in May 2001 as an Employment Practices Liability (EPL) Underwriter. Paul is the EPL product leader for both the UK and US teams. Paul has over 25 years experience in the insurance industry and London market in both claims and underwriting roles. Paul holds a Bachelor of Arts degree and has helped to establish Beazley’s EPL team as one of the leaders in the market. Paul is frequently requested as a guest speaker and has presented at conferences including ACI, ExecuSummit, The Defense Research Institute and NAPEO.

Nick is Head of the Insurance and InsurTech practices at Capital Law. He joined Capital after 13 years at City insurance firm, RPC.

His work takes in everything from traditional insurance work such as policy coverage and wordings, recoveries and liability claims, as well as a significant amount of regulatory and compliance work. On the InsurTech side we assist with everything from T&Cs reviews through to setting up whole new MGAs and carriers.

Alyssa Pianelli is a Claims Manager and has been with Beazley since 2011.  She handles in-house Employment Practices Liability Claims, with a focus on the Professional Employment Organization (“PEO”) industry. Alyssa also is the Claims point person for the Safeguard product, handling both response and liability sexual misconduct claims.  Alyssa regularly speaks on EPL trends at industry events, including ACI, ExecuSummit, PLUS, and NAPEO.  Prior to joining Beazley, Alyssa was an attorney in private practice in Philadelphia, PA, focusing in the areas of insurance and employment defense litigation.

Sarah is Head of Digital and Data Protection Legal at Aviva.  Sarah’s leads a team of specialist lawyers advising Aviva’s digital and innovation businesses and also leads on matters relating to use of data and data privacy including the implementation of the GDPR compliance programme.  Sarah has a wealth of experience both at Aviva and in previous roles in helping businesses define strategy in, and adapt to, the new consumer landscape that has emerged with the development of technology supporting on the legal issues arising in the end to end delivery of digital, platforms, tools and apps.

Recent experience at Aviva includes providing support to identify and mitigate legal risks in the use of SDKs, systems integration, including contamination of estate through OSS, cross border data transfers and drafting consumer facing terms.  Sarah also works closely with the marketing function advising on adtech and direct marketing activities.

Kimon is the Compliance Oversight Director for Aviva plc, which provides a wide range of insurance and asset management products to over 33 million customers across 16 countries.  Aviva is the largest general insurer in the UK and a leading life and pensions provider. He is based in London and oversees the Compliance program (including Financial Crime) throughout the UK and across all product sets.  Prior to joining Aviva, he spent the past decade with GE Capital in a range of M&A legal roles as well as CCO roles across a range of financial services platforms (primarily, mortgage and monetization products). He started his career with the law firm Herbert Smith Freehills, in London, and was part of their corporate finance practice for a number of years.  He is a frequent conference speaker on compliance issues in the financial services sector.  He holds of Doctorate in Laws and is a board member of the ACAMS UK Chapter.

Mathew has experience of a wide range of regulatory issues as they affect life and general insurers, brokers, banks, wealth managers and other financial institutions. His areas of expertise include prudential and conduct of business regulation, market abuse and insider dealing issues, the Bribery Act, money laundering, financial promotions, consumer credit, TCF, unfair terms in consumer contracts and MiFID.

Mathew regularly advises on transactions in the regulated sector, including Part VII transfers, and on change of control issues.  He also advises on new authorisations and perimeter issues over whether authorisation is required.

Mathew also advises regulated firms on corporate matters, such as outsourcing arrangements, joint ventures, and shareholders or LLP agreements, and on corporate governance and the application of the UK’s Senior Managers’ Regime to banks and insurers.

In 2014 he also acted on the first successful judicial review of the Financial Ombudsman Scheme in over ten years.

Mathew regularly writes articles and gives talks on regulatory issues, and has appeared on radio and television discussing regulatory developments.

DAC Beachcroft LLP’s team head Mathew Rutter has ‘incredible knowledge of insurance regulatory issues’. Legal 500 2016, Financial services (non-contentious/regulatory)

For the past 7 years, I have been specialising in Privacy and Data Protection, and I have worked in the Internet, Telecom and Insurance industries.

I have advised in the areas of Online Advertising, and Behavioural Analytics at Oracle Maxymiser, a global software company.

Then I developed my skills at Telefonica Digital on a wide range of subjects, such as Geo-Location and Big Data Analytics, Biometrics, Mobile Apps and privacy technologies.

Currently, I provide legal and regulatory support at RSA Insurance with a focus on the preparation for the General Data Protection Regulation.

David advises investment banks, insurers, private equity firms, asset managers, sovereign wealth funds and large corporates on:

• Complex discrimination, whistleblowing and breach of contract litigation;
• The employment aspects of large-scale regulatory investigations;
• International projects, board-level hires and exits, restrictive covenants, works council issues;
• M&A transactions, listings, outsourcings, real estate developments, insolvency and Brexit-planning projects;
• Issues facing regulated employers, including the Senior Managers & Certification Regime.

