António Guterres, the ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations, took office on 1st January 2017.

Having witnessed the suffering of the most vulnerable people on earth, in refugee camps and in war zones, the Secretary-General is determined to make human dignity the core of his work, and to serve as a peace broker, a bridge-builder and a promoter of reform and innovation.

Prior to his appointment as Secretary-General, Mr. Guterres served as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from June 2005 to December 2015,  heading one of the world’s foremost humanitarian organizations during some of the most serious displacement crises in decades. The conflicts in Syria and Iraq, and the crises in South Sudan, the Central African Republic and Yemen, led to a huge rise in UNHCR’s activities as the number of people displaced by conflict and persecution rose from 38 million in 2005 to over 60 million in 2015.

Before joining UNHCR, Mr. Guterres spent more than 20 years in government and public service. He served as prime minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002, during which time he was heavily involved in the international effort to resolve the crisis in East Timor.

As president of the European Council in early 2000, he led the adoption of the Lisbon Agenda for growth and jobs, and co-chaired the first European Union-Africa summit. He was a member of the Portuguese Council of State from 1991 to 2002.

Mr. Guterres was elected to the Portuguese Parliament in 1976 where he served as a member for 17 years. During that time, he chaired the Parliamentary Committee for Economy, Finance and Planning, and later the Parliamentary Committee for Territorial Administration, Municipalities and Environment. He was also leader of his party’s parliamentary group.

From 1981 to 1983, Mr. Guterres was a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, where he chaired the Committee on Demography, Migration and Refugees.

For many years Mr. Guterres was active in the Socialist International, a worldwide organization of social democratic political parties. He was the group’s vice-president from 1992 to 1999, co-chairing the African Committee and later the Development Committee. He served as President from 1999 until mid-2005. In addition, he founded the Portuguese Refugee Council as well as the Portuguese Consumers Association DECO, and served as president of the Centro de Acção Social Universitário, an association carrying out social development projects in poor neighbourhoods of Lisbon, in the early 1970s.

Mr. Guterres is a member of the Club of Madrid, a leadership alliance of democratic former presidents and prime ministers from around the world.

Mr. Guterres was born in Lisbon in 1949 and graduated from the Instituto Superior Técnico with a degree in engineering. He is fluent in Portuguese, English, French and Spanish. He is married to Catarina de Almeida Vaz Pinto, Deputy Mayor for Culture of Lisbon, and has two children, a stepson and three grandchildren.

Kristalina Georgieva currently serves as Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, a position she was selected for on September 25, 2019 and has served as since October 1, 2019.

Before joining the Fund, Ms. Georgieva was CEO of the World Bank from January 2017 to September 2019, during which time she also served as Interim President of the World Bank Group for three months.

Previously, Ms. Georgieva helped shape the agenda of the European Union while serving as European Commission Vice President for Budget and Human Resources. In this capacity she oversaw the EU’s €161 billion (US $175bn) budget and 33,000 staff, as well as the EU’s response to the Euro Area debt crisis and the 2015 refugee crisis. Before that, she was Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, managing one of the world’s largest humanitarian aid budgets.

Ms. Georgieva began her career in public service at the World Bank as an environmental economist in 1993. After serving for 17 years, and in many senior positions, including Director for Sustainable Development, Director for the Russian Federation, Director for Environment, and Director for Environment and Social Development for the East Asia and Pacific Region, her career culminated in her appointment as Vice President and Corporate Secretary in 2008. In this role, she served as the interlocutor between the World Bank Group’s senior management, its Board of Directors, and its shareholder countries.

Ms. Georgieva serves on many international panels including as co-Chair of the Global Commission on Adaptation, and as co-chair of the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Humanitarian Financing. She has authored and co-authored over 100 publications on environmental and economic policy, including textbooks on macro- and microeconomics.

Born in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 1953, Ms. Georgieva holds a Ph.D in Economic Science and a M.A. in Political Economy and Sociology from the University of National and World Economy, Sofia, where she was an Associate Professor between 1977 and 1993. During her academic career, she was visiting fellow at the London School of Economics and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In 2010, she was named “European of the Year” and “Commissioner of the Year” by European Voice in recognition for her leadership in the EU’s response to humanitarian crises. In October 2020, she received the Atlantic Council’s Distinguished International Leadership Award in acknowledgement of exceptional and distinctive contributions during her career of public service.

Mr. Denis Duverne is a graduate of the École des Hautes Études Commerciales (HEC). After graduating from the École Nationale d’Administration (ENA), he started his career in 1979 at the Tax Department of the French Ministry of Finance, and after 2 years as commercial counsellor for the French Consulate General in New York (1984-1986), he became director of the Corporate Taxes Department and then responsible for tax policy within the French Ministry of Finance from 1986 to 1991.

In 1991, he was appointed Corporate Secretary of Compagnie Financière IBI. In 1992, he became a member of the Executive Committee of Banque Colbert, in charge of operations. In 1995, Mr. Denis Duverne joined the AXA Group and assumed responsibility for supervision of AXA’s operations in the US and the UK and managed the reorganization of AXA companies in Belgium and the United Kingdom. From February 2003 until December 2009, Mr. Denis Duverne was the Management Board member in charge of Finance, Control and Strategy. From January 2010 until April 2010, Mr. Denis Duverne assumed broader responsibilities as Management Board member in charge of Finance, Strategy and Operations. From April 2010 to August 31, 2016, Mr. Denis Duverne was director and Deputy Chief Executive Off icer of AXA, in charge of Finance, Strategy and Operations. Mid-2014, Mr. Denis Duverne became a member of the Private Sector Advisory Group (PSAG), which brings together international leaders of the private sector whose shared goal is to help developing countries improve their corporate governance, co-founded in 1999 by the World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Since September 1, 2016, Mr. Denis Duverne has been non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of AXA. Since September 2018, he has been Chairman of the Insurance Development Forum (IDF). The IDF is a public-private partnership led by the insurance industry and supported by the World Bank and the United Nations, aiming to enhance the use of insurance to build greater resilience against disasters and to help achieve the United Nations Global 2030 Agenda.

David R. Malpass was selected as 13th President of the World Bank Group by its Board of Executive Directors on April 5, 2019.  His five-year term began on April 9.

Mr. Malpass previously served as Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs for the United States.  Mr. Malpass represented the United States in international settings, including the G-7 and G-20 Deputy Finance Ministerial, World Bank–IMF Spring and Annual Meetings, and meetings of the Financial Stability Board, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. 

In 2018, Mr. Malpass advocated for the capital increase for the IBRD and IFC as part of a reform agenda featuring sustainable lending practices, more efficient use of capital, and a focus on raising living standards in poor countries.  He was also instrumental in advancing the Debt Transparency Initiative, adopted by the Bank Group and the IMF, to increase public disclosure of debt and thereby reduce the frequency and severity of debt crises.       

