The Conference fee includes attendance at all Conference sessions and workshops, access to all digital conference information, Conferences lunches on three days and two Conference dinners (Welcome Reception and Gala Dinner). The fee for accompanying persons includes those same two Conference dinners.
There are two methods by which delegates can pay their registration fee. The first is to pay by credit card during the registration process. The second method is to select the wire transfer option at the end of the registration process and payment can be made at a later date.
Cancelation policy
Any cancellations received prior to 30 September 2024 will be given 90% refund. Any cancellations received on or after 30 September 2024 will be subject to the conference fee being paid in full.
*This rate is available to member organisations from developing countries where the member organisation has gross premium income of less than USD 20 million and is limited to two delegates per company.
For more information about the Conference, please contact our Events team.
Kim Palatnick
Chief Strategy & Member Experience Officer, Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company (Canada)
Kimberly Palatnick is the VP, Chief Strategy & Member Experience Officer where she plays a critical role in the achievement and advancement of Wawanesa’s enterprise strategy, research and innovation capabilities and overseeing Wawanesa’s Member Experience and Sustainability functions.
Kim joined Wawanesa in 2011 and has held several leadership positions within Wawanesa’s Life Operations and Executive office functions. Passionate about mutuality, Kim represents Wawanesa as the Vice Chair of the International Cooperative Mutual Insurance Federation (ICMIF)’s Business Intelligence Committee and recently completed the Economics of Mutuality Programme | Leading for Mutual Value Creation from the University of Oxford.
A fellow of both the Society of Actuaries and the Canadian Institute of Actuaries, Kim graduated from the University of Manitoba with a Bachelor of Business (honours) and also holds a certificate in Sustainability Business Strategy from Harvard Business Online.
Kim resides in Winnipeg, Canada with her husband and two young boys.
Jean-François Chalifoux
President and CEO, Beneva (Canada)
Jean-François Chalifoux is President and CEO of Beneva, the company born of La Capitale and SSQ Insurance in July 2020, that is now the largest insurance mutual in Canada. Beneva has over 3.5 million members and clients, and more than 5,500 dedicated employees. The company’s assets stand at over CAD 25 billion with a volume of insurance business at nearly CAD 7 billion.
Jean-François has a bachelor’s degree in actuarial sciences from Université Laval. He is a Fellow of both the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and the Casualty Actuarial Society, as well as a graduate of the Queen’s Executive Development Program. Prior to joining SSQ Insurance as Chief Executive Officer in 2015, Jean-François held a number of executive positions with major Canadian insurance companies in the general insurance and life and health insurance sectors.
Jean-François sits on several boards and committees in the insurance and financial services industries. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA) and the Board of Governors of Finance Montréal. He is also known for his social contributions and his desire to make a difference in the community, a testament to Beneva’s values of commitment and solidarity. He is a board member of the Fondation Jeunes en Tête. He has also been named the honorary president of various events and fund-raising campaigns, specifically as co-chair of the 2024 campaign of Centraide Québec Chaudière-Appalaches and the Québec Capitale Climat project.
In 2021, Jean-François was named 2020 Financial Personality of the Year by Finance et Investissement, an honour he shares with Jean St-Gelais, Chair of the Board of Beneva.
As the father of three sons, family life is very important to Jean-François.
Virginia Lingiardi
Leader, Project Management Office, Grupo Asegurador La Segunda (Argentina)
Virginia has a degree in Business Administration with experience in leadership and training of multidisciplinary teams. She is a graduate of the Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Estadística (Faculty of Economics and Statistics) of the National University of Rosario, Argentina.
Since 2015, she has been the Leader of the Project Management Office in charge of the planning and coordination of the organization’s projects portfolio, ensuring the application of best practices in project management.
She is also a facilitator of work teams. With training and experience in visual thinking and visual storytelling, she helps teams to visualize ideas, concepts and objectives, promoting collective intelligence and memory.
Since December 2017, she has been a member of the ICMIF-La Segunda Young Leaders Group and he has been the leader of the Hack2in innovation project – the first Hackaton in InsurTech in the Argentine insurance market, driven by La Segunda.
CEO Reinsurance Canada and English Caribbean, Swiss Re (Canada)
Jolee has held a number of leadership roles of increasing responsibility since joining Swiss Re in 1998, including Head of Asia Medical Products and Operations, and most recently, Global Head of Life & Health Underwriting and Medical Reinsurance
Jolee also has a P&C background in both direct insurance and reinsurance. She started her career in Corporate Solutions, handling Agents and Brokers Errors & Omissions claims, before ultimately leading the FinPro Claims department.
