Jordan 2009

Brian Duperreault, age 64, is President and Chief Executive Officer of Marsh & McLennan Companies,
Inc, the premier global professional services firm providing advice and solutions in the areas of risk,
insurance, strategy and human capital.
Mr. Duperreault is a 35+ year insurance industry veteran who has served at the top of his profession in
numerous leadership roles, including 10 years as chief executive officer of ACE Limited and a member of
the company’s Board of Directors from 1994 until 2007. He served as executive Chairman of ACE until
June 2006, when he retired as an employee and became non-executive Chairman. He served as
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ACE from November 1999 through May 2004 and as Chairman,
President and Chief Executive Officer from October 1994 through November 1999.
Prior to joining ACE, Mr. Duperreault had been employed with American International Group (AIG) since 1973, and served in various senior executive positions with AIG and its affiliates from 1978 until September 1994, including as Executive Vice President, Foreign General Insurance and, concurrently, as
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of American International Underwriters Inc., (AIU) from April 1994 to September 1994. Mr. Duperreault was President of AIU from 1991 to April 1994, and Chief Executive Officer of AIG affiliates in Japan and Korea from 1989 until 1991.

Mr. Duperreault serves as Chairman of the Federal Advisory Committee on Insurance (FACI), and is a member of the board of directors of Tyco International Ltd., IESE Business School, the International Insurance Society, Centre on Philanthropy and the Insurance Information Institute. He also serves as
Chairman of both the Board of Overseers of the School of Risk Management of St. John's University, and the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences. In 2011, Mr. Duperreault was inducted into the International Insurance Hall of Fame.
Mr. Duperreault holds a B.S. in Mathematics from Saint Joseph’s University.

His Excellency Dr. Bassel Hindawi is the Director General of the Insurance Commission of Jordan. Since assuming this position in early 2000, he managed the implementation of a multi-year action plan aimed at modernizing the regulatory framework in accordance with international best practices and enhancing the efficiency of the insurance sector. This positioned the Insurance Commission of Jordan to be recognized as a model regulatory authority in the region.

Dr. Hindawi also led the initiative to establish the Arab Forum of Insurance Regulatory Commissions (AFIRC) in late 2006, as a regional driving force for insurance regulation by promoting collaboration, transparency and adoption of international standards, in order to ensure the creation of a well-governed, well-regulated and well-supervised regional insurance and reinsurance industry.

In his capacity as President of the International Association of Insurance Fraud Agencies (IAIFA), Dr. Hindawi spearheaded the restructuring of the Association in order to give it a global dimension in combating insurance fraud and maximize the level of integrity throughout the insurance industry.

Prior to leading the Insurance Commission of Jordan, Dr. Hindawi previously worked as an advisor to the Minister of Industry & Trade on Jordan’s accession to the World Trade Organization, and at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, in addition to being a lecturer at the George Washington University.

Some of His Excellency's professional activities and associations have been as follows:

President of the International Association of Insurance Fraud Agencies (IAIFA).

Founder of the Arab Forum of Insurance Regulatory Commissions.

Member of the Executive Committee of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS).

Member of the Board of Directors of the International Insurance Society (IIS).

Patrick W. Kenny joined the International Insurance Society, Inc., as President & Chief Executive Officer in June 2001.  Mr. Kenny is responsible for the overall management of the IIS, a non-profit organization of insurance executives and academics, whose mission is to facilitate the worldwide transfer of ideas and innovations and to foster the development of personal networks across national and international insurance markets. The IIS, which was formed in 1964, today has over 900 members from 90 countries representing key insurance companies around the globe.

Prior to joining the IIS, Mr. Kenny was the Executive Vice President of Frontier Insurance Group, Inc. in Rock Hill, Rock Hill, NY, from August 1998 to March 2001. From 1995 – 1998 he served as Senior Vice President of SS&C Technologies, a technology corporation located in Windsor, CT.

Mr. Kenny served as Group Executive, Finance & Administration, and Chief Financial Officer at AETNA Life and Casualty from January 1988 to December 1994 where he was responsible for corporate finance, services and communications, as well as technology, investor relations and internal audit. Management responsibilities included overseeing 6000 employees.

Before joining AETNA, Mr. Kenny was the Partner in Charge of the Insurance Audit Practice and a member of the International Insurance Practice Committee at KPMG Peat Marwick from 1981 to 1987. Previously he served as Partner in Charge of the Continental Insurance Practice at KPMG offices in Paris, France and The Hague, Netherlands. Mr. Kenny started his career at KPMG Peat Marwick in St. Louis in 1966.

Mr. Kenny is a member of the boards of directors of Assured Guaranty, ING Partners Inc., Odyssey Re, IOF Forester and Overland Solutions. He is also a member of the University of Notre Dame Advisory Council for University Libraries.

A Certified Public Accountant in Missouri, Ohio and Connecticut, Mr. Kenny holds a Bachelor’s degree of Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame and a Master’s degree in Accounting from the University of Missouri at Columbia.

Geoffrey Bell is President of Geoffrey Bell and Company which advises a wide range of central banks and governments on their international reserve asset and liability management programmes. 

He was financial adviser to the Central Bank of Venezuela for over twenty five years and has acted as financial advisor to the Government of Barbados for more than twenty years and the Government of Jamaica for almost a decade. The company acts as a consultant to major corporations and banks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and South America providing advice on capital market transactions as well as undertaking economic, financial and country risk analysis. The company also specializes in bank regulation and has worked closely on issues relating to the Basel Banking Committee. Geoffrey Bell was Chairman of Guinness Mahon Holdings, one of London’s oldest merchant banks, from October 1987 to April 1993 and negotiated its sale to the Bank of Yokohama in 1989.

