Plenary & Panel Speakers

Douglas Anderson FIA CERA FSA - Chief Visionary Officer.  Having developed the concept in the UK, and proven it in Canada, since 2018 Douglas
has been focussing on establishing Club Vita US. The smarter collection and structuring of data enables more cost effective ways both to reduce the risks of financing in later life and to help our societies face up to the challenges of ageing populations. Before committing to an entrepreneurial life, Douglas practiced for thirty years as a consulting actuary, across a diverse spectrum of engagement s in the public and private sectors. He is a fellow of the UK’s Institute of Actuaries, the US’s Society of Actuaries and a Chartered Enterprise Risk Actuary.

Douglas passionately believes that the creation of an international longevity “currency” will increase the security of pension promises. Career wise, he has much unfinished business. To maximise his own longevity, he enjoys trail running, cycling and skiing. Douglas lives in London.

David Burton is a qualified Actuary and MBA with other unit trust qualifications.  He has experience across a range of life assurance functions including Actuarial, Finance, Marketing and Unit Trusts covering over 25 years in Financial Services. He joined EY in 2003 from AMP where he spent 11 years.  This experience included both technical roles and line management of up to 120 staff.

David has a diverse range of experience and so specialises in projects with a cross functional nature, such as Reinsurance, Commercial Optimisation, Finance Transformation, Remediation, Pensions related issues and unit linked business. In particular David has experience of Solvency II rules and regulations, as well as a number of other non-European regimes such as HK and Bermuda.

Steven Baxter is Chief Data Scientist and Head of Longevity Research & Innovation at Club Vita, which specialises in applying modern data science techniques to innovate in longevity and mortality risk management.

For the last 15 years Steven has specialised in the understanding of disparities and trends in longevity for the benefit of pension plans and insurers. As one of the first employees of Club Vita he has led its development of innovative and detailed analytics.

A passionate advocate of multi-disciplinary understanding of longevity risk, Steven sits on a numerous committees and working parties within the UK’s Institute of Actuaries, including the Mortality Research Steering Committee. He has published on numerous longevity related matters including longevity basis risk, longevity risk management and socio-economic differences in longevity.

Prior to specialising in longevity Steven worked across actuarial technology, liability driven investment and pensions consulting. He regularly draws upon these skills to ensure that Club Vita’s analytics support the effective management of longevity risk.

Away from the (virtual) office, Steven will usually be found playing with his two young boys or walking the family dogs. A lapsed long distance runner, he occasionally still finds time to burn off the “lockdown pounds”.

Alexander Cochran is a corporate partner and a member of the firm’s Financial Institutions Group. He focuses on corporate transactions in the insurance industry, including mergers and acquisitions, financings and pension risk transfer transactions.

Mr. Cochran is ranked as a leading practitioner in insurance by Chambers USA (2022), where clients consider him “one of the most commercial and effective attorneys in the insurance M&A space - a true expert.” Clients have also described him as “very knowledgeable, experienced and pragmatic,” “very technically skilled,” and “a standout in the space.” He is recognized as a Next Generation Partner for insurance in The Legal 500 US (2022), where clients note that he is a “go-to partner for complicated reinsurance transactions.” He is said to be “excellent at solving complex issues” and “unflappable under pressure.” Mr. Cochran is also recognized as a Notable Practitioner by IFLR1000 (2020). He is a frequent author and speaker on legal developments affecting the insurance industry. He is the co-author of numerous publications, including “Federal Reserve Publishes Advance Notice Of Proposed Rulemaking On Capital Requirements For Insurers,” FC&S Legal (July, 2016); “Federal Reserve Proposes Enhanced Prudential Standards For Insurance SIFIs,” FC&S Legal (July, 2016); “Developments At The NAIC Spring Meeting,” Law360 (April, 2016); “Financial Buyer Participation In The Insurance Industry: An Update For 2015,” FC&S Legal (July, 2015); and the Insurance and Investment Management M&A Deskbook (Practising Law Institute, 2015). His recent speaking engagements include “Insurance M&A: Evolution or Revolution?,” S&P Global Webinar 2017 and “Financial Reinsurance as Alternative Capital” at the Hanover Re Experience 2015.

