Ahmed Eissa is CEO of MOTORI and Executive Director of Safe City Group. He holds a BSc in Computer Science from Cairo University and has received his executive education from a number of international institutions including the American University and Harvard Business School. Following extensive experience in software systems engineering and product development, Ahmed is overseeing a significant number of large scale smart city and public safety solutions in the UAE and across the region. He successfully directed nationwide smart city projects including big projects with UAE insurance companies and emergency command & control centre implementations with many regional governmental entities.

Lukas joined dacadoo 6 years ago and today is responsible for the Europe, Middle East, and Africa Business of the company. Following his Masters's Degree in Sports Technology and Administration at the EPFL in Lausanne in 2008, Lukas moved to Singapore where he joined Asia’s leading Sports Marketing and Media Agency. From 2008 – 2013 Lukas worked in various sales & business development roles in Asia’s football-, golf- and cricket- business, operating mainly in South East Asia and Australia. Following his return to Europe in 2013 Lukas worked for a high-precision wearable technology company mainly used in Formula 1 before he joined dacadoo in 2015.

Sreedhar has 25+ years of global experience in the BFSI domain performing key management roles across Asia, North America, UK, EU & Middle East specialising in Life & Pensions, Consumer, Commercial, Health Insurance and Investment sectors.

He has a proven track record of leading multiple Digital/ IT / Business transformations for large insurers in UK, EU & Middle East from vision through execution, resulting in winning prestigious industry awards for successful execution.

Currently as a Chief Information Officer for Oman Insurance Company, responsible for defining future ready IT strategy and enhancing customer experience by implementing Digital-First mandate across all the business lines and improve straight through processing to drive the profitability.

Paul McLeod has more than 25 years’ experience in the international business environment in a wide range of industries, from mining, distribution and processing and manufacturing, through to retail and financial services. Initially working as a management consultant, in 1999 Paul joined American International Group to develop their Malaysian joint venture AIG-Software International. During his career at AIG, Paul held various roles in Operations and Systems in Hong Kong, Bangkok, Melbourne and Dubai, in both regional and in-country roles. Immediately prior to joining Emirates Insurance in 2015, Paul ran the local integration for the Middle East & North Africa zone for AIG’s Global Business Transformation program.

Bojidar is the Commercial Director at Ablera responsible for building new strategic opportunities and partnerships and developing the client base across multiple regions. He is seasoned financial services industry professional with extensive background leading successful projects related to portfolio optimisation, derivatives pricing, risk management consulting for Tier 1 Investment banks and asset managers.

At Ablera Bojidar and his team are dedicated to help insurance companies successfully navigate their digital transformation journey, simplifying complexities often associated with the process.

Yousuf Amin is the Executive Vice President - Consumer Lines Claims, Engineering Services & Operations at Abu Dhabi National Insurance Company (ADNIC). He joined the company in January 2018, and is responsible for managing ADNIC Operations, Consumer Line Claims, Engineering Services, Call Centre and IT teams.

Yousuf has 24+ years of extensive experience in the GCC across diversified areas of insurance including operations, claims, banc-assurance, IT, strategy, customer experience, finance and quality. Prior to joining ADNIC, Mr. Amin was the Chief Operations Officer at Noor Takaful, and before that he was the Head of Operations and Quality at Noor Takaful in the UAE . Before that, he was spearheading setup of various entities with Noor Bank and Banque Saudi Fransi (part of Calyon Group). He has held various leadership positions to deliver key digital transformation programs including implementation of core Insurance and Banking solutions.

Yousuf holds a Master degree in Economics. He is an Associate member of Chartered Insurance Institute UK with the designation of Chartered Insurer. He has completed his Executive Certificate Program in Technology & Operations from MIT Sloan School of Management & CSAIL. He is a regular speaker and panel expert in various International Takaful and Insurance conferences. He recently represented ADNIC as part of the UAE Ministry of Economy Official Mission to USA for Innovation and Corporate Venture Capitals. He also acted as ADNIC mentor to various INSURETECH startups under Accelerator program sponsored by ADNIC.

Ali is an experienced insurance professional serving as the Head of Payer Regulation for Dubai Health Authority where he regulates the medical insurance companies, third party administrators and intermediaries. He has an established track record of streamlining processes and enhancing operational efficiency in areas such as licensing, ensuring compliance, and regulation as a whole for the medical insurance market in Dubai. Ali utilizes his increasing technical, operational, organisational, communication, negotiating and marketing skills to accomplish objectives and resolve issues with his unique blend of being a highly motivated Emirati individual. He combines his talents and accompanying international, regional, and national experience to facilitate the medical insurance industry as it interfaces with government regulation.

