2016 Executive Forum: Faculty

• Session: Insuring the Sharing Economy

Tim Attia is the CEO of Slice Labs, a technology company addressing challenges facing the on-demand economy.

Prior to Slice, Tim worked with some of the largest global insurance carriers on technology and distribution. He started his career with a large technology and management consulting firm.

• Session: Digital & Engagement: Critical Success Factors

Joan Baron works for Co-operators Life Insurance Company, reporting to the VP Individual Insurance and Chief Actuary. In this role, she worked with Silanis on the first three projects to introduce e-signatures to the Co-operators. She has 25 years experience in IT and Telco sectors in NA and Asia. She was formerly a VP for Asia Pacific for a major Canadian Telco and headed JV operations in Korea, Philippines, and other locations for over a decade.

She was awarded the Industrial Service Medal by Kim, Dae-Jung, President of South Korea in 2002, and was the Chair of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Korea for many years. Joan enjoys business development, and working with diverse stakeholder interests to create profitable growth. She is also an experienced Senior Project Manager, PMP certified.

• Session: Why Blockchains For Insurance?

Nolan was a researcher and writer with the Canadian Senate Banking Committee for several years, drafting reports on the 2008 financial meltdown, terrorism financing and the future of Canada's air industry. No study captured his imagination more than the year spent on cryptocurrencies. After drafting the report, he arranged for it to be hashed into the blockchain, marking perhaps the first ever use of the Bitcoin blockchain by any government on Earth beyond buying or selling Bitcoin. He now writes CoinDesk's industry research reports while pursuing opportunities in the blockchain revolution.

And if you like sci-fi, Nolan is the author of the novel The Blue Moon and the upcoming Diamond Igloo of Iqaluit.

• Session: Your Millennial Customers Don't Want To Talk To You

Daisy is a Manager in the Operational Transaction Services practice at Ernst & Young Toronto, where she advises on operational integration and separation for M&A transactions. Prior to joining the Operational Transaction Services group, Daisy worked in EY's Assurance practice, auditing insurance companies, broker dealers and pension funds. Daisy is a CPA, CA and graduated from the Ivey Business School at Western University.

• Session: Your Millennial Customers Don't Want To Talk To You

Paul's passion for providing outstanding customer service and ensuring the success of clients and their projects led him to three successful years of aiding in the development of strategy and new products for the insurance industry.

Now with Firmex, Paul enjoys being a part of a fast-paced and innovative company and focuses on providing secure data room technology to a wide range of customers with numerous uses for the products and services Firmex provides.

Paul graduated from Queen's University in 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts Honours Degree in Classical History where he was an active manager in student council elections and the departmental student council executive.

• Session: Defining and Operationalizing an Effective Digital Strategy
• Session: Digital and CX: Setting the Strategy and the Stage (Panel)

Joe's goal is to help people see the art of the possible. He believes that successful business transformations start at the top. He has a track record of building teams of hardworking, senior level collaborators who have the drive and ability to achieve their objectives and beyond.

Joe's greatest passion is strategy. He looks at the technology industry and predicts where it will go. Joe seeks out emerging tech forces and identifies how they will impact the insurance industry.

Most recently, Joe served as Executive Vice President, Global Services & Chief Information Officer at Manulife Financial. His responsibilities included advancing Manulife's effective use of information technology, enabled through strong Information Risk and talent management programs. Joe led the introduction of a global innovation program, including the creation of Manulife's LOFT (Lab of Forward Thinking) network of innovation centres around the world.

• Session: Digital Psychology: Evoking Emotion to Sell Insurance

As a specialist in digital psychology and data science, Dr. Cugelman has built his reputation on teaching professionals how to use behavior science to build higher impact digital marketing campaigns, websites, and apps. He has trained experts from hundreds companies, including teams at Samsung, Salesforce, Microsoft and even the Pentagon asked Dr. Cugelman to educate their stakeholders on digital psychology. His scientific research is published in JMIR, the world's leading scientific e-health journal.

Brian also provides consulting services on data science and psychology through his company AlterSpark, while also running workshops on digital psychology.

• Session: Insuring the Sharing Economy
• Session: Digital and CX: Setting the Strategy and the Stage (Panel)

Mike Fitzgerald is a senior analyst with Celent's insurance practice and is based in Cary, North Carolina. He has specific expertise in property/casualty automation, operations management and insurance product development. Mike's research focuses on billing, business process and operations, social media use in insurance, and distribution management.

