Presenters, Panellists and Moderators
Justin Aniballi, VP - Sales, Knote
- Session: Pitch Competition
Justin is the Vice President of Knote. In this capacity Justin has responsibility for all things revenue and marketing. Knote is a leading AI solution provider to several of the world's largest insurance brokers and carriers. Our mission is to create solutions using artificial intelligence to automate the manual and error-prone back-office functions within the insurance industry.
Justin is a career software and startup leader having rapidly grown 2 Silicon Valley startups and helped take them to exit. Justin is a graduate of the University of Toronto and The Ivey School of Business at Western University. He enjoys snowboarding, rock climbing, mountaineering, baseball and lots of other stuff.
Binal Bhavsar, Enterprise Architect, IT Strategy & Applied Innovation, Co-operators
- Session: The Blockchain's Impact on Insurance
Binal Bhavsar is an enterprise architect at the Co-Operators. She articulates business and technical vision to critical stakeholders, developing models for business, information, data, and technology, and developing transition plans to move from current state to future vision.
Tyrre Burks, Founder & CEO, Player's Health
- Session: Creating an Innovation Ecosystem
Tyrre was a standout college football player at Winona State University. Injuries cut his football career short, but they also gave him insight into a problem that needed to be solved, which led him to create Player's Health – the first universal health management and compliance application for youth athletes. This HIPAA-compliant mobile application provides athletic programs with players' essential medical information and streamlines the injury reporting process in an easy-to-use digital platform.
Roger Chabra, Chief Innovation Officer, TribalScale
- Session: Pitch Competition (Judge)
Roger Chabra has more than 20 years of venture capital, operating and entrepreneurial experience. At TribalScale, Roger is a key member of the senior management team and leads the company's venture creation platform, which creates disruptive startups from the ground up, in conjunction with entrepreneurs and Fortune 1000 companies. Roger is also currently a General Partner at venture capital firm Rho Canada Ventures, a division of NYC-based Rho Capital Partners. He is an early-stage investor and board member of numerous successful startups including Chango (acquired by Rubicon Project), Meta (acquired by Mark Zuckerberg's foundation), Figure 1, Frank & Oak, AisleLabs and Exact Media.
Roger received an MBA and from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario and a BA from the University of Western Ontario.
Paul Crowe, CEO, Symbility Intersect; CMO, Symbility Solutions
Paul Crowe is at the forefront of helping organizations embrace the constant evolution of consumer expectations, technology, and design. He thrives on enabling his clients to quickly adapt to the changing landscape, embrace the risk involved with the process, and prosper from the business and cultural benefits that are delivered – ultimately creating an organizational competitive advantage.
Paul is the currently the CEO of Intersect, an organization that has built its award-winning business by helping Fortune 500 companies think and act like startups – an offering that complements the company's work facilitating the growth and success of startups at their Toronto site. Intersect (formerly known as Bnotions) was acquired in 2015 by Symbility Solutions and with the acquisition Paul also assumed the role of CMO of global marketing operations.
Aly Dhalla, CEO & Co-Founder, Finaeo
- Mini-Theatre Presentation: The Future is Bionic
Aly Dhalla is the CEO and co-founder of Finaeo, a venture-backed InsurTech startup that has built a platform to help insurance advisors win in a digital era. Finaeo's operating system provides advisors a specialized CRM, digital tool-kit and paired it with an intelligent assistant/chat-bot, Domo, to create the "Bionic Advisor". Aly spent his early career as a banker at TD before leaving to join a startup as their first employee, which was acquired by Benefits by Design, a national Third Party Administrative company, where he served as Managing Partner before launching Finaeo. Aly also Co-Founded TriCelerate, a not-for-profit tech incubator to help youth go from idea-to-product.
Kelly Emery, Head of Kanetix Digital, Kanetix Ltd.