She then transitioned to Reinsurance, where she led a global Governance team, ensuring the appropriate framework was in place to assess and manage operational risk. Her remit also included compliance related topics such as international trade controls, fraud detection initiatives, data protection and business continuity management.
After three years in a governance role, Jolee was appointed Head of US Casualty Claims for Reinsurance, where she focused on helping clients manage their portfolio risks as well as individual claims utilizing data analytics.
Earlier in her career Jolee practiced law at an insurance defense firm, where she represented insurance carriers and their customers in litigation both at the trial and appellate levels.
Isabelle Santenac
Global Insurance Leader, EY (France)
Isabelle is the Global Insurance Leader at EY. She leads a team of over 23,000 industry professionals committed to helping insurers transform and reshape their businesses through EY’s assurance, consulting, tax and transaction services.
Isabelle has over 30 years of experience working with large financial services organizations. At EY she has held the role of Assurance Managing Partner for EY EMEIA Financial Services and before that she held the role of Global Assurance COO, based in London. She has served as the lead partner for large international financial institutions headquartered in Europe, including both audit and non-audit clients.
Isabelle is an active member of the Insurance Supper Club. She served as a Board member and treasurer for the Positive Planet Foundation from 2013 to 2022.
She received a master’s degree in Management from ESCP.
Jennifer Baziuk
EY Canada Insurance Consulting Leader, EY (Canada)
Jennifer is a Partner and the principal leader of EY Canada’s Insurance Consulting team, based in Toronto.
With more than 25 years of experience in financial services and insurance, Jennifer helps clients unlock their potential through the development and delivery of large transformation programs.
Jennifer joined EY from the insurance industry, bringing a unique client-side perspective and broad depth of experience to her work. She focuses on implementing large-scale programs such as strategic cost optimization, claims transformation, process optimization, organization design and change management, core system platform replacement, data management and data governance. She has a proven track record of turning around underperforming operations and contributing to top and bottom-line results.
Jennifer holds an MBA in Business Administration and a Bachelor’s degree in business management, both from Athabasca University. She is a certified CIP (Chartered Insurance Professional) and PMP (Project Management Professional).
Chad Park is the Vice President, Sustainability & Citizenship for Co-operators. In this role he leads the cooperative’s efforts to embed and integrate sustainability principles throughout the organisation, including in its investment strategy and underwriting practices. He also oversees Co-operators’ nation-wide community investment and partnership programmes, including the Co-operators Community Funds.
Prior to joining Co-operators in June 2020, Chad played a leadership role with several sustainability-focused organisations and initiatives. He served for five years as the Founding Director and Lead Animator of the Energy Futures Lab, a diverse coalition of innovators and partner organisations working together to advance solutions for a transformative energy vision for Canada. He has also served as Executive Director of The Natural Step Canada. Chad earned his master’s degree as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar at the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics at Lund University in Sweden and completed the Oxford Social Finance Programme at Oxford University’s Saïd School of Business.
Belén Gómez
Advisor to the President and Coordinator U-RUS, Río Uruguay Seguros (Argentina)
Belén Gómez has a PhD in Economics, and is an economist specialised in sustainability management in organisations and development of inclusive businesses (mainly inclusive insurance). In the field of sustainability, she has worked as a university lecturer and researcher, an advisor to organisations, international speaker, and columnist in national and international media.
At Río Uruguay Cooperativa de Seguros (RUS), she is a member of the Board of Directors and the company’s council of administration, and she is also coordinator of the RUS Corporate University and Human Capital Management.
Gaby Polanco-Sorto
Vice President and Head, Purpose and Sustainability, Gore Mutual (Canada)
Gaby Polanco-Sorto is an executive strategist with close to 20 years of experience working in multinational Financial Institutions across Environmental Sustainability, ESG, Community Investment and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). She has worked in various organizations, including Scotiabank, LoyaltyOne and Manulife Financial in progressively senior roles.
Currently, Gaby is the VP and Head of Purpose and Sustainability at Gore Mutual Insurance. In this capacity, Gaby is responsible for guiding Gore Mutual’s efforts and priorities to making a difference in Canadian communities.
Reporting to the CEO, she is accountable for imbedding ESG into all areas of our business strategy and for leading the social impact, community, purpose, inclusion and sustainability activities across the organization. She is also active in the academic space, currently as lecturer for University of Toronto’s St. Michael’s College Corporate Social Responsibility & Sustainability Graduate Diploma program.