Mr. Cochran received his J.D. cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 2005, where he was a senior editor of the Law Review, and his B.A. magna cum laude from Bucknell University in 2002. Prior to joining Debevoise in 2006, Mr. Cochran was a law clerk to the Hon. Mary McLaughlin of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Holly Copley, an actuary by training, leads the Funding & Investment team at British Airways Pensions.  The team supports two Defined Benefit pension schemes totalling over £25bn of assets and c.100,000 members.  Holly has had key roles on a number of pension insurance transactions including a £4.4bn buy-in involving an industry-first novation of two off-shored longevity insurance cells.  Outside of work Holly volunteers with St John Ambulance, sits on the Education Committee of the Worshipful Company of Actuaries, has recently become a French Wine Scholar and enjoys long walks with her dog!

Guy Coughlan is a senior executive at the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), a UK pension plan with assets of over £80 billion (Dec 2020). Guy joined USS in January 2015 as Chief Risk Officer and a member of the executive teams of both USS Group and its investment management subsidiary, USSIM. In this role he established USS’ framework for risk management and set up the risk function, which he built into a team of 28 professionals.

With the organisation facing a strategically important actuarial valuation, Guy transitioned at the end of 2019 to become Valuation Programme Executive. In this role he leads a team of senior staff focused on delivering all aspects of the valuation, including actuarial, investment, covenant, stakeholder management and communications elements.

Guy spent 17 years at JP Morgan, where he held several senior global roles and finished as Managing Director and European Head of the Pension Advisory Group. In the mid-1990s Guy was a member of J.P. Morgan’s RiskMetrics team and led the development of the world’s first general-purpose commercial value-at-risk system. He also founded and led the bank’s Global ALM Advisory group, developed several innovative risk management frameworks, helped to found a fiduciary management business for US pension plans and set up J.P. Morgan's longevity risk transfer business.

Guy holds a D.Phil. (i.e., PhD) from Oxford University, a BSc (Hons) from the University of Western Australia and an MBA from Henley Business School. He is named as an inventor on a number of US patents related to financial risk management.

Jessica Elkin is the Commercial Longevity Actuary at Munich Re, where she is responsible for generating and transacting new business opportunities, as well as working to support developments in the longevity de-risking market.  She joined Munich Re in 2019, having previously worked for an employee benefit consultancy.  Jessica has experience of advising pension scheme trustees on pension and longevity risk management, and has an extensive knowledge of pension scheme valuations and longevity swap transaction pricing.

Jessica holds a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Durham University, and a Master’s degree in Literature, Culture and Media from Lund University in Sweden.  She is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries and is CERA accredited.

Amy Kessler is Senior Vice President and Head of International Reinsurance Strategic Initiatives at Prudential Financial.  Until 2021, she was the founding leader of Prudential’s International Reinsurance business, which grew to $90 billion of profitable sales across five lines under her leadership. In 2011, she led Prudential's successful launch of its longevity reinsurance product and, together with her exceptional team, has closed over $95 billion in international reinsurance transactions since, covering members of nearly 200 pension funds in the United Kingdom including British Airways and Rolls-Royce.

Amy led the groundbreaking $27.7 billion captive longevity reinsurance transaction for British Telecom in 2014, which was named “Deal of the Year” by Risk magazine and earned Prudential top honors as “Reinsurer of the Year.” Amy’s leadership enabled Prudential to repeat as “Reinsurer of the Year” in 2015, 2016 and 2017 for continuous innovation in the reinsurance of pension and longevity risk.

With nearly 30 years of experience, Amy is an innovator whose work has helped pension funds proactively manage longevity risk and create retirement security for their members. She was chosen as one of the “2014 Women to Watch” by Business Insurance magazine, and she was named to Institutional Investor’s “Pension 40” list—a ranking of the 40 most influential people in pensions—in both 2014 and 2015. Amy possesses both capital markets expertise and in-depth insight into the innovative pension risk transfer transactions occurring globally. Before joining Prudential, Amy served as a principal at Bear Stearns and as Global Head of Pension ALM at Swiss Re in London.