- Session: Pitch Competition (Judge)
As the Head of Kanetix Digital, Kelly Emery leads the company's strategic consulting and digital customer acquisition division. Kelly co-founded RateSupermarket.ca in 2008, and led its growth as it became Canada's largest rate comparison website for personal finance products before it was acquired by Kanetix Ltd. in 2013. Kelly uses the same passion for business success and digital disruption to help Canada's top insurers and banks embrace digital transformation. She uses the latest techniques in search engine marketing, conversion rate optimization, user-centric design, marketing automation and end-to-end tracking to help partners attract more customers digitally and deliver measurable business results. Previously, her love of travel and international business experience led Kelly to the U.K. where she gained a wealth of strategic marketing knowledge working for the prestigious private bank, Coutts & Co.
Shane Flynn, Startup Services Lead, DMZ
- Session: Pitch Competition (Judge)
Shane has been a part of the DMZ since the fall of 2012. At the DMZ, he works as a Startup Services Lead, overseeing the admission process of hopeful applicants to the program, along with managing the sales accelerator program, Playbook along with the Aviva Insurtech accelerator. Part of his role entails working with the high-potential startups out of the DMZ helping them grow and scale as they begin to formulate a repeatable and scalable business model. Shane graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University.
- Session: Pitch Competition
Ron is the founder of Knote, a natural language processing platform helping people work smart, not hard. He has a love for business and entrepreneurship, coupled with a strong technical background in computer science. He was part of Canada's only double degree program, studying Business Administration at Wilfrid Laurier University and Computer Science at Waterloo University simultaneously, and a member of Next 36's 2016 cohort. Ron is an active community member, he participates in hackathons often.
Chris Gory, Founder & President, Insurance Portfolio Financial Services Inc.
Chris Gory is the founder of Insurance Portfolio Financial Services Inc., a brokerage launched in 1999 that helps companies build the best employee benefits programs for their employees.
Chris is passionate about helping entrepreneurs, and works with more than 60 startup companies. He is an advisor at the Ryerson Digital Media Zone (including the recent InsurTech accelerator) and at the OneEleven startup hub, and he's led talks about employee benefits and insurance at several startup accelerators including Extreme Startups.
Chris has been featured in the Toronto Star and the Globe & Mail, and he's been a member of the Board of Directors of Applied Client Network, an international association of independent insurance professionals using Applied Systems software, since 2012.
Doug Grant, Partner, Insurance-Canada.ca
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.
Craig Haney, Head of Corporate Innovation, Communitech
- Session: Pitch Competition (Judge)
Craig has been leading the charge for corporate innovation in Canada for the past few years. His work with Canadian Tire Innovations helped launch the corporate innovation program at Communitech which helps large, non-tech companies become faster and more innovative by engaging in the startup technology ecosystem. As the Head of Corporate Innovation at Communitech, Craig helps the big companies be more innovative through the writing of his Blog, the Nimble Hippo, as well as his podcast, Nimble Hippo Radio.
Craig helps large organizations understand the most effective way to launch and maintain an innovation strategy by leveraging technology ecosystems. By connecting Enterprise organizations to start ups and high growth companies, our focus is to grow the entire ecosystem by exposing our small companies to big problems that they can solve for some of Canada's largest companies.
Craig has an undergraduate degree from Western University (London, Ontario), a Masters of Business, Entrepreneurship, and Technonogy (MBET) from the University of Waterloo. He has been part of leadership teams of large and small companies leading change initiatives wherever he has gone.
Adam Hare, COO, Insurance Jack
Adam Hare is the chief operating officer for Insurance Jack, responsible for innovation and strategic growth initiatives.
For the past decade, Adam has devoted his life to being a passionate, creative leader who can think outside the box. His professional career spans from a young entrepreneur to the world's leading entertainment company at Universal Music, and more recently he has made waves in the insurance industry with the launch of his modernized, online brokerage, Insurance Jack.
Adam's focus is clear: to make insurance personal, fun and hassle-free. Insurance Jack connects consumers and insurance products in an entirely new way.
Art Harrison, Co-Founder & VP Business Development, FormHero Inc.