Born in Grimsby in 1939 and educated at the London School of Economics, he joined H.M. Treasury after graduation. In 1963 he was a Visiting Scholar with the Federal Reserve System mainly based at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.          

During 1964 and 1965 he lectured on monetary economics at the London School of economics.  Between 1966 and 1969 he was Economic Advisor to the British Embassy in Washington. 

In 1969 he joined one of London’s leading merchant banks, Schroders, as Assistant to the then Chairman, Gordon Richardson, who later became Governor of the Bank of England.  He became a director of the company as well as an Executive Vice President of J. Henry Schroder Bank in New York working on the international expansion of the group.

Geoffrey Bell formed his own company in 1982.  He was the Founder and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Consultative Group of International Economic and Monetary Affairs known as the Group of 30.  His book, “The Euro-Dollar Market and the International Financial System� has been translated into French and Japanese and he writes frequently in the International Herald Tribune and in other financial journals.  Geoffrey Bell was appointed a Governor of the London School of Economics in 1994.

Roger Sellek is based in London and oversees A.M. Best’s ratings, information-services and news businesses throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region.

Prior to joining A.M. Best, Roger was Commercial Director for Lloyd’s of London for six years, responsible for the market’s strategic business relationships with its investor base, brokers, the rating agencies and the financial-analyst community.  Shortly after joining Lloyd’s in 1996, Roger was appointed Head of Commercial Policy and subsequently became Managing Director of Lloyd’s Market Risk Unit, where he directed the development and application of the market’s risk-based capital system.  He had earlier worked as a consultant to the Equitas Project, assuming management responsibility for the analysis of all non-APH liabilities.

In addition to 15 years of extensive experience and achievement in the insurance and reinsurance sectors, Roger has a long academic background, graduating with a BSc in mathematical physics from the University of Exeter in 1978 and with a PhD three years later.  Roger also holds an MBA in strategic management from Imperial College at the University of London.  Between 1981 and 1992, Roger carried out post-doctoral research at the University of Cambridge and worked in a number of academic positions in the United Kingdom and overseas, including as a lecturer in applied mathematics at the University of Sydney, Australia.  He also spent 18 months as the National Squash Coach for Thailand.

Donald A. Stewart is Chief Executive Officer of Sun Life Financial Inc.

A native of Scotland, Don joined Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada in London, England in 1969 and emigrated to Montreal in 1972.

In 1974, Don left the Company to work as a consultant in Toronto. He returned in 1980 to lead the Canadian Group Retirement Services Division. From 1986 to 1998 he held successive leadership positions in mutual funds, information technology, trust services, actuarial and worldwide operations. In 1998 he was appointed Chief Executive Officer.

Don is a director of the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association, the American Council of Life Insurers and international aluminum products company Novelis Inc. He is a member of the Board of The Geneva Association, an international insurance think tank and research institution. In 2009, Don was appointed Chairman of Canada’s National Task Force on Financial Literacy. 

Born in 1946, Don holds a degree in Natural Philosophy from the University of Glasgow, graduating in 1968 with first class honours. He became a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries in 1972, and attended the Advanced Management Program of the Harvard Business School in 1991.

Born 1959, Austrian

1977 - 1981 Study of actuarial theory at the University of Technology, Vienna

1981 "Certified actuary" (with distinction)

1977 - 1982 Study of law at the University of Vienna

1982 "Doktor iuris"

1983 - 1993 Federal Ministry of Finance (Insurance Supervision), Vienna

1993 - 1994 EFTA, Economic Affairs Division (Financial Services), Brussels

1994 - 2002 Federal Ministry of Finance (Insurance Supervision), Vienna

Head of the division for financial supervision (1994 - 2002)

Head of the Insurance Supervision (1999 - 2002)

2002 - Financial Market Authority, Vienna

Director, Insurance and Pension Supervision

Representative of the FMA to CEIOPS

Chairman of the CEIOPS Task Force on the Revision of the Siena Protocol

Member of the IAIS Executive Committee, Technical Committee and Implementation Committee

Chairman of the IAIS Insurance Laws, Regulations, Practices and Standards Subommittee (1996 – 2007)

Certified actuary (Austrian Actuarial Association)

University teacher for insurance supervisory law at the University of Economics and Business Administration, Vienna and the University of Salzburg

Editor of a journal on Financial Market Law

Several publications in German and English

Qualifications

Member, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan;

Member, Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Pakistan; Fellow, Life Management Institute - US

Experience

Muhammad started his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Pakistan in 1994. He has worked with many international insurance / takaful, reinsurers and insurance brokerage houses in the UAE and Pakistan.

Muhammad’s experience crosses both profession and industry as he has worked with AIG as Chief Financial Officer and company secretary of their life insurance arm (ALICO) in Pakistan. During his tenure with ALICO, Muhammad obtained the FLMI designation and was actively involved in the operations, product and business development.

He has advised insurance clients and regulator on various accounting, regulatory and product development matters, specially relating to life Insurance sector.

Muhammad has also been part of the joint committee of accountants and actuaries reviewing the insurance regulations in Pakistan.

During his tenure with PwC in the UAE, he has been involved in the audits of many large local as well as branches of foreign insurers. Currently in KPMG UAE, he is the lead partner for Takaful and Insurance business.

Sector experience

Life and casualty insurance

Functional experience

Financial due diligence

Geoffrey Bell is President of Geoffrey Bell and Company which advises a wide range of central banks and governments on their international reserve asset and liability management programmes. 