Before joining the U.S. Treasury, Mr. Malpass was an international economist and founder of a macroeconomics research firm based in New York City.  He served as chief economist of Bear Stearns and conducted financial analyses of countries around the world.

Previously, Mr. Malpass served as the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Developing Nations and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Latin American Economic Affairs.  He focused on an array of foreign policy and development issues, including U.S. involvement in multilateral institutions; the Bank Group’s 1988 capital increase, which supported the creation of the Bank’s environment division; the Enterprise for the America’s Initiative; and Brady bonds to address the Latin American debt crisis. He also served as Senior Analyst for Taxes and Trade at the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, and as Staff Director of the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress.

Mr. Malpass has served on the boards of the Council of the Americas, Economic Club of New York, National Committee on U.S.–China Relations, Manhattan Institute, and Gary Klinsky Children’s Centers, as well as various for-profit entities.  He is the author of numerous articles on economic development.

Mr. Malpass earned his bachelor’s degree from Colorado College and his MBA from the University of Denver.  He was a CPA and undertook advanced graduate work in international economics at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and has studied Spanish, Russian, and French. 

Mr. Malpass and wife Adele Malpass, a journalist, live in Washington, D.C. They have four children and share a strong family interest in development issues.

Achim Steiner became UNDP Administrator on 19 June 2017 and will serve for a term of four years. The United Nations General Assembly confirmed his nomination on 19 April 2017, following his nomination by Secretary-General António Guterres.

Mr. Steiner is also the Vice-Chair of the UN Development Group, which unites the 32 UN funds, programmes, specialized agencies and other bodies that work to support sustainable development.

Over nearly three decades, Achim Steiner has been a global leader on sustainable development, climate resilience and international cooperation. He has worked tirelessly to champion sustainability, economic growth and equality for the vulnerable, and has been a vocal advocate for the Sustainable Development Goals.

Prior to joining UNDP, he was Director of the Oxford Martin School and Professorial Fellow of Balliol College, University of Oxford. Mr Steiner has served across the United Nations system, looking at global challenges from both a humanitarian and a development perspective. He led the United Nations Environment Programme (2006-2016), helping governments invest in clean technologies and renewable energy. He was also Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi. Achim Steiner previously held other notable positions including Director General of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, and Secretary General of the World Commission on Dams.

Achim Steiner has lived and worked in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Latin America and the United States. He graduated in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (MA) from Worcester College, Oxford University and holds an MA from the University of London/School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

Michel Liès has been Chairman of Zurich Insurance since April 2018. He has deep experience of the insurance sector, having spent over 4 decades with Swiss Re – including as Group CEO from 2012 until his retirement from the company in 2016. He describes global insurance as his ‘love at first sight’, combining his Mathematics education -gained in France and ETH Zurich – and the excitement of international business. 

Originally from Luxembourg, Mr Liès has a passionately international outlook, speaks six languages and has lived and worked in many different parts of the world. He started his professional career in charge of the financial department of an industrial company in Brazil. He then joined Swiss Re, which took him across Latin America and Europe. Later, he took an ambassadorial role as Chairman of Swiss Re Global Partnerships. This involved cultivating long-term relationships with public and third sector stakeholders globally to jointly find solutions for global risks and insurance inclusion in developing countries. He also served as Chairman of the Global Reinsurance Forum.

Today, Mr Liès continues to shape the insurance sector’s strategic direction, and is a vocal proponent of its role in addressing Sustainability challenges. He is a member of the Institute of International Finance Board, European Financial Services Roundtable, World Economic Forum Community of Chairmen and the Insurance Development Forum’s Steering Group. Beside a passion for theater and history, Mr Liès is also actively engaged in Swiss cultural and societal issues, including as Board member of the Lucerne Festival Board, SIAF and Avenir Suisse.

He is married and has two children and two grand-children.

H.E. Mr Alfred Alfred, Jr. is the Minister of Finance from the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), a Troika member of the Vulnerable Group of Twenty (V20) Ministers of Finance and a Co-Chair of the InsuResilience High Level Consultative Group.  He was previously the deputy chief of mission/minister counselor at the RMI’s Japan Embassy and previously the Minister of Resources and Development.

Dr. Maria Flachsbarth is Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development since March 2018. From the end of 2013 to March 2018, she served as Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture. From 2009 to 2013, she chaired a Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry on the envisaged radioactive waste disposal facility at Gorleben, and was the special representative for churches and religious communities of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. From 2002 to 2013, she served on the Parliamentary Committee on the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. Maria Flachsbarth pursued combined doctoral and postgraduate studies at the University of Veterinary Medicine (TiHo), where she received her doctorate in 1990.

Alderman William Russell took office as the 692nd Lord Mayor of the City of London on 8th November 2019. He served as a Sheriff of the City of London in 2016-17 and, in that capacity, supported the then Lord Mayor, undertaking numerous visits and official functions. On 30th September 2020 William was elected to serve a further year in office, to provide continuity of civic governance during the Coronavirus emergency. His second term began on 13 November 2020.

His mayoral theme for his time in office is “Global UK – The New Future”, supporting businesses through the COVID19 crisis, speeding the recovery and seizing the opportunities of the new future.

William has over thirty years’ experience in the financial and business City including holding senior positions in the national and international Banking sector. In 1987 he went to work for First Boston Corporation before joining Merrill Lynch in 1992 as an Investment Banker in Institutional Equity Sales, working in Asia, New York and London. William is currently Chair of CDAM, a London based Asset Management business and Senior Advisor to STJ Advisors.

William served on the Board of Innovate Finance, the industry body for the UK based Fintech community and is also an educational entrepreneur, as the co-Founder and Chair of Knightsbridge School and a Director of Knightsbridge School International (KSI). William is a member of the Campaign Board for Durham Inspired, a landmark philanthropic campaign focused on ensuring Durham remains at the forefront of learning, research and education for generations to come.

Alderman Russell has a number of charitable interests; he has served as Chair of the Development Board of the Royal Court Theatre, he is a Board Member of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and is on the Council of the Royal Theatrical Support Trust. He is immediate past Chair of Prostate Cancer UK and is currently Deputy Chair of Place2Be, a children’s mental health charity. As of July 2019 he is a member of the Barbican Centre Board.

William was elected Alderman for the Ward of Bread Street in March 2013 and has since served on a number of the City of London Corporation Committees including the Policy and Resources Committee and the Education Board. William is also a Governor of the City of London School for Girls and is a past Governor of the Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Girls, Adams Grammar School and Abraham Darby Academy.

William is a Court Assistant to both the Haberdashers’ and the Feltmakers’ Livery Companies, as well as an Honorary Liveryman of the Paviors’ Company.