Mike brings extensive industry experience to the analyst role. Prior to joining Celent, he was vice president of enterprise underwriting solutions at Zurich North America, where he led the evaluation of technology alternatives to support a new underwriting product development process. He held a number of positions at Royal & Sun Alliance, including a field operations regional executive role. His technology implementation experience includes the installation and maintenance of billing, automobile policy administration, and workers compensation automation. In the 1990s, Mike led an initiative which delivered one of the first global online technical underwriting and claims learning platforms in the industry.

Mr. Fitzgerald has a Bachelor of Arts in economics from Davidson College and an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. He is a Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).

• Session: Insuring the Sharing Economy

Michael Fitzgibbon is Chief Underwriting Officer of Slice Labs Inc., an on-demand insurance platform designed exclusively for the on-demand economy. Over the past 30 years, Michael has held senior positions with global insurance brokerages and insurers, along with owning and running a regional insurance brokerage in Ontario.

• Session: Digital & Engagement: Critical Success Factors (Panel)

Doug Grant has been helping the insurance industry in Canada make effective use of technology for many years. From a business-impact and application perspective, he has helped individual companies and cross-industry groups in both Property & Casualty and Life insurance.

The progress of technology from the the basement computer room to the desk-top terminal and PC, to portable laptops to smartphones and tablets and now BYOD has been a fascinating journey. Processes extended to business partners through connected systems has continued to improve efficiency and timeliness.

The web brought the customer directly into the equation. Social functions have enabled new levels of connectedness, triggering the current focus on customer experience and engagement, which can paradoxically both enhance loyalty and increase freedom of choice.

Doug is a founding partner in Insurance-Canada.ca, a leading Canadian Insurance resource centre for consumer and insurance professional alike. He organizes and hosts regularly scheduled Insurance-Canada.ca conferences and other events.

Married with two sons, Doug is a recent migrant from house to condo (too much stuff – not enough space), both in the heart of downtown Toronto.

• Session: Digital Transformation For Insurers: Tackling Omnichannel Communications For Seamless Customer Experiences
• Session: Digital and CX: Setting the Strategy and the Stage (Panel)

Avi Greenfield has 20 years of experience in using technology solutions to build business value, with a main focus on customer communications and content management strategy. As Manager of Product Strategy for OpenText Exstream, he is responsible for understanding the needs of customers for managing business-critical communications in complex and demanding environments, and driving the direction of the Exstream portfolio to meet those needs.

• Session: Going Digital: Cultural Disruption

Ben Isotta-Riches is Chief Information Officer of Aviva Canada. He has been with Aviva for the past 13 years in a variety of roles across UK Life, UK General Insurance, and Aviva plc. Before moving to Canada in October 2015, he was the Digital CIO at Aviva plc focused on the development of digital technology for consumers. Ben led the development of the technology capability in Aviva's digital innovation garage that built a number of industry award winning web and mobile propositions for customers.

Since coming to Canada, Ben has been appointed to the Board of Directors at the Centre for Study of Insurance Operations (CSIO), and the selection panel at the DMZ startup incubator.

Ben has a Masters Degree in Computer Science from the University of East Anglia, Bachelors Degree in Film Studies from the University of Kent, design qualifications from Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design, and executive education from both INSEAD and Oxford University.

• Session: Bridging the Digital Gap: Gathering Insights and Engaging Consumers
• Session: Digital & Engagement: Critical Success Factors (Panel)

Alice is leading Economical's IT organization through the policy administration system (PAS) implementation and other strategic projects. She is a seasoned IT executive with extensive public and private sector experience and was named to the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada in 2004 and 2007. She is highly skilled at negotiating and managing large-scale projects with external business partners, and has significant expertise leading major business technology transformations, establishing effective governance frameworks, and building high-performance teams. With more than 25 years of senior leadership experience, Alice is helping Economical to leverage leading-edge technology and drive innovation in our business model.

