Best Startup
At Best Startup UK we track over 130,000 UK startups and over 500,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top United Kingdom based CEO’ operating in the Insurance space. If you think a CEO’ is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.co.uk.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Companies House UK, Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Steven Mendel
Co-Founder and CEO of Bought By Many
Steven has over 25 years’ experience as an actuary in financial services which has included leading Close Brothers Wealth Management during the launch of their non-advised offering; creating the world’s first art-focused wealth advice offering for Christie’s; working as part of the team that formed Barclays Wealth and heading the McKinsey UK Savings and Investment Group. Steven now runs Bought By Many which is disrupting the world of insurance through the innovative use of search and social media. (www.boughtbymany.com). In April 2019 Steven was included in the London Business School Review of 30 People Who Are Changing The World.
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About Bought By Many: Bought By Many is a pet InsurTech company that provides insurance products and a streamlined customer experience.
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Matthew Crummack
Group Chief Executive Officer of Gocompare.com
Matthew Crummack is currently Chief Executive Officer of Gocompare.com Holdings Limited, a financial services price comparison website, forming part of esure Group plc. Previously, Matthew Crummack served as CEO of lastminute.com, the online travel and leisure retailer, from 2011 until March 2015 when the business was acquired by Bravofly Rumbo Group (subsequently renamed lastminute.com Group). He served as Deputy CEO and Chief Integration Officer until December 2015, following which he served as a member of its Strategic Advisory Committee. In addition, Matthew Crummack was formerly a Senior Vice President of Lodging at Expedia in Europe and the US, has previously worked for Nestle UK, and spent eight years at Procter & Gamble in a variety of roles. Matthew Crummack is also a Director of his own UK-based company, Interventus Limited.
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About Gocompare.com: Gocompare.com is a British financial services comparison website provides comparison details for vehicle, home and pet insurance.
Grahame Chilton
CEO of Gallagher
Grahame Chilton was named CEO of Arthur J. Gallagher’s UK-based international brokerage operations in February 2015, having worked in close partnership with Gallagher since December 2013 when reinsurance intermediary joint venture Capsicum Re was launched, led by Grahame as founding partner. He will continue in his role at Capsicum Re and also becomes a member of the senior leadership team of parent company Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Grahame has had a long and successful career spanning more than 30 years in the City. He was appointed as CEO of the Benfield Group in 1996, was part of the management team that led the buy-out of Benfield in 1998, and embarked on an expansion programme of organic growth and acquisitions that led to the company listing on the London Stock Exchange in 2003 and achieving a position in the FTSE 150. He also oversaw the successful sale of Benfield to Aon in 2008, subsequently becoming part of the Global Executive of Aon and ARS, Global Executive and Chairman of Aon Benfield, before transitioning out of the business in 2012. During his career as a reinsurance broker Chily has traded in non-marine, Marine and aviation reinsurance, motor, energy and direct retrocession business.
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About Gallagher: Gallagher is an international insurance brokerage and risk management services firm.
Mark Dennis
COO & CEO of Munich Reinsurance
Mark Dennis is Global COO and European CEO of Munich Re Digital Partners, with specific responsibility for the European business. He joined Munich Re in 2009, leading a global business change unit until May 2016 when he took up his current role. Digital Partners is a global business working with, and investing in, start-ups, digital verticals and the sharing economy, with the ambition of building a more engaging proposition for insurance customers. Prior to joining Munich Re, Mark held various interim roles in leading insurance businesses.
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About Munich Reinsurance: Munich Reinsurance is a risk management group that offers insurance and reinsurance.
Richard Counsell
CEO of Stable
Richard is a former Barclays Bank Technology Entrepreneur of the Year with over 15 years experience in software and farming. Stable came to life after their founder (and farmer’s son), completed a Nuffield Scholarship on the ‘Simplification of Price Risk Management’. An experienced technology entrepreneur, Richard has led companies in Chicago, Melbourne and London and is a previous winner of the Barclay’s Bank Entrepreneur of the Year.
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About Stable: Stable is a risk management platform that helps businesses around the world manage their exposure to volatile commodity prices.
Christen Ager-Hanssen
CEO of Custos Group
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About Custos Group: Custos creates a unique platform that targets world-beaters and tomorrow’s enterprising disruptive innovators.
David Vanek
Co-Founder and CEO of Anorak
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About Anorak, Kamet: Anorak offers a smart independent insurance adviser that gives people access to tailored advice about their life and their risks.
Simon Pearson
Deputy Chief Executive Officer of SCOR Global Life of Scor
Simon Pearson, a British citizen, is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries. After graduating in 1987 with an Honours degree in Economics from the University of York Simon started his actuarial career with a mid-sized UK mutual life insurer, NPI. Qualifying as an Actuary in 1992 Simon held a number of actuarial management positions covering pricing & product development, reserving, embedded value & financial reporting. Simon joined the UK life subsidiary of Gerling Global Re in 1999, becoming the Appointed Actuary in 2001. At the beginning of 2004 Simon became the CEO of the UK subsidiary of the newly established Revios. Upon the integration of Revios into SCOR he became a member of the SCOR Global Life senior management team at the end of 2006. In 2008 Simon was promoted to manage SGL’s Northern Europe region covering UK, Ireland and Scandinavia. In August 2011 Simon was appointed SGL Head of EMEAA covering Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific. In November 2014, he was appointed Deputy Chief Executive Officer of SCOR Global Life and CEO of SCOR Global Life Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA).
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About Scor: SCOR is a reinsurance company that provides financial solutions, analytics tools, and services to control and manage risk.
