ICTF2024: Speakers & Faculty

• Session: Riding the Waves of Change: Navigating Innovation in Insurance
• Session: The Innovation Gamut: Ideation, Refinement, Success

With a background encompassing computer engineering, finance, and strategy, David brings over three decades of expertise to the convergence of technology and business innovation. Currently serving as the Director of Sun Life's DBTS Innovation Lab, David spearheads exploration into emerging technologies to drive innovation. Prior to his role at Sun Life, he established and managed the Innovation Outpost for Wawanesa Insurance, strategically located at Communitech in Kitchener-Waterloo.

David's earlier experience as a Senior Product Manager at IMS involved delivering advanced auto telematics solutions to major P&C carriers across North America and Europe. His commitment to collaborative problem-solving is evident as he guides teams through the entire innovation process, from problem exploration to ideation, validation, and successful product launch.

Recognized as a thought leader in the Canadian Insurtech space, David has been a featured speaker at numerous industry events, showcasing his deep insights and contributions to the evolving landscape of insurance technology.

• Session: Innovation in Commercial Lines
• Session: Innovation Minute: Transforming Commercial Business Connectivity

Andrea Bucek is the VP of Distribution for Northbridge Insurance, leads their broker digital strategy and is passionate about how we as an industry can use technology to transform and improve the way we transact commercial business. Andrea has 25 years of experience in the insurance industry working in various roles including underwriting, portfolio management, product development and distribution, and has an Honours BA from McMaster University, an insurance diploma from Mohawk College, and is a Fellow Chartered Insurance Professional.

• Session: Innovation Minute: Saving Trees, Reducing Expenses

Gregory Cifelli is a Sr. Mgr of Customer Strategy with TD Insurance, where he focuses on developing and implementing strategies to improve the TDI customer experience. For the past decade, Gregory has led transformation initiatives within the financial services industry by leveraging Digitization and Automation technologies to achieve productivity enhancements and reduce expenses.

Gregory loves working at the crossroads of technology and business, and is passionate about identifying ways the latest technology can bring about customer experience improvements, and make businesses more competitive.

• Session: The Future of Insurance: How AI Will Transform the Industry in 2024 and Beyond

Martina Conlon is Head of Property & Casualty Insurance at Datos Insights. She has expertise in IT strategy, best practices, organizational approaches, and technology architecture, and is the primary researcher and author of market-leading reports on agent portals, core systems, business intelligence, and technology strategy. Martina has led dozens of vendor selection efforts, insurer peer benchmarking, IT organizational assessments, and enterprise architecture and roadmap development for leading U.S. insurers. Prior to Datos Insights, Martina served as Director of Enterprise Technology for Arbella Insurance, where she was responsible for all business applications, analytics, websites, and portals. She has also served as Principal Consultant with major technology and consulting firms, where she partnered with client executives to launch technology solutions to meet strategic business goals. She holds an MBA from Boston University and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Tufts University.

• Session: Innovation Minute: Managing Construction Risk With IoT

Alex Fuentes has over 20 years of experience in start-up and rapid-change environments within the tech industry and is Brickeye’s Executive Vice President of Strategic Growth and Business Development. He works with leading owners/developers, general contractors, and insurance providers across the U.S. and Canada to help mitigate job site risk and protect project margins through the adoption of construction IoT tech.

Alex holds an MBA from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and a Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Waterloo.

• Session: Innovation in Insurance: Strategies that Accelerate Transformation

Sagar Gill is the Senior Director of New Products and Innovation at Symcor, a leading provider of business solutions that enable secure data exchanges for the Canada’s major organizations in finance, insurance, government, telecom, and utilities. With over a decade of experience in digital innovation in Financial Services, coupled with a background in military leadership, Sagar brings a unique and dynamic perspective to his role. At Symcor, he leads a team of innovators responsible for developing and launching solutions that tackle widespread industry challenges. The team is passionately solving challenges in the Insurance sector by utilizing Symcor’s strengths in data exchange and analytics.