Ali’s previous employments include several years as Business Development Manager at Abu Dhabi National Insurance Company, Sales Manager at Nexus Insurance Brokers LLC and Assistant Vice President at Gateway Insurance Brokers. Overseas in the US, Ali has worked as Managing General Agent for American Income Life Insurance Company and Director Middle East Operations for Sinclair Investment.

With over 10 years of experience in many aspects of the insurance industry, Ali continues to work diligently to assist the market interaction with government and regulations.

Joe Hawayek is the Head of Virtual Health for Aetna International in the Middle East and Africa. His experience spans over 20 years of delivering technology-based healthcare services in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa. He has delivered digital transformation programs for some of the major healthcare payors, providers and government departments. Joe has a Masters in Business Administration and a Bachelors of Computer Engineering.

Jonathan is a Consulting Partner at EY, and also EY’s Insurance Leader for the MENA Region. In this role, he works with insurance companies across MENA on a wide range of subjects, including Strategy, M&A, IT Transformation, Digital Transformation, Finance and Operational Efficiency.

Jonathan has 18 years experience of working in the insurance sector, as both a consultant and a practitioner. He started his career in the UK, where he spent 5 years in as an IT consultant for European insurance companies. After moving to the Middle East in 2008, he has worked as a consultant and in regional roles for both regional and multi-national insurance companies, most recently as Regional COO for one of the largest general insurers in the Middle East. This is Jonathan’s second spell with EY – the first was for 5 years from 2012-2017, and he re-joined in his current role in Jul 2020.

Jonathan has worked extensively on projects for both multi-national and local insurers across the MENA region, and his experience includes life, general and health insurance, as well as takaful.

Jonathan is a regular speaker at insurance conferences and writer of articles and thought leadership on the MENA insurance sector.

An INSEAD MBA graduate with 10 years of experience in insurance. Domain expertise in underwriting, strategy, and business development. Worked in the UAE and UK markets with international insurers, strategy consulting firms, and technology providers.

Jim is a Chartered Insurance Practitioner and Chartered Adjuster. He has worked as a director at International Loss Adjusting firms and an Insurance Company Claims Director responsible for 250,000 claims a year. He implemented automated IT processes at the Insurer in 2002/3 and more recently worked with a number of UK major Insurers to assist with technical [claims not IT] input for “online” and “AI” claims. Recognizing that lower skill adjusting was being replaced by machines Jim has returned to his technical roots and is now Regional Director GRS Complex Claims Solutions.

AFTAB Hasan is the Chairman of Risk Exchange (DIFC) Ltd. & CEO of Arya Insurance Brokerage Co. He is an elected representative committee member and Secretary-General on the Board of Insurance Business Group (IBG) under the auspices of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry and a member of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Private Sector Alliance for Disaster Resilient Societies (ARISE). He was conferred as “Insurance Personality of the Year” at 4th Edition of UAE – India Economic Forum organized by Bloomberg Middle East & Economic Times. He has been frequently speaking at industry forums, conferences, and summits; and often quoted in the media, providing opinion and analysis on global & emerging markets which includes but are limited to Global Economic Summit, Middle East Africa Insurance Summit, Middle East Healthcare Insurance Conference, Shiptek International Conference on Marine, Offshore and Oil & Gas Industry, Dubai Rendezvous, Cyber Security in Banking Conference, Trade Finance Conference, etc

Mohamed started his career in 2007 as an Actuary at FWU AG in Munich, where he was responsible for Western Europe and the Middle East. He then took up the role of Manager Actuarial Services for Munich Re before joining Swiss Re in Zurich in 2013, initially as a Senior Marketing Actuary in charge of pricing of the life & health business in MENA, Turkey and Pakistan before becoming the Head of North Africa (P&C and L&H) and Middle East (L&H). Mohamed has been appointed CEO of AXA Green Crescent in April 2018. Mohamed is a regular contributor to seminars, conferences and publications for the insurance industry. Passionate about insurance, Mohamed has developed a deep expertise on various topics such as bancassurance, life insurance, takaful and pension, only to name a few.

