John A. Beckman, FCAS, MAAA
SVP & Chief Risk Officer
CNA Insurance
John A. Beckman, FCAS, MAAA is Senior Vice President and Chief Risk Officer at CNA Insurance. In that role, he is responsible for establishing risk tolerances as well as measuring and monitoring risk for CNA. Immediately prior to joining CNA, Beckman led the ReAdvisory consulting practice for reinsurance intermediary Carvill including specialized consulting practices around enterprise risk management and property catastrophe exposure analysis. Prior to that, he held various senior level positions at CNA Re including Chief Actuary, Chief Risk Officer, and Senior Vice President, Global Catastrophe Unit and Surplus Lines. Beckman holds a B.B.A. from the University of Wisconsin.
Nancy E. Bennett, FSA, MAAA, CERA
Senior Life Fellow
American Academy of Actuaries
As the Senior Life Fellow, Ms. Bennett is responsible for helping communicate the Academy's message on life actuarial issues to the public and to public policy-makers. Ms Bennett interacts directly with federal and state regulatory and legislative officials, other public policy and trade organizations, and the news media on life insurance topics.
From 2005 – 2008, she was employed by Ameriprise Financial, most recently as Vice President and Head of Enterprise Risk Management. Ms. Bennett led the effort to implement Ameriprise’s Enterprise Risk Management processes. She has responsibility for several key risk management systems, including the company’s corporate modeling system (MoSes). In addition, Ms. Bennett manageD the company’s interest rate risk (ALM). Previously, she was responsible for managing Ameriprise’s equity risks associated with variable annuities.
From 1999-2005, Ms Bennett was a consulting actuary at Milliman, Inc in Chicago and Aon. Her consulting practice focused on financial risk management, including asset liability management, investment strategy development, corporate modeling, risk management, and financial performance assessment. Ms. Bennett managed consulting engagements involving corporate modeling, such as investment strategy analysis, performance measurement, strategic projections, embedded value analysis, appraisals, enterprise-wide financial analysis, cash flow testing, and profitability analysis based on transfer pricing. She assisted companies in enhancing their financial management infrastructure by integrating their investment management, ALM and risk management, financial reporting, pricing, modeling and strategic planning processes.
Before entering consulting in 1999, Ms. Bennett was employed by Minnesota Mutual for eighteen years. Following eight years in Individual Life product development and division management, Ms. Bennett built the company’s Corporate Actuarial department and was the Company's Appointed Actuary.
Ms. Bennett is a frequent speaker at industry conferences, Society of Actuaries, and NAIC meetings.
She received a BA in mathematics and economics from the University of Northern Iowa. She has been a Fellow in the Society of Actuaries since 1988, a member of the American Academy of Actuaries since 1989, and a Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst since 2008.
Brian C. Elowe
Managing Director
Risk Management Strategies, U.S. Operations
Marsh
Brian Elowe is a Client Relationship Leader within Marsh’s Global Risk Management sector. In this role, he works with several of the firm’s key global clients, and also leads many of our senior client management professionals in Marsh’s global client segment. Prior to this role, Brian was head of Client Relationship Management for Marsh in North America (2004-2007); leading the development of our client service platform, and Marsh’s most senior client engagement professionals across North America.
He is a member of the newly created Marsh Global Executive Committee, and also leads the Pricing of Services strategies for Marsh in the U.S.
Brian originally joined Marsh in 1981 in the New York Office where he brokered Global Property Accounts for the firm. Since that time, he has held increasingly broader client service and management positions; head of the New England Operations’ Financial and Professional Services (FINPRO) Group (1992-1995), Head Of Sales (1996-98), Head Of Client Executives and Sales (1998-1999), COO for New England Operations from 1999 to 2003, and Head of Client Executives and Industry Groups for the Northeast Region from 2003-04.
Brian’s client work has centered primarily on the financial services and global industrial sectors. He is one of the key architects of Marsh’s Dynamic Risk Framework, and is often called upon to help develop strategic risk management strategies for our most complex global clients. He is a frequent speaker at industry and financial executive forums. Mr. Elowe received his B.A. in Organizational Psychology from Connecticut College, and has completed several programs on finance, management, and enterprise risk.
Douglas A. French
Managing Principal, Insurance & Actuarial Advisory Services
Ernst & Young LLP
Doug French is the Managing Principal of Ernst & Young’s Insurance and Actuarial Advisory Services practice and is based in the firm’s New York office. In addition, he is responsible for all advisory services for the insurance sector within the firm’s Financial Services Office. Prior to joining Ernst & Young he was a Principal and Global Practice Director of a major actuarial consulting firm.
Mr. French has spent over 24 years in actuarial consulting and has extensive experience in various areas including:
- Mergers and acquisitions
- Strategic planning
- Sales compliance and market conduct
- Product development
- Financial reporting and measurement
- Asset/liability management
- Financial projections and modeling
- Distribution economics and effectiveness
Mr. French has worked not only on assignments in the United States, as well as engagements in Mexico, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. His clients include banks as well as life insurance companies.