He was financial adviser to the Central Bank of Venezuela for over twenty five years and has acted as financial advisor to the Government of Barbados for more than twenty years and the Government of Jamaica for almost a decade. The company acts as a consultant to major corporations and banks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and South America providing advice on capital market transactions as well as undertaking economic, financial and country risk analysis. The company also specializes in bank regulation and has worked closely on issues relating to the Basel Banking Committee. Geoffrey Bell was Chairman of Guinness Mahon Holdings, one of London’s oldest merchant banks, from October 1987 to April 1993 and negotiated its sale to the Bank of Yokohama in 1989.

Born in Grimsby in 1939 and educated at the London School of Economics, he joined H.M. Treasury after graduation. In 1963 he was a Visiting Scholar with the Federal Reserve System mainly based at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.          

During 1964 and 1965 he lectured on monetary economics at the London School of economics.  Between 1966 and 1969 he was Economic Advisor to the British Embassy in Washington. 

In 1969 he joined one of London’s leading merchant banks, Schroders, as Assistant to the then Chairman, Gordon Richardson, who later became Governor of the Bank of England.  He became a director of the company as well as an Executive Vice President of J. Henry Schroder Bank in New York working on the international expansion of the group.

Geoffrey Bell formed his own company in 1982.  He was the Founder and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Consultative Group of International Economic and Monetary Affairs known as the Group of 30.  His book, “The Euro-Dollar Market and the International Financial System� has been translated into French and Japanese and he writes frequently in the International Herald Tribune and in other financial journals.  Geoffrey Bell was appointed a Governor of the London School of Economics in 1994.

Brian Duperreault, age 64, is President and Chief Executive Officer of Marsh & McLennan Companies,
Inc, the premier global professional services firm providing advice and solutions in the areas of risk,
insurance, strategy and human capital.
Mr. Duperreault is a 35+ year insurance industry veteran who has served at the top of his profession in
numerous leadership roles, including 10 years as chief executive officer of ACE Limited and a member of
the company’s Board of Directors from 1994 until 2007. He served as executive Chairman of ACE until
June 2006, when he retired as an employee and became non-executive Chairman. He served as
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ACE from November 1999 through May 2004 and as Chairman,
President and Chief Executive Officer from October 1994 through November 1999.
Prior to joining ACE, Mr. Duperreault had been employed with American International Group (AIG) since 1973, and served in various senior executive positions with AIG and its affiliates from 1978 until September 1994, including as Executive Vice President, Foreign General Insurance and, concurrently, as
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of American International Underwriters Inc., (AIU) from April 1994 to September 1994. Mr. Duperreault was President of AIU from 1991 to April 1994, and Chief Executive Officer of AIG affiliates in Japan and Korea from 1989 until 1991.

Mr. Duperreault serves as Chairman of the Federal Advisory Committee on Insurance (FACI), and is a member of the board of directors of Tyco International Ltd., IESE Business School, the International Insurance Society, Centre on Philanthropy and the Insurance Information Institute. He also serves as
Chairman of both the Board of Overseers of the School of Risk Management of St. John's University, and the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences. In 2011, Mr. Duperreault was inducted into the International Insurance Hall of Fame.
Mr. Duperreault holds a B.S. in Mathematics from Saint Joseph’s University.

Geoffrey Bell is President of Geoffrey Bell and Company which advises a wide range of central banks and governments on their international reserve asset and liability management programmes. 

He was financial adviser to the Central Bank of Venezuela for over twenty five years and has acted as financial advisor to the Government of Barbados for more than twenty years and the Government of Jamaica for almost a decade. The company acts as a consultant to major corporations and banks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and South America providing advice on capital market transactions as well as undertaking economic, financial and country risk analysis. The company also specializes in bank regulation and has worked closely on issues relating to the Basel Banking Committee. Geoffrey Bell was Chairman of Guinness Mahon Holdings, one of London’s oldest merchant banks, from October 1987 to April 1993 and negotiated its sale to the Bank of Yokohama in 1989.

Born in Grimsby in 1939 and educated at the London School of Economics, he joined H.M. Treasury after graduation. In 1963 he was a Visiting Scholar with the Federal Reserve System mainly based at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.          

During 1964 and 1965 he lectured on monetary economics at the London School of economics.  Between 1966 and 1969 he was Economic Advisor to the British Embassy in Washington. 

In 1969 he joined one of London’s leading merchant banks, Schroders, as Assistant to the then Chairman, Gordon Richardson, who later became Governor of the Bank of England.  He became a director of the company as well as an Executive Vice President of J. Henry Schroder Bank in New York working on the international expansion of the group.

Geoffrey Bell formed his own company in 1982.  He was the Founder and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Consultative Group of International Economic and Monetary Affairs known as the Group of 30.  His book, “The Euro-Dollar Market and the International Financial System� has been translated into French and Japanese and he writes frequently in the International Herald Tribune and in other financial journals.  Geoffrey Bell was appointed a Governor of the London School of Economics in 1994.

1986 - Joined AIG Data Center  
1995 - AIG Companies, North American East Coast Regional Non-life Insurance Sales Division
1997 - AIG Sigorta A.S. (Turkey) Vice-Chairman and Managing Director
2001 - 2004 - AIG General (South Korea) President
2004 - present - President and CEO of Fuji Fire and Marine Insurance Company, Ltd

Prem Watsa is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited, a financial services holding company which, through its subsidiaries, is engaged in property, casualty and life insurance, reinsurance, investment management and insurance claim management. 