Sagar holds an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business and is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

• Session: TBA

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.

• Session: Innovation Minute: Cyber Risk and “Defending the Fort”

As a recognized leader in the Canadian Cyber Insurance market, Miki joined Resilience in 2023 to launch the company’s Canadian operations. In his current role as Head of Underwriting, Canada, Miki leads the Canadian Underwriting team and works closely with capacity partners to establish regional strategies. Miki also collaborates with Resilience’s broker partners to support the Resilience Solution and make Canadian companies more Cyber resilient. Prior to joining Resilience, Miki held senior roles at other leading insurance providers where he helped launch local Canadian products and support the risk transfer needs of large and complex organizations.

• Session: Innovation in Commercial Lines
• Session: Innovation Minute: Commercial Quoting with Quotey

Nick has a unique perspective on our amazing industry, having spent 26 years in leadership roles on the Insurer, MGA and Broker sides of the business in both the UK and Canada. In the process, Nick has developed functional expertise in claims, underwriting, pricing, analytics, strategy, sales and operations at companies such as AXA, Aon, April and Mitch Insurance. All of this has been channelled into Quotey, which aims to transform the way that commercial insurance works for brokers, insurers, MGAs and their clients. Nick lives in Brooklin, Ontario, with his wife and three kids.

• Session: Innovation in Commercial Lines
• Session: Innovation Minute: Being a Digital-first Commercial Broker

Kevin Lea, BComm, CIP, CAIB, CRM, is the President of Fuse Insurance, a Brokerage of the Year award recipient by Insurance Business Canada in 2019, 2022 and 2023. He is also the Past President of the Professional Young Insurance Brokers of Alberta, a current board member of the Insurance Brokers Association of Alberta and a current board member of the Insurance Brokers Association of Canada’s Technology Committee. Prior to cofounding Fuse Insurance in 2017, Kevin was a Partner & Large Commercial Producer at Rogers Insurance, one of Alberta’s largest brokerages. During his time at Rogers, he set records for being a top producer, won the Insurance Business Canada Young Gun & Elite Broker awards, and was also recognized as one of Canada’s Top 10 Brokers Under 40. Before moving to the brokerage side of the industry, he was a multi-line commercial claims adjuster for Federated Insurance. A graduate of the University of Calgary’s Risk Management & Insurance program, he also holds his CIP, CAIB and CRM designations. Apart from being an insurance nerd, he also enjoys golf, cooking and travel.

• Session: Data: The Foundation For Everything

Steve has more than 25 years of experience in the Canadian Home & Auto insurance marketplace. From underwriting, to portfolio management, to operational roles, with organizations ranging from Chubb Insurance, to RBC Insurance, Aviva and RSA, Steve’s path has gained him a familiarity with every facet of both brokerage operations and direct insurance operations. And on top of all that, he’s worked in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Waterloo, thus having the opportunity to see and work in a diverse number of settings and situations across the industry. Steve’s expertise is focused on driving change and developing unique and innovative ways to package and distribute insurance. At aha Steve is responsible for helping drive its strategic direction, develop and manage key partnerships, support the development and execution of the value proposition, and lead the team in building the unique culture that is fundamental to any start-up.

• Session: The Intersection of Claims Adjustment and Generative AI Technology
• Session: Innovation Minute: The Smart Way to Summarize Medical Records

Michelle Nokes is a key member of the customer success team streamlining the onboarding process for all clients at Wisedocs. Having served as a claims adjuster, Michelle brings with her vast and invaluable experience in the claims industry to ensure our clients are optimizing Wisedocs’ platform for their medical record review process. Michelle’s experience in software companies provides a unique blend of expertise in claims adjustment and technology, positioning her as a valuable asset, bridging the gap between industry-specific insights and technological innovation.