Alderman Russell was born in London in 1965 and was educated at Eton College and Durham University. He is married to Hilary who also went to Durham University. They have four children: Edward (27), Nicholas (24), Alistair (22) and Helena (17). His interests include cricket, tennis, rugby and the theatre. William has a strong family history with the City of London. He is the fifth member of his family to be Lord Mayor in the past 110 years. His grandfather, Sir Ian Bowater, was Lord Mayor exactly 50 years ago from 1969 to 1970 and his great grandfather, Sir Frank Bowater, was Lord Mayor from 1938 to 1939.

Since 2007, Commissioner Kreidler has chaired the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' Climate Risk and Resilience Work Group. He led a successful push for insurers to disclose how they are preparing for the potential risks associated with climate change. The focus is on how investment portfolios may affect an insurer’s ability to offer protection to consumers and help their communities become more resilient.

Commissioner Kreidler has a long history of public service. He served 16 years in the Washington state Legislature, was later elected to the U.S. Congress and served two years as Regional Director for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the Pacific Northwest. He practiced optometry for 20 years in Olympia, Washington, and retired from the Army Reserves as a lieutenant colonel after 20 years.

Albert A. Benchimol was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of AXIS Capital Holdings Limited in May 2012 and has served as a director since January 2012. Mr. Benchimol joined the Company as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in January 2011.

He formerly served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of PartnerRe Ltd. from April 2000 through September 2010, and Chief Executive Officer of PartnerRe Ltd.’s Capital Markets Group business unit from June 2007 through September 2010. Prior to joining PartnerRe, Mr. Benchimol was Senior Vice President and Treasurer at Reliance Group Holdings, Inc. for 11 years and was previously with the Bank of Montreal from 1982 to 1989.  In January 2019, Mr. Benchimol assumed the role as Chair of the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers, after serving as Vice-Chair from 2017 through 2018, and in February 2019, he was appointed as an External Member of the Council of Lloyd’s.

Economist from the distinguished University of Engineering (Peru) and Master in Economic Policy from the William College (United States) with recognized trajectory in macroeconomics, finance and risks.

Mr. Contreras has accumulated valuable experience during more than fourteen years in the public sector in topics related to monetary policy, fiscal policy, economic activity, projection of macroeconomic variables, simulation and development of macroeconomic models and elaboration of statistics and monetary policy proposals.

Consequently, he has led teams in important departments of the Central Reserve Bank of Peru and has published several articles in national and international journals about monetary policy, finance system, banking regulation, risks and the real sector of the economy.

Furthermore, he has been a professor at main universities in the country, in topics such as Macroeconomics, Macroeconometrics, Monetary Theory, Statistics and Econometrics.

He currently holds the position of General Director of Macroeconomic Policy and Fiscal Decentralization at the Ministry of Economy and Finance in Peru.

Since January 2017 Head of InsuResilience Secretariat supporting the V20-G20 led InsuResilience Global Partnership in its goal to foster climate and disaster risk finance and insurance.

From 2010 to 2016 Head of Department “Corporate Responsibility” of Munich Re Group in charge of set up and implementation of the Corporate Responsibility Strategy. She also chaired the UN Environment Finance Initiative’s Principles for Sustainable Insurance Working Group (2010 to 2012). Among several other tasks Astrid Zwick was Member of the Board of the University Society of the Munich Ludwig Maximilians University and Member of the Board of a Foundation promoting voluntary social engagement. From 2000 to 2010 she headed the Allianz Group Sustainability Office. She was chairing the Steering Committee “Research for Sustainability” of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (2005 to 2008).

From 1994 to 1999 she joined the European Commission Institute for Technological Prospective Studies in charge of policy advice on climate change to the Commission Services and among others to WHO.

Holding a doctoral degree in climate change research (Institute for Ecological Chemistry/GSF, Helmholtz Center, Munich and Technical University, Munich-Weihenstephan) and a diploma in Geology/Paleontology (Ludwigs-Maximilians-University, Munich).

Barney’s primary responsibilities include oversight of research, insurtech and new products; he is also involved in investor relations and business development.  He is also the Chairman of Nephila Climate, the weather risk management business.

Barney Schauble joined Nephila Capital in Bermuda in 2004 as a Managing Partner and moved to San Francisco in 2010.  He began working in re/insurance in New York in 1993 at Marsh but spent most of his early career at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in their Risk Markets group, where he helped to execute the first catastrophe bond and spent six years working on development and distribution of catastrophe and weather-linked products.

Barney is the Chair of the Board of Ceres (a non-profit devoted to sustainable capitalism) where he has been a Director since 2011.  He has also served as an advisor and/or board member at various insurtech companies including The Climate Corporation, MetroMile, Advisen, Cyence, Tremor, and Boost.

Benedikt Signer has supported more than 25 countries in developing and implementing financial risk management solutions to help fund and respond to climate and disaster shocks. He co-led the design and implementation of the Global Risk Financing Facility and leads World Bank support to the Southeast Asia Disaster Risk Insurance Facility (SEADRIF), Asia's first joint regional risk financing initiative. 

Bill is an advisor to senior insurance executives, board members and other industry insiders. He has more than 35 years of experience working in the insurance sector, most recently as the global head of DLA Piper’s Corporate Insurance Practice and previously as co-head of the insurance sector practice at Dewey & LeBoeuf.

Bill has broad international and US experience. He spent more than a decade based in London as head of Dewey’s insurance practice and during this time also served as the managing partner of the firm’s Hong Kong and Paris offices. He has assisted clients with strategic plans, corporate restructurings, capital raisings, M&A transactions, market access and significant regulatory issues.

Bill is also chair of the Insurance Development Forum’s Working Group on Law, Regulation and Resilience Policies and is a member of the IDF Operating Committee.

Butch Bacani leads UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Principles for Sustainable Insurance Initiative (PSI), the largest collaboration between the UN and the insurance industry. Endorsed by the UN Secretary-General and insurance industry CEOs, the PSI is a global framework and initiative for the industry to address sustainability issues—as risk managers, insurers and investors—and to build resilient, inclusive and sustainable communities and economies on a healthy planet.

Butch leads initiatives that contribute to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Paris Climate Agreement. These include developing “Insurance SDGs”, establishing a Net-Zero Insurance Alliance, convening the world’s leading insurers to pilot the Financial Stability Board’s climate risk disclosure recommendations (TCFD), and working with the California Insurance Commissioner to develop the world’s first sustainable insurance roadmap. He co-led the development of the first global sustainability guide for the insurance business and the creation of UNEP’s Sustainable Insurance Forum for regulators. Butch was part of InsuranceERM’s inaugural list of the most influential people leading and shaping the insurance industry’s response to climate change and has been recognised as one of the most influential sustainability leaders by Canada’s largest youth-led movement.