• Session: Preparing Insurers for the Digital Century

Mike leverages 25 years of insurance industry experience at SAP where he has global responsibilities for Insurance Solutions Go-To-Market. Prior to joining SAP, Mike held CIO roles for P&C and Group of Life insurance companies, as well as executive operational responsibilities for agency management, new business, policy servicing, billing, and claims for a Life insurance company. Mike has also held executive positions in Insurance BPO organizations and technology positions in companies including EDS and Capgemini.

• Session: Your Millennial Customers Don't Want To Talk To You

Sourcing talent for Canada's P&C Sector has afforded Nadia the opportunity to utilize her years of experience as an insurance specialist, business development manager and broker.

Nadia's clients include regional and international brokers, insurers, independent adjusting firms and MGAs. Matching top-notch insurance professionals with great companies is her passion. With change being the only constant in this industry, Nadia's approach to talent acquisition includes forecasting trends and being on the forefront of innovation and progress.

Nadia lives in her hometown of Toronto and enjoys traveling with her husband.

• Session: Digital Psychology: Evoking Emotion to Sell Insurance

As Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Strategy Officer, Andrew Lo leads all marketing and corporate development initiatives for Kanetix Ltd., Canada's largest online marketplace for insurance and financial services. He is also a Business Strategy Advisor for Ryerson University's DMZ helping to develop entrepreneurs and startup companies at Canada's largest startup incubator.

Andrew has many years of experience as a business and technology leader for FinTech companies such as Filogix and D+H, and has developed organizations from startups into industry shaping ventures with over 4,000 employees.

• Session: Innovating Insurance: Lessons From The World's Leading Innovators

Anthony Marshall is Research Director and Strategy Leader in IBM's Institute for Business Value (IBV). He has authored numerous studies in the areas of disruptive innovation, digital strategy, analytics, cloud, mobile, ecosystems and partnering.

Anthony has 20 years experience in consulting and analysis, working with numerous Global 1200 companies. He led a wide range of client engagements in IBM's Strategy and Innovation Financial Services Practice, and has deep public sector experience, particularly in privatization and deregulation.

Anthony has lectured in economics at Barnard College in New York City, and Universities in Australia.

• Session: Digital & Engagement: Critical Success Factors (Panel)

Neil Pengelly is a Partner in the Advisory Services practice of Ernst & Young LLP and leads a team focused on insurance technology transformation. He has over 17 years of professional services experience in advising clients with enterprise-level business software systems transformations in a wide range of industries and platforms.

Neil has significant experience in advising insurance sector clients in Canada and the United States on implementations of core insurance software systems and digital enablement, across all major personal and commercial lines of business.

• Session: Digital & Engagement: Critical Success Factors (Panel)

Mary Ellen Power is eSignLive's VP of Marketing and has over 25 years of experience in marketing for technology companies. She is responsible for branding, lead generation, product and partner marketing and has led the successful re-branding of eSignLive's e-signature platform.

With more than 15 years in the e-signature market, Mary Ellen has become a subject matter expert focusing on business value justification, customer adoption and success, and has helped guide the company to recognition as a leader in these areas by Forrester, Gartner, Novarica, IBM and G2 Crowd.

• Session: Why Blockchains For Insurance?

With more than 25 years of experience in the insurance technology marketplace, Greg brings a unique perspective on how to build a successful company. In 17 years as C.E.O. of Applied Systems Canada Greg oversaw the growth in the Canadian marketplace from 200 brokers to over 1200. In 1992 Greg added the responsibility for international development and successfully established the UK operations with The Agency Manager UK.

In 2008, Greg formed Pathway Partners Ltd. with Michelle Cole-Kennedy to advise brokers on a wide range of operational and strategic topics with an emphasis on mergers and acquisitions.

In 2011 Greg played a key role in the launch of getClarity Inc, a business intelligence company that focuses on bringing sophisticated demographic and statistical analysis to businesses of all sizes. With over 1.7 million records of new data on a monthly basis getClarity identifies timely market opportunities and as a result maximizes the return on investment.

Greg is the founder of the Canadian Insurance Strategy Group, which can be found on LinkedIn.

• Session: Bridging the Digital Gap: Gathering Insights and Engaging Consumers

Michael brings more than 20 years of leadership and marketing experience in both agency and corporate sectors. He has leadership accountability for Economical's brand, marketing programs, corporate communications, and public relations, helping Economical discover creative new ways to meet the needs of the company's broker partners and customers. Most recently, Michael was Vice-President, General Management at SapientNitro, where he worked with global brands to guide their marketing and customer experience strategies. Previously, he held executive positions at advertising agencies Young & Rubicam and Arnold Worldwide.