Matt Lilley
CEO Africa of Prudential PLC
Matt Lilley is CEO Africa at Prudential, leading the building of the company’s business across the continent. He has been at Prudential for five years, and was previously director of strategy, responsible for strategic planning, business development and M&A across the Group. Matt previously worked at Boston Consulting Group and Lehman Brothers and has a BA in maths and a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Cambridge University.
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About Prudential PLC: Prudential plc is an international financial services group with significant operations in Asia, the US and the UK.
Manish Maakan
Chief Executive Officer, Intellect Global Transaction Banking of Intellect Design Arena
Manish is the CEO of Intellect Global Transaction Banking (iGTB) business of Intellect Design Arena and is based out of London. In this role, he is responsible for driving worldwide Positioning, Sales and Implementation of Global Transaction Banking solutions. Manish joined Polaris 6 years ago from GE Money, India, where he was a CIO. Manish has an impressive career record spanning over 20 years, as a Business Leader and Technology Strategist in global financial institutions, Big 5 Consulting firms and Fortune 500 Majors. He has been a recipient of many prestigious awards during his career. Manish has successfully spearheaded the Retail Banking Products & Services Business for Polaris and has led multiple Financial Technology – Smart Legacy Modernization programs using L0 Frameworks & SOA based component architectures. Manish has a degree in Electronics Engineering from Walchand Institute of Technology
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About Intellect Design Arena: Intellect Design Arena Ltd, is a global leader in Financial Technology for Banking, Insurance and other Financial Services.
Andrew Yeoman
Co-Founder and CEO of Concirrus
Andy is the founding CEO of Concirrus and since then has led the company’s strategy to solve a problem in the insurance industry – how to harness the power of big data and artificial intelligence to improve loss ratios. Andy has driven the vision and product roadmap of the company built a solid customer base and reputation for the business. In 2019 Andy was voted the second most influential person Worldwide in Marine Insurance. Prior to Concirrus Andy had extensive experience in telematics, big data, and insurance in start-ups, turnarounds, and M&A. He’s passionate about discovering new business models that technology can unlock for the insurance market and their customers.
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About Concirrus: Concirrus support digital transformation of the specialty insurance industry using the latest developments in technology.
Laura Mason
CEO of Legal & General
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About Legal & General: Legal & General provides individual life assurance products and manages retirement risk for pension schemes.
Andrew Brooks
Chief Executive Officer of Ascot Underwriting
Andrew is Chief Executive Officer of Ascot Underwriting Ltd and a member of the Board. He joined Ascot at its inception in 2001 and was promoted to Chief Underwriting Officer in 2005 and Chief Executive Officer in 2008. Andrew began his career in the Lloyd’s market in 1985. He is heavily involved in promoting Lloyd’s in the UK and overseas and currently sits on the Lloyd’s Claims Implementation Board and the Lloyd’s Market Association Board. Andrew is ACII qualified.
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About Ascot Underwriting: Ascot Underwriting is a Lloyd’s of London syndicate and a leading global specialty insurance underwriter.
Louise Birritteri
CEO & Founder of Pikl
Louise Birritteri is the CEO and Founder of Pikl and also the Pricing Director of Heuristics Consulting Limited. Prior to joining Pikl, She was the Head of Pricing at The Co-operative Group and Sainsbury’s Bank. Louise received a bachelor science in Mathematics & Statistics and a master of science in Data Mining & Knowledge Discovery at the University of East Anglia.
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About Heuristics Consulting, Pikl: Pikl provides specialist Insurance for the Sharing Economy and “On Demand” Economy.
Freddy Macnamara
Chief Executive Officer & Founder of Cuvva
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About Cuvva: Radically better insurance, fit for the future.
Maurice Tulloch
CEO International of Aviva Group
Maurice joined Aviva in 1992 and is Chief Executive Officer International Insurance and Chairman of Global General Insurance. He has responsibility for Aviva’s insurance operations in France, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Turkey and India, to strengthen and increase focus on our international businesses. As Chairman of Global General Insurance Maurice is also responsible for leading Aviva’s general insurance businesses. Maurice joined the Board of Aviva plc as an Executive Director on 20 June 2017. He is also chairman of Global General Insurance with responsibility for leading Aviva’s largest general insurance business. Previously Maurice was chief executive officer of Aviva UK and Ireland General Insurance, the largest of Aviva’s general insurance businesses. Prior to that he was President and Chief Executive Officer of Aviva Canada, with responsibility for the strategic direction and operation of Canada’s second largest property and casualty insurer, and the second largest general insurance operation in the Group. Prior to that he was executive vice-president and chief operating officer, Aviva Ontario and specialty distribution and has held several senior management positions in the Group.
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About Aviva Group: Aviva is a British multinational insurance company headquartered in London.
Jon Morrell
CEO of Vast Visibility
Jon Morrell is the CEO at Vast Visibility.
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About Vast Visibility: Vast Visibility is a technology and online marketing company that is dedicated to the insurance industry.
Bundeep Singh Rangar
Chairman & CEO of PremFina
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About PremFina: PremFina is an innovative premium finance company providing insurance brokers with a high margin white-label premium finance solution.
Richard Chattock
Chief Executive Officer of Insurtech Gateway
Richard has 30 years insurance and reinsurance experience in London, Brussels and Bermuda. After serving as CEO for the Montpelier Syndicate, he has now turned his attention to the next generation of insurance businesses. With an extensive network and deep industry knowledge, Richard is able to guide our insurance newbies through uncharted territories.