Amy holds a Bachelor’s Degree in economics and a Master’s Degree in international economics and finance from Brandeis University, where she is the Co-Vice Chairperson of the Board of the International Business School and the 2013 recipient of the Dean’s Medal.

Prudential Financial Inc. (PFI) and its affiliated companies are not affiliated in any manner with Prudential plc (United Kingdom) or with Prudential Assurance Company, a subsidiary of M&G plc, incorporated in the United Kingdom.

Al Klein is a Principal and Consulting Actuary with Milliman.  He has spent most of his almost 13 years at Milliman working on life insurance industry experience studies, mortality/longevity and underwriting issues, and more recently studying COVID-19.

Al has previously worked for several insurance companies, another consulting firm, and a reinsurer.  In addition to his traditional work, he has    enjoyed working with underwriters to design various underwriting programs, helping InsurTech companies enter the life insurance market, and focusing on some unique lines of business including Simplified Issue, Final Expense, COLI, older age markets, and preferred and accelerated underwriting.

Al is also involved in many volunteer activities, including as an observer (and former vice-chair) of the International Actuarial Association Mortality Forum, a member of the Longer Life Foundation Advisory Board, and a member of the International Underwriting Study Group.  He is also involved with a number of Society of Actuaries activities including the Mortality and Longevity Steering Committee, the Underwriting Innovation Symposium, and projects related to cardiovascular disease, causes of death, mortality improvement, and unhealthy longevity. Professionally, Al is a Fellow of the SOA and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries.

Al is married and has two children, one grandchild, and a dog.  Al and his wife, Davi, like to travel.  In his spare time, you can find Al researching how to live longer or investments, or taking a long walk.

Melissa Leitner has over 15 years' experience, in primary life and health insurance and reinsurance. She has worked across a wide geographical scope of international markets, in roles covering actuarial product development, pricing, innovation and new business development. Since 2019, she has played an influential role in integrating sustainability into commercial underwriting for Swiss Re's Life & Health Reinsurance business unit, driving new mindsets around how sustainability goals are both an imperative and an opportunity.

Melissa is a fellow of the Actuarial Society of South Africa, and a fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries in the UK. She serves as a member of the Board for the Sustainability actuarial practice area in the IFoA, focusing on health and on how actuarial work supports the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

David Lipovics leads RGA’s activities in the U.S. Pension Risk Transfer space, with an emphasis on delivering (re)insurance solutions to support the growth of the market. Previously, David was Business Development Director in RGA’s U.K. Global Financial Solutions unit, where he led the origination and execution of transactions in the U.K pension/annuity market. Prior to joining RGA, David was a consultant at PwC’s risk and capital team in London, where he advised European life insurance companies on capital optimization and asset liability management initiatives.

Kirsty Maclean is a partner in Willkie’s London office and a member of its Corporate & Financial Services Department. Kirsty advises insurance, reinsurance and other financial institution clients on a broad range of transactions and non-contentious matters. Kirsty has gained a reputation as a notable lawyer in the longevity and pension de-risking market, having advised European and US-based clients on many of the largest and highest-profile longevity transactions completed to date. Kirsty regularly advises on complex collateralised reinsurance transactions and has a particular focus on the interface between (re)insurance and the capital markets. Kirsty is recognized as “Up and Coming” in for Insurance: Non-contentious by Chambers UK (2022) and as a "Next Generation Partner" by The Legal 500 UK (2022) for Insurance.

Prior to Willkie, Kirsty has gained substantial experience working in-house in the insurance and reinsurance sectors. In particular, she advised Swiss Re's life and health structured transactions business in Europe and Asia.

Rohit Mathur leads Prudential’s International Reinsurance business, where he is responsible for the longevity risk transfer (LRT) and funded reinsurance businesses in the UK and Europe. Prudential's reinsurance activities have led the firm to being named “Reinsurer of the Year” for four consecutive years. The team has closed over $95 billion in longevity reinsurance transactions since 2011, covering members of nearly 200 pension funds in the United Kingdom including British Airways, HSBC, Marks and Spencer, and Rolls-Royce.