Butch led the global process that created the PSI in 2012, and UNEP’s insurance and investment programmes from 2006 to 2010, including activities with the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). He has shaped global insurance industry initiatives to address climate change, disaster risks, tobacco risks, illegal fishing and plastic pollution; and to protect UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Butch has authored pioneering studies on sustainable insurance and responsible investment. Prior to the UN, he was in the insurance industry for over a decade, working with leading insurers and reinsurers worldwide.

Butch is involved in the InsuResilience Global Partnership, Vulnerable Twenty Group of Finance Ministers (V20), California Climate Insurance Working Group, Insurance Development Forum, Microinsurance Network, and World Benchmarking Alliance.

Christian Mumenthaler started his career in 1997 as associate with the Boston Consulting Group. He joined Swiss Re in 1999 and was responsible for key company projects.

In 2002, he established and headed the Group Retro and Syndication unit. Christian Mumenthaler served as Group Chief Risk Officer between 2005 and 2007 and was Head of Life & Health between 2007 and 2010. In January 2011, he was appointed Chief Marketing Officer Reinsurance and member of the Group Executive Committee, and became Chief Executive Officer Reinsurance that October. In July 2016 Christian Mumenthaler was appointed as Group Chief Executive Officer.

External appointments

Board member of the Geneva Association; of economiesuisse; of the Swiss American Chamber of Commerce; and of the Society for the Promotion of the Institute of Insurance Economics, St. Gallen Member of Insurance Europe’s Reinsurance Advisory Board; of the Pan-European Insurance Forum; of the IMD Foundation Board; of the Global Reinsurance Forum; of the Steering Board Insurance Development Forum; and of the Board of Trustees of the St. Gallen Foundation for International Studies

Educational background

PhD in Physics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland

Christina Bennett is CEO of the Start Network, a global membership organisation working transform humanitarian action through innovation, fast funding, early action, and localisation. Christina has 20 years of experience in humanitarian policy and practice, including field work in Afghanistan, Pakistan and South Sudan. Previously, Christina was head of the Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) at the Overseas Development Institute, where she led research programmes on local humanitarian action, humanitarian history and humanitarian reform and drove policy initiatives related to counter-terrorism, protection of civilians, refugee livelihoods and private finance.  She is the author of From the Ground Up: It’s About Time for Local Humanitarian Action (2020) and Time to Let go: Remaking Humanitarian Action for the Modern Era (2016) among other publications. Prior to joining HPG, Christina was the Chief of Policy Analysis and Innovation at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and Head of Communications at the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit in Kabul.  Christina is a frequent writer and speaker on conflict and humanitarian aid.  In 2019, she was part of a United States bi-partisan Senate task force on humanitarian access. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Reuters, BBC World Service, TIME, The Economist Intelligence Unit, The New Humanitarian and Devex.

Clare Harris is the Technical Lead for Crisis Anticipation and Risk Financing at the Start Network. Clare is a disaster risk specialist and operational disaster management professional, with more than 15 years operational experience working across the NGO humanitarian sector, academia and local government. Clare leads on all technical aspects of Start Networks risk financing programs and anticipation work, including operational system design in these new risk financing systems, from the science and data used to trigger funds, basis risk management, through to implementation systems which ensure local organization and the most vulnerable people are reached and humanitarian aims of the systems are met. Clare began her career studying International Disaster Management and Engineering at Coventry University, followed by working in Darfur, Sudan and with a number of NGOs on humanitarian work and disaster resilience in East Africa. Also working locally within UK local government Climate and resilience strategy work. Clare completed her MSc in Geophysical Hazards at UCL, focusing on the use of hazard science and forecasts for early humanitarian action. Clare was the global lead for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience work at HelpAge International for 7 years before establishing her own consultancy in 2016, before then moving on to join the Start Network in 2017.     

Daniel leads a team of inspiring people at the UK aid-funded Centre for Disaster Protection, finding better ways to stop disasters devastating lives.

His professional background is as an actuary and development economist, and he has worked with more than 40 developing country governments on disaster risk finance in close collaboration with bilateral and multilateral development institutions, and the private insurance and reinsurance industry. An influential voice in the field of disaster risk finance, Daniel’s publications include the book Dull Disasters? How planning ahead will make a difference (Oxford University Press), co-authored with Professor Stefan Dercon.

He has a first class degree from Cambridge University in Mathematics in Computer Science and a D.Phil. in Economics from the University of Oxford, and is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries.

Professional Experiences

Director of State Asset (August 2017 – now)

Supervisory Board Perum Jasa Tirta II ( 2014 –2019)

Board of Commissioners Askrindo (2019 – Sekarang)

Guest Lecturer of Magister Managemen Padjadjaran University ( 2013 – now)

Head of Regional Office DGSAM DKI Jakarta (February 2016 – August 2017)

Director of State Assets Management and Information Systems (November 2013 - February 2016)

Director of Indonesia State Sharia Securities Issuing Company IV and V ( 2013 -2015)

Eric Andersen serves as President of Aon plc, a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions.

He also plays a key role as a member of Aon’s Global Executive Committee, which guides the operations of the firm, and he also leads Aon’s Operating Committee.

Eric most recently served as Co-President of Aon. Prior to that Eric was Chief Executive Officer of Aon Benfield, the world’s leading reinsurance intermediary and full-service capital advisor. Aon Benfield provides treaty and facultative brokerage service and advice, and provides investment banking, analytics, claims, and management consulting services and advice to insurance and reinsurance companies. In May 2018, Eric announced the start of a brand transition from Aon Benfield to Reinsurance Solutions.

Prior to this role, he served as Chief Executive Office of Aon Risk Solutions Americas, based in New York City. In this role, he was responsible for leading Aon’s largest geographic unit with 14,000 colleagues on teams in the United States, Canada, Bermuda and throughout Latin America.

Throughout his over 20-year career at Aon, Eric has served in a number of important leadership positions including Aon Risk Solutions U.S. retail field leader, Chief Executive Officer of Aon Global Americas’ global account segment, national co-Managing Director of Aon’s Financial Services Group, and Resident Managing Director of Aon in Southern California. Eric first joined Aon in 1997 via the acquisition of Minet. Prior to that, Eric also worked in London for a period at Alexander Howden in London’s Devonshire Square.

Andersen earned a MBA in Finance from Fordham University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Colgate University.

Andersen sits on the board of trustees of Colgate University. He is actively involved with the Federal Advisory Committee on Insurance (FACI), as well as the Insurance Development Forum (IDF). He is a board member of Covenant.

Garance Wattez-Richard launched and has been heading since the beginning of 2016 AXA Emerging Customers, a business whose objective is to protect tomorrow’s middle class and close the insurance gap across emerging markets. Before developing this business, she spear-headed SheforShield, the first global study to have put under the spotlight the potential represented for the insurance industry by women as a growing client segment.