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About Insurtech Gateway: The only FCA authorised independent incubator + fund, the Insurtech Gateway is the fastest place to build and launch an insurtech idea.
Kim Aviv
Founder & CEO of Pathfinder Software Limited
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About Pathfinder Software Limited: Pathfinder is an innovative career intelligence tool. Simplicity combined with the power and data quality of expensive financial platforms.
Michael Phair
Founder, Director & CEO of REG
REG’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Michael Phair, is a banking veteran with links to World Bank, N M Rothschild and UBS. Michael is a private equity investor with over 40 years’ experience in the financial markets.
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About REG: REG provides an intelligence, analytics, and risk management software to the global insurance and financial services market.
Andy Knott
Co-Founder and CEO of DeadHappy
Andy Knott is a co-founder at DeadHappy.
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About DeadHappy: DeadHappy is an insurtech company that provides digital pay-as-you-go life insurance services.
Tim Hardcastle
CEO and Co-Founder of Instanda
Tim is a highly experienced Board level CIO/COO in FTSE 100 and 250 businesses. His experience managing and leading technology-enabled business change and his determination to consistently exceed outcome expectations led him to lead the development of the entirely new business and service model that is INSTANDA.
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About Instanda: Instanda is a SaaS insurance software platform that allows insurance companies to build, configure, and launch products online.
Ed Leon Klinger
CEO of Flock Ltd.
Flock is a fully digital insurance company for connected and autonomous vehicles. We provide personalised, seamless insurance products for commercial motor fleets, enabling and incentivising proactive risk management. We achieve this by leveraging connected vehicle & contextual data to quantify road risk on a per-second, per-meter basis, providing our customers with risk insights and highly personalised pricing that reflect their real risk profile. With Flock, safer fleets pay less. We’re on a mission to make the world a safer, smarter place. — I graduated from Oxford University (M.Eng – Engineering, Economics and Management) where I specialised in High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) for brain cancer ablation. I graduated from Cambridge University (M.Phil – Technology Policy, Judge Business School), where I published papers for various academic think-tanks on the opportunities and risks of autonomous vehicles. I have past experience in Private Equity (The Blackstone Group), Technology Policy (Facebook Inc.), and have lived and worked in Asia, lecturing at Zhejiang University in China and at Hong Kong University.
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About Flock Ltd.: London-based insurtech building the world’s first fully digital insurance company for connected and autonomous commercial vehicles
Lynsey Cross
Chief Executive Officer of ANV Holdings
Lynsey Cross is ANV’s Chief Executive Officer. Working closely with the ANV Executive Leadership team, the ANV board and shareholders, she is responsible for the day to day running of the company. Lynsey joined ANV in 2013 as Chief of Staff. Prior to this, she held the role of Global Chief of Staff at Guy Carpenter, following her advances within the firm through executive and leadership roles in Human Resources. She has held other HR leadership and management roles in banking, investment and capital management for leading firms including Barclays. Lynsey is married and has four children.
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About ANV Holdings: ANV Holdings is an insurance and reinsurance company.
Dane Douetil
CEO of Minova Insurance
Dane joined the Group as Group Chief Executive Officer in September 2013. Dane, previously Chief Executive Officer of Brit Insurance Holdings NV, has more than 30 years of industry experience, covering broking and underwriting in insurance and reinsurance in both retail and wholesale environments. Prior to restructuring Benfield Re, which became Brit Insurance, he was a founding shareholder and director of specialist insurance broker Special Risk Services Limited, a business which was successfully built to become a highly profitable enterprise and was sold to Minets (now AON). Dane, who began his career at Willis, has deep roots in Lloyd’s and the London markets, having previously been Chairman of the Lloyd’s Market Association and of the London Market Reform Group. In 2007, Mr Douetil was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in recognition of the reform work undertaken in the UK insurance market.
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About Minova Insurance: Minova Insurance (formerly known as BMS Associates), a holding company that invests in the insurance sector.
David Howden
Chief Executive Officer of Hyperion Insurance Group
David started his career as a broker at Alexander Howden in 1981. He founded the Group in 1994 originally as a wholesale broker employing just three people. He has been the fundamental driving force behind its expansion into an international insurance group offering wholesale, retail and reinsurance broking, and underwriting. As Chief Executive, David’s focus is on leading the Group’s M&A activities as well as directing and implementing the Group’s strategic growth and direction.
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About Howden Broking Group, Hyperion Insurance Group: Hyperion is an international insurance intermediary group with insurance broking and underwriting agency arms.