In 1985 Prem took control of Markel Financial which was controlled by the Virginia based Markel family. In 1987 he then re�organized and renamed it Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited. He has served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since its inception. He is also Vice President of Hamblin Watsa Investment Counsel, Chairman of Odyssey Re and Chairman of the Board, Northbridge Financial Corporation, both being publicly listed subsidiaries of Fairfax.

Since 1985, Fairfax has compounded book value by over 25%. Fairfax has total assets of approximately US$28 billion, revenues in excess of US$7.4 billion and common shareholders’ equity of approximately US$4.6 billion. The company is listed on both the Toronto and New York Stock Exchange.

Prem Watsa’s professional career began in 1974 when he joined Confederation Life Insurance Company in Toronto; he went from being a Research Analyst to become a Vice President of Confederation Life’s Investment Counsel. He then joined GW Asset Management where he was a Vice President. He later opened his own asset management company, Hamblin Watsa Investment Counsel Ltd. (now fully owned by Fairfax).

He holds a Bachelors Degree in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras, India and obtained his MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst.

He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Hospital for Sick Children, Director of ICICI Bank, member of the Advisory Board for the Richard Ivey School of Business, member of the Board of Directors of the Royal Ontario Museum Foundation and Chairman of the Investment Committee of St. Paul’s Anglican Church.

Frederic Sicre has about 20 years experience in engaging the private sector in global issues, regional-development agendas and community building. As an Executive Director at Abraaj, he engages a wide network of decision makers from around the world with the business activities and philanthropic work of the firm. He spearheads the Abraaj Strategic Stakeholder Engagement Team (ASSET) that works with leaders from all fields, including government, private sector, media and culture. He helps drive business development at Abraaj, its stakeholder communications, international positioning, government relations and strategic philanthropy. He serves on the advisory boards of Dubai Cares, a US$ 1 billion endowment dedicated to providing education to poor children around the world, as well of Injaz Al Arab, an organisation which harnesses the mentorship of Arab business leaders to help inspire a culture of entrepreneurialism and business innovation among Arab youth. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Gerhart Center at the American University in Cairo and Chairman of the Gaza Children Trust.

In the early 1990s, Mr. Sicre established the activities of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Africa and the Middle East. He then managed the Forum’s Centre for Regional Strategies and was promoted to WEF Managing Director in 2000. In 2002, he was responsible for moving the Annual Davos Meeting to New York City to show support for New Yorkers after 9/11. In 2003, he was responsible for the Extraordinary Annual Meeting at the Dead Sea in Jordan following the Iraq conflict. Mr. Sicre has initiated private-sector led dialogue and reconciliation initiatives during South Africa’s transition to democracy, and between Palestinians and Israelis. He also initiated the first Africa and Arab World Competitiveness reports. He oversaw the creation of the Arab Business Council and is editor of ‘South Africa at Ten’, a book celebrating the first ten years of democracy in the country. From 2002 to 2005 he served as a member of the international advisory board of Scripps Medical Foundation, San Diego. Mr. Sicre holds an MBA from IMD, Switzerland, a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences from Villanova University, Philadelphia, and is a fellow of Stanford University, Palo Alto.

Ian Dilks is the Global Insurance Leader of PricewaterhouseCoopers. He is based in the London office of PricewaterhouseCoopers and has specialised in financial services, particularly insurance, for 25 years. In addition to chairing the Global Insurance Leadership Team, Ian is a member of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Global Financial Services Leadership Team. He is specifically responsible for co-ordinating the firm’s response to the impact of market reporting developments, including International Financial Reporting Standards on Financial Services clients globally, and is responsible for PricewaterhouseCoopers’ support to the European Insurance CFO Forum.

Over the last 15 years Ian has worked for a number of international and regional clients and industry bodies, and his experience encompasses a wide range of audit, regulatory and advisory assignments. In addition to his internal responsibilities, he continues to work with a number of PwC's clients in Europe.

Mr. Victor Apps retired from his executive position with Manulife Financial in December 2006. At that time he was Senior Executive Vice President and General Manager, Asia, responsible for Manulife Financial’s insurance and mutual fund operations in Asia.  He was also a member of the Company’s Executive Committee. 

Mr. Apps was from 1990 to 1996 the Chairman of Manulife-Sinochem (Zhong Hong) Life Insurance Company Limited, the first joint venture insurance company to be approved in the People’s Republic of China. He led Manulife’s team negotiating entry to China and oversaw Manulife-Sinochem’s rapid growth.

Mr. Apps was also responsible for Manulife’s operations in Japan , Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand .

Mr. Apps received an MA in Mathematics in 1970 from Cambridge University, England.  Later that year, he joined Manulife Financial in Canada as a Computer Programmer Analyst and received a series of promotions before being appointed as Administrative Vice President in 1981.

In March 1985, Mr. Apps was appointed to the position of General Manager, Manulife Indonesia and seconded to Jakarta, Indonesia.

Mr. Apps moved to Hong Kong in 1988 and assumed increasing responsibilies within Manulife before becoming General Manager for Asia  in 1997.

Mr. Apps was voted “Insurance Personality of the Year” at the Asia Insurance Industry Awards 1999.  He was elected Chairman of the Employer’s Federation of Hong Kong in May 2002.

Mr. Apps has retired in Hong Kong with his wife Leona.

David Banks is editor of Arabian Insurance Review, from the publishers of Global Reinsurance.
David has been reporting on Middle East insurance and finance since 2003 and spent four years as a business journalist in the United Arab Emirates.

He has more than 10 years of experience in the media, both journalism and public relations.