• Session: The Innovation Gamut: Ideation, Refinement, Success

Sachin Rustagi is the Head of Digital for Markel International (Canada), responsible for broker portals, digital distribution and how technology solutions can be leveraged to improve the broker experience. Sachin has 20 years of experience in areas of digital transformation, innovation and growth, with 10 years being in the financial services & insurance industry. He carries a Bachelor of Mathematics (BMath) from the University of Waterloo and a Masters in Management Innovation from the Smith’s School of Business at Queens University.

Recognized as an innovation leader in North America’s Digital Insurance space, Sachin continues to participate at various industry events and panels, highlighting his passion and contribution towards improving distribution and productivity in the P&C industry.

• Session: Innovation in Insurance: Strategies that Accelerate Transformation

Sanket Sutaria leads Digitization, Automation & Workflow team within broader Transformation & Shared Services team within TD Insurance and has been part of the TD Bank family for the past 12+ years. His team acts as agents of change within TD Insurance focusing on opportunities to reduce customer and colleague irritants, reduce expenses, while delivering high ROI for the organization. His mandate is to create and lead roadmap of opportunities that enables automation of non-judgement-based tasks by implementing Robotic Process Automation, and streamline workflow through best in class customer relationship management tools and lastly to identify opportunities to reduce print & postage expenses.

• Session: Innovation Minute: Finding the ‘Needle in the Haystack’

Kari is a senior member of the Client Success team at ProNavigator, and an industry veteran with over 15 years of experience leading clients through digital transformations. Passionate about enterprise-wide employee engagement, and providing innovative enhancements to the mundane, Kari is also an advocate for diversity and inclusion in the tech community.

• Session: Data: The Foundation For Everything

Zac Sutherland stands at the helm of Sutherland Insurance, proudly carrying forward a legacy as the 5th generation of his family brokerage. He was recently named President and helms a growing teams of high achievers looking to do more for their clients. With a forward-thinking approach that intertwines tradition with innovation, Zac has been instrumental in steering the company through a significant digital transformation. His passion for data lead to the inception of a separate entity dedicated to resolving typical data issues for brokers. This venture underscores his commitment to leveraging technology to enhance efficiency, accuracy, and client engagement in the insurance sector. Zac’s leadership is characterized by a deep understanding of the Ontario insurance landscape, a keen focus on strategic growth, and an unwavering dedication to adopting and implementing cutting edge technology. Zac is passionate about enriching the broker experience through innovative tools and data-driven strategies, ensuring that Sutherland Insurance remains relevant in the ever-evolving insurance landscape.

• Session: How Embedded Insurance Enables Customer-Centricity

Renée is the Chief Operating Officer at Foxquilt, having joined the company in early 2021. In her current role, Renée is responsible for overseeing the design and execution of the overall corporate strategy, with a keen focus on operational excellence and profitable growth.

With over 15 years of professional and leadership experience across Canada, USA and Germany, Renée has specialized in global project and portfolio management, business operations, program design and implementation, and change management initiatives.

Prior to joining Foxquilt, she was the Head of Portfolio Management at Munich Re Specialty Insurance, and Digital Partners, focusing on launching key insurance technology businesses across North America, bridging the gap between innovation, technology, and insurance within the ever-evolving digital MGA market.

With a proven track record of spearheading operational excellence and driving transformative growth, Renée is passionate about bringing technology innovation to the forefront of insurance and finding new strategies to simplify the insurance journey for businesses and consumers.

• Session: Understanding Our Customers' Needs, Wants & Desires

Alex Watson is an Associate Partner in IBM Consulting’s Insurance practice focusing on digital strategy and client experience transformation working across Property and Casualty and Life insurance clients. He brings over 15 years of consulting and industry experience working with Insurance clients in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. His work includes conducting research on understanding customer/ business sentiment and preferences towards insurance across direct, intermediary and digital channels. He recently led a set of research activities across a panel of the Canadian population understanding preferences for Insurer engagement and the role of Advice.