• Session: Digital and CX: Setting the Strategy and the Stage (Panel)

Daniel Shum is a partner in Deloitte's Financial Services practice and the National Insurance Sector Leader. Daniel has over 23 years' experience working in the insurance industry in Canada and the U.S. Daniel is also Deloitte's Guidewire Practice Leader. He specializes in Sales Force Transformation within the Financial Services Industry with specific focus on the Incentive Compensation Management space as well as Business advisory consulting, Insurance Back Office Operations, Large Scale Software Implementation and Technical, Application Architecture.

• Session: Your Millennial Customers Don't Want To Talk To You

Carly is the co-founder and CEO of Redstone Agency, a full-service event and association management company. As the youngest owned AMC in Canada, Carly and her business partner are bringing Millennial insight to not-for-profit and trade/processional associations to help them implement succession plans that will help them prosper and grow.

Carly graduated from Western University and holds a double honours Bachelor of Arts degree (Dean's List) and a postgraduate degree in Marketing with a focus on Strategic Meeting Management.

Carly is a self-proclaimed foodie (oysters are her favourite), traveling and full-bodied red wine. She always looks forward to adventures with her husband.

Diane Taylor

Insurance Advisor, Sonnet

• Session: Your Millennial Customers Don't Want To Talk To You

Diane is helping to form a culture dedicated to exceptional customer service and focused on a new and innovative approach to purchasing insurance online. After completing her Business Management studies at Humber College, Diane quickly joined the world of insurance with the determination and tenacity to be unsurpassed and continually delivering 100% in all aspects of her daily work. Diane has worked for several well-known brokerages across the GTA and has successfully bound hundreds of clients resulting in lasting relationships being built with insurance companies, underwriters and other insurance partners.

In addition to her years of insurance experience, Diane enjoyed a successful tenure as both an infield Marketing brand ambassador and the Entertainment Activities Manager at Disney Cruise Lines. Diane is currently pursuing her Chartered Insurance Professional (CIP) designation to become further informed of this multifaceted industry.

• Session: Your Millennial Customers Don't Want To Talk To You

Sarah has been helping publishing industry professionals understand the landscape of the Canadian book retail and global ebook trends for the past four years, initially through her research as an intern at BookNet Canada, and currently as the Content Performance Analyst for Rakuten Kobo Inc. Her work has been presented at industry conferences all over the world, including BookNet Tech Forum, Frankfurt Book Fair, and Book Expo America.

After completing her studies in Business Marketing at Humber College, Sarah's passion for reading and her love of books led her to complete Humber College's postgraduate program in Creative Book Publishing.

When she's not working, you can find her reading up on the latest research in the field of neuroscience, practicing yoga, or trouncing her partner in a spirited game of bocce ball.

• Session: Digital and CX: Setting the Strategy and the Stage (Panel)

Patrick has more than 25 years of experience enabling technology and electronic commerce in the insurance and risk management communities. Patrick is a Founding Partner of Insurance-Canada.ca, Inc., the premier source for Canadian information on insurance & technology.

Patrick currently serves as Insurance-Canada.ca's Director of Products and Services, and sits on the company's Advisory Board. He edits the Intersection, Insurance-Canada.ca's blog, produces and hosts on-line and in-person events, and develops bespoke offerings for Insurance-Canada.ca's clients.

Throughout his career, Patrick has held senior management positions with insurance companies, distributors, consulting firms, and technology solution providers. He serves on boards and committees of various industry associations.

Patrick authors articles for leading trade publications and has spoken at insurance and technology conferences in Canada, the US, UK, Europe, and Bermuda.

Bobbi and Patrick Vice enjoy living and working in the heart of downtown Toronto, Canada.

• Session: The Digital Evolution of Healthcare

Michael has more than 25 years of experience in the healthcare field. He has held various roles in the commercial vendor sector from field sales through to executive management with target markets including hospitals, government and home care. Michael has been with Philips Healthcare for over 13 years. The majority of his time at Philips was dedicated to developing and implementing strategic initiatives designed to increase commercial growth through hospital partnerships, new program introductions and the business integration of corporate acquisitions.