- Session: Pitch Competition
As a former software developer, entrepreneur and marketing executive, Art brings a unique blend of technical and strategic skills to FormHero. Art is responsible for FormHero's go-to-market strategy, partnerships and oversees all sales and marketing activities and often consults on using technology to impact customer experience and conversion rates.
FormHero helps turn internal processes into smart forms that customers and back offices love. Visit our website to learn more about our smart forms platform and how we can help you with your paperwork automation and digitization goals.
Craig Hiscoe, Channel Account Manager, Versature
- Mini-Theatre Presentation: The Way You Do Business Has Changed – For Good
As Channel Account Manager at Versature, Craig is responsible for communicating with partners, providing educational and sales support, and onboarding new partners.
When he's not busy at work, Craig can be found spending time with his daughter, waking up his bulldog Daisy, and enjoying the great outdoors.
Natalie Ho, VP - Marketing & Brand, LOGiQ3 Group, Cookhouse Lab
- Session: Pitch Competition
In her role as Vice President of Marketing & Brand, Natalie is responsible for leading and creating Marketing strategies for all lines of business across LOGiQ3 and its affiliated group of companies - APEXA, TAI, and Cookhouse Lab. In addition to this role, she also leads LOGiQ3 Group's internal innovation culture and strategy.
Upon completion of a with Honors Bachelors Degree in Actuarial Science and Statistics at the University of Toronto, Natalie pursued her career in the life reinsurance industry with LOGiQ3 where she has taken various roles in actuarial and consulting, but more recently transitioned her business focus to expanding and building LOGiQ3's business through her passion in Marketing and Innovation.
Natalie's interest in digital marketing, entrepreneurship, and innovation has also led her to create her own online community. With shy of 40,000 social connections across various platforms, Natalie has been recognized as a reputable Canadian online influencer and frequently speaks about authenticity, engagement, and building your own personal brand.
Amanda Ketelaars, Operations Manager, Mitchell and Whale
With over 20 years in the business, Amanda started her insurance career as a CSR in a brokerage. She quickly became intrigued by how innovation and technology can improve efficiency and customer service. Amanda made the move to the technology side of the industry, working as a Trainer and Consultant for a leading Broker Management System vendor. Amanda has worked with brokerages across Canada implementing efficient workflow, maximizing their use of technology, and promoting the adoption of emerging technologies.
Amanda joined CSIO (Centre for Study of Insurance Operations) where she worked on projects to help identify and implement leading edge technology standards and solutions for the broker distribution channel.
Amanda is now Operations Manager at Mitchell & Whale Insurance Brokers, one of the fastest organically growing brokerages in Ontario, boasting a 70% growth in 2015, while maintaining a very strong retention rate of existing clients. Loving what she does, Amanda continues to implement efficient workflows using existing technology and embraces emerging technologies in search of growth opportunities for Mitchell & Whale.
Dave Kruis, Director, FairVentures
- Session: Pitch Competition (Judge)
Dave brings more than 15 years of technology and business strategy experience to FairVentures through various roles in startups, hyper-growth, and multinational technology companies. Dave brings his passion for customer delight, in-depth understanding of technology, product and market strategy and his ability to successfully deliver solutions to market. Most recently, Dave held several senior management positions at Desire2Learn, a global educational software technology firm headquartered in Kitchener, Ontario. At D2L Dave was responsible for mobile strategy, strategic product management, as well as leading the 'personal learning' product development department.
Dave joined D2L when they acquired Metranome, the software startup he founded in 2007. Metranome developed a cloud-based content management and monetization platform for smartphones. Dave started Metranome while he was Entrepreneur-In-Residence at Tech Capital Partners, an early stage Venture Capital firm based out of Waterloo Ontario.
Prior to that, he spent seven years in product management roles at Research In Motion (BlackBerry). During that time he led the development of solutions for ISPs and mobile operators; overseeing technology, partnerships and marketing. Dave also defined the overall BlackBerry solution for the consumer and SMB markets and was responsible for the development and commercialization of several components of the BlackBerry solution.