His previous work includes political press relations in London and PR for a Premier League football team, as well as speech writing, lobbying, hosting seminars and editing financial brochures and books.

Hussain Hadi began his journalism career with the Informa Group in London, publishers of leading insurance titles such as Insurance Day and The Review. As the Coordinating Editor of the Insurance Law division he managed a number of titles including Insurance Law Monthly, Law of Insurance Contracts and Professional Negligence & Liability. He launched the online version of the Lloyd’s Law Reports: Insurance & Reinsurance and set up training courses on Reinsurance Practice and Law. He has overseen the publication of a number of books including Tackling Insurance Fraud and Insurance Disputes. He then moved to Oxford University Press where he managed a portfolio of commercial and international law titles. He is now based in Dubai as the Editor of POLICY magazine, a dedicated insurance.

Michael has been an insurance journalist for seven years. He joined Reactions, the global insurance and reinsurance magazine, as a graduate trainee in 2002, working in its London office. He was made a staff writer six months later.

In 2005, Michael was promoted to US Editor of Reactions, and moved to New York.

He was promoted to Editor of Reactions in March 2007 and still works in Reactions’ New York office.

Before joining Reactions, Michael studied Economics and Politics at the University of Manchester from 1997 to 2000. He took a year out after university to travel around India and south-east Asia. He is a British citizen and grew up in Bedfordshire, England.

A lawyer by training, Mr. Subramaniam served as a Singapore diplomat for 10 years when he also worked at the United Nations in New York and in Geneva and has served as a member of Dispute Settlement Panel in an international trade dispute between the EU and US on Government Procurement in the GATT, the former WTO.

Riding on the success of "Asia Insurance Review" which he launched in 1991 as the premier professional regional insurance magazine serving the information needs of insurance practitioners in Asia, he moved to launch Middle East Insurance Review incorporating Global Takaful in September 2006 to do the same for the Middle East and North African (Mena) region.

As Editor-in-Chief of Asia Insurance Review, he has also organized more than 120 technical insurance conferences and spoken at several of them as well. He is PR Consultant to the Asean Insurance Council and Resident Moderator of the celebrated Asia Insurance Industry Awards to salute excellence in the insurance industry for the past 12 years. 

Abdul Khaliq R.Khalil has over 40 years of experience in the insurance and financial services sector , where he held several Executive positions like Chairman , General manager and / or board of director member of several companies all over the Arab countries  such as ; National Insurance company - Iraq , Iraqi Reinsurance Company , Arab Reinsurance Company - Lebanon, Bahrain Insurance Company and Iraqi Insurance Institution.

Abdul Khaliq was a member of the board of several financial Organizations like the Agriculture Bank – Iraq, Cooperation Bank Housing Affairs and the Rafidain Bank -  Iraqi.

He was member of the executive committee of the Afro – Asian Insurers and Reinsurers Federation.

Abdul khailq is the Secretary General of the General Arab Insurance Federation (GAIF) since 1999, while his tasks and assignments in the General Arab Insurance Federation are as follows:

1.  Organizing the educational, cultural, and rehearsal sessions and symposiums for the members of the General Arab Insurance Federation

2.  Supervising the duty and the assignments of the technical committees working under the umbrella of (GAIF).

3.  Supervising , coordinating , and organizing the General Arab Insurance Federation’s Conferences to be held every two years, knowing that , the number of companies that are included in the GAIF’s membership are approximately 320 Insurance and Reinsurance Companies

4.  The General Arab Insurance Federation is contributed in several Arabian and International Insurance gathering and meetings all over the Arab world.

5.  Supervising and coordinating the issue of the Arab Insurance Magazine every three months

Abdul khailq is a holder of a BSC degree in English Literature from AL-Mustansereya University in 1967 Baghdad - Iraq and Advanced Insurance and Reinsurance Training Course in Swiss - Re for more than six months in 1974  Zurich/Switzerland.

Sherry Manetta is the Director of Consulting Services at Conning & Company. Conning is a leading insurance industry specialist dedicated to providing asset management, insurance research and strategic consulting to insurance companies. Utilizing proprietary tools and modeling techniques, Conning’s consulting specialists provide insurers with customized investment strategy, enterprise risk management, capital management and business planning services.

Ms. Manetta has over 25 years of experience providing critical business solutions for insurers. Prior to joining Conning in 2007, Ms. Manetta was a senior strategy and business transformation consultant to global insurance and financial services companies. She has held senior management positions in the insurance industry, including Chief Information Officer of The Phoenix Companies, CFO and head of planning for Aetna’s health business, and CFO, head of planning and operations of Aetna’s large case pension business. She was also CEO and CFO of a specialty managed care company and an Audit and Consulting Partner with Ernst & Young.

Ms. Manetta is a member of the board of directors of several social service and educational organizations. She is a graduate of Misericordia University with a degree in Mathematics and earned an MBA from Indiana University.