Peter is an experienced health insurance professional serving as the Regional Sales Director for UnitedHealthcare Global across MENA, Turkey, and Central Asia where he establish partnerships with Insurers, TPAs, Governmental entities, and NGOs to enable access the US Healthcare system and beyond.

Peter has a track record of success in leading sales, product development and establishing partnerships across MENA region for nearly two decades where he has gained extensive experience in the Health Insurance field on the local, regional and the international scale.

Nancy Mourad is an award-winning public health specialist, technologist, and innovator. She is the Managing Director of LifeSpeak (TSX: LSPK) for the Gulf Region, the leading SaaS provider of digital health education (mental, physical, financial health, & total wellbeing) for organizations committed to taking care of their employees and customers. In her current role, Nancy is in charge of the growth of LifeSpeak business in the Gulf, working with Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, insurance providers, and health technology firms.

Before joining LifeSpeak, Mourad served as the Head of Health and Wellbeing at MetLife for the Gulf region. In this role, she developed strategies and programs for the health and wellness benefits of members insured under MetLife health plans, working with large multinational clients, including HSBC, PepsiCo, DHL, EY, Apple, and Amazon.

Her experience provides a wealth of knowledge in public health & wellbeing, behavioural science and technology, and mobile health. Most notably, she launched the Gulf’s first health gamification platform within a fortune 50 insurance company in 2014.

Based in Dubai, Mourad holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Minnesota that she attended as a scholar of the prestigious Fulbright program, a Master of Science in Biology from the American University of Beirut, and a Bachelor of Science in Biology (Neuroscience).

Frederik Bisbjerg is a highly respected international business developer with expertise in digital transformation and business model innovation. He is Executive Director, Digitisation at the National Health Insurance Company – Daman, one of the largest insurers in the GCC region, where he oversees the company’s digital transformation initiatives, building a ‘digital-first’ flexible and resilient insurance company. In addition to his role at Daman, Frederik holds the position of Head of MENA and Digital Transformation Specialist with the Digital Insurer. Previously, he has been Executive Vice President for Qatar Insurance Group (QIC), the largest composite insurer in the MENA region.

Marcos Malzone is the Global VP of Product Marketing for Solera. A senior executive with a track record in portfolio management for enterprise software companies within Insurance and Telecom industries, Marcos has had routes in the automotive repair industry since his teenage years, working in his family’s Bodyshop business in Brazil. In the last 3 years, Marcos has championed Solera’s Visual Intelligence go-to-market program and is actively working with the industry to drive awareness and adoption across the world

Maher El Ghailani is the Area Managing Director, MENA Region (Middle East & North Africa) of Solera-Audatex.

Before being named on the MENA Region, Maher was the Managing Director of the North Africa region for 2 years where he managed and introduced Solera solutions in different Insurance companies, Assessors, Bodyshops and OEMs in the region and built a winning team.

Maher has over two decades of experience developing and leading global technology- and data-based service companies.

Prior to joining Solera, Maher was Managing Director META Region and member of the board of directors of the leading Software and Cloud distribution company GTI Software and Networking with Headquarter in Madrid. Maher was the subsidiary co-founder of GTI in North Africa starting from scratch and growing fast to reach more than 5 M$ in 5 Years. Maher built the network of partners, signed strategic contracts such as Red Hat, Veeam Software, SUSE, Honeywell, Zebra and Hitachi Data Systems and leaded the company to success.

Previous to his work at GTI, Maher was leading sales and IT organizations in different Software and Telecom companies such as Operations and Channel Sales Director in Westcon (Ex Afina), IT Director and CIO in Telefonica Morocco Subsidiary, Business Development Director and Regional Sales Director in other tech companies.

Maher earned his MBA from École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, Paris, a Mini-MBA from San Diego University California, Rady School of Management, a Sustainable Development and IT certificate from the Technical University of Munich in Germany, and a bachelor in mathematics from AbdelMalek Essadi University, Morocco. Maher mission today is to enable the launch of innovative products in the automotive and collision-repair industry and brought today’s leading innovative solutions to market for Solera Middle East and North Africa.

Reena Vivek is the CEO of Zurich International Life, a leading insurer providing life insurance and savings solutions for individuals and businesses in the Middle East. Here, she leads Zurich’s business strategy and formulates initiatives to support the company’s objectives and vision. She also leads the management team, oversees operations and maintains effective relationships with stakeholders.

She joined Zurich in 2012 as Chief Customer Officer, before moving to the role of Chief Operating Officer for the life business in the Middle East region. This role was then expanded to include the corporate business, covering markets across Middle East, Europe and Asia.