Henri Winand
Co-Founder and CEO of AkinovA
Shorter bio: Entrepreneur, insurtech/fintech, new energy, angel investors Dr Henri Winand Co-founder & CEO AkinovA Short biography • Grew technology firm globally from 40 people to USD 1bn IPO • USD 200m+ capital raised • Intelligent Energy, CEO • Rolls-Royce plc, Vice President New Ventures (M&A) • PhD Materals Science (Cantab), MBA Full biography I am a growth and change oriented CEO with a passion for scaling up a broad set of technologies globally using different business models and team-based delivery. I now serve as CEO for AKINOVA Ltd. AKINOVA is an insurance technology company I co-founded with a specialist ILS (insurance linked securities and related insurance products) London based City fund manager. Prior to this, I served as CEO of a British tech company listed on the London Stock Exchange Main Market (Intelligent Energy, a $1bn tech IPO) with in excess of $250m raised from a broad range of sources, leading to strong top line growth, largely from internationally-based customers. I served on several Boards in the UK, Singapore, India, Japan and the US in the energy, software services, film contents publishing and automotive sectors. I also served on the Board of an EU funded €1bn+ public private tech partnership (PPP). I served on several advisory bodies to Ministers, Secretaries of State and Officials in the new energy, automotive and materials science sectors in the UK as well as on the Alumni Advisory Board of the Warwick Business School and of the University of Cambridge. I have more than a dozen patents granted and pending. I have several papers published in well-known, peer reviewed, scientific journals, topics including composite materials, neutron diffraction and processes to improve industrial product development cycles. I am regularly invited to speak at international conferences and spoke in the US Senate and French Sénat. I provide advice to selected major global institutional, venture capital and private equity funds. In addition to meeting several Heads of State including that of France, India and the UK over the last few years, I have made several appearances on live and recorded TV and Radio programmes (e.g. Live CNBC TV, Live Bloomberg TV, Live BBC Radio 4 “The Today Programme”, recorded BBC and other programmes, provided thought leadership and quoted articles in broadsheets, e-newspapers and The Huffington Post). I am married to Anne and we have one child, Alexander.
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About AkinovA: AkinovA: an electronic marketplace for the transfer and trading of (re)insurance risks.
Jonathan Pope
Chief Executive Officer & Co-founder of Corax
Former army Captain and Sandhurst graduate, Jonathan is an insurance industry thought leader and speaker, and has acted as a board level cyber risk advisor.
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About Corax: Cyber risk intelligence platform providing data and modelling on the cyber exposure of millions of companies worldwide.
Simon Riggs
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of 2ndQuadrant
Simon Riggs is the Founder and CEO of 2ndQuadrant. Simon has worked with enterprise-class database applications and uses his operational experience to contribute to many features of PostgreSQL’s internal design and usability. He is also co-author of the “PostgreSQL Administration Cookbook” series.
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About 2ndQuadrant: 2ndQuadrant provides solutions for mission critical PostgreSQL databases, ensuring high availability, backup & disaster recovery, & more.
Stepan Dobrovolskiy
CEO and Co-Founder of Mashroom
Stepan Dobrovolskiy is the CEO and Co-Founder at Mashroom.
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About Mashroom: Mashroom is a proptech startup that provides end-to-end property letting services to landlords and tenants.
Dylan Bourguignon
CEO of SO-SURE
Dylan Bourguignon Investor turned entrepreneur, Dylan was in strategy consulting and private equity before he left his job to rethink insurance for the consumers’ benefit. Frustrated by the insurance sector’s focus on profits rather than consumer needs, Dylan launched so-sure to disrupt the stagnant insurance industry. so-sure’s model provides its customers better and up to 80% cheaper insurance. Dylan has an MBA from Harvard, MEng from Bristol and a Diplome d’Ingenieur from ENSAM (France).
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About SO-SURE: SO-SURE provides insurance that delivers consumers with faster claims and also money back services.
Cameron Shearer
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Superscript
Cameron Shearer is the CEO and Co-Founder at Superscript.
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About Superscript: Superscript provides business insurance designed specifically to meet the fast-changing needs of small businesses.
Mark Musson
Founder & CEO of Humn.ai
Mark Musson is the Co-Founder and CEO at HUMN.ai.
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About Humn.ai: Humn.ai develops an insurance platform that delivers risk-adjusted insurance pricing in real time for commercial vehicle fleets.
Matt Poll
CEO & Co Founder of Neos
Matt is an experienced business leader with a passion for innovation. He has recently founded Neos (neos.co.uk), which is an InsureTech business that is focused on delivering smart home protection products and services Prior to this, he spent fifteen years in the Insurance industry working in the UK and US with AXA and RSA. His most recent corporate role was the Commercial Director for More Than (part of the RSA Group) which is one of the largest retail insurance brands in the UK. Whilst at More Than he also created and funded an Innovation Lab focused on combining emerging technology trends (including IoT) with more traditional insurance products to create and deliver customer centric solutions. Matt also has a strong affinity with social enterprise. He is a mentor for the School of Social Entrepreneurs and is an Advisory Board Member for the charity Seechangefilms (seechangefilms.org). Living just outside London, Matt is married with three young children and is heavily involved in sport in his spare time.
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About Neos: Neos is an insurance company that provides smart home technology and home insurance.
James Blackham
Founder & CEO of By Miles
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About By Miles: By Miles is reinventing car insurance – pay an annual cost to cover your car while it’s parked, then pay by the miles you drive each month.
Noah Jamal
Chief Executive Officer of Servca Group
Chief Executive Officer
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About Servca Group, VCAP Capital: Servca Group is an global (re)insurance group that provides non-standard healthcare, financial, and professional lines insurance.
Paweł Sieczkiewicz
Co Founder & CEO of Telemedi
Graduate of Warsaw University of Technology, experienced project manager (web/mobile apps), php programmer. Founder of an SSF software house. 2x champion of Poland in kickboxing.
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About Telemedi: Trusted partner in digital healthcare
Sammy Rubin
Founder & CEO of YuLife
Sammy Rubin is CEO at yu life
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About YuLife: YuLife is a provider of life insurance and policies providing income in the event of critical illness.
David Umbers
Chief Executive Officer of Ascent Underwriting
Co-founder in 2012 and responsible for all business operations. Prior to Ascent, David was senior partner at Lloyds broker Safeonline having organised their management buyout in 2006 and was instrumental in their rapid and profitable growth. He also has experience in working for larger organisations and spent 5 years at Willis where he developed a substantial book of US Professional Indemnity business.