Originally from El Salvador, she is passionate about eliminating the barriers faced by immigrants and refugees. She has held various Board positions with NGOs focused on supporting immigrants and refugees in Canada. Gaby is currently a Board Member of CUSO International and Ducks Unlimited Canada.
She holds an MBA from the Schulich School of Business.
Mona Kothari-Chitalia
Director, Digital Strategy & Global Financial Services, Microsoft (Canada)
Mona Kothari-Chitalia is a C-Suite Digital Strategy Industry Advisor, at Microsoft. Mona leads co-innovation with insurance and wealth management customers to unlock new value, deliver differentiated experiences and accelerate innovation for sustainable growth.
With over 25 years of experience, Mona has led high-profile business transformation, from concept to implementation in financial services and technology industries. She was a strategy management consultant with Ernst and Young and Capgemini and played a pivotal role in Autodesk’s digital transformation to a SaaS business model. Mona also is an advisor with the Rotman School of Business MBA Internship Program and a contributor to The Digital Insurer’s Generative AI course.
Mona’s education includes a B. Comm (Finance) from University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Business and an MBA from the University of Western Ontario’s Ivey Business School.
Babs Dijkshoorn
Director, Sustainability, Achmea (Netherlands)
Babs Dijkshoorn is Director, Sustainability at Achmea. In this role, she leads Achmea’s efforts to embed sustainability in its overall strategy and integrate sustainability principles throughout the organisation, in its own operations as well as its insurance and investment activities.
Prior to joining Achmea in September 2022, Babs worked as Head of Sustainability at NN Group and held various roles at ABN Amro and Fortis. From these positions, she chaired the Sustainability Committee at the Dutch Association of Insurers and was a board member of UN Global Compact Netherlands.
Babs earned her master’s degree in law at the University of Utrecht. She has completed various management courses during her career and graduated from the Prince of Wales’s Business and Sustainability Programme at the University of Cambridge.
Hilde Vernaillen
Chair of the Management Committee, P&V (Belgium)
Hilde Vernaillen has been working in the financial services industry for more than twenty years and is a committed defender of the mutual/cooperative business model in insurance. She is a regular conference speaker on various subjects of insurance, mutual and cooperative business.
Hilde was appointed as CEO of P&V Insurance and VIVIUM in 2011 after 20 years in the P&V Group, first in the bank and later on in the insurance companies.
From 2016 to 2022, she was Chair of ICMIF and has served on the ICMIF Board since 2011. She was also President of AMICE (Association of Mutual Insurers and Insurance Cooperatives in Europe) between June 2013 and June 2016. She is the President of the Board of Directors of Euresa, a collaborative and networking tool between 17 European mutual and cooperative insurance companies, and President of the Board of Directors of Febecoop which promotes and defends the co-operative model at regional, federal, European and international level.
Furthermore, she was the President of the Board and the Executive Committee of the Belgian insurance association (Assuralia) from 2019 to 2024, and several other organisations in Belgium and other European countries.
Rosana Ibarrart
General Manager, Seguros Rivadavia (Argentina)
Rosana Laura Ibarrart was born in the city of La Plata, Argentina, where she studied, now lives and develops her work and personal activity. She has been General Manager of Seguros Rivadavia for 13 years, where she has been working for 40 years, progressing through different positions of responsibility throughout her career.
She is a Certified Public Accountant graduated from the National University of La Plata, where she has been teaching since 1984, and for more than 30 years she has been an Adjunct Professor of Accounting.
She currently participates in the Board of Directors of ICMIF/Americas, the Board of Directors of the Argentine Association of Coop. and Mutualidades de Seguros (AACMS), and is part of different boards of other companies related and complementary to the insurance industry.
Carlo Cimbri
Chairman, Unipol Gruppo (Italy)
Born in Cagliari in 1965, and with a degree with honours in Business Administration from the University of Bologna, Carlo Cimbri has over 30 years of experience in the banking and insurance sectors. He joined Unipol in 1990 and, over the years, held positions of growing responsibility until he became one of the General Managers of the Unipol Group in 2005. He became the sole General Manager in 2007 and Chief Executive Officer in 2010, an office he held until April 2022, when he was appointed Chairman.
Under his leadership, Unipol has become the leader in Italy in non-life business with 12,400 employees; EUR 15,1bn in insurance income and 70 bn Asset under management in 2023; with approximately 16,8 million customers; and the leader in Europe for the number of installed black boxes in cars, thereby becoming one of the major players in the insurance industry at a European level.
Currently, Mr Cimbri also holds the office of Board Member of RCS Media Group and Euresa Geie.