In 2019, Reena was appointed as Senior Executive Officer of Zurich Workplace Solutions (ZWS), an entity of Zurich International Life and the chosen administrator of the DIFC Employee Workplace Savings (DEWS) Plan, a progressive end-of-service benefits scheme for employees working in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).

She has over 24 years of experience in financial services, insurance, retail and investment banking, business management, strategy development as well as cross-border management.

Prior to joining Zurich, she was the Regional Manager for Customer Centricity and e-Business at MetLife Alico, Middle East. She has previously held the roles of Head of Regional Operations and Technology of the offshore wealth management division of Citibank, based in London.

Reena is a graduate of the University of Madras (India) and the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI).

Originally a civil engineer, Walid entered the world of insurance in 2016, where he worked as a loss adjuster assessing large scale insurable catastrophes. Today, Walid is leading the development of Hala, a B2C Insurtech that is building a subscription-based lifestyle insurance which aims to protect the cars, homes, and personal belongings of the 450 million people living in the Middle East.

Mr. Shanawani graduated from University of Jordan in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and Business administration. He has over 30 years experience in Life & Medical Insurance.

Nabil has attended many conferences and training courses in Life & Medical Insurance, marketing and management in UK, USA, UAE, Bahrain and Jordan

He joined Arab Life & General Accident Insurance Company in Jordan in 1990, as underwriter, then promoted to be assistant department manager. In 1996 Nabil joined Al Buhaira National Insurance Co. in United Arab Emirates as a manager for Life & Medical Department. In 2016 Nabil was promoted to Assistant General Manager for Medical Insurance with full responsibility for underwriting and claims.

Nabil is a member in Medical Insurance committee in Emirates Association for over 15 years.

Ayman has a track record of leadership and delivery of excellent results through strategically driving revenue and profit growth. He is known for his expertise in conventional & Islamic financial institutions in local and international venues (MENA, Europe, Asia and USA). Demonstrated ability to identify and troubleshoot critical issues impacting productivity, cost, distribution, underwriting results, products development, sales performance and financial operations.

Ayman Al-Ajmi was the Regional Head of AIG’s Takaful operations and Managing Director of AIG’s operations in Bahrain (New Hampshire Insurance Company and Chartis Takaful Enaya).

Mr. Ayman Al-Ajmi was responsible for developing the Takaful strategy for the MENA Region and managing the AIG operations in Bahrain. He held an advisory and assistance role for the AIG Asia Pacific region to develop the Takaful strategy.

Atinc Yilmaz graduated with an MBA in Banking & Insurance, and has BSc in Business Administration, both from universities in Istanbul, and specialisation in Insurance & Investment in City University CASS Business School in London. He is Alumni of INSEAD Business School. He also attended Executive Leadership Programs of The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and JOCE, SIM of Singapore.

He started his career as a Field Sales Agent and had since worked in various local companies, and also worked in London during and after his education period. He has over 28 years’ experience in the insurance industry in various roles, from reinsurance specialty to Regional CEO of international brokerage firms. His 22 years career with Marsh had introduced him with many roles; such as, director of large clients/risk management, executive director – senior vice president and managing director for Marsh in Turkey, and country management leadership roles. He worked as CEO of Marsh Indonesia in Asia between 2009 and 2012. In the 2012, appointed as CEO of Marsh Emirates in the UAE and also worked as a member of Marsh Middle East Executive team. During his leadership tenure in the Middle East, he has successfully transformed the operation and increased significantly the size of business in the entire Middle East Region.

In August 2017, Yilmaz was appointed Regional CEO of Howden TMEA, in charge of Turkey, The Middle East and Africa regions.

Jonathan Rawling is the CEO of yallacompare. Prior to joining the online comparison site, Jonathan spent 20 years working in the insurance industry in the UK, Switzerland, Australia, the Middle East and Turkey. He was Audit Director at Zurich, and, most recently, was CFO for Zurich in the Middle East and Turkey. Jonathan is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, a Certified Insurance Professional, and holds an MBA from London Business School and a Bachelor’s Degree in Law.

Zahir Sharif is the Group CEO of Now Health International and carries over 21 years of experience in insurance industry across both developed and emerging markets. He holds Board positions in Now Health International (Investments) Limited, is Chairman of its European business and was the Senior Executive Officer of Now Health International Limited (DIFC) prior to his appointment as Group CEO.