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About Ascent Underwriting: Ascent is a specialist Managing General Agent underwritings.
Mark Nathan
CEO & Founder of Zipari
Mark is focused on making health insurance easier for consumers to understand and maintain. He’s worked in health insurance for the last twelve years of his 20 year career, and prior to Zipari was responsible for launching the cloud-based health insurance platform that became the Zipari platform. At Guardian Life, Mark was responsible for leading a $110M Customer Experience program modernizing Guardian’s health and dental insurance platforms. At Apple and NeXT, Mark led enterprise professional services sales for the Northeast Region. He completed his Electrical and Computer Engineering BS and MS studies at University of Colorado at Boulder, where he also worked for NASA’s Center for Space Construction
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About Zipari: Zipari is a company developing a customer experience platform designed specifically for health insurance.
James Buckley-Thorp
CEO – Co-Founder of Bequest
James Buckley-Thorp is the Co-Founder and CEO of Bequest.
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About Bequest: We’re building an advanced way for millions of people to protect themselves and their loved ones.
Graham Elliott
Co-Founder and CEO of Azur Group
Graham is the founder and CEO of Azur, a London-based MGA. He is also the Chairman of BrightTALK, a West Coast based technology company. Prior to starting Azur he was the MD of Aqua Underwriting and, before then, CEO of Oxygen Insurance Brokers. He was formerly Managing Director of Global Institutional Equity Sales for Prudential Equity Group in New York. He studied English Literature at Christ Church, Oxford.
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About Azur Group: Azur is a Managing Digital Agency (MDA), in partnership with AIG, one of the world’s largest and best-respected insurance companies.
Martin Wilson
CEO of The Right Mortgage
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About The Right Mortgage: The Right Mortgage is a completely independent Network for mortgage and protection brokers.
Richard Hartley
Co-founder & CEO of Cytora
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About Cytora: Cytora is a configurable platform that enables commercial insurers to create digital workflows by digitising, evaluating and routing risks.
Peter Thompson
CEO, Insurance Distribution & Outsourcing of BGL Group
Peter became Group Director in 2013, initially for Intermediated Businesses with his remit subsequently widening to include Legal Services. In 2016, our Legal Services business was sold and the division was renamed Insurance Distribution and Outsourcing (IDO). IDO includes Junction – BGL’s affinity business; life insurer Beagle Street; BGL’s own brand motor and home insurance businesses Budget and Dial Direct; and our customer engagement centres which are based in Peterborough, Sunderland and Wakefield. Peter joined BGL back in 2008 as Managing Director of Junction. Under his leadership, the business became the most successful affinity outsourcing intermediary in the UK with a customer base in excess of 2 million. Prior to this he spent 21 years in the UK insurance industry in both commercial and personal lines, including at Royal and SunAlliance where he was responsible for non-motor personal lines corporate partnerships, and HBOS where he was initially Head of Commercial Insurance and subsequently Managing Director of Partnerships. During his time at HBOS he served on the General Insurance Management Board and undertook a number of non-executive posts.
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About BGL Group: BGL Group digitally distributes insurance and financial products.
Niels Thone
Chief Executive Officer of Sprout.ai
Insurtech Entrepreneur
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About Sprout.ai: Sprout.ai, the advanced claims automation solution, harnessing the power of Contextual AI to revolutionise the insurance experience
Chris Hutchinson
Chief Executive Officer of Canopy
Christopher Hutchinson is the Chief Executive Officer at Canopy.
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About Canopy: Canopy is a financial health startup helping Renters build credit, save money, improve rental affordability and achieve financial freedom.
Aubone Tennant
CEO of Billforward
A focused and determined leader with a the ability to identify and execute key strategic objectives and a track record of building, motivating and developing outstanding teams to deliver the strategy. Key areas of expertise include sales and marketing, corporate finance, business development and strategic partnerships. An in-depth understanding of the fixed and mobile data connectivity market in the UK with a particular focus on business Network as a Service (NaaS) and consumer Pay as you Go (PAYG) offerings in both public and private sector.
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About Billforward: Billforward develops and sells cloud based unified billing applications for businesses in the United States.
Stuart Cheetham
Chief Executive Officer of Spring Financial Group
Stuart Cheetham has been serving as Chief Executive Officer at Spring Financial Group since May 1, 2016.
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About MQube, Spring Financial Group: Spring Financial Group is set to transform the way people in the UK get a mortgage.
Tim Slesinger
Founder & CEO of LendingWell
Tim Slesinger is Founder & CEO at OSG Records Management
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About easyStorage, LendingWell: LendingWell is the single platform p2p investment partner.
Andrew Burke
Chief Executive Officer of DAS UK Group
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About DAS UK Group: DAS UK Group has been helping businesses and individuals get access to justice.
Natasha Homer-Earley
Founder CEO of Gujiwo
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About Gujiwo: Financial Identity Marketplace for Asia
Mark Roberts
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Lightfoot
Mark Roberts is a Founder and CEO at Lightfoot and Ashwoods Electric Motors.
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About Ashwoods Electric Motors, Lightfoot: Lightfoot is a fresh, vibrant, and highly innovative cleantech engineering company.
Flemming Bengtsen
CEO of Nimbla
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About Nimbla: Nimbla is dedicated to providing small and medium-sized UK businesses with dynamic invoice insurance.