Dr Paul Taffinder is the Director of Strategy & Innovation at MS Amlin. He joined the firm in 2015. Paul is a member of Group Oversight Committee, the MS Amlin Executive Committee and the Group Operations Committee.

The creation of this new role recognized the enormous amount and pace of change affecting our industry as well as MS Amlin’s ambitions to increase its standing as a true leader in our markets, backed by the global strength of MS & AD Insurance Group. He is responsible for leading our Strategy & Innovation unit, including MS Amlin EDGE, to take advantage of disruptive trends, FinTech, change in the industry and technology more widely.

Paul was also the Founder and Managing Partner of Taffinder Consulting, which he ran for 10 years, specializing in CEO advice on strategy, leadership, change and organizational performance. Previously, he was a partner at strategy firm Marakon Associates, a partner on the UK Management Board of Mercer Delta and, prior to that, was a global partner at Accenture, the $30 billion consulting firm, where he was head of Organization and Change Strategy in the UK and had an international role in the firm’s work on leadership, innovation, culture change and top team effectiveness.

Following a Masters degree and PhD in organizational psychology – and what he describes as a ‘mercifully brief career in the mining industry’ – Paul turned his attention to the psychological driving forces that underlie the world of business. He is the award winning author of “Big Change: A Route Map for Corporate Transformation” (voted Business Management Book of the Year in 1999). His other books (published by Kogan Page) are “The New Leaders” (1994) and “The Leadership Crash Course” (2000) and the recently updated, revised edition of “The Leadership Crash Course: How to Create Personal Leadership Value” (2006), released in 11 different languages worldwide.

He is also a Visiting Professor at Goldsmiths College, University of London, sits on the Advisory Board of the University’s Prospect & Innovation Research Unit, and is a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society.

Jonathan Teacher is a Senior Legal Counsel in the Swiss Re Group Legal team. Swiss Re is one of the world’s leading reinsurance groups. Jonathan’s experience includes building out and embedding the legal function’s franchise with diverse parts of the business, managing legal risk and functional responsibilities through transformational environments, governance design and review, leading complex transactions, advising on regulatory matters and strategy, and providing advice on a wide variety of general legal issues encountered by the business and its management. Jonathan was previously in private practice at Norton Rose Fulbright advising on corporate, regulatory and capital markets/ILS matters primarily for the insurance industry, having begun his career in investment banking.

Everything Will does revolves around customer behaviour. With a background in predictive analytics, Will helped set up Swiss Re’s Behavioural Research Hub 4 years ago, which has now run over 200 trials with insurers around the world,  bringing insights from behavioural economics to help insurers optimise their business through rigorous test & learn.

Paul Bickley is Head of Insurance Legal, UK at HSBC. He worked for AXA UK and RSA prior to joining HSBC in 2014, having originally trained and qualified as a tax lawyer at Linklaters in London.

Paul leads the legal support provided to HSBC’s UK insurance business which includes the manufacture of life / protection and distribution of general insurance under the HSBC, first direct and M&S Bank brands. He also deputises for the Global Head of Legal, Group Insurance, notably in overseeing insurance distribution globally and providing support to local legal teams in implementing best practice and concluding new deals.

In the last 12 months, Paul’s experience includes leading the legal support in relation to a new 10-year bancassurance partnership with Aviva, PPI remediation, the insurance elements of ring-fencing the UK bank and the implementation of the Insurance Distribution Directive.

Neil is an experienced leader of in house teams, including as UK General Counsel at Zurich Insurance and head of the Corporate & Commercial Legal Team at Barclays. Prior to moving in-house he was at Allen & Overy. He was winner of the Legal500 in-house “Individual of the Year” in 2015.

Bruce Love is UK General Counsel at Ageas. In the UK Ageas is a leading provider of personal and commercial lines insurance, sold through brokers, affinity partnerships and directly under its own brands.

Prior to joining Ageas, Bruce worked at Legal & General, where he was Head of Legal for its insurance, savings and retirement businesses.

Bruce started his career in private practice at Allen & Overy and then Clyde & Co.

Kenneth Underhill is a Director of ICSR, a consultancy bringing a new approach to  Financial Services in the UK. He is also a mentor at Fintech accelerator Mystartupbootcamp. Kenneth has over 20 years in the London Insurance market and is the former General Counsel of Chubb European Group, then ACE. A Director of multiple Insurance Companies operating in over 30 countries with a turnover in the range of $5 + billion, he was responsible for almost 10 years for Legal, Compliance and Corporate Governance across the EMEA region and had a team of 60 or so. Prior to that Kenneth was a founding partner of the Commercial & Regulatory team at Reynolds Porter Chamberlain.