Philippe Lafreniere, Sr. Vice President, EIS Group
Philippe Lafreniere has been in the insurance and insurance technology field for 18 years. Philippe started his career in insurance sales and underwriting for a national insurer, followed by positions in systems and product development. As a software executive, Philippe has held leadership positions in Product Management, Product Marketing and Sales for various leading software vendors. During his technology career he has worked with both large and small insurers globally to assist them in deploying modern technology solutions and undergoing legacy transformation.
Philippe is a graduate of the Insurance Institute of Canada with the designation of C.I.P. He is an accomplished speaker, having presented at multiple insurance industry conferences. Philippe has also contributed to several print articles on underwriting, legacy-modernization and policy administration in several trade journals.
Nigel Liao, Founder, Acadshield
- Session: Pitch Competition
Nigel Liao is the founder of Acadshield, an academic insurance company that provides reimbursements for students who have failed or dropped courses in university.
Liao is currently a senior Actuarial Science student in University of Waterloo. Prior to this startup, he worked for London Life Insurance Company and Munich Reinsurance.
Acadshield is a whole new academic insurance product that reimburses students for their failed or dropped courses in university. Each course in university costs a few thousand dollars, and student debt has been rising over the years globally. Risk of failure exists for even the brightest students, and failure is, to a large extent, out of a student's control, and Acadshield can tackle this problem of financial instability in students.
Marc Lipman, COO, AIG Insurance Company of Canada
Marc Lipman is the Chief Operating Officer of AIG Insurance Company of Canada. Based in Toronto, he is responsible for the development and implementation of various strategic initiatives as well as acting in various client facing capacities. As part of his role Mr. Lipman is responsible for overseeing and championing AIG's Innovation Strategy within Canada.
Prior to assuming his current responsibilities, Mr. Lipman held various positions with AIG including the Chief of Staff of AIG Canada, the Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary of AIG Canada and the Chief Regulatory Officer for all AIG companies in Canada from 2008 to 2010. Mr. Lipman has worked with AIG for 10 years and holds 20 years of experience in the financial services industry.
Mr. Lipman holds a Masters of Laws degree, with an award of Merit, from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Bachelor of Laws degree from Osgoode Hall Law School, in Toronto, Canada.
Michael Loeters, SVP - Commercial Insurance, PROLINK
- Session: Creating an Innovation Ecosystem
Michael joined PROLINK Insurance in January 2017 with responsibilities for the commercial insurance division, strategic accounts and running the Enterprise Risk Management Practice in Canada.
With over 22 years' experience in the insurance industry, he started his career at Chubb Insurance Company of Canada as a Personal Insurance Underwriter. Eventually he joined the Commercial Insurance Department where he underwrote a range of commercial lines such as Property, General Liability, and Professional Liability.
In January 2012 he joined BFL CANADA as Vice President and Risk Management Practice Leader for Ontario. In this role Michael worked with clients to become resilient organizations through taking a strategic approach to insurance and risk management. In 2016 Michael also became the National Cyber Liability Practice Leader. This involved working with a number of national organizations to assess their cyber risk profile, quantify their risk, development proactive risk management strategies, and custom design cyber insurance programs that will meet their unique and specific needs.
Jim Love, CIO & Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada
- Session: Insurance in the Post-Digital World
Over the past four years, Jim has worked to make IT World Canada one of the leading digital publishers in the B2B space and a case study in digital transformation.
In an industry that has experienced such a high degree of disruption, where many publishers have gone out of business, mere survival would be an extraordinary achievement. IT World Canada has not only survived – it has grown in revenues by almost 25% in the past three years and has produced award winning, world class digital content.
Equally at home in technology and line of business roles, over his 35-year career Jim has held senior level positions in financial services, consulting and publishing. He has worked in software development, operations, sales and marketing.
As Chief Content Officer for IT World Canada he has overall responsibility for all editorial and commercial contentm as well as IT World Canada's research. Under Jim's guidance, IT World Canada has focused on in depth "peer to peer" research – a mixture of qualitative and quantitative techniques that give a real in depth understanding of not just events and data, but which also focuses on a deep understanding of the opinions and motivations of subject groups.