Zahir has worked across 3 continents and in over 21 countries for AIG & Zurich Insurance Company. Zahir has a proven track record in building businesses and driving profitable growth. His key responsibilities include general management, P&L management, strategy, underwriting, risk management, contract negotiation, restructuring, acquisitions, distribution management and talent development.

• Over 30 years of leadership experience: over 15 years in strategy and insurance, in addition to over 15 years in investment banking
• Insurance and strategy experience as CEO MetLife (Hong Kong), CEO ING Life (Thailand) and Head, Asia Pacific Strategy for insurance and asset management at the ING Group headquarters (Amsterdam)
• Investment Banking experience with Merrill Lynch (Hong Kong), ING Bank (Hong Kong) and ANZ Grindlays Bank (India and Sri Lanka)
• In addition to a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (Varanasi, India), Rajesh also holds a master's degree in business management from Indian Institute of Management (Calcutta, India)

Mr. Mistareehi is the head of Operations at Al Wathba Insurance, making him a master at driving sales and conversions for the company. His risk-taking attitude has led to the innovation of multiple technologies and major operative developments at AWNIC, allowing him to bring recognition from the Insurance Regulatory Body - the Central Bank of the UAE (Insurance Authority).

Since being appointed in 2014, Mr. Mistareehi has strengthened the overall performance of AWNIC and allowed for bigger and better opportunities with keeping the customers at the heart of the business. He has prioritized the adoption of breakthrough technologies including Blockchain Technology to ensure the digital transformation of the company.

Vasilis Katsipis is based in Dubai and is General Manager, Market Development of A.M. Best for MENA, South & Central Asia.

He has been with A.M. Best for the last twelve years, having joined the company in London as a managing senior financial analyst and growing to the position of general manager, analytics for EMEA. He has written several pieces focusing on insurance and regulation in Europe and the MENA region and has participated in international bodies focused on establishing global standards for insurance.

Prior to joining A.M. Best Vasilis was responsible for alternative distribution channels for GE Insurance Solutions. He has over 20 years of insurance and reinsurance experience, having focused on both the life and non-life sectors. He has held roles in high level operational and strategic positions. For most of his career, he has held international positions with either regional or global responsibilities.

Vasilis holds an MBA from University of Wales and a BSc in economics from Piraeus University.

Tim Hardcastle is the CEO and Co-Founder of INSTANDA, the cloud-based, insurance ecosystem that delivers unprecedented flexibility to design, distribute and manage any type of insurance product on a global basis

Sridhar Subbaraman is the founder of Oasis Insurance Group with interests in Digital, Direct & Reinsurance Distribution. An industry veteran with over 20yrs presence in the Middle East market; Sridhar has successfully envisioned the insurance distribution roadmap and has been the pioneer in pushing the industry to accept, adopt and adapt to the changing technological and innovation landscape.

With the launch of www.insureatoasis.com in 2019; UAE joined the select list of countries worldwide to fully digitize and automate insurance distribution. This has been recognized by the Ministry of Finance, UAE as an innovation having a social and economic impact on the country.

With launch of 4S Capital, an insurtech incubator we seek to identify high growth startups in the insurtech space worldwide and actively invest, provide mentoring and knowledge capital. As a niche sector incubator, 4S is currently collaborating with different stakeholders within the insurance/ reinsurance value chain to create unique value propositions and offer solutions to the wider industry.

• In various capacities, worked for 17 consecutive years between 1964 and 1981 with Arabia Insurance Co. Ltd. and Commercial Union Group assuming challenging levels of responsibility.
• Founded Arab Loss Adjusters and its marine arm, ALA Adjusting International in 1981 and piloted its development to 18 branches in MENA Region, North Africa and East Asia.
• Handled multi-million dollars claims of property, crime and liability in various Middle Eastern countries, particularly U.A.E, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Yemen Arab Republic.
• Ex President of the International Institute of Loss Adjusters – 2 times.

Talal Bayaa is the CEO and co-founder of Bayzat, a UAE based technology start-up that empowers businesses with smart insurance & HR solutions. The company has raised over USD 36 million to date, employees 180 employees and serves 1,000 companies and 70,000 employees in the UAE.

As Chief Executive Officer, Talal is responsible for providing the vision, overall leadership and strategic management for the company as well as ensuring the highest quality of the services provided.

Prior to setting up Bayzat, Talal worked for a private equity & corporate finance firm, followed by two years at an investment bank.