Born 1979, Damascus, Syria; Hale Abdul Kader holds a degree in Economics and Accountancy (Upper Second Class Honours) from the University of Damascus (2004) and a postgraduate degree in Finance (distinction and Dresdner Kleinwort Investment Bank Prize Winner) from Swansea University, UK. Prior to coming to the UK, I worked at the Audi commercial bank, Beirut, Lebanon (2004-5) and as an Economic Researcher for the Damascus-based Institutional and Sector Modernization Facility (ISMF) (2005-6). In September 2007 I secured the prestigious Agnes Hempsell Endowed Doctoral Scholarship to study for a doctorate on the corporate reinsurance transaction in the UK property liability insurance industry at the Centre for Risk and Insurance Studies (CRIS), University of Nottingham – the UK’s leading centre for risk and insurance research. This achievement was reported in the national media (The Guardian newspaper, 17 July, 2007). My published work includes the 2007 Review of the Syrian Economy, produced by the ISMF and co-authored with Dr. Constantine Zaman plus two academic working papers – the first on reinsurance and taxation in the UK life insurance industry (2008) coauthored with Professor Michael Adams and Dr. Kostas Mouritidis, and the second on the cost efficiency of Takaful insurers written with Professors Michael Adams and Phillip Hardwick. I also presented my work on the insurance industry at several universities including the University of Leeds, University of Nottingham, Swansea University, and Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge in the UK, and Umeå University in Sweden. I am also a member of the UK based female insurance executive organization, the Women’s Insurance Network and an assistant examiner in finance on the external degree programme run by the London School of Economics and Political Science. I have appeared in public media broadcasts for Syrian TV and the online TV programme The Risk Channel (www.theriskchannel.com). My hobbies and interests include history, swimming and dancing.

Robert E. Hoyt is the Dudley L. Moore, Jr. Chair of Risk Management and Insurance in the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia. He teaches corporate risk management and enterprise risk management and serves as the Department Head for Insurance, Legal Studies, and Real Estate. He was Interim Dean of the Terry College in 2007 and has been on the UGA faculty since 1988. He is a recipient of the Richard B. Russell Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award from UGA, the Terry College’s Outstanding Service Award and in 2009 the Terry College’s Outstanding Teaching Award.

Dr. Hoyt holds a degree in actuarial science from the University of Nebraska and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in risk and insurance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where he was an S.S. Huebner Fellow. In 1995 he was a Fulbright Visiting Professor of Risk Management at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, in 2009 he was a Visiting Research Scholar at the University of Munich, and he previously studied at the University of Cologne, Germany. His research interests are focused in the areas of corporate hedging, enterprise risk management, catastrophe risk management, the economics of insurance fraud, liability system costs and insurer insolvency. His research has appeared in various scholarly and trade journals including the Journal of Risk and Insurance, the Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, the Journal of Law and Economics, the North American Actuarial Journal, the Journal of Business Finance and Accounting, Risk Management and Insurance Review, the Journal of Insurance Regulation, the Journal of Insurance Issues, the CPCU Journal and the Journal of Actuarial Practice. Dr. Hoyt has offered expert testimony in litigation relating to pension valuation and insurance contract interpretation and has served as a risk management consultant to various public and private sector organizations including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He is a trustee of the Griffith Insurance Education Foundation, a director of the Spencer Educational Foundation and serves on the boards of Athens Regional Medical Center and Athens Area Health Plan Select.

Dr. Hoyt is Past President of the American Risk and Insurance Association, Past President of the Risk Theory Society, Past President of the Southern Risk and Insurance Association, a Vice President of the International Insurance Society, and a member of the Risk and Insurance Management Society, the Western Risk and Insurance Association, and the American Finance Association. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Journal of Insurance Regulation and on the editorial board of Risk Management and Insurance Review. He holds the professional designations of CLU and ChFC.

Stephen Packard is a Director in Deloitte Consulting’s Insurance Strategy & Operations practice, based in Hartford, Connecticut.  He has more than 25 years of experience assisting insurance companies deal with some of their most complex business issues, including:  strategy formulation and execution; corporate restructuring; shareholder value analysis; competitive benchmarking; product development; mergers, acquisitions and divestitures; business turn-arounds; and technology strategy and implementation. 

Prior to joining Deloitte, Stephen served in a variety of senior executive positions at Aetna, Travelers, and The Hartford Insurance Group.  He is an attorney and a member of the Connecticut and New York State Bars.  He was formerly a partner in Accenture’s global insurance practice and leader of its U.S. Mergers & Acquisition practice.   

Stephen has written and spoken on numerous insurance topics at various U.S. and international industry forums. He is a longstanding member of the International Insurance Society, and a member of the IIS Research Committee.

W. Jean Kwon, Ph.D., CPCU

Faculty Chair and Professor

The School of Risk Management, St. John's University, USA

Professor Kwon studied risk management and insurance at The College of Insurance (now the School of Risk Management of St. John’s University) (MBA) and Georgia State University (Ph.D.). He is also a Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and is listed in the Fulbright Senior Specialist Pool. Prior to joining the School of Risk Management in 2002, he gained experience as an educator with Georgia State University and Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), as an insurance regulator with Monetary Authority of Singapore and as an industry specialist with the American Institute for CPCU/IIA. In summer, he visits overseas institutions, including in the recent past, and Hitotsubashi University, Waseda University and Meiji University (all three in Tokyo, Japan), National Chengchi University (Taipei, Taiwan) and Singapore College of Insurance. He holds the Edwin A.G. Manton/AIG Endowed Chair Professorship in International Insurance and Risk Management.

He helped to establish Asia-Pacific Risk and Insurance Association (APRIA) in 1997. He played a key role in the creation of the World Risk and Insurance Economics Congress (WRIEC), a once-in-five year academic forum jointly organized by APRIA, ARIA, EGRIE and The Geneva Association. Professor Kwon organized its inaugural 2005 Salt Lake City meeting and the second 2010 Singapore meeting. He has authored several books. The book co-authored with Harold D. Skipper, “Risk Management and Insurance: Perspectives in a Global Economy” (Wiley/Blackwell) won the 2009 Kulp-Wright Book Award and has been used by professors in about 15 countries. He continues to publish papers in academic and professional journals, present research findings at various conferences, and offer services to several academic journals. He delivers consulting services and special lectures for institutions in the public and private sectors in the U.S. and abroad. He specializes in insurance market and country analysis, insurer financial and operation analysis, insurance regulation and other international issues.