Prior to entering actuarial advisory services, Mr. French was involved in various areas of life insurance company actuarial operations, with an emphasis on product development. Mr. French holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics with honors from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia, a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries and a Fellow of the Conference of Consulting Actuaries.
He is a frequent speaker at industry seminars on topics such as enterprise risk management, capital management, economic capital modeling, retirement income and Solvency II. Mr. French is a co-author of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia sessional paper “Margin on Services Reporting: The Financial Implications,” which was the Institute of Actuaries of Australia 1993 Parker Prize Winner.
Sam Friedman
Group Editor-in-Chief
National Underwriter Property & Casualty
Sam Friedman is the Group Editor-In-Chief of the Property & Casualty Insurance Magazine Division of Summit Business Media. He manages “National Underwriter,” the leading weekly newsmagazine and online news service for the commercial insurance business, serving over 46,000 agents and brokers, 10,000 insurance company officials and 15,000 corporate insurance buyers nationwide. He also supervises the editorial operations of four additional magazines—American Agent & Broker, Claims, Florida Underwriter and Tech Decisions. He comments on industry developments in his weekly opinion column, "A View From the Press Box," as well as his blog at www.NUSamSoapBox.com.
Helen Galt
SVP, Company Actuary & Chief Risk Officer
Prudential Financial, Inc.
Helen M. Galt was appointed Senior Vice President by Prudential’s Board of Directors in October 2005. Galt was also named Chief Risk Officer in 2007, responsible for the company’s risk management infrastructure and processes to ensure they are appropriate and fully support Prudential’s businesses. In addition, since 1993 Galt has served as Prudential’s Company Actuary, overseeing all actuarial functions in Prudential, as well as responsibility for various product risk management and enterprise insurance program activities. She reports to the Board on actuarial matters and she periodically leads projects designed to enhance the company’s financial management practices and measures. Galt led several of the teams that implemented Prudential’s demutualization in December 2001.
In her previous job, Galt served as President of Prudential’s wholly owned subsidiaries, Pruco Life and Pruco Life of N.J. As head of Pruco, she was responsible for the staff who managed the company’s variable and interest sensitive life products and all individual annuity products. Prior to that assignment, she was Vice President and Associate Actuary in the Actuarial and Product Development department in Newark, N.J. In APD, Galt had responsibility for product development and pricing for the portfolio of participating life insurance products.
Earlier in her career, Galt had assignments in the Common Stock, Group Insurance and Individual Pensions areas, as well as in the Individual Insurance Systems and Administration Department. In the latter job, she was responsible for actuarial, sales illustrations, and new business systems, as well as a team which reviewed the company’s Field Office automation needs.
Galt obtained her B.A. degree from Douglass College in 1969, and earned her M.S. at Rutgers in 1970. She became a Fellow in the Society of Actuaries in 1976 and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries in 1979.
Michael A. Hughes
Principal, Insurance and Actuarial Advisory Services
Ernst & Young LLP
Michael Hughes is a Principal in the Insurance and Actuarial Services practice of Ernst & Young and leads the practice’s Life and Health group. Mr. Hughes is based in the firm’s Chicago office and has more than 18 years of industry experience, with emphasis in the areas of capital management and forecasting, financial reporting and performance analysis, financial modeling, risk management, process improvement, mergers and acquisitions and litigation support. Prior to joining Ernst & Young, Mr. Hughes was employed with a large life insurance company in Minneapolis.
Mr. Hughes has authored numerous articles on topics such as management reporting best practices, actuarial department transformation, variable annuity hedging and capital requirements, annuity conservation, and mergers and acquisitions. He is also a frequent speaker at seminars and meetings of the SOA, the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI), and other industry organizations on topics including GAAP and economic value-based reporting frameworks, performance analysis, mergers and acquisitions, and governance.
Mr. Hughes holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from St. John’s University and a Master of Management (MBA) degree from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA) and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries (MAAA). Professional activities have included Chairperson of the AAA Committee on Life Financial Reporting, Member of the AAA Life Practice Council, Chairperson of the SOA Finance Practice Education Committee, member of the SOA Valuation Actuary Symposium Planning Committee, and Chairperson of the SOA Task Force on Asset/Liability Management Principles.
David N Ingram, CERA, FRM, PRM
Senior Vice President
Willis Re
Dave is a member of Willis Re’s Value Based Capital Management team based in New York. Value Based Capital Management offers insurers a practical way to use ERM to identify specific actions and strategies that will enhance the value of their firm.
Dave was previously the Senior Director, ERM in the Insurance Ratings Group of Standard and Poor’s, New York. In that position, he spearheaded S&P’s initiative to incorporate ERM as one of the primary ratings criteria and the development of the framework for reviewing economic capital models. Dave also was co-author of the criteria that S&P is implementing to add consideration of ERM practice into all corporate ratings.