Dave Lund, Claims / Operations Canada, AIG
- Session: The Blockchain's Impact on Insurance
Dave is a strategic, results-driven, corporate leader with over 20 years' experience driving business, technology, and process improvement. He is a proven innovator who designs and implements impactful and efficient infrastructural change, benefiting internal and external stakeholders. With the rate of change accelerating every day Dave engages, motivates, and leads teams to success with empowerment and transparency. As complex as our related businesses have become he looks to simplify, to deliver improved and innovative product and service.
He is currently responsible for Operations and Claims Operations for P&C Lines of Business throughout Canada. Accountability for inter-business, financial operations, client & partner services, claims related services, support services, shared services, and ensuring alignment with internal and external stakeholders are some of his areas of oversight and direction. As technical and systems liaison for business and claims operations, connectivity and engagement to various InsurTech actions is a natural path. Directing various continuous improvement projects supporting underwriting, claims, and back-office stakeholders to provide tactile services and value to shareholders and partners support Dave's drive to modernize and improve.
Prior to insurance, Dave held key roles in business technology.
Charlotte Malaurie, E-commerce Director, April
While graduating with a MBA, Charlotte worked a year in the International division at the Group's head office in France as market analyst. She joined APRIL in Canada in 2011. As a project manager, she successfully drove the digitalization of our personal lines, both internally and externally. Fresh from that experience and her CIP, she then became the National Director of our home & auto business. Always keeping APRIL's values at heart: pushing boundaries, innovating and keeping things simple; Charlotte is now leading APRIL's development in the digital space.
Greg McCutcheon, President, Opta Information Intelligence
Greg has more than 18 years of experience servicing Canada's Property and Casualty industry. During his career, Greg has managed several business units offering online underwriting services and solutions to the Canadian Insurance Industry.
Greg is a Certified Risk Manager and holds a Bachelor's Degree with Honours from Queen's University.
Patrick McDonnell, Project Manager, BiiCanada
- Session: Pitch Competition
Patrick McDonnell, WETT, CSP, has spent 25 years plus years catering to the insurance industry. Focused on loss prevention and underwriting, an entrepreneur, Patrick has created and marketed numerous successful risk management applications for the P&C market.
Alek Mirkovich, CEO & Co-Founder, Pathway
- Mini-Theatre Presentation: Automate & Grow
Alek drives Pathway's strategic vision and oversees new product development as well as broker relations. Prior to creating innovative software solutions exclusively for the insurance industry, Alek launched two successful online marketing platforms, Iterro and Campayn. Both platforms are still thriving and catering to Fortune 500 companies, large non-profit organizations and influential startups.
Neil Mitchell, Managing Director, Marsh Canada Limited
- Session: Lessons Learned from Leading Insurers
- Session: The Blockchain's Impact on Insurance
Neil is currently a member of Marsh Canada's Executive Committee and has previously served as the National Practice Leader for Marsh Canada's Consumer & Commercial Practice, consisting of Small - Mid Sized Enterprises, Commercial Programs (inclusive of third party distribution), Group Home & Auto and High - Net Worth/VIP Personal Lines. In leading the Practice his primary functional tasks include, business development, client management, program/product development, retail and third party distribution and systems management.
Marc Philips, AVP - Digital Strategy & Sales, TD Insurance
Marc Philips is AVP Digital Strategy and Sales at TD Insurance where he is responsible for leading Canada's top direct insurer into the digital age. He has worked at TD for 9 years in a variety of digital and omnichannel roles.
Marc has more than 20 years of experience in the digital space, working for companies such as MTV, Nickelodeon Online, Yahoo!, and Nurun.
Ian Portsmouth, Managing Director, Canadian Underwriter
Ian Portsmouth is an award-winning writer, editor, marketer and business innovator recognized for excellence by such organizations as the National Magazine Awards Foundation and Canadian Business Press and Canadian Public Relations Society. With the knowledge gained from 21 years as a business journalist and B2B marketer, Ian is a trusted media commentator and public speaker on the management issues and best practices of independent business and high-growth companies, and he regularly moderates events and discussion forums for senior executive audiences.