Andy Giffin is a recently Retired Principal of the Tillinghast insurance consulting unit of Towers Perrin (now Towers Watson) based in New York.  For 27 years Andy consulted on strategy and organizational issues for leading global and national insurers and banks primarily on matters of country market entry, expansion and repositioning in life and P&C insurance, pension and integrated financial services.  He managed projects in market entry, ERM program development, M&A transactions and integration, strategy implementation, regulatory issues and competitive market analysis.  Mr. Giffin was also the Publisher of Towers Perrin’s Emphasis magazine.

Prior to joining Towers Perrin in 1983, Andy served as Consultant for the Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID) [Indonesian insurance regulatory system], as Director of Management Services for the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, as First Deputy Commissioner for the Massachusetts Division of Insurance and as Chief Counsel for the Pennsylvania Insurance Department.

Andy holds an MBA degree (Boston University), a JD degree (University of Wisconsin) and a BA degree (College of Wooster).  He currently serves as Vice President and as a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee for the International Insurance Society.  He is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of the International Insurance Foundation, which helps national insurance supervisors meet global regulatory standards.  He is a frequent speaker and author of numerous articles and book chapters on strategic management of domestic, foreign and global insurance operations.       

Andrew Rear is the head of Oliver Wyman’s insurance consulting business in Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa. Andrew is a regular commentator and speaker on the life and non-life insurance industry.

Since joining Oliver Wyman in 2000, Andrew has driven the development of our intellectual capital in a range of strategic themes across both life and general insurance, with a particular focus on understanding how leading players establish and sustain competitive advantage, and helping insurers to find the right strategic responses at group- and business unit-level as markets develop.

Andrew has authored a number of major publications including the firm’s research into The Future Regulation of UK Savings and Investments, commissioned by the Association of British Insurers in 2001 and its follow-up in 2002. In 2004 he authored the major study into the future of the global life insurance industry, Going on the Offensive: the $1,600 Billion Prize, and most recently in 2006 he wrote The New Federalism, charting the changing relationship between Group and Business Units across the major global insurers.

Before joining Oliver Wyman, Andrew worked in the UK life industry in a several roles covering marketing, strategy, and finance.

Andrew graduated from Cambridge University in Mathematics and is a Fellow of the Faculty of Actuaries. He has been involved in a number of professional and industry groups, across a range of topics.

Dr. James J. Zogby is founder and president of the Arab American Institute (AAI), a Washington, D.C.-based organization which serves as the political and policy research arm of the Arab American community. Since 1985, Dr. Zogby and AAI have led Arab American efforts to secure political empowerment in the U.S. Through voter registration, education and mobilization, AAI has moved Arab Americans into the political mainstream.

For the past three decades, Dr. Zogby has been involved in a full range of Arab American issues. A co-founder and chairman of the Palestine Human Rights Campaign in the late 1970s, he later co-founded and served as the Executive Director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. In 1982, he co-founded Save Lebanon, Inc., a private non-profit, humanitarian and non-sectarian relief organization which funds health care for Palestinian and Lebanese victims of war, and other social welfare projects in Lebanon. In 1985, Zogby founded AAI.

In 1993, following the signing of the Israeli-Palestinian peace accord in Washington, he was asked by Vice President Al Gore to lead Builders for Peace, a private sector committee to promote U.S. business investment in the West Bank and Gaza. In his capacity as co-president of Builders, Zogby frequently traveled to the Middle East with delegations led by Vice President Gore and late Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown. In 1994, with former U.S. Congressman Mel Levine, his colleague as co-president of Builders, Zogby led a U.S. delegation to the signing of the Israeli-Palestinian agreement in Cairo. Zogby also chaired a forum on the Palestinian economy at the Casablanca Economic Summit in 1994. After 1994, through Builders, Zogby worked with a number of US agencies to promote and support Palestinian economic development, including AID, OPIC, USTDA, and the Departments of State and Commerce.

Dr. Zogby has also been personally active in U.S. politics for many years; in 1984 and 1988 he served as Deputy Campaign manager and Senior Advisor to the Jesse Jackson Presidential campaign. Most recently, in 1995 DNC Chairman Don Fowler appointed Zogby as co-convener of the National Democratic Ethnic Coordinating Committee (NDECC), an umbrella organization of Democratic Party leaders of European and Mediterranean descent. In 1999 and 2001 he was reelected to that post. Also in 2001, he was appointed to the Executive Committee of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and in 2006 was also named Co-Chair of the DNC’s Resolutions Committee.

A lecturer and scholar on Middle East issues, U.S.-Arab relations, and the history of the Arab American community, Dr. Zogby appears frequently on television and radio. He has appeared as a regular guest on all the major network news programs. After hosting the popular “A Capital View” on the Arab Network of America from 1993-2001. From 2001 until now he hosts the award winning “Viewpoint with James Zogby” on Abu Dhabi Television, LinkTV, Dish Network, and DirecTV.

Since 1992, Dr. Zogby has also written a weekly column on U.S. politics for the major newspapers of the Arab world. The column, “Washington Watch,” is currently published in 14 Arab and South Asian countries. He has authored a number of books including two publications, “What Ethnic Americans Really Think” and “What Arabs Think: Values, Beliefs and Concerns.”

Dr. Zogby has testified before U.S. House and Senate committees, has been guest speaker on a number of occasions in the Secretary’s Open Forum at the U.S. Department of State, and has addressed the United Nations and other international forums.