In 2016, he was awarded the prestigious “Guido Carli Award” for Italian excellence in the world of economics, high finance, culture, and social engagement and has since been a Full Professor of Insurance Management in the Master’s degree course at the LUISS Guido Carli University in Rome.
Since May 2018, Carlo Cimbri has been President of the European Institute of Oncology, which also includes the Monzino Cardiology Centre, the Italian centre of excellence in oncology and cardiology.
In 2024, he was appointed Cavaliere del Lavoro, the highest honour awarded by the President of the Italian Republic to the most important protagonists of industry and the world of business in Italy.
Warren Pimm
Chairperson – Investment Advisory Board (IAB), United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)
Warren Pimm is a Partner, and Senior Managing Director of Pan American Finance. He has over 25 years of investment banking experience, including M&A advisory, private and public market capital raising, working across international capital markets in North America and Europe.
Warren has deep transaction experience in the international energy transition markets of onshore and offshore wind, solar PV, energy storage, and sustainable transportation, where he holds direct relationships with leading global institutional investors and project finance banks working across infrastructure sectors.
Warren has extensive experience working with selected companies and financial institutions to assist them in raising capital from a broad range of institutional investors, across private placements of common equity, convertible preferred stock, mezzanine debt or convertible debt for uses of proceeds ranging from growth capital to acquisition and construction financings, along with transaction experience in corporate finance, including mergers and acquisitions, leverage, and strategic capital raising activities in the renewable energy, utilities, and infrastructure sectors. He has completed over 100+ transactions collectively raising over US$10.5 billion in total capital.
Previously Warren has been a co-founder of a Canadian financial services company, Berkshire Group, leading the investment banking group, and being part of the senior team growing the group into a national firm in Canada, growing from start up to 2,200 professionals. He then will have joined as a Partner, Sustainable Development Capital LLP, an international institutional financial services group based in London, UK, with offices in New York and Hong Kong.
Warren is a CFA Charterholder, and Member of the CFA Institute, and CFA UK. He earned an MBA from SFU’s Segal Graduate School of Business, and an Undergraduate Degree in Economics and Commerce from the University of Calgary.
Liz Green
CEO Designate, ICMIF
Liz Green was appointed by the Board as ICMIF’s CEO Designate following Shaun Tarbuck’s announcement that he will retire from his current role as Chief Executive Officer in November 2024. As CEO Designate, Liz’s role is to continue to run the core business, as she has done since the start of 2023, but to also work with Shaun to ensure a smooth transition of all the CEO duties by November 2024.
Liz’s former role as Executive Vice-President focused on ensuring that ICMIF’s members gain optimum value and that the Federation understands each member organisation’s strategic priorities and competencies.
She is working towards her Master’s Degree in Executive Coaching and Mentoring and has achieved Master Practitioner Level in Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP). Liz has previously held a board seat at Liverpool Chamber of Commerce and sat as a Governor on two school boards.
Before joining ICMIF in 2012, Liz spent 13 years working in senior communications roles for the UK life insurance sector at Swiss Life (UK) and then for Royal Liver Group before it was acquired by the UK’s largest mutual, Royal London Group. Before then she was a PR consultant specialising in financial services accounts.
She has spoken at a wide variety of ICMIF conferences, board and executive meetings as well as representing the Federation at other non-ICMIF conferences and symposiums.
Shaun Tarbuck
Chief Executive, ICMIF
Shaun joined the International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation (ICMIF) in 1995 and was appointed Chief Executive in 2005. He has overseen the growth of the organisation from 65 members in 1995 to 200 members in 60+ countries today.
Shaun developed the first ICMIF Global Manifesto Protecting Lives and Livelihoods in 2015 and as a result has established working relationships with key global policymakers in areas where ICMIF members need to be represented or are leading the way. These include the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); climate change; disaster risk resilience; poverty alleviation; economic growth; responsible investing; governance; sustainable development and regulation/legislation.
He joined the B20 Financing Growth Taskforce in 2014 during the Australian B20 presidency and was instrumental in setting up the first G20 Insurance Summit which took place in Argentina in 2018 as well as getting mutual insurers mentioned in three of the recommendation papers. In 2015, ICMIF had five representatives from member organisations sitting on various B20 Taskforces.
Shaun has been involved with the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda since the beginning. He spoke about responsible investing at the UN General Assembly in 2014 as the insurance industry spokesperson. At the Assembly, industry commitments were made prior to three Global UN agreements being established in 2015. These included the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Sendai Agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) launch in September and culminated in the Paris Climate Change Agreement in December 2015 at COP21 with Shaun speaking at each of these events.