Goncalo de Vasconcelos
Founder and CEO of Rnwl
A serial entrepreneur himself, Gonçalo is only too aware of the long path leading to a successful funding round. In September 2011 Gonçalo graduated with an MBA from Judge Business School, University of Cambridge where he was awarded the ‘Best Dissertation’ prize and the Benavitch Scholarship for academic and professional achievements. His past experience has shown him that often entrepreneurs have to spend too much time chasing investors instead of focusing on the most important part of their business: their customers. He has a vision of how to help great entrepreneurs to fulfil their dreams and that vision is called “SyndicateRoom”. He is passionate about giving the crowd access to the top deals into which experienced business angels are investing their own money. This is what drives his vision for SyndicateRoom. Gonçalo is also a contributor for Forbes, writing regularly about equity crowdfunding, business angel investment and venture capital investment and speaks regularly at public events about the same themes. In his spare time Gonçalo cycles long distances to raise money for charities (his last ride was from Cambridge to Paris), plays tennis and, when in warmer climates, sails with his wife whenever there is half a chance.
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About Fund Twenty8, Rnwl: Rnwl is an over-the-top insurance platform making insurance simple for consumers. Insurtech.
David Stubbs
Founder and CEO of RightIndem
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About RightIndem: RightIndem is a white-label insurance claims platform, that works with insurers to enhance claimant’s customer experiences.
Mike Joseph
CEO of Right Choice Insurance Brokers
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About Right Choice Holdings, Right Choice Insurance Brokers: A UK-based motor insurance broker .
David Walsh
Founder & Chief Executive Officer of CFC Underwriting
David Walsh has a spring in his step today as he greets Insurance Times with a smile. The managing director of CFC Underwriting is on the up having led a management buy-out (MBO) from Hyperion. As a show of faith in his managerial ability, just under half the staff bought shares in the business as part of the MBO. Walsh is keen to talk about the MBO and what it means for his cyber specialist business, based in Gracechurch Street at the heart of the London insurance market. First though, a bit more about Walsh, who is making his first appearance in Insurance Times.
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About CFC Underwriting: CFC Underwriting is the largest independent specialty MGA in the UK.
Michael Brockman
CEO of ThingCo
Mike Brockman is the founder and chief executive of Insure The Box, a UK telematics insurer whose majority shareholding was acquired by Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance Europe in 2015. A self-confessed rebel, he started the venture in 2009 in the midst of the recession, against the advice of others. But with an extensive career in motor insurance and prior experience of setting up companies, if anyone could make it happen, he could.
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About ThingCo: Telematics, Cars, IoT, SaaS, Insurance, ADAS, Intelligent voice,Automotive
Majed Chaaraoui
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Insurami
Majed Chaaraoui and Arnor K. Davidsson founded Insurami in 2018, since which Majed has been serving as its Chief Executive Officer.
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About Entrepreneur First, Insurami: Insurami offers a deposit guarantee platform for commercial real estate
Lennart Asshoff
CEO of Nucoro
After years working at one of Europe’s largest quantitative asset management firms, developing made-to-measure investment portfolios for institutional clients and UHNWIs, Lennart became the driving force behind Exo Investing. Exo is the first AI-powered wealth manager, delivering tailored portfolios and individual risk management to retail investors in the UK. Lennart graduated with an MSc in Investment Management from Cass Business School and is a CFA Charterholder.
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About Nucoro: Nucoro enables financial institutions to build digital savings, investment and wealth management propositions at speed and scale.
Cristiano Pizzocheri
Co-Founder and CEO of SafeShare
Cristiano has more than 12 years experience in the Insurance Industry and particularly in the London Market, placing a multitude of products in Lloyd’s and Company Markets. He has been instrumental in developing Special Risks Insurance Brokers and is an advisory consultant to leading insurance players for expansion into new markets. He has expertise in both Direct and Reinsurance business. With Z/Yen he co-founded Insenter, an innovative insurance platform and community network. He holds a Masters in Economic Science from Switzerland and has worked in Italy, Switzerland, USA and the UK.
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About SafeShare: SafeShare is an insurance business for the sharing economy industry.
Jimmy Williams
Co-founder & CEO of Urban Jungle
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About Urban Jungle: Urban Jungle provides an insurance technology to help young people get cheaper, better home insurance.
Waleed Sarwar
CEO of CoVi Analytics
Waleed Sarwar joined CoVi Analytics as CEO in 2015.
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About CoVi Analytics, RegNut: Productivity solutions for regulated firms, reducing compliance effort & freeing staff to focus on business.
Nikolaus Suehr
CEO & Founder of Kasko
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About Kasko: Kasko is an insurance distribution network that allows you to quickly and easily integrate insurance products into a site, service, or app.
Nektarios Liolios
Co-Founder and CEO of Startupbootcamp InsurTech London
Co-founder & Managing Director of Startupbootcamp FinTech, the leading innovation program in the financial industry, providing funding, mentorship, office space in the heart of London and access to a global network of investors and VCs, for up to 10 selected FinTech startups. More than 15 years in the business, they last three with Innotribe, SWIFT’s initiative to enable collaborative innovation and running the Innotribe Startup Challenge. Driven by entrepreneurship, collaboration and the desire to transform the financial industry. Global nomad, travel geek, sneaker freaker.
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About Startupbootcamp FinTech Singapore, Startupbootcamp InsurTech London: Startupbootcamp InsurTech is the leading accelerator focused on insurance innovation.
Simon Phelan
Co-Founder and CEO of Hometree
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About Hometree: Hometree exists to make home ownership simple & sustainable
Mark Eastham
CEO of Avantia
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About Avantia: Avantia mission to make insurance available to everybody, not just those whose risks are easy to price.