In January 2017, Ian joined one of Canada's leading providers of B2B content and marketing services — Newcom Business Media — as Managing Director, Insurance Media Group. There he runs several publications and services for Canada's insurance industry, including Canadian Underwriter and Claims Canada magazines.
Prior to joining Newcom, Ian was Group Publisher, Business and Personal Finance at Rogers Publishing Ltd., overseeing the strategy and operations of three of Canada's top media brands: Canadian Business — Canada's largest-circulation paid business magazine; MoneySense, the country's best-selling personal finance magazine; and PROFIT, Canada's first and leading media brand for entrepreneurs and SMB executives.
In his 12 years as the Editor-in-Chief of PROFIT, Ian launched several awards programs for entrepreneurial business, including the HOT 50 ranking of Canada's Hottest Startups, the FuEL Awards for Canada's Top Entrepreneurs Under 30, and the Canada Export Achievement Awards. He was appointed Publisher of PROFIT in January 2012, adding Canadian Business to his portfolio in December 2013 and MoneySense in March 2014.
Ian is also the co-author of Marketing Masters: The Best Ideas of Canada's Savviest Marketeers, published by John Wiley & Sons, and the founding host and producer of both the BMO Business Coach podcast (100-plus episodes) and the Rogers Business Series of how-to videos for small business owners.
Darin Reffitt, Vice President - Marketing, SPLICE Software
- Mini-Theatre Presentation: Find Your Voice: Using Voice Technologies To Improve Customer Experience
Darin Reffitt is Vice President of Marketing for SPLICE Software, responsible for all inbound and outbound marketing for the firm. Darin has over 20 years of marketing experience, including a broad range of expertise within both the B2B and B2C spaces, including the areas of lead generation, inbound marketing, social/digital marketing, conference & event planning, advertising, collateral development, thought leadership creation, sales operations & management, direct marketing, and strategic planning.
Prior to joining SPLICE, Darin was the owner of his own marketing firm, Marketing Intelligents, following marketing roles with EIS Group, BNY Mellon, PNC Bank, Sovereign Bank (now Santander) and The Franklin Mint.
Darin obtained his Bachelor's Degree from Ursinus College and his MBA in Marketing from St. Joseph's University. He is also the volunteer VP of Marketing for the Insurance Accounting & Systems Association (IASA), volunteers with other organizations, reads voraciously, speaks occasionally on social media, networking, and personal branding, and golfs, albeit poorly.
Sven Roehl, Co-Founder, Cookhouse Lab; Executive VP, msg global solutions
- Session: The Blockchain's Impact on Insurance
Sven Roehl is co-founder of Cookhouse Lab – the first co-creation InsurTech lab. He is also Executive Vice President of the IT consulting firm msg global solutions Canada Inc. and Head of Insurance Innovation of msg Group with more than 6,500 employees in 25 countries.
During his 15-year digital innovation journey in Financial Services, Sven has been responsible for numerous digital innovations in areas such as IoT, customer engagement and analytics. He inspired and helped many organizations around the globe to design digital products to interact with people in new and innovative ways.
Sven co-founded his first IT company specialized on IoT in Germany in 2004, before he joined msg global as director of UK & Ireland in 2011. In 2016 he moved from London, UK to Toronto, Canada. During this time, Sven set up the global innovation services of msg providing digital innovation consulting for many corporate organizations and their innovation labs.
Ken Sedgewick, Director - Sales, Sharp Mobile
As a former insurance broker with a CAIB designation, Ken understands first-hand the challenges brokers face – especially with regards to technology – and he is excited to be doing something about it. Ken strongly believes in the value of the broker model and knows it can do better to challenge direct writers and future competitors in the industry. He is excited about the solutions Sharp Mobile has to offer to brokerages by bringing technology and innovation to the forefront of the insurance brokerage industry. As a constant learner, Ken strives to understand what his clients need to be successful and to help brokerages maximize value through the use of innovative and efficient software.