He has subsequently spoken at all the biennial UNDRR Conferences and many other UN-designated events, mostly on the role that mutual insurers can and do play in the UN 2030 Agenda. He has been instrumental in ICMIF’s three global partnerships that were agreed in 2019 with the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UNDRR and Accounting for Sustainability (A4S). Shaun is currently involved with developing the Insurance SDGs (iSDGs) in conjunction with the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), the UN-Convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance and COP26 which took place in 2021 in Glasgow.
Shaun is a founding member of the Insurance Development Forum (IDF, founded in April 2016) and is an ex-officio member of its Steering Group. The IDF brings together insurance industry leaders with global policymakers from the UN, the World Bank and the Financial Stability Board in a unique public-private and mutual partnership to ensure insurance-related issues and solutions are discussed at the highest level. He was the Co-Chair of the IDF Microinsurance working group until 2019.
He is a board member of the Climate Bonds Initiative that promotes green bonds and is a board member of Regis Mutual Management which sets up and runs new mutual insurers in the UK and Australia. In his spare-time, Shaun is a Director of the Dunham Trust, an affiliation of several local primary schools.
Shaun qualified as a chartered accountant in 1987 and had various roles in the UK and Bermuda before joining ICMIF. He is married to Francesca with four adult children. He enjoys most sports but particularly rugby union – a sport he has played, coached and refereed.
After 28 years of service at ICMIF, Shaun will officially step down as CEO at the end of the next ICMIF Biennial Conference in Buenos Aires (Argentina) in November 2024. Tarbuck will stay on with ICMIF for a minimum of two years in a part-time advisory/ambassadorial role. In this new role, he will advise the CEO, continue to lead ICMIF’s partnerships with the United Nations agencies and other sustainability projects which are still in their early stages, and serve as ICMIF’s ambassador to selected external stakeholders.
Lorenzo Chan
President and CEO, Pioneer Inc. and Chair, Microinsurance Network (Philippines)
Lorenzo is a cum laude graduate with a double degree from Fordham University. With extensive experience across both the general and life insurance sectors, he has been at the forefront of innovative solutions, such as developing sachet insurance tailored for middle and low-income markets.
Under his leadership, Pioneer has led the microinsurance sector, counting nearly 24 million enrollments in 2023. A strong advocate for inclusion, he co-authored a book about CARD Pioneer’s microinsurance journey. Beyond Pioneer, he chairs the Microinsurance Network and is a member of the World Bank’s CGAP Advisory Committee on Climate Resilience.
Dr Aris Alip
Founder and Chairman Emeritus, CARD MRI (Philippines)
Dr Jaime Aristotle B. Alip is a poverty eradication practitioner, with four decades of experience in microfinance and social enterprise development. He is the founder of the Center for Agriculture and Rural Development Mutually-Reinforcing Institutions (CARD MRI), a group of 25 organisations that provide microfinance, microinsurance, and social development services to 9.37 million economically-disadvantaged Filipinos nationwide and insuring more than 29.9 million lives.
CARD’s innovative financial and enterprise development services targeting the poor have won many accolades, including the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service in 2008 (“The Nobel Peace Prize of Asia”), and for Dr Alip, the prestigious Ramon V. del Rosario Award for Nation Building in 2019. He was recently bestowed the Inclusive Insurance Leadership Award by the Insurance Commission on its 75th anniversary in January 2024.
Dr Alip is an alumnus of the Harvard Business School, the Southeast Asia Interdisciplinary Development Institute, and the University of the Philippines.
Andrew Johnston
Global Head of Insurtech, Gallagher Re (USA)
Based in Gallagher Re’s global centre, Andrew leads the InsurTech function for the reinsurance broker. He runs a team of approximately 15 people who are all tasked with working with the best in class InsurTech businesses to either support them with reinsurance broking expertise, or as a trusted consultant on the broader topic of technology with Gallagher Re’s incumbent client base.
Andrew is located in Nashville, having previously worked in the London and New York City offices. He is the author of the Gallagher Re Global InsurTech report (formerly the WTW Quarterly InsurTech briefing), and holds a PhD from the University of London.
Ayanda Seboni
Group Executive: Mutuality, PPS (South Africa)
Ayanda is the PPS Group Executive for Mutuality. Mutuality is a unique business model where members not only hold products but also share in the profits of the business. The Mutuality portfolio includes marketing, segment management and profit-share.
She has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services sector. She has worked in some of South Africa’s leading banks in product and distribution environments.
She is an Executive Trustee for the PPS Foundation Trust and sits in the ICMIF Foundation as a non-executive Trustee.