Janthana Kaenprakhamroy
CEO of Tapoly on demand insurance
Through her own experience of trying to purchase the right insurance easily and affordably when letting out her spare room through Airbnb, it highlighted the need for change within the insurance sector. Nothing appeared to be tailored to the sharing economy. Tapoly was created from Janthana’s vision to make sure that everyone in the sharing economy can get access to a comprehensive insurance solution at a fair price.
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About Tapoly on demand insurance: On demand insurance for freelancers, contractors and SMEs, and everyone else in the sharing economy and the gig economy.
Greg Miller
Managing Partner and CEO of Holborn Assets
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About Holborn Assets: Holborn Assets is an independently owned global financial advisory group based in the UAE.
John Warburton
Co-Founder & CEO of Konsileo
Founder at Konsileo, a tech startup in insurance broking.
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About Insurtech UK, Konsileo: Konsileo is a commercial insurance broker using technology to empower individuals and replace hierarchical management.
Bob Skerrett
CEO, IMS, Insurance Division of IMS – Part of Trak Global Group
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About IMS – Part of Trak Global Group: IMS (Insurance & Mobility Solutions) is a global provider of connected car solutions, services, and analytics.
David McDonald
Co-founder and Co-CEO of Acturis
David McDonald is co-founder and co-CEO of the Acturis Group. Along with Theo, he has led the growth of the Acturis UK business and the development of our international strategy. Prior to Acturis, David spent 10 years at McKinsey & Company as Partner in London and New York and he led the development of McKinsey’s e-Commerce practice. Before joining McKinsey, David qualified as a CA and received an MBA with distinction from INSEAD in 1990.
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About Acturis: Acturis is a Software as a Service provider to the insurance industry.
Theo Duchen
Co-founder and Co-CEO of Acturis
Theo is co-founder and co-CEO of the Acturis Group. He was previously a partner at McKinsey & Company, having joined McKinsey in 1991 and becoming a partner in 1997. He led McKinsey’s general insurance practice in the UK and was a member of McKinsey’s European insurance leadership group. Theo is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.
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About Acturis: Acturis is a Software as a Service provider to the insurance industry.
Michael Trounce
Founder & CEO of Trounceflow
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About Trounceflow: Tech-centred professional services firm helping financial market professionals with data and insight on flows and positions in EMD/FX
Ian Watson
Joint Chief Executive Officer of Hansteen Holdings PLC
Ian Watson has been Joint Chief Executive of Hansteen since incorporation in 2005. Ian qualified as a solicitor with Gouldens and was a Founder Director and Joint Chief Executive of Ashtenne Holdings PLC from 1989 to 2005.
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About Hansteen Holdings PLC: Hansteen Holdings PLC industrial REIT that invests in properties.
Morgan Jones
Joint Chief Executive Officer of Hansteen Holdings PLC
Morgan Jones has been Joint Chief Executive of Hansteen since incorporation in 2005. Morgan qualified as a chartered accountant with Touche Ross and was a Founder Director and Joint Chief Executive of Ashtenne Holdings PLC from 1989 to 2005.
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About Hansteen Holdings PLC: Hansteen Holdings PLC industrial REIT that invests in properties.
Ben Grech
Chief Executive Officer of Reposit
Ben Grech is a Co-Founder and Non-Executive Chairman at Uniplaces. He is also the CEO of Reposit.
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About Reposit, Uniplaces: The tenancy deposit alternative. A new way of renting without the hassle of a deposit
Charles Smith
CEO of Collision Management Systems
Charles is the founder and driving force behind CMS taking it from concept to successful funding and sales success. His technical background and work in fleet and insurance sectors has given him a deep knowledge of telematics and vehicle data, along with an unprejudiced take on the claims environment. This provides him with a unique understanding of how digital transformation will reshape future commercial models and services.
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About Collision Management Systems: Democratising access to corporate and sensor data to make the world safer
Tim Berry
Co-Founder & CEO of Inzurer
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About Inzurer: Insurance advisory and sales with AI Chat Bot, automatic underwriting and pricing, and data analysis
Adam Rimmer
Co-founder & CEO of FloodFlash
Adam Rimmer is the Co-founderand CEO at FloodFlash.
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About FloodFlash: FloodFlash is an insurance technology company that provides parametric flood insurance to the mass market.
Marc Schechter
Chief Executive Officer of Schechter Wealth
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About Schechter Wealth: Schechter is a boutique, third-generation wealth advisory and financial services firm.
Ryan Jones
CEO of ThreatInformer
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About ThreatInformer: ThreatInformer provide advanced security metrics tailored for cyber insurance underwriters.
Leanne Kemp
Founder & CEO of Everledger
Leanne Kemp is the Founder & CEO of Everledger, a leading emerging technology enterprise that tracks the provenance of high-value assets on a global digital ledger in an authenticated immutable manner. Using her extensive background in emerging technology, business, jewellery and insurance, Leanne is pushing boundaries with Everledger in building a global verification system that asserts transparency along the entire supply chain process. This enables the tracking and protection of high-value assets, consequently mitigating risk and fraud in global marketplaces. Her leadership role in technology has been recognised, winning awards including Innovator of the Year 2018 at the Women in IT Awards (London) as well as being named in UK Business Insider’s 26 Coolest Women in UK Tech 2016 and Brummell Magazine’s Top 30 Female Innovators 2016 in Brummell Magazine. She has also been named an IBM Champion for 2018. Leanne is an appointed member of the World Economic Forum’s Blockchain Council and a Co-Chair for the World Trade Board’s Sustainable Trade Action Group. She is also on the IBM Blockchain Platform Board of Advisors.