After sensing an opportunity in the financial products market, Talal started Bayzat with his co-founders. They led Bayzat to where it is today and is now known widely as the company that provides insurance and smart HR solutions that simplify and empower lives with using world-class technology. Talal studied Bioengineering at the University of California, Los Angeles, USA. He is a CFA Charter holder as well as an Islamic finance, investment, and banking expert.

Nour Shawky is Co-founder and CEO of Softec Technologies Group and a board member at MOTORI. Graduating from UCL with a technology background, Nour has been a serial entrepreneur over many years. Under his leadership, the group is internationally awarded and emerged as one of the most progressive and innovative companies in the region with offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Amsterdam and Cairo. Nour’s focus is in providing AI based solutions and building innovative technology products for Public Safety, Command & Control, Logistics, Ecommerce and the motor insurance sectors.

Rajat is based in Singapore and is responsible for driving the global InsureMO platform business .

Prior to joining eBaoTech, Rajat has been in various roles like Product Management, M&A, Strategy and Sales for HCL Technologies managing regional portfolios and has been with various early stage start-ups building products and driving growth.

Rajat holds a MBA degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago and Great Lakes Institute of Management, India and a Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science Engineering from the IP University, India.

Tomek has held key executive positions at eBaoTech since the company started in Europe in 2004. He was responsible for operations across Europe and India and eventually took on the role of General Manager for the region.

Prior to co-founding eBaoTech in Europe, Tomek worked 4 years at Winterthur Insurance (now AXA), a leading insurance company in Switzerland, where he was a Vice President driving operational excellence and performance improvement programs across Europe, including insurance portfolio migrations, product and process simplification, new system selections and implementations.

Before working at Winterthur Insurance, Tomek spent 5 years at PwC as Manager leading various IT, Operations and Finance advisory projects at insurance and reinsurance clients in Switzerland and Central and Eastern Europe.

Tomek earned his MBA degree at Clarkson University in the US and graduated with a Master’s Degree in International Trade from Cracow Academy of Economics in Poland. He holds a US CPA license and is also a licensed insurance broker in Switzerland.

Mrs. Lavanya Mundayur, the first woman from New India to Head any GCC operation, is a postgraduate in Analytical Chemistry and Fellow of the Insurance Institute of India, Mumbai. She is also a qualified reinsurance specialist from Singapore College of Insurance. An industry professional with over three decades of experience, Lavanya Mundayur reported to UAE as the Chief of Dubai operations in April 2021.

Prior to this, she headed as Chief Regional Manager, Bengaluru Region, one of the largest in the country with a vibrant spread of Corporate, Retail, Bancassurance, and Broker business spread across south Karnataka. During her tenure, New India became market leader for the first time and achieved record business growth and profits. She has also headed the Large Corporate and Brokers Office, Mumbai, the single largest operating office of New India working closely with some of the largest business houses in the country like TATAs, TCS, Air India, Bharat Petroleum, Reliance ADAG and several Multinationals.

She also has exposure in international operations having worked in India International Insurance, Singapore heading its specialist marine and legal division overseeing their worldwide portfolio including UK and Europe. India International was then, the second largest marine insurer in Singapore.

Lavanya has also worked in several other leadership roles heading both retail and specialist operating offices in India, bringing to the fore her business acumen and turnaround skills. A strong advocate of diversity she has proactively taken up challenging assignments in India and abroad with many firsts to her credit.

Lavanya Mundayur is a faculty of the Insurance Institute of India, Mumbai and National Insurance Academy, Pune, besides having presented and conducted workshops, roadshows and conferences in India and abroad

Her interests amongst others, include Kathakali and Rabindra Sangeet

Yasmeen currently holds the role of Head of Financial Services and Fintech lead at the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB), where she is in charge of putting forward the strategies to support the growth of the sector and attract investment into the country across several financial sub sectors such as banking, insurance, Fintech & innovation.

In her role in growing the local financial services industry and supporting its digitalisation efforts, Yasmeen works closely with key stakeholders such as the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) and the private financial services players locally and internationally to help contribute to the thought leadership and development of a business and innovation friendly environment for corporates and FinTech’s alike.