She started her career at the European Commission in Brussels, went on to work within the Office of the Chief Economist of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London, to then spend several years working as a strategy consultant.

In February 2005, she joined AXA Investment Managers as Executive Assistant to the CEO. In 2007, she was appointed Head of Corporate, Brand & Research Marketing of AXA IM, before becoming Global Head of External Communications for the AXA Group in 2012. Garance Wattez-Richard is a graduate of the London School of Economics, the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po.) and holds an MBA from INSEAD.

A purpose and values driven leader who has made significant contributions in a breadth of economic sectors including property and the built environment, wealth management, banking, insurance and most recently in prudential regulation as an Executive Board Member of APRA.

Appointed to APRA in 2016 by the Australian Parliament for a five year term, Geoff championed a significant organisational transformation of APRA sharpening its strategy, aligning its governance, lifting its leadership capability, improving diversity and culture metrics, broadening the organisation's risk focus and prudently guiding APRA regulated entities through a tumultuous period.

Geoff has been a forthright leader on raising awareness of climate change financial risk in Australia and globally. He chaired the Council of Financial Regulators Working Group on Climate Change, its members include APRA, ASIC, RBA and Treasury.

Internationally, Geoff was a member of the Executive Committee of the global standard setting body for insurance, the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) and chaired its Audit and Risk Committee. He chaired the UN Environment Program’s Sustainable Insurance Forum (SIF), a global body of insurance regulators collaborating on sustainability and climate change and represented IAIS and SIF at the Central Banks and Supervisors Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS).

Prior to his appointment at APRA, Geoff was CEO of Suncorp Life, held a number of senior executive roles at National Australia Bank in strategy, asset finance, asset servicing and distribution, was CEO of Retail Investment at MLC and started his career in commercial property development at Lend Lease.

Geoff lives in Sydney and is married to Henrietta with a Brady bunch of seven fabulous adult kids. As a balance to corporate life, they escape to ‘SoCo Farm’ on the South Coast of New South Wales, where they produce grass fed lamb utilising regenerative agriculture practices.

As the Head of the Secretariat, Hannah is responsible for the day-to-day management of the activities of the Access to Insurance Initiative (A2ii). In this capacity she works closely with the International Association of Insurance Supervisors and insurance supervisors in supporting the development of an enabling regulatory environment for financial inclusion. 

Before joining the A2ii, Hannah worked at Insurance Europe in Brussels as Head of International Affairs and Reinsurance whilst also running the Secretariat for the recently established Global Federation of Insurance Associations. After graduating from Edinburgh University, Hannah started out her career working for Lloyds of London in London.

Hilde was appointed as CEO of P&V Insurance and VIVIUM in 2011 after twenty years in the P&V Group. ]

She is President of the Board and the Executive Committee of the Belgian insurance association (Assuralia).

Since October 2016, she is Chair of ICMIF, the global Federation of Cooperative and Mutual Insurers. Within this role, she has been appointed to the Steering Committee of IDF (Insurance Development Forum), a public/private partnership at global level led by the insurance industry and supported by international organisations. She has also been President of AMICE (The European Association of Cooperative and Mutual Insurers) between June 2013 and June 2016. 

She is a member of the Board of Directors of Euresa, an European Economic Interest Group for cooperation and collaboration among the European mutual and cooperative insurance companies, and she is President of the Board of Directors of Febecoop which promotes and defends the co-operative model at regional, federal, European and international level. 

Ian Branagan is responsible for all aspects of RenaissanceRe’s Enterprise Risk Management, manages the development of corporate strategy, and leads the company’s Insurtech endeavours. Mr. Branagan also represents RenaissanceRe on collaborative initiatives across public and private sectors to build resiliency in vulnerable communities around the world and lessen the impacts of natural disasters.  

Mr. Branagan joined RenaissanceRe in 1998 to open the Dublin branch and lead the company’s modelling and client risk intelligence activities. He relocated to Bermuda and most recently London, assuming underwriting authority for several classes of business and ultimately becoming Group Chief Risk Officer in 2009.

Prior to joining RenaissanceRe, Mr. Branagan led the international activities of Applied Insurance Research Inc. (“AIR”), which included the development and marketing of AIR’s catastrophe models and tools. He also worked in the London market at DP Mann Limited, developing pricing and risks analytics. Mr. Branagan has a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and European Economic History from Manchester Metropolitan University. He currently serves as Chair of the Risk Modelling & Mapping Group of the Insurance Development Forum.

Jan is special advisor to the United Nations Development Programme’s Finance Sector Hub, and leads the organizations work across insurance, risk transfer, and risk finance.

Working at the head of this work inside UNDP for more than six years, Jan led the organization’s efforts in co-creating the Insurance Development Forum, as well as the Tripartite Programme that links UNDP’s country-level work through the IDF to ten of the world’s largest insurance companies. He currently co-chairs the IDF’s operational committee, is UNDP’s senior presentative to the InsuResilience Global Partnership, and co-created the Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance. Jan has led the creation of the organization’s first ever dedicated resource for work in this space - the UNDP Insurance and Risk Finance Facility – and leads a growing portfolio of work in insurance and risk finance in currently more than 20 countries.

Before this, Jan spent close to twenty years leading a range of development work, both at country and HQ levels. He has worked in more than fifteen countries as senior representative to either UNDP Resident Representatives or directly to UN Resident Coordinators, leading on efforts to recover and reconstruct from crisis. He also spent close to ten years working on and publishing a range of influential projects examining the role of financing risk and resilience in developing contexts, as Programme Leader at Development Initiatives, as Senior Research Fellow at ODI, and in leading UNDP’s climate, disaster and energy external engagement. Before joining UNDP, Jan worked for HSBC in business lending, insurance and development.

Jan has an undergraduate (film and television) and masters (political science) degree from the University of London, Royal Holloway and Queen Mary and Westfield, respectively.

Jenty Kirsch-Wood is the Head of the Global Risk Analysis and Reporting Section in UNDRR.  Previously she served as UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Kyrgyzstan and advised the Viet Nam and Nepal Governments on climate change and disaster resilience issues.  She also served as OCHA’s climate and disaster policy focal point.   She has nearly 20 years’ experience working with UN agencies and non-governmental organisations in Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kenya and Somalia.  

Jenty holds a Master’s Degree from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor’s Degree from Harvard University. 

She lives in Geneva by her husband and their two children aged 14 and 10.

John Haley is currently the Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Willis Towers Watson. He has served in these roles since January 4, 2016.