In addition, Dave was a Consulting Actuary with the New York Office of Milliman for 7 years. He consulted on risk management and risk analysis. Dave also has more than 20 years of actuarial and general management experience in the insurance industry where he served as corporate actuary, business unit head, planning officer, ALM actuary and pension actuary for a major US insurance company.
Dave has authored over 40 published articles relating to ERM. His paper "Risk and Light" won the 2009 Best Practical Paper award at the ERM Symposium. He has spoken on ERM at over 100 events organized by PRMIA, GARP, SOA, CAS, ASTIN, Groupe Consultatif, World-Bank, Goldman Sachs, and S&P in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia, and South America. He has been the founder and Chair of the SOA Risk Management Task Force and the first Chair of the 3000 member Joint SOA/CAS/CIA Risk Management Section. He is a member of the board of ERM-II. He founded the International Network of Actuarial Risk Managers.
Dave is a graduate of Lehigh University.
Mark Puccia
Managing Director, Financial Services Ratings Group
Standard & Poor’s
Mark Puccia is a managing director in Financial Services. As Chief Criteria Officer of Insurance Ratings worldwide, Mark is responsible for establishing insurance rating criteria and overseeing ratings quality for property\casualty insurance, reinsurance, life\health insurance, and various international insurance company ratings. He established Standard & Poor’s initial ratings of life/health insurers and property/casualty insurers in the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In addition to his insurance responsibilities, Mark is a member of Standard & Poor’s Analytic Policy Board, which oversees criteria for all of Ratings Services. Mark is also the chief criteria officer for the Funds Ratings Group. In this capacity, Mark will be overseeing criteria development for money market funds, bond funds and government investment pools.
Mark’s prior work experience includes several years with Chase Manhattan Bank’s insurance lending group arranging multi-million dollar credit facilities for several large insurers. He arranged the first foreign financing for the country’s largest stock-owned diversified financial services institution. He previously served as a senior management analyst with Connecticut General Corp.’s group pension operations.
Mark holds a B.A. in economics from Cornell University and an M.B.A. from the Wharton Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Pennsylvania.
Melissa A. Salton, FCAS, MAAA
SVP & Chief Risk Officer
Munich Reinsurance America, Inc.
Melissa Salton is Chief Risk Officer and Senior Vice President of Munich Reinsurance America and a member of its’ Risk Management Committee. Ms. Salton oversees the Integrated Risk Management (IRM) for Munich Re America as well as the Group’s newly acquired non-Life US entities - American Modern Insurance Group and Hartford Steam Boiler. The regional risk management function is closely aligned with the Munich Re Group IRM function. IRM at Munich Re America is responsible for risk identification and modeling, risk governance, risk reporting, risk control and business continuity planning functions. IRM is supported by decentralized risk management functions throughout the company which IRM ensures are sufficient and coordinated across the enterprise.
Ms. Salton has been with Munich Re America for 21 years holding various positions within Risk Management, Business Management Reporting and Pricing & Reserving Functions. Previously, Ms. Salton was Vice President and Chief Pricing Actuary. Before joining Munich Re America, she was with NCCI, ITAC, and Continental Insurance Company. She has 28 years of insurance industry experience.
She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Mathematics and Economics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. She is a member of the Casualty Actuarial Society and the American Academy of Actuaries.
Carol L. Siegfried
Chief Risk Officer Americas
Zurich Financial Services Ltd.
Carol Siegfried is Chief Risk Officer Americas for Zurich Financial Services Ltd, an insurance-based financial services provider with a global network of subsidiaries and offices in North America and Europe as well as in Asia Pacific, Latin America and other markets. In her role as Chief Risk Officer Americas, Carol Siegfried is responsible for operational risk, strategic risk, as well as insurance risk in North, Central and South America. She is based in New York USA.
Ms Siegfried joined Zurich in August 1994 as Assistant Vice President – Group Sales Strategic Business Unit (SBU). Moving on, she served as Vice President (1996-1998) and President, (1998-2001) of Group Sales SBU. Previously, she held management positions in AIG Marketing, AIG’s personal lines division, from 1986 to 1994, and at Summit Airlines, Inc., from 1981 to 1986.
In May, 2001, Ms Siegfried was named Farmers’ Vice President – Alliance Support Services where she worked with one of our strategic alliances, Bank of America. In October 2002, she moved to Farmers Home Office in Los Angeles as Vice President – Special Projects and in March 2003, was appointed Vice President – Strategic Planning and Administration. In this role, she was responsible for both The Zurich Way (TZW) – the basis for operational excellence at the Zurich Group – and liaison with the Corporate Center in Zurich, Switzerland, as well as other initiatives. In July 2006 she transferred to the Farmers’ Westlake office as Vice President, Claims Chief Compliance Officer. In October 2008, she took on her current role as Chief Risk Officer Americas.
Ms Siegfried holds a Bachelor’s degree in business administration from Widener University, Chester, Pennsylvania.