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About Everledger: Everledger provides an immutable ledger for diamond and other asset ownership and related supply chain history.
Josif Grace
Founder & CEO of Legado
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About Legado: Securely and easily organise, store and share your most important documents, files, wishes and memories.
Megan Bingham-Walker
Co-founder & CEO of Anansi
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About Anansi: Zero-admin insurance for e-commerce businesses
Dan Saulter
Group CEO of Davies Group
Dan joined Davies in 2013 having spent five years at Towergate Insurance in various senior leadership roles including as Divisional CEO, and Group M&A Director. A Chartered Accountant, Dan trained with KPMG in London, working in the firm’s consulting and M&A businesses before moving to advisory firm Pannell Kerr Forster (now BDO) as a Director in their M&A practice. Prior to this Dan worked internationally with Shell Group.
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About Davies Group: Davies Group is a provider of insurance claims service for insurers, reinsurers, and brokers.
Richard Jelbert
Founder and CEO of Inzura
Richard is an industry expert on the use telematics and mobile Apps in motor insurance. Richard has been working closely with a range of broker, direct insurers and other technology providers to build next generation mobile centric Apps that support whole lifecycle customer journeys. Working closely with Autoline, Richard and Inzura have developed the ChilliDrive Young Driver insurance App and social platform. Previously Richard was the Founder and CTO of MyDrive Solutions, a telematics service provider, and CEO of Vzzual Ltd the app-based photo analysis business for insurers.
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About Inzura: Inzura’s customer engagement Apps and cloud-based services cover the major personal insurance lines.
Mark Gorski
Co-Founder & CEO of Sports Data Labs, Inc.
Mark is Co-Founder & CEO of Sports Data Labs, Inc., an AI and monetization platform unlocking the value of sensor-based health data.
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About Sports Data Labs, Inc.: Sports Data Labs, Inc. (SD Labs) is a venture-backed, award-winning leader in collection, analysis and distribution of real-time Human Data from on-body sensors and other sensing systems.
Elettra Bianchi Dennerlein
Founder & co-CEO of My Online Therapy
Elettra Bianchi Dennerlein is the Founder and co-CEO at My Online Therapy.
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About My Online Therapy: MyOnlineTherapy, a mobile mental health company, is the first of its kind virtual psychology clinic.
Michel Gauer
Co-Founder & CEO, Investment Management of Balance Re
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About Balance Re: Balance Re is the life reinsurance startup specialized in quantitative asset-liability management.
Lucian Rautu
Co-Founder & CEO, Reinsurance of Balance Re
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About Balance Re: Balance Re is the life reinsurance startup specialized in quantitative asset-liability management.
Neil Walton
Chief Executive Officer of Centor Insurance and Risk Management
After joining Centor as head of the Commercial division, Neil progressed to Managing Director and was instrumental in a management buyout in 1998. He is Centor’s majority shareholder and has been responsible for overseeing a threefold increase in the size of the business. He enjoys golf, sailing and all motor sports.
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About Centor Insurance and Risk Management: Centor is an insurance and risk management solutions provider.
Peter Blanc
Group CEO of AstonLark
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About AstonLark: AstonLark is an Industry leading and completely independent insurance broker.
Peter Blanc
Group CEO of AstonLark
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About AstonLark: AstonLark is an Industry leading and completely independent insurance broker.
Petko Karamotchev
CEO of INDUSTRIA Technology
One of the founders of the enterprise blockchain/DLT consultancy and development company INDUSTRIA.tech, Petko Karamotchev has 20 years of experience in the financial services and the enterprise IT. Holds degrees from University of Portsmouth, UK and Cotrugli Business School, Croatia. Free market advocate and part-time social theorist.
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About : INDUSTRIA creates enterprise blockchain, confidential computing, process automation, and digital experience solutions.
Paul Williams
Chief Executive Officer of Ripe Thinking
Paul Williams is the chief executive officer at Ripe Thinking. Prior to joining Ripe Thinking, Paul served as the managing director at Thistle Insurance Services.
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About Ripe Thinking: Ripe Thinking is a provider of niche insurance in the United Kingdom.
Matthew Clark
CEO of TCP LifeSystems
Matthew has worked in IT for the Life and Pensions insurance industry for forty years, the first fifteen of which were at a London based Insurance company. During his time there in IT Matthew became an internal consultant to the business and managed the implementation of several strategic enterprise projects including the first computerisation and automation of 300 branch offices servicing over 3,500 agents. In 1989, recognising the potential opportunities created by increased regulation and the acceptance of personal computer networks, Matthew founded TCP LifeSystems. As CEO, Matthew has been responsible for strategy and the financial management of TCP, as well as having a personal involvement with TCP’s clients and overseeing the development and direction of TCP’s product suite.
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About TCP LifeSystems: TCP LifeSystems is a specialist in insurance software systems.
Clive Nathan
CEO, Underwriting of Global Risk Partners
Clive Nathan is the CEO, Underwriting at Global Risk Partners.
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About Global Risk Partners: Global Risk Partners is an investment vehicle aimed at insurance brokers and managing general agents trading in the UK retail and global.
Mike Bruce
CEO Broking of Global Risk Partners
Mike Bruce is the CEO Broking at Global Risk Partners Limited.
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About Global Risk Partners: Global Risk Partners is an investment vehicle aimed at insurance brokers and managing general agents trading in the UK retail and global.