Ayanda holds a BCom Risk and Insurance Management degree from Wits. She is passionate about financial education and the role that insurance and investments play in individual financial resilience, leading to wealth creation and intergenerational wealth. She represents PPS in the ASISA Consumer Financial Education working group where she is contributing to improving financial wellbeing for South Africans.
She and her husband Oz have two children and enjoy family time.
Thrivent is a Fortune 500 diversified financial services organization providing advice, investments, insurance, banking, and generosity programs.
As Vice President, Client Insights & Strategy, Steve and his team help re-imagine the potential of Thrivent’s most important initiatives through powerful and differentiated client insights. They driveclient centricity throughout the organization by leveraging primary research and completing in-depth analysis to identify trends and extract insights relevant to Thrivent’s strategic direction. They lead the application of these insights to strategy and experience development and help drive the necessary cultural change.
Steve has over 20 years of experience in insights, strategy, and innovation across a range of businesses and categories. He joined Thrivent from Target Corp., where he spent 16 years, the last few leading Target’s Category Insights team. Prior to Target, Steve spent over a decade in the advertising industry, working for some of the world’s top agencies.
Steve grew up in Ottawa, Canada and has a B.A.H. in Political Science from Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada.
Tadao Takahashi serves as the Senior Managing Director / Board of Directors of Kokumin Kyosai Co-op, Japanese mutual aid cooperative with total assets of approximately JPY 4.0 trillion (approximately USD 255 billion) and annual premium income of around JPY 530.8 billion (approximately USD 3.4 billion).
In April 1984, Mr Takahashi joined KKC and has been deeply involved in the fields of sales management and management planning throughout his career. During the devastating Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011, which was the largest earthquake in recorded Japanese history, resulting in the loss of over 22,000 lives, he assumed the role of head of the Disaster Countermeasure Headquarters, taking command of claims investigation and claims payment. Having held as the Managing Director in charge of Management Planning Department and Branding Strategy Department, he has been serving in his current role since August 2021 as the Senior Managing Director/Board of Directors.
In his current capacity, he is dedicated to achieving sustained business growth and the advancement of the cooperative movement during this era of profound change. He is driving the creation and implementation of “New Mutual Aid Services” by integrating digital technology and fostering human connections, in addition to strengthening “Cooperation with Other Parties”.
Andrea Keenan
Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, AM Best Rating Services (USA)
Andrea Keenan directs AM Best Rating Services’ strategy globally, and is responsible for the commercial, public relations, business development, industry research and corporate events teams.
Andrea started at AM Best in 2000 as AM Best’s first country risk analyst, overseeing the launch of AM Best’s country risk methodology. She served multiple roles at AM Best, including building and managing economic and industry research and analytical training. From 2013-2015, Andrea served as managing director of AM Best América Latina, based in Mexico City, where she initiated and expanded AM Best’s first Latin American presence.
Prior to joining AM Best, Andrea was the U.S. economist at Toyota Motor North America in New York City, and analyst at International Technology and Trade Associates in Washington, D.C.
Andrea served on the Board of Directors of the Microinsurance Network as Vice Chair until 2023 and is a member of the Inclusive Insurance Working group of the Insurance Development Forum (IDF). She was also adjunct professor of economics at Temple University in Philadelphia.
Andrea holds a master’s degree from Temple University in economics, a master’s degree from American University in international affairs and a bachelor’s degree from York College in international studies.
Jim was appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of OneFamily Group, one of the leading financial services mutuals in the UK, in December 2023, having previously held the role of Chief Finance Officer since joining the Group Board in January 2020.
A qualified actuary, Jim has over 24 years’ leadership experience at board level in the insurance, investment management, savings and pensions sectors.
Jim has developed the business’s new growth strategy and cultivated the additional capabilities it needed to deliver this. He has led on OneFamily’s modernisation programme and progressed the commercial culture within the organisation, which has included the acquisition of Beagle Street and books of business from other providers.
Before joining OneFamily, Jim held senior finance and general management roles at Lloyd’s of London and Legal & General, including Divisional CEO, CFO, Chief Operating Officer and Board Director roles. Within these organisations – covering the UK, France and global businesses – Jim transformed financial, capital and operating performance.
Jim is the non-executive chair of the People’s Partnership, the provider of The People’s Pension, and is a trustee of the RNLI, the charity that saves lives at sea. A leader on Diversity and Inclusion, Jim is an active LGBTQ+ Ally.