John joined the company in 1977 and throughout his career served in a variety of roles including consulting actuary to several of the company’s largest clients, manager of the Washington, D.C. consulting office and leader of the global retirement practice. John was named CEO in 1998. Under his leadership, the company went public in 2000, and completed three historic mergers, in 2005, 2010 and 2016 that formed present-day Willis Towers Watson.

John also serves on the board of directors of MAXIMUS, Inc. the Miami Cancer Institute, and the New World Symphony. He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and the Conference of Consulting Actuaries, and has served as a trustee of The Actuarial Foundation. Previously, he served on the board of Hudson Global, Inc.

John has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Rutgers College and studied under a Fellowship at the Graduate School of Mathematics at Yale University. He is also a co-author of Fundamentals of Private Pensions (University of Pennsylvania Press).

John Huff was appointed President & CEO of ABIR effective January 1, 2018. In this role Huff directs ABIR’s worldwide public policy initiatives. Huff has more than 25 years of experience in the Insurance sector, most recently as the 2016 president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), the US standard-setting and regulatory support organization created and governed by the nation’s chief insurance regulators, and as director of the Missouri Department of Insurance, a position he held for eight years.

Prior to entering public service, John spent more than a decade in executive positions with leading global insurers and reinsurers.

A former practicing attorney, John’s knowledge of the insurance industry is global in scope, spanning the United States, Bermuda, the United Kingdom, Continental Europe and Asia markets. John brings to the table a keen understanding of the regulatory, legal, financial and operational challenges that insurance and reinsurance companies face.

Huff earned his JD from Washington University School of Law and holds a MBA from St. Louis University and a BSBA from Southeast Missouri State University. 

Kamal Kishore has worked on disaster risk management issues for over twenty-five years. He has been a member of India’s National Disaster Management Authority since 2015 where he works on policy and planning, and anchors the Prime Minister’s initiative on the global Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure. Prior to NDMA, he worked with the United Nations Development Programme in New Delhi, Geneva and New York. At UNDP headquarters he led global advocacy campaigns to address disaster risk reduction concerns in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and the post-2015 development agenda. He has advised more than ten national governments on disaster risk management issues and supported post-disaster recovery in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Iran, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. Earlier he worked with the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre where he led a regional programme on extreme climate events covering Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. His early work with TARU in India included support to post-disaster reconstruction after the Uttarkashi (1991) and Latur (1993) earthquakes.

Kathy Baughman McLeod is the director of the Adrienne Arsht – Rockefeller Foundation Center for Resilience at the Atlantic Council. She leads creation and execution of the Center’s strategy to achieve its goal of reaching one billion people worldwide with resilience solutions to the challenges of climate change, migration, and security by 2030. She leverages the significant global network, policy expertise and intellectual capital of the Atlantic Council with finance and risk acumen and strategic partnerships to deliver measurable on-the-ground solutions.  

Baughman McLeod is the former Global Environmental & Social Risk Executive for Bank of America. In this role, she led the Bank’s environmental and social risk policy work including climate risk disclosure efforts across the enterprise, in select lines of business and throughout four global regions. She also helped use the Bank’s global reach to advance low carbon and climate resilient investments toward reaching the Bank’s commitment of deploying $125 billion in capital by 2025.

In her prior role as managing director, Climate Risk & Resilience for the Nature Conservancy, Baughman McLeod led a global team of fifty policy experts, scientists, and financial specialists focused on using natural infrastructure to reduce storm and flood risk throughout Latin America, Australia, Asia, the US, and the Caribbean. She also launched the organization’s insurance initiative that creates market-based products designed to protect nature and coastal economies, as well as the Conservancy’s humanitarian initiative focused on climate disaster risk reduction called “Nature Protects People.”

A published author and award-winning producer of the documentary film series, The Nature of People, Baughman McLeod was a policy fellow of the French Foreign Ministry and an appointed member of the Florida Energy & Climate Commission. She holds an MBA from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, an MS in Geography, and a BS in International Affairs from Florida State University.

Ken is the chairman of Milliman. He joined the firm in 1998.  As chairman, Ken is working with all of Milliman’s professionals to serve our clients to protect the health and financial well-being of people everywhere. Ken is a frequent speaker at industry events and the author of many professional articles.

Prior to his election as the firm’s global chairman, Ken founded Milliman’s Financial Risk Management Practice.  Milliman’s financial risk management business is the leading provider of hedging services to the retirement savings industry. Its work helps the clients of life insurance companies, banks, financial advisory platforms and mutual fund firms create strategies for success in retirement. In particular, Milliman’s strategies provide retail investors with institutional quality market risk management for variable annuities, 401(k)’s, and retail mutual funds. In addition, Milliman Financial Risk Management, LLC serves as an investment advisor to provide balance sheet hedging services for major financial institutions.

Experience

Ken has pioneered investment & risk management techniques that are standard practice in the industry today. He and his team have worked with most major life insurers to protect the solvency of these institutions.

Professional Designation
- Fellow, Society of Actuaries
- Member, American Academy of Actuaries

Education
- BS, Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Neil Cole has more than 20 years professional experience in the field of Public Financial Management.

Between 2001 and 2013 he worked for the National Treasury of South Africa in senior management positions in the Budget Office and in the International Economic Policy divisions. His responsibilities included: policy advice and implementation of budget reforms; expenditure planning of national government; co-ordination of the national budget process; policy advice on South Africa’s engagement with the rest of Africa; and served as a representative to several bilateral forums and multilateral development banks.

Prior to joining the National Treasury, he worked for the University of Cape Town in the Student Advice Office.

Neil Cole has participated in many global forums on development effectiveness and represented South Africa on the committees that drafted the Accra Agenda for Action and the Busan Partnership agreement.

He currently serves as the Executive Secretary of the Collaborative Africa Budget Reform Initiative; an inter-governmental organisation that provides a platform for peer-learning and exchange for approximately 30 African ministries of finance and planning. CABRI’s work covers: fiscal and budget policy; budget transparency and accountability; and public debt management. For information on CABRI’s work visit our website www.cabri-sbo.org

In addition to his role at CABRI, Neil Cole was a co-faculty member of the Harvard PFM Executive Training Course. In 2016 he was invited to be a co-faculty member of the Harvard Ministerial Leadership Forum. He is also a part-time faculty member of the International Training Centre of the ILO.

Martin Kipping is head of division for climate policy at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), which is providing most of Germany’s international support for global climate action – both in mitigation and adaptation/resilience. Before joining BMZ’s climate team, Martin served in different positions at BMZ and abroad, including as an Advisor to Germany’s Executive Director at the World Bank, as German Director at the Caribbean Development Bank, and as head of development at the German Embassy in Kabul. Martin received a master’s degree from Sciences Po Paris, and master’s and doctorate degrees from Free University Berlin.