Furthermore, Yasmeen has been a key member of the EDB Financial Services team where she worked closely with the CBB Fintech Unit during the period of developing the CBB regulatory sandbox, led and supported the formation of Bahrain Fintech Bay and on boarding of local & international stakeholders, and various other initiatives. She has participated and been invited as a speaker at various FS industry forums and workshops both as a subject matter expert, and a moderator in both physical and virtual events. She is a member of the National Fintech Economy Task Force led by the CBB, the Finhub973 CBB Lab and continually engages the Women in Fintech groups locally and internationally. She is also active through her projects in building the future FS and tech talent by engaging the corporates, educational bodies, and local and international association of relevance.

Yasmeen is a recipient of the prestigious Bahrain Crown Prince’s International Scholarship Program, a founding & board member of the CPISPAA Alumni Association, and a fellow of the USA Pavilion EXPO2020 Program by ORF America and PepsiCo tackling sustainability. She has a bachelor’s in Financial Economics & French, with a minor in financial economics & entrepreneurship from the Johns Hopkins University, in Maryland USA. She also holds a master’s in finance from DePaul University, speaks 4 languages and has a notion of 3 others and is passionate about financial inclusion & talent development.

Olivia Darlington is a solicitor and Head of Insurance – Middle East & Africa at Simmons & Simmons. Olivia has a deep understanding of the London Market and the regional insurance sector, and specialises in advising on insurance matters in the Middle East, with a particular focus on financial lines. As well as defence work, she also has extensive experience in advising insurers on complex policy coverage matters, principally under professional indemnity, property, banker’s blanket bond, directors’ and officers’, warranties and indemnities, construction all risks and cyber insurance policies. Olivia also advises clients in the region about emerging risks such as AI risk and ESG risk. In addition to her contentious insurance experience, Olivia regularly advises on the scope and adequacy of policy wordings across all commercial insurance business lines.

Sajeev Nair is the Senior Executive Officer at Zurich Workplace Solutions (Middle East) Limited (ZWS), a part of the Zurich Insurance Group entities operating within the Middle East. He joined Zurich in 2009 as Strategic Sourcing Partner and was the Head of Global Application Development & Maintenance (ADM) before being appointed as SEO of Zurich Workplace Solutions.

Zurich Workplace Solutions was created to act as a plan administrator of the DIFC Employee Workplace Savings (DEWS) Plan. The DEWS scheme is a progressive end-of-service benefits (EoSB) plan introduced within Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) to restructure its former defined employee benefit arrangement into a funded and professionally managed defined contribution plan.

With 25 years of senior leadership experience, Sajeev has extensive knowledge ranging from sales, business development, operational delivery strategy and consulting. His experience spans insurance, banking, pharmaceuticals, technology companies and management consulting. Sajeev holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and has completed a number of executive leadership programmes with IMD Lausanne and Thunderbird School of Management. He began his professional journey as an industrial engineer, then moved to systems integration focusing on delivery and sales, followed by a role in management consulting focused on guiding CXOs on organizational transformation.

In his last role, Sajeev was responsible for Zurich’s global application portfolio, focusing on improving technology delivery models, simplifying the technology landscape, creating new commercial partnerships as well as driving innovation.

An industry thought leader, Sajeev was a key panellist at WEF 2019 in Davos on “Future of Work: The Radical Agency” and also mentors students of MAS-MTEC at ETH. Sajeev is passionate about helping organizations and staff navigate the fourth industrial revolution, with a specific focus on digital strategies and workforce transformation.

George is the Chief Executive Officer of UIB (DIFC) Ltd and also serves on the Board of Directors of UIB’s parent company, UIB Holdings (UK) Ltd. and is the Deputy Chairman of UIB Turkey.

He is currently the Chairman of the Board of Directors as well as a founding member of the DIFC Insurance Association, the body that represents the collective interests of its Members while acting as a forum for the exchange of views on market issues, and contributes to the development of the insurance market at the Dubai International Financial Centre – (DIFC).

He is a Member of the Board of the Insurance Business Group (IBG), an interest group formed under the auspices of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce to further the interests of the insurance industry and its interaction with other industries. In addition, he is a former member of the Board of Directors of The Emirates Insurance Association, the organization which represents the interests of the insurance industry in the U.A.E.

George is a Post Graduate of the University of Southern California and holds a Master of Business Administration degree in Finance and Marketing. He joined UIB London in October 1987 and was one of the founders of UIB’s Oil & Gas Division. Previously, he had been with a leading international insurance broking firm responsible for the handling of Property and Casualty risks of major multinational corporations as well as National and International Oil & Gas Companies.