Andrés Elola
General Manager, SURCO Seguros (Uruguay)
An economist by training, Andrés Elola graduated from the Faculty of Economics and Administration of the University of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay in 1987. Continuing with his academic education, he returned to the same university faculty in 2001 to complete a postgraduate degree in Administration and then a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Finance.
Since 1992, he has worked for Compañía Cooperativa de Seguros SURCO as General Manager; fulfilling the main objectives of coordinating and controlling the strategic direction and operations of SURCO in Uruguayan insurance market.
Elola served on the executive board of the Uruguayan Chamber of Insurance Companies (AUDEA) for 14 years, of which he was President for three years. He also participated in and presided over the country’s Commercial Defense League (LIDECO).
Andrés took over as Chair of the ICMIF Americas Board of Directors in November 2023 and has since embarked on a strategic evaluation and assessment of the organisation’s current goals and initiatives.
In the world of cooperative and mutual insurance, Elola say he has had the good fortune of knowing ICMIF for more than 30 years. Influencing regulators and policy makers through ICMIF’s experience has been a great achievement for his organisation.
Elola is a father and a grandfather. A businessman who still believes that the best is yet to come.
Alexandra Stråberg
Chief Economist, Länsförsäkringar (Sweden)
Alexandra Stråberg is the Chief Economist at Länsförsäkringar in Sweden. She has broad experience at a senior executive level in a variety of industries and businesses. Among other things, she has previously worked as the Head of Macroeconomic Analysis for Skanska; the Head of ‘Ekonomifakta.se’; and as a Senior Analyst at the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise.
Alexandra has extensive experience in global trend analysis and strategic business planning. In her current role, she also has responsibility for the Economic Secretariat at Länsförsäkringar. She is a sought-after and frequent speaker and commentator on macroeconomic developments in the media.
David Hynam
Chief Executive, LV= (United Kingdom)
A true advocate of diversity, equity and inclusion, David Hynam is Chief Executive of one of the UK’s leading life and pensions mutual insurers, LV=. His drive to create a workplace where everyone can ‘bring their whole selves to work’ aligns with the company’s mutual values encouraging a truly people-centred culture.
His leadership has reinvigorated the diversity, equity, inclusion and wellbeing networks resulting in an active year-round calendar of network events and communications. This has brought colleagues together with better allyship and understanding. The business now enjoys a 56% increase in diversity data sharing and a diversity eNPS score which outperforms the market norm.
David is widely recognised as one of the world’s leading LGBT+ executives with awards for advocacy for the LGBT+ community, women, people with disabilities and racial inclusion. Coming from a proud Welsh working class family, David also works to break down barriers against socio-economic inclusion in the finance industry.
David attended the University of Kent, Canterbury, reading Public Administration and Management before joining a prestigious graduate training scheme at Barclays. During his 30-year career, mainly in retail financial services, he has gone on to hold leadership roles at Bupa, AXA and Friends Life, and Barclays before joining LV= in 2022.
Ylva Wessén
President and CEO, Folksam (Sweden)
Ylva Wessén has gained extensive experience within the insurance market during her 17 years in different positions at Folksam. She has served as President and CEO since 2019.
Folksam is a mutual company founded in 1908. The company offers a wide range of insurance and savings products. With 4 million customers, every second home and person in Sweden is insured by Folksam.
Before becoming CEO, Ylva served as Deputy CEO and Chief of Staff between 2016 and 2019. Her other previous positions at Folksam include Head of Risk and Compliance and Legal Counsel. Prior to joining Folksam in 2007, Ylva was an Attorney at DLA Nordic and district court law clerk at Skövde District Court.
She has been Chair of Insurance Sweden (the Swedish insurance industry organisation) since 2022. Ylva is a Board Member of ICMIF and serves on the Executive Committee and as Vice-Chair (Europe).
Born in Stockholm, Ylva studied for her Master of Law at Stockholm University and a European Master of Law & Economics at University of Hamburg and Complutense University of Madrid.
Johan Van den Neste
CEO, Univé Schade (Netherlands)
Johan has a proven track record in start-up and acceleration phases of A-brand companies (Allianz and Achmea). He is best described as a corporate entrepreneur & digital leader in the insurance industry. He combines a broad experience in P&C insurance with data science, (e)-commerce and IT to challenge the status quo and turn around existing business and build new business models. Johan uses a multidisciplinary approach (Lean and Agile) in organisations to deliver an outstanding customer experience and financial performance.
Johan now works for a 230 year cooperative insurer Univé, the fourth financial services provider in the Netherlands as CEO of the insurance and reinsurance activities. Main areas of attention: strategy, commercial activity, digital transformation, IT, HR and sustainability. His main challenge is to cooperate with ESG-goals and to pass on the company as a company his grandchildren will also want to do business with in the future.
