Navigating uncertainty: risk management, resilience and sustainability in today’s volatile environment

Stuart is CEO of mallowstreet, the dedicated platform (on and offline) for the UK institutional pensions and insurance industries – with over 4,000 community members.

The platform’s goal is to help provide a better pension for everyone. After sustained and impressive growth, the firm’s service offering is now rapidly expanding with a new suite of products, called SOFI, that apply the power of machine learning technologies and AI. SOFI helps clients save time, check their messaging, improve delivery, monitor performance, and capture questions.

Alongside his CEO role, Stuart is a Trustee of the 10,000 Interns Foundation. The foundation is transforming the horizons of young talent with paid internships across more than 25 sectors through the 10,000 Black Interns and 10,000 Able Interns Programmes.

He graduated from Drexel University with an MBA, followed by several years at Susquehanna International Group in Philadelphia, and moved to the UK to complete an Msc in Social Planning and Policy at the LSE in 2006. Stuart still lives in the UK and in his free time enjoys running and travel.

Sally is Chair of the Development Bank of Wales, Brunel Pension Partnership and at BelleVie Care and non-executive director at insurers Pension Insurance Corporation and Royal & Sun Alliance.  

She won the FTSE AIM NED Award in 2023 for her work as Chair at Impax Asset Management Group plc. Her non-executive portfolio has also included roles at the Nuclear Liabilities Fund, NEST Corporation and the Lloyds Bank pension schemes and as Chair of the first local government pensions pool, Local Pensions Partnership Investments (LPPI) Limited.  

She was CEO of the BP Pension Scheme in the interesting years of 2007-14 after twenty years with Aon Hewitt working as a pensions consultant and in investment research and innovation.  

Sally is an actuary and, a mother, and passionate about responsible investment and cycling. 

She is an Honorary Group Captain in 601 Squadron of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force, introducing diverse ideas to the way that the Senior Leadership Team of the RAF think and works.

Mike Clark is Founder Director of Ario Advisory, a responsible investment advisory firm. Much of his work with investors and others in the finance sector, regulators and policymakers, centres on the systemic risk of climate change.

Mike is one of the authors of both the No Time To Lose narrative climate scenarios for USS, and a very recent set for the insurance sector, placing it in the Great Abandonment scenario.

Ario Advisory will shortly publish, with Vyzrd where he is on the Advisory Board, a short piece on the Transition Mindset. 

David is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries with over 20 years industry experience. David has spent 8 years as a Chief Risk Officer, firstly for ReAssure and subsequently for Phoenix Asset Management.

Since 2024 David has been the Group Regulatory Capital Director at Phoenix, with responsibility for the Internal Model and Matching Adjustment. 

David is currently the Chair of the Institute of Actuaries Risk Management Board.

Laura is a partner in LCP’s insurance consulting team and a Lloyd’s Signing Actuary. She helps non-life insurers assess risk and enhance performance across a wide range of areas. With recent hands-on experience as interim chief risk officer at a growing insurer, Laura brings a front-line perspective to the challenges of modern risk management. Her work spans everything from traditional actuarial modelling to tackling emerging risks, helping her translate technical insight into practical strategies for today’s risk landscape.

Brandon is an actuary, consultant and Non-Executive Director with over 22 years of experience in investments, pensions, wealth management, and financial regulation. He has a strong background in strategy, governance and risk management, helping businesses balance commercial success with good customer outcomes.

An experienced board and committee member, he works with both regulated firms and regulators, providing thoughtful challenge to executive teams while supporting both integrity and business growth.
Brandon also has extensive experience in technology transformation, having led major digital investment platform projects. He understands how financial firms can use technology and data to improve efficiency, remain compliant and stay competitive.

When not working, Brandon enjoys spending time with his family, reading books about philosophy, business ethics and science fiction, watching Star Trek (old and new) and cooking (his kids think he makes the best garlic bread ever). 

Brandon is trying to get AI to do more of the boring bits of his day job, so he can do more fun work (and less work!).

Professor in Sustainability, FinTech, Risk

Lapman is a professor of practice at the HK Polytechnic University and a convenor of its sustainable finance Center of Excellence.

His academic and advisory focus areas are governance and risk management, sustainable finance, (financial) technology & innovation.