When Ken is not working, he can usually be found trying to manage three boys under the age of six and longing to ride anything with two wheels.
Michael Shostak, SVP & CMO, Economical Insurance
Michael is on a mission, passionately pursuing a new and exciting focus on customers and creating a brand experience that will help put Economical at the forefront of the industry. Challenging the status quo is his specialty, and his extensive leadership experience at some of the largest advertising agencies in the world has prepared him well for this endeavor. Michael was drawn to Economical because of the commitment to innovation and putting customers first, and the launch of Sonnet Insurance. Going forward, Michael sees Economical as setting the industry standard in customer experience — connecting with customers and building the brand into something durable and differentiating.
Liza Smith, SVP - Global Sales & Marketing, OneShield Software
- Mini-Theatre Presentation: Traditional Insurers & Insurtech – Navigating the Disruption
Liza leads OneShield's go-to-market strategy for sales and marketing and has been focused on providing insurance companies with software solutions for more than 15 years.
Previously, Liza was vice president, global head of insurance for EMC Document Sciences, and prior to that previous roles included general manager at Insurance Services Office, and North American marketing manager and alliance director for insurance software provider Sherwood International.
Thomas L. Smith, President, Senteri
- Session: Pitch Competition
Tom is a founder and current president of Senteri, a firm focused on smart-home solutions for P&C insurance carriers and their policyholders. The emerging smart-home market is forever changing how consumers interact with their property and possessions and Senteri provides a sustainable path to market for carriers to capitalize on this massive market opportunity.
Prior to Senteri, Tom founded a Usage-Based-Insurance (UBI) telematics service provider that he guided from product launch to industry leader in the U.S. from 2010 – 2014. Tom has been at the forefront of innovating new data driven solutions for the insurance industry through unique UBI offerings and now smart-home solutions.
Tom's 20-year prior career includes executive and operational roles with venture backed and private equity financed early stage technology companies. He has an MBA from BYU and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Northern Colorado.
John Staines, Chief Sales Officer, ClientDesk
- Mini-Theatre Presentation: Building Closer Relations With Your Clients
Having a combined 20 plus years in sales and business development with enterprise and start up companies, John provides an extensive perspective on connecting technology with consumers. Prior to joining ClientDesk, he was a founding partner at Yroo, the world's largest e-commerce shopping search engine and comparison tool that attracted thousands of the largest retailers from Amazon and Walmart to Nordstrom and Macy's.
John Trozzo, Managing Partner, BiiCanada
- Session: Pitch Competition
John Trozzo, CIP, CRM, CSP, has been in the risk management industry for more than 28 years. In that time he has been instrumental in launching on-line replacement cost application in the insurance industry during his tenure with CGI. Before venturing on his own with BiiCanada, John's career spanned risk management and developed into the adjusting and claims. Currently John is a managing partner at BiiCanada.
Patrick Vice, Partner, Director - Products & Services, Insurance-Canada.ca
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.
Philipp Wassenberg, President & CEO, Munich Reinsurance Company of Canada
- Session: Creating an Innovation Ecosystem
Philipp is a lawyer with a PhD in public international and European law. He joined Munich Reinsurance Company, in Munich, in 2000 as a General Liability and D&O underwriter for various European and North American markets where he gained a wealth of experience in positions of increasing responsibility. When he transferred to Canada in 2014, Philipp had been the Head of Casualty Treaty in the Global Clients / North America division of Munich Re, responsible for world-wide business.
Philipp is now responsible for the operation of all of Munich Reinsurance Company's non-life business in Canada. He is an advocate for building strong client partnerships, and is making strategic use of the wide expertise ranging from NatCat modelling and capital relief solutions, to customer focused innovation and design thinking that is offered within the global reach of Munich Reinsurance Company to provide the best possible service and support to Munich Re's Canadian clients.