Mauricio Rodas is a JD from Universidad Católica de Quito. He also holds two master’s degrees in Government Administration and Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn). He started his professional career with the UN’s Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean in Santiago de Chile and Mexico City. Later he worked as a policy consultant for the Mexican government. In 2007, he founded and served as the Executive Director of Ethos Public Policy Lab, a think tank based in Mexico ranked among the most influential in Latin America by the Global Go To Think Tank Index Report.

In 2011, Rodas returned to Ecuador and founded SUMA, a national political party. In 2013, he ran for president of Ecuador; the following year was elected as Mayor of Quito (2014-2019). During his period, Rodas was the hosting Mayor of the UN’s Conference on Urban Sustainable Development – Habitat III. He also had an active leadership role in the main city networks: two terms as world Co-President of UCLG, member of the global boards of C-40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, ICLEI, and the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy. He is a former Young Global Leader and member of the Global Future Council on Cities and Urbanization of the World Economic Forum (WEF). In 2019, he was named one of the 100 Worlds’ Most Influential People on Climate Action by Apolitical; he also received UPenn’s World Urban Leadership Award. Currently, Rodas is a Visiting Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perry World House, Penn Institute for Urban Research and the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, working on the “Cities Climate-Resilient Infrastructure Financing Initiative – C2IFI.”

Rodas is also a Distinguished Fellow on Global Cities at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and Co-chair of the Global Commission on BiodiverCities by 2030 an initiative promoted by the President of Colombia and the World Economic Forum. As a Senior Fellow of the Arsht- Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center at the Atlantic Council, he coordinates the Working Groups of the Extreme Heat Resilience Alliance and leads the City Champions for Heat Action Initiative.

Paddy Arber is Head of International Government Engagement and Sustainable Finance Advocacy at Aviva, the UK’s largest insurer and a significant global investor. He works across Aviva’s investment and insurance arms to develop and advocate policy for market reform that will help build a more sustainable global financial system. Most recently, he has been leading Aviva’s work on the UN Global Investors for Sustainable Development Alliance and the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero. He co-chairs the policy and government workstream of the UN Net Zero Asset Owners Alliance.

Before joining Aviva, Paddy spent a decade working for the British government, specialising in public finance and international negotiations. He was a member of the UK team that helped deliver the Paris Climate Change agreement in 2015, where he led an engagement team on climate change negotiations in the G20, G7 and UN Sustainable Development Goals. He also worked for six years in Her Majesty’s Treasury, notably in the cross-government unit that negotiated the EU’s long-term Budgets.

Given his background, Paddy is particularly interested in public-private collaboration to deliver climate and sustainability outcomes and believes the private sector must play a pivotal role in delivering the UN Paris and Sustainable Development Goal agreements. He holds degrees from the University of Cambridge and the University of Leeds.

Rachel Turner is the Director of International Finance at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Previously she has also served as the Director for Economic Development, and before that Director East and Central Africa, overseeing DFID’s programmes in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. She has over 20 years of development experience in low and middle income countries of Africa and Eastern Europe. She has headed the DFID office in Mozambique and with her experience of managing DFID’s relationships with global financial institutions, she has a strong understanding of public and private sector development issues and wide involvement with the multilateral and bilateral development architecture.

Renaud Guidée was appointed Group Chief Risk Officer at AXA in July 2019, taking office in September 2019. In addition to his role, Renaud Guidée is serving as Chairman of the Net-Zero Insurance Alliance.

Prior to joining AXA, Renaud Guidée was a Managing Director with Goldman Sachs, a role to which he was promoted in 2015 after having served as Executive Director from 2011, based in London then in Paris. Within Goldman Sachs’ Investment Banking Division, he advised large corporate clients across industries, with a total cross-border transaction experience (M&A and capital markets) exceeding $150bn. He was also in charge of managing the career development of Goldman Sachs’ investment banking team in France.

Previously, Renaud Guidée served as sherpa to former IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus in 2010, after having joined the Inspection Générale des Finances (the office within France’s Finance Ministry in charge of carrying out strategic reviews and assessing the cost efficiency of public policies) in 2007. His earlier policy-making training included a secondment in the Cabinet of the European Commissioner for External Relations in 2005.

Renaud Guidée graduated from HEC (2003) and from ENA (2007). He also holds an advanced degree in international taxation (2003) and passed the admittance exam to the Paris bar school in 2003.

Renaud Guidée’s commitment to diversity and equal opportunities translates into community involvement as member of the Board of Article 1, a Paris-based non-profit organization mentoring high-potential students from low-income suburbs (since 2010) and formerly as member of the jury of the affirmative action admission process to Sciences-Po, where he also lectured in economics.

Renaud Guidée is a fellow (2013) and former jury member (2018, 2019) of the Young Leaders program of the French American Foundation, on the Board of Directors of which he now serves as representative for AXA.

Ms. Rosalia V. De Leon is reappointed as Treasurer of the Philippines in February 2017.  She directs the formulation of policies on borrowing, investment and capital market development and handles the formulation of adequate operations guidelines for fiscal and financial policies.

Prior to her designation, Ms. De Leon served as the Alternate Executive Director (For the constituency of Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Panama, Philippines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago) at the World Bank Group, Washington D.C. USA.  She also assumed key positions in the Department of Finance, including Undersecretary for International Finance Group from July 2007 to November 2012, Finance Secretary’s Chief of Staff from July 2005 to June 2010 and Director for International Finance Group from September 1995 to August 1998.  She served as Advisor to the Executive Director of the Asian Development Bank from August 1998 to August 2004.  As the Undersecretary for the International Finance Group, she task-managed several landmark transactions including the issuance of Global Peso Notes as well as several Liability Management Exercises to reduce funding costs, extend maturity profiles and redenominate foreign exchange liabilities to local currency. Ms. De Leon has represented the Department of Finance in many international fund mobilization activities for public sector entities and formulated borrowing strategies and appropriate credit enhancements to access least cost financing options. 

Ms. De Leon earned her Master of Arts in Development Economics from Williams College Massachusetts.

Ruth leads the Europe, Middle East and Africa Public Sector solutions practice at Guy Carpenter, which was established in 2014 as a response to the growing imperative for Governments and public entities to identify and transfer risk to the balance sheet of the private (re)insurance market. She is a subject matter expert in geopolitical risks. She focuses on advancing Guy Carpenter’s engagement with clients and markets to identify opportunities and deliver solutions that help them drive profitable growth. Her work supports governments and public sector entities in developing risk transfer solutions to mitigate against the impacts of emerging and evolving global and national risks and in building  resilience.

Ruth has been involved in many public sector initiatives across the International region. Previous to joining Guy Carpenter she headed up political and terrorism risk analytics at JLT Specialty and before that she founded and headed up a political risk consultancy, providing risk analytics and risk transfer strategies to companies across all sectors and also worked closely with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the Home Office. She holds a MSc in International Relations from London School of Economics.