Prior to the Polytechnic University, he was a Partner at Deloitte focusing on financial services and started as a financial engineer/ Structured Finance banker in the Netherlands.

He is active in his industry roles as a Board member of NGOs, Council member of a cross-regulator advisory group (HKMA, Insurance Authority, SFC), Dutch Chamber Board member, ESG Committee Chair.

Mukami Njeru FIA CERA is a strategic business executive with over sixteen years’ experience in various fields in the financial services industry including twelve years post qualification. She has held both consulting roles and in-house roles within financial services firms in Asia-Pacific, Europe and Africa; including reporting to boards and being part of management boards. Her recent roles include heading the Actuarial function in PwC West Africa and looking after the Life and Health portfolio of Swiss Re’s East and West African insurance clients. She was also Group Actuary of CIC Group.

Mukami is a qualified risk actuary with business and financial acumen and a proven record of accomplishment in using technical skills to support strategy execution and project execution; actuarial modelling; financial planning; risk and capital management. Highly skilled in supporting various financial services entities to review the appropriate solutions to their strategic business problems. 

In addition, she has contributed extensively to the actuarial profession in Africa and internationally – she was elected as the first member from East and Central Africa to the council of the UK Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) to contribute to the strategy of the global actuarial profession where she has been serving for the last 4 years. She has also served as a council member of The Actuarial Society of Kenya (TASK) including roles in key office bearer positions of Secretary and Vice-Chairperson for over 8 years. She was instrumental in establishing the Actuarial Academy of East Africa which has acted as a proof of concept for AADA. She also serves as a board member of the International Association of Consulting Actuaries.

She has received various industry awards including Kenya’s Business Daily's list of top 40 under 40 women. 

Anna Ostergren successfully coaches business executives on behavioural strategy, presentation skills, body language and confidence building. Her work in the corporate sector has included corporate finance, leading oil companies and Michelin star restaurants, as well as large Academic Institutions.

She also privately coaches market leaders globally and has recently worked with clients in Basel,  Riyadh, Lagos and Toulouse. She has lectured at RBS as part of Women in Banking, Women Unlimited at the BAFTAS and Hoxton Apprentice Professional Women's Network.

Her recent clients include BP, ING, Pictet, The Fat Duck, Dufry, Netflix, Blackrock, Softbank, JP Morgan, Barclays, Menzies, Airbus, Pearsons and Ithaca Partners.

Background: Anna was born in Stockholm, Sweden and educated in Rio de Janeiro and the USA until Secondary level. Anna was awarded her BA in English and Drama from London University. She then continued her Post-Graduate training on the LAMDA Director’s course.

She has since worked consistently in theatre, musical and opera including, West End, NT, Opera North, The Globe and The Menier Chocolate factory. She is the founder of OR8 (www.or8.co.uk) She sits on the artistic advisory board of National Theatre Nigeria, in Lagos, and is the lead artistic consultant to the Tony-winning  (2024) production company Neptune Productions. 

Darshan is an Actuarial Executive at QED Actuaries & Consultants (Mauritius) Ltd. He has more than 6 years of experience and is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, UK, and a Chartered Enterprise Risk Actuary (CERA).

Darshan manages and signs off on regulatory requirements for several short-term insurers in Mauritius and African countries (Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, DRC, Nigeria and South Africa) on projects such as Annual Statutory Returns, Annual Statutory Actuarial Valuations, Review of Effectiveness of Risk Management Framework, ORSA, Financial Condition Reports, Business Plan preparation and Capital Modelling.

Darshan also delivers the role of an outsourced Head of Risk Management Control Function to an insurer. This involves reviewing the risk management policies against best practices and regulatory requirements, providing quarterly risk reports to the Risk Committee, performing the annual ORSA process, involving in the development and implementation and, maintenance of the RCSA process and, assisting with the development and maintenance of the Risk Appetite Framework.

Outside of client work, Darshan manages and coaches junior actuarial staff and is responsible for the research & development process within his team including governance, tools, and providing support wherever needed.

Darshan also carries out various volunteering roles with the IFoA, for example, exam test candidate for exams, Assistant Examiner, Exam Counsellor, IFoA 400 member, Career Ambassador and Member of the Risk Management Lifelong Learning Committee. He also lectures on a part-time basis at the University of Mauritius to BSc (Hons) Actuarial Studies students.