Philipp is a member of the Board of Directors of Munich Reinsurance Company of Canada and Temple Insurance Company. He also serves on several external Boards, including the Insurance Bureau of Canada, Reinsurance Research Council, Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction and the Canadian German Chamber of Industry and Commerce.
Venky Weylagro, VP - Sales & Marketing, Eddy Home
- Session: Pitch Competition
With a passion for the connected home, Venky has spent the past 10 years in finance, operations, and sales. As VP of Sales and Marketing for Eddy Home, he plays a key role in bringing these functions together to drive business results. Having started his career in accounting with KPMG, he moved to Just Energy as Controller before transitioning into sales management. When he's not busy driving strategy and growth for Eddy Home, he's losing sleep thanks to his favourite achievement, his four-month-old son, Bryson.
Founded in 2014, Eddy Home is revolutionizing home protection through our suite of intelligent water monitoring solutions. Our award-winning technology offers homeowners a market leading system designed primarily to prevent and mitigate water damage - the number one property damage risk, including our remote and automatic water shutoff. We are advocates of a more connected home, bring people closer to the things that matter most. We help to connect, protect, and conserve, keeping homeowners informed of the water situation in homes at all times.
Natalie Whaley, Operations Supervisor, Accident & Health, Consumer Insurance Canada
- Session: The Blockchain's Impact on Insurance
Natalie Whaley is the Operations Supervisor for the Canadian Personal Accident division of AIG Insurance Company of Canada. She is responsible for oversight of procedures, functions and coordination of technology, and operational strategy across the Personal Accident division, as well as managing the development of various strategic initiatives within Personal Accident, Consumer Insurance, and the wider AIG organization.
Throughout her tenure within Personal Accident Operations, Natalie has been heavily involved with AIG's Innovation Strategy within Canada and the United States. She has developed and launched and acted as a consultant on many product offerings, web based solutions, and marketing and advertising campaigns that have been launched in the Canadian and US markets.
As the Chair of the AIG Young Professionals Canada Employee Resource Group, Natalie is passionate about the career development of employees beginning their careers in the Insurance Industry. She has provided the Young Professionals membership base with unique opportunities for mentorship, executive exposure, community engagement and network experiences to help them grow in their careers.
Janine White, Vice-President - Marketplaces, Kanetix
- Session: Insurance in the Post-Digital World
As the Vice-President of Marketplaces, Janine White leads the sales and operations for Canada's largest online marketplaces for financial services. With almost two decades of experience working in the insurance and financial services world, Janine is an expert at bridging the gap of understanding between consumers and the financial products available to them.
A consumer first, Janine has spent her career making financial services more accessible to Canadians through Kanetix. Janine joined the company in 2001, not long after its inception, and has been with Kanetix through its various stages of growth and success. She has been part of almost every area of Kanetix, including leading the charge on business development, spearheading the company's early digital marketing programs, ensuring the highest quality of partner management, and even serving as one of the company's first bookkeepers.
Prior to joining Kanetix, Janine held several roles as at Scotiabank in Canada and spent time working in the railway industry in the UK.
Sean Widdess, Head of Strategic Partnerships, LowestRates.ca
Sean Widdess is the Head of Strategic Partnerships at LowestRates.ca. He's responsible for securing and maintaining partnerships with insurance brokers, direct writers, mortgage brokers, credit card companies, lenders, banks, and other financial brands. Before joining LowestRates.ca, Sean spent 9 years as VP and National Sales Manager at VERICO Financial Group, a leading Canadian national mortgage brokerage.
Danish Yusuf, CEO & Co-Founder, Zensurance
- Session: Creating an Innovation Ecosystem
Danish Yusuf is the CEO and co-founder of Zensurance, a Toronto-based technology startup focused on commercial insurance product and distribution.
Danish is a former leader in McKinsey & Company's Digital Insurance practice, supporting insurance clients globally on defining their digital strategy. Prior to McKinsey, Danish was a software architect and developer at IBM Canada, covering everything from mainframe development to web development.
Danish earned a bachelor's degree in Software Engineering from University of Toronto and has an MBA from Harvard Business School.