He is an expert on Well Control Insurance and is one of the few insurance practitioners who has actually had first hand well control experience in post- liberated Kuwait when he observed and worked with a specialist well control team on several wells burning out of control. George has authored, lectured and conducted Non-Technical Well Control Seminars in London and Internationally.

He has been a prominent speaker at numerous national, regional, and international insurance conferences and is passionate about serving the interests of the insurance, reinsurance and intermediation community.

George is fluent in English, Arabic and French.

Paolo Ogno is Head of Claims at AXA Gulf after previous international assignments in Hong Kong, Italy and Spain. With 17 years in the insurance business he is an expert of claims, organizational claims projects and claims process management in insurance companies, with a specialization in P&C claims management (Dip-CII) and insurance procurement of claim services. Paolo holds a Degree in Business Administration from Bocconi University in Milan and Master of Business Administration from Cass Business School.

Dr. Abdul Zahra served as General Manager of NGI from January 1998 before moving into the role of Chief Executive Officer. He has 42 years of professional insurance industry expertise in the Middle East and has years of specialist insurance knowledge and management expertise in the direct and reinsurance domain of the Insurance Industry.

Dr. Abdul Zahra holds a PhD Degree in Insurance from the University of Nottingham in the UK and holds a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration and HDIPL Insurance from Iraq.

Safder Jaffer – Principal Partner and Managing Director, Milliman Middle East operating out of DIFC, Milliman is the largest global actuarial firm with more than 2000 consultants and 56 offices – Dubai and Riyadh serves as offices for the region. Safder has more than 23 years of insurance experience worked with Swiss Re for more than 12 years in the UK, Middle East and Swiss Markets and almost 12 years with Milliman Middle East. Safder helped establish the Milliman practice is the region Milliman advises clients across MENA including financial and health regulators – working with SAMA for 8 consecutive years as their actuarial advisors and also provides actuarial advisory support to CBUAE and CMA, Oman and several health regulators. Safder is also the appointed actuary of many insurance and reinsurance companies in the region. He provides advise on actuarial and specific strategic consulting including M&A, optimizing reinsurance; rating agency support,insurtech, risk management, and a range of actuarial and insurance consultancy functions

Vivek has been a trusted advisor with over 12 years’ of experience in Strategy Consulting, Sustainability, Corporate Finance, Business Transformation and Program Management across industries like Public sector, Financial Services, Oil & Gas, Family Groups within Middle East, USA, Asia and Europe. He has worked with Infosys, PwC, KPMG and Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), Government of Dubai. He has advised multiple insurance clients on their long-term growth strategy, product diversification, incorporating sustainability in the business and how to embrace new age technologies. Vivek holds a MBA from Xavier Institute of Management Bhubaneswar (XIMB), India.

Peter is a partner in Clyde & Co’s Middle East Financial Services Group with a specific focus on Insurance, Islamic insurance (takaful) and Islamic Finance.

An English qualified lawyer, Peter has over 11 years experience in insurance and reinsurance working for insurers, brokers and third party administrators in the Lloyd’s, London and international company market.

Peter is a specialist in Islamic Insurance (Takaful) and routinely advises Takaful operators on the establishment and day-to-day regulation of their operations, compliance (including Shari’a compliance) and product development. He has extensive experience in the development of new insurance and reinsurance products, including Shari’a compliant products. He has advised many insurers in relation to their operations across the GCC and has particular expertise in relation to the insurance laws of the UAE (including the Dubai International Financial Centre) and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Peter has also advised on a range of Islamic finance transactions and structures, including Ijara, Wakala, Mudaraba, Murabaha, Tawarruq and Sukuk.

Prior to joining Clyde & Co, Peter worked for DLA Piper in Dubai and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia where he was responsible for the establishment of DLA Piper’s affiliation office. Prior to moving to the Middle East in summer 2007, Peter worked with Reynolds Porter Chamberlain and Clifford Chance in London. He was seconded to Markel International Insurance Company in London between January 2005 and June 2006.

Peter regularly speaks at Insurance and Takaful events as well as providing in-house seminars to the firm's insurance clients. He has had numerous articles published in the UK national press and insurance sector publications.

Mina Sahib is the UAE Director of Business Operations for Fermion Merimen, an Asia based Insurtech SaaS provider, servicing insurers and their eco-systems towards their own digital transformation. She is also the founder of the Women's Insurance Network in UAE (W.I.N). An initiative she started in 2020 to support female professionals in the insurance industry in the UAE and provide for them a space to network and develop professionally.