Immediate Past President, Institute and Faculty of Actuaries

Kalpana brings 30 years of business experience in the insurance and investment industry. She was longstanding Group Chief Actuary and Partner at Hiscox until 2016. She is now one of a handful of female Chairs in the insurance industry, a non-executive director of several organisations and a member of the Capacity Transfer Panel for Lloyd’s of London.

She is also a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Insurers and member of Court of the Worshipful Company of Actuaries. She has Chaired and contributed to committees for the IFoA, Bank of England, Lloyd's of London and the Bermuda Monetary Authority. In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kalpana headed the first voluntary team of actuaries helping the UK’s National Health Service with emergency analytics and planning.

Kalpana is a regular judge for the Women in Insurance Awards and a frequent speaker on insurance and diversity related topics. Over the years she has been recognised for her work by organisations including the Institute of Directors, Financial Times, Cranfield University, Insurance Insider and Brummell Magazine.

Kalpana became President-elect in June 2022 and President in September 2023.

Jacob is a Partner in LCP’s investment team. He helps defined benefit pension schemes across a whole spectrum of investment issues, bringing his expertise in designing investment strategies and modelling pension schemes. He sits on LCP’s central Investment Strategy Group, which works on developing cutting edge investment strategies across LCP’s entire client base. In addition, he is a key member of LCP’s Asset Class Assumptions Group and has spent a number of years developing LCP’s technology. Finally, he’s a co-host of LCP’s podcast Investment Uncut, which has over 160,000 listens!

Senior Consultant Milliman

Nick is a sustainability risk and strategy advisor with over 30 years of experience across 20 countries. He helps insurers, pension funds, and investors understand and embrace the complexity and uncertainties that we all face in sustainability. He leverages systems thinking to develop decision-useful scenarios and to identify pragmatic actions that build resilience to key goals and thus help create solutions for a world at risk.

Nick is a prize-winning thought leader on integrating climate risks into actuarial work and the author of practical guides for climate, biodiversity and inequality. He is past Chair of the member of the IFoA Sustainability Board, a past IFoA Council Member and leads the IFoA Biodiversity Scenario Workstream.

He is a member of Milliman’s Climate Resilience Initiative (MCRI), and an advisory board member for Pensions for Purpose and the A4S Natural Capital Guide. He is an Ambassador for the Diversity Project. 

Sandy is the Past-Chair of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries Sustainability Board and Vice-Chair of the International Actuarial Association’s Climate Change and Sustainability Committee. He is the lead author of a series of collaborative research reports which bring together science and risk, seeking to improve policymaker level risk management. The latest report, ‘Planetary Solvency – finding our balance with nature’, explores how actuarial techniques can help society manage climate change and other risks.

This builds on the findings from ‘Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail’, which highlighted concerns around carbon budgets being unrealistic and ‘The Emperor’s New Climate Scenarios’ – which highlighted the limitations of commonly used climate scenarios. 

Sandy’s personal mission is to help reconnect finance and the economy to nature and the biosphere to deliver a future worth living in.

He works with investors and advises a number of regulatory and policymaker groups on these topics.

Stephen Wilcox has been working in Risk since the mid-2000s, and has been a Chief Risk Officer since 2010.

He has worked across both insurance and pensions. 

He was awarded CERA by verified experience in 2014 and is the current IFOA representative on the CERA Global Association, where he chairs the Strategy and Outreach Committee.

He also sits on the Risk Management Board of the Actuarial Association of Europe for the IFOA, and holds a number of other committee roles outside the actuarial profession.

Head of Master Trust

Louise joined Aviva in 2023, having worked previously for two of the UK’s largest master trusts. She started in pensions nearly twenty years ago at WTW as a DB actuarial consultant and has supported a wide range of DC clients and projects, all with a focus on member outcomes.

Louise’s role sees her leading the Master Trust business and chairing the Scheme Strategist. She balances her recent background in governance and risk to support the smooth and secure running of the Trust, whilst ensuring the Trustee are also supported with their longer term focus on continued innovation and improvement in the service to our members.

She is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries (and a member of their Risk Board), holds the Chartered Enterprise Risk Actuary qualification, is an active member of the PLSA Master Trust Committee and frequently engages with DWP and TPR on policy and key matters affecting the Trust.