Dr. Zogby is also active professionally beyond his involvement with the Arab American community. He currently serves on the national advisory board of the American Civil Liberties Union, The Human Rights Watch Board of Directors for the Middle East and North Africa and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Additionally, he is a Senior Advisor for the polling firm Zogby International, where he is responsible for the firm’s groundbreaking polling across the Middle East.

In 1975, Dr. Zogby received his doctorate from Temple University’s Department of Religion, where he studied under the Islamic scholar Dr. Ismail al-Faruqi. He was a National Endowment for the Humanities Post-Doctoral Fellow at Princeton University in 1976, and on several occasions was awarded grants for research and writing by the Knight Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Defense Education Act, and the Mellon Foundation. Dr. Zogby received a Bachelor of Arts from Le Moyne College. In 1995, Le Moyne awarded Zogby an honorary doctoral of laws degree, and in 1997 named him the college’s outstanding alumnus. In 2007 Temple University’s College of Liberal Arts named him its Distinguished Alum.

Dr. Zogby is married to Eileen Patricia McMahon and is the father of five children. Zogby’s mother, Cecilia Ann, was a woman committed to religion, family, education, and service of others.

Britt Newhouse is Chairman of Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC and a member of the Executive Committee.
From 2001 until his appointment to Chairman in 2008, Britt served as the President and CEO of the firm’s Americas operations, where he was responsible for all broking business in the United States, Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean. Britt also held the position of Eastern Region Manager and served as the New York Branch Manager.
He currently serves on both the Education Committee and on the Board of Overseers for St. John’s University, School of Risk Management, Insurance and Actuarial Science. He is also a member of the Brokers and Reinsurance Markets Association (BRMA) board of directors.

Alison was appointed Managing Director for the Global Life & Health Risk Transformation team at Swiss Re in August 2006 to determine appropriate transformation mechanisms for the life and health business of Swiss Re and to support active capital and risk management, including the transfer of risk to the capital markets through securitisation and other techniques.  Previously Alison was the Chief Financial Officer for Swiss Re Life & Health Limited and she joined Swiss Re in 2003 as the Finance Director for the Global Life & Health Business Group.  Alison started her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers where she focused on the insurance industry, working in an audit and advisory capacity, and on M&A transactions.

Alison holds an LLB Hons in law from the University of Birmingham and is a qualified ACA.

Howard W. Albert serves as Chief Risk Officer of Assured Guaranty Ltd. Mr. Albert serves as the Deputy Chief Credit Officer of Assured Guaranty Ltd. Mr. Albert served as the Chief Underwriting Officer and Executive Vice President of Assured Guaranty Corp. (alternative name ACE Guaranty Corp.). He served as the President of Ace Financial Services Inc. Prior to joining Assured, Mr. Albert spent two years with Rothschild Inc. where he structured privately placed asset-backed securities and CDOs. He joined Rothschild from Financial Guaranty Insurance Company (FGIC), where he started and managed its Asset-Backed Securities Group and ultimately became responsible for both its asset-backed securities and international businesses during his eight-year tenure. Mr. Albert began his career at The Prudential Insurance Company of America. He serves as a Director of Assured Guaranty Re Ltd., an affiliate of Assured Guaranty Corp. Mr. Albert has an MBA from the University of Chicago, a BA in English from the University of Pennsylvania and a BS in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Zeid Ayer is the Chief Investment Officer of CIMB-Principal Islamic Asset Management Sdn Bhd. A specialist in various fixed income instruments, he was previously the Senior Portfolio Manager and Global Head of asset-backed and mortgage-backed credit with Principal Global Investors (PGI).

He co-managed six total-return, short-duration multi-sector portfolios with total assets of approximately $1.4bn. His responsibilities included overall portfolio construction, asset allocation, duration positioning, portfolio monitoring and risk management and security selection for all Asset-Backed Securities (ABS) and Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS).

Until 2006, Dr. Ayer was the sole analyst responsible for making buy/sell recommendations and underwriting offerings of all home-equity loan (HEL) ABS, all Adjustable-Rate Mortgages, non-Agency MBS and structured Agency MBS.

Prior to this, he was the Assistant Vice President (Computational Risk Modeling Analyst) with PNC Financial Services Group from 1996 to 2001.

Dr. Ayer is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Charterholder. He obtained his PhD in Physics from the University of Notre Dame, USA and M.S in Computational Finance from Carnegie Mellon University, USA.

Ashraf Bseisu is the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Solidarity Group.  He is also the President of the General Arab Insurance Federation (GAIF) and Chairman of the Bahrain Insurance Association (BIA).

Mr. Bseisu has over 20 years of experience in the insurance and financial services sector, where he held several Executive positions like the Director of Strategic Planning, Chief Executive and Chief Financial and Administrative Officer, He also worked for major insurance/reinsurance companies such as Arab Insurance Group (ARIG), and Trust International Insurance Company.

Mr. Bseisu is a member of the board of several companies, financial institutions, and professional bodies.  He is the Deputy Chairman of the Arab War Risk Insurance Syndicate (AWRIS); Member of the Executive Council, GCC Coordination Commission for Insurance & Reinsurance Companies; Member of the Board of Trustees of the Human Resources Development Fund of Bahrain; Chairman of Solidarity Takaful S.A., Luxembourg.; Deputy Chairman of First Insurance Company, Jordan; Member of the Board of Directors of MAA Takaful Berhad, Malaysia.

Mr. Bseisu is a holder of a Master’s degree from the "London School of Economics�, United Kingdom, and a Bachelors degree from “Southern Methodist University� in the United States of America.