Johan best performs with A-class professionals in energetic and joyful environments to come to A+ performance. He leads people by encouraging them and to learn from mistakes.
Johan is married with Esther, has two children (23 & 21) and a dog. He lives just outside Rotterdam and enjoys being with his family, likes cycling (especially long distances), running, hiking and skiing. He also likes to read, especially about history and leadership.
Nick Turner
Group Chief Executive, NFU Mutual (United Kingdom)
Nick was appointed Group Chief Executive of NFU Mutual in April 2021 after eight years on the board as Sales & Agency Director, and is responsible for managing the business of the UK’s leading rural insurer.
Nick first joined the NFU Mutual board in 2013 and for eight years, managed the Group’s Agency network across the UK, as well as Distribution and Sales for General Insurance and Financial Services .
Nick has a long association with the Chartered Insurance Institute and was President in 2019/20.
In 2016/17, he was President of the CII’s Personal Finance Society, the professional body for financial advisers across the UK. Prior to becoming president, Nick was member Director for five years bringing both strategic and practical expertise to the Personal Finance Society board.
Before joining NFU Mutual, Nick spent 27 years at AXA in a wide variety of roles in Sales and Business Development as well as Marketing and Strategy across Life, General Insurance and Global Partnerships.
Nick enjoys playing guitar, drawing graphic novels and rural walking with his partner Dee, and their two dogs.
Masenyane Molefe
Group Executive: Human Resources, PPS (South Africa)
Masenyane Molefe is the Group Executive: HR at the Professional Provident Society of South Africa (PPS). She has been with PPS for 5 and a half years where she leads the HR function, focusing on aligning HR strategies with the company’s ethos of mutuality.
Before joining PPS, Masenyane held various senior management positions across multiple industries (mainly financial services), contributing significantly to the development and implementation of people management practices. She was a public servant some years ago, with her tenure at the South African Revenue Service including a 3-year period as a tax attaché in the United Kingdom, fostering international alliances. Masenyane’s diverse background also includes early career experience as a quantitative market researcher.
Masenyane volunteers her free time by contributing her expertise to the University of the Witwatersrand MBA Advisory Board and to the North-West University Donor Funders Board. She is passionate about the future world of work, and fairness in organisations.
She lives in Johannesburg with her two sons.
Barry O’Dwyer
Group CEO, Royal London (UK)
Barry O’Dwyer is Group Chief Executive Officer of Royal London, the UK’s largest mutual life insurance and pensions company. He is an actuary and has extensive experience in financial services, having previously worked at Standard Life, HBOS and Prudential.
He plays a prominent role in the industry and is a former President of the Association of British Insurers. Barry is also a non-executive director of Coop Exchange, a fintech established to help coops and mutuals raise capital from investors that share their values and purpose.
Glenn Croasdale
Chief Client Officer, FMG (New Zealand)
Glenn has been with FMG since February 2011 and is responsible for the overall sales and service performance of the business in respect of both general and life & health insurance.
In his previous roles, Glenn has led the marketing, communications and risk services functions of the mutual and has 20 years local and international experience working in marketing, communications and management within the insurance, construction, forestry, mining and primary industries.
At an industry level, Glenn is Chair of the ICMIF Intelligence Committee and has represented FMG on the New Zealand Insurance Council (ICNZ) Communications Committee which was established immediately in the wake of the Canterbury earthquakes.
Matthew Cullina
Head of Global Cyber Insurance Business, Cyberscout – A TransUnion Brand (USA)
Matt Cullina is Head of Global Cyber Insurance Business at Transunion. He joined Transunion in 2021, via the acquisition of Sontiq, an Intelligent Identity Security company. Cullina is responsible for driving Transunion’s global growth of its comprehensive cyber solutions and strengthening strategic partnerships throughout the insurance markets.
He brings over 25 years of experience in cyber services, insurance research, development, and claims management. Prior to Sontiq’s acquisition of Cyberscout® in 2021, Cullina served as Managing Director of Global Markets at Cyberscout. Before that position, Cullina was CEO of Cyberscout from 2008 to 2018. He helped to guide Cyberscout’s maturity from a single product business focused on the US to becoming the leading provider of personal and commercial cyber solutions to the insurance industry, with both a US and global footprint.
Cullina has a rich background in the property and casualty industry, having held complex claims management roles at Travelers and Allianz. Additionally, Cullina served as Director of Product Development for MetLife®’s P&C company and was responsible for the product development and management of MetLife’s personal lines offering.