In March 2020, Samir Assaf took on a new role as Chairman (non-executive) of Corporate and Institutional Banking and stepped down as Chief Executive of Global Banking and Markets (GBM) - a position he had held since 2011.  Samir is responsible for strengthening HSBC’s ties with its most important clients and partners.  He also supports the bank with the development of its sustainability strategy and new partnership models.  Since 2020, Samir has also worked with the Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment (CCRI) - having been appointed private Co-Chair of the Steering Committee in Sep 2020.

In May 2021, Samir Assaf was appointed Chairman of the Boards of HSBC Bank Middle East Limited (HBME) and the HSBC Group’s Principal Regional Subsidiary, HSBC Middle East Holdings BV (HMEH).

Samir began his career in finance at Total in 1987.  He then joined Crédit Commercial de France (CCF) in 1994 and joined HSBC in 2000 through the Group’s acquisition of CCF.  Samir became Head of Global Markets at HSBC in January 2008 and then Chief Executive of GBM in 2011.  He was instrumental in helping steer GBM through the global financial crisis and played a pivotal role in building the GBM business of today. 

In addition, Samir remains the Non-Executive Chairman of the Board of HSBC Continental Europe - a role he has held since 2011.  Samir is also a Member of the Saudi British Bank Board in 2016.  Samir also remains a Group Managing Director.

In 2014, Samir was appointed Chairman of the Global Financial Markets Association, a position he held for two-and-a-half years.  He was also a founding member of the Association for Financial Markets in Europe.

He holds an MBA in Economics and International Finance from La Sorbonne University in Paris and a BSc degree in Finance from L’Institut d ’Etudes Politiques in Paris

Sierra Signorelli was appointed CEO Commercial Insurance and became a member of the Executive Committee in March 2021. She has extensive experience in the insurance industry, serving as Zurich’s Group Chief Underwriting Officer from September 2020 and as Chief Underwriting Officer for Commercial Insurance after joining the company in 2017. Her prior experience includes 17 years with American International Group where she held a number of senior leadership roles in the insurer’s Global Specialties division, including Global Chief Underwriting Officer, Specialty Lines and Specialty Executive in Asia/Pacific and Global Head of Network Partner Practice.

Stefan Dercon is Professor of Economic Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government and the Economics Department, and a Fellow of Jesus College. He is also Director of the Centre for the Study of African Economies, and the Development Policy Advisor to the Foreign Secretary at the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Between 2011 and 2017, he was Chief Economist of the Department of International Development (DFID), the government department in charge with the UK’s aid policy and spending. In this position, he provided strategic advice, and was responsible for ensuring the use of evidence in decision making.

Before joining the University of Oxford, he held positions at the University of Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), the Catholic University of Leuven, and WIDER (Helsinki), part of the United Nations University. 

His research interests concern what keeps some people and countries poor: the failures of markets, governments and politics, mainly in Africa, and how to achieve change. Current research work focuses on the psychological challenges of poverty, the political economy of development, the challenges of industrialisation in Africa, the challenges and opportunities of new technologies, and how to organise and finance responses to natural disasters and protracted humanitarian crises.

His latest book, Dull Disasters? How Planning Ahead Will Make A Difference was published in 2016, and provides a blueprint for renewed application of science, improved decision making, better preparedness, and pre-arranged finance in the face of natural disasters.

He is a Fellow of BREAD, a Research Fellow of CEPR and of IZA, and an Affiliate of J-PAL He studied economics and philosophy at the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium) and holds an MPhil and DPhil in Economics from the University of Oxford.

In 2018, the Queen awarded him as an honorary Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) for services to economics and international development.

Sophie is a specialist in risk, climate and innovative financing, having led strategic global projects from within the private sector for partners including governments, multilaterals, and international corporates.

Within the Centre for Disaster Protection leadership team Sophie is responsible for leading the Centre’s operational work in low and middle income countries.

She has a an MA in Intelligence and International Security from King’s College London, and completed her legal qualifications in 2017.

Ute Klamert has been Assistant Executive Director for Partnerships and Advocacy since February 2019. In this role, Ms Klamert leads the organization’s engagement and resource- mobilization activities with governments, United Nations agencies, private sector and other partners. She also drives communications and advocacy efforts to further WFP’s mission of ‘saving lives, changing lives’.

To enable WFP to continue reaching more vulnerable, food-insecure people around the world, Ms Klamert is committed to investing in the skills and capabilities of her staff as well as increasing diversity across the Partnerships and Advocacy Department.

Ms Klamert has more than 30 years of global experience in development cooperation, partnerships, resource mobilization, strategy and operations, including 15 years in senior leadership positions. Prior to joining WFP, she served as Director-General for the European, Mediterranean Region and Central Asia Department in the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ). She managed complex change processes and oversaw strategic development in areas including the humanitarian-development-peace nexus.

She also fostered innovation in delivery approaches in fragile settings such as those beset by conflict. In this role, Ms Klamert managed a budget of approximately 1 billion Euros per annum, and around 5,500 staff in decentralized and multi-disciplinary teams across seven divisions and 34 GIZ country offices.

Ms Klamert serves on the German Commission on Root Causes of Displacement, which is working on concrete proposals for the German Government to identify and mitigate the main causes of refugees’ displacement.

A German national, she holds a law degree from the University of Regensburg. She is married with two daughters, with whom she shares a love of skiing.

Ute Klamert has been Assistant Executive Director for Partnerships and Advocacy since February 2019. In this role, Ms Klamert leads the organization’s engagement and resource- mobilization activities with governments, United Nations agencies, private sector and other partners. She also drives communications and advocacy efforts to further WFP’s mission of ‘saving lives, changing lives’.

To enable WFP to continue reaching more vulnerable, food-insecure people around the world, Ms Klamert is committed to investing in the skills and capabilities of her staff as well as increasing diversity across the Partnerships and Advocacy Department.

Ms Klamert has more than 30 years of global experience in development cooperation, partnerships, resource mobilization, strategy and operations, including 15 years in senior leadership positions. Prior to joining WFP, she served as Director-General for the European, Mediterranean Region and Central Asia Department in the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ). She managed complex change processes and oversaw strategic development in areas including the humanitarian-development-peace nexus.

She also fostered innovation in delivery approaches in fragile settings such as those beset by conflict. In this role, Ms Klamert managed a budget of approximately 1 billion Euros per annum, and around 5,500 staff in decentralized and multi-disciplinary teams across seven divisions and 34 GIZ country offices.

Ms Klamert serves on the German Commission on Root Causes of Displacement, which is working on concrete proposals for the German Government to identify and mitigate the main causes of refugees’ displacement.

A German national, she holds a law degree from the University of Regensburg. She is married with two daughters, with whom she shares a love of skiing.