Prior to this role, Rohit was head of Global Product and Market Solutions, where he was charged with assessing the corporate finance implications of pension risk management to cultivate a consistent recognition of pension de-risking solutions. Partnering with Prudential's distribution team in the service of its clients, Rohit focused on promoting an understanding of pension risk issues among credit and equity analysts, treasurers, chief financial officers and investment bankers. Rohit has been involved in structuring and executing several large and innovative transactions in the United States, including the agreements with Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Philips and J.C. Penney to transfer pension liabilities.

Before joining Prudential, Rohit was an executive director and led the Capital Structure and Strategy advisory team for UBS Investment Bank. There, he advised clients in multiple industries, focusing specifically on corporate finance, risk advisory and pension issues. Prior to that, Rohit was with Moody's Investors Service, where he published research on accounting and pension issues and worked with credit analysts to incorporate those risks more systematically into company ratings. He also co-authored Moody's methodologies on assessing risk of multi-employer pensions and other post-retirement healthcare obligations.

Prudential Financial Inc. (PFI) and its affiliated companies are not affiliated in any manner with Prudential plc (United Kingdom) or with Prudential Assurance Company, a subsidiary of M&G plc, incorporated in the United Kingdom.

Uzma Nazir is a qualified actuary working at Pension Insurance Corporation for over 12 years. She is Head of Origination Structuring and is responsible for structuring of buy-in & buyout processes. Some of transactions she has led on are: Buyout of the £2bn Old British Steel Pension scheme, Buyout of the £700m BHS2 Pension Scheme, £1bn Buy-in of the M&S Pension Scheme, and the buyout of the Institute & Faculty of Actuaries Staff Pension Scheme. Prior to joining Pension Insurance Corporation Uzma spent seven years working for Hewitt Associates (now Aon) as a pensions actuary within their Corporate Pensions Consulting Team.

Avery Michaelson is the CEO of Longitude Exchange, a digital marketplace dedicated to trading longevity risk, and Founding Partner of Longitude Solutions, a transaction-oriented consultancy with expertise in longevity risk management.  He has extensive experience in the longevity risk and insurance-linked securities markets having previously held positions at Société Générale and Deutsche Bank, with posts at various Life Settlement companies as well.  Beyond his work in insurance, Avery has applied his passion for market-based solutions to the world of climate change by founding the green-tech company UCapture.  Mr. Michaelson graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and is a frequent speaker at financial and longevity conferences.

Nicola Oliver is the founder of Medical Intelligence (London) Ltd, established in 2007, a consultancy dedicated to providing impartial expert insights into the main drivers behind changes in life expectancy and disease risk for the insurance industry.Nicola Oliver

Nicola works directly with clients to increase their understanding of the medical and socio-demographic elements that impact mortality, morbidity, and longevity risk. A leading mortality and longevity expert, Nicola provides full consulting support to clients from across the insurance spectrum. Nicola has supported clients with underwriting, annuity pricing and product development as well as internal model calibration to fulfill regulatory requirement.

Nicola’s background includes a long career in the UK National Health Service, firstly in intensive care, and latterly in Public Health.

Nicola is an affiliate member of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, (IFoA), and is chair of the IFoA diabetes working party, deputy chair of IFoA antibiotic resistance working party, a member of the IFoA Health and Care Board, and a past member and co-chair of the COVID-19 Actuarial Response Group (ARG).

Chris Pigott is the Senior Longevity Actuary at Munich Re, where he is responsible for the actuarial and new business developments of Munich Re’s global longevity offering.  Since joining Munich Re in 2015, he has held various roles across the technical pricing and commercial longevity functions, where he has been involved in a series of successful transactions and internal proposition developments.

Prior to Munich Re, Chris worked for a global Employee Benefit Consultancy, where he gained experience of leading de-risking projects, supported trustees through various longevity risk management exercises and built up an extensive knowledge of UK pension scheme valuations and funding considerations.

Chris holds a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from Oxford University, and a Master’s Degree in Actuarial Science from Imperial College London.  He is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries and is CERA accredited.

Paul Puleo has been with Deutsche Bank since 2003 and held leadership roles in Structuring, Trading, and Capital Markets divisions of the bank. In his current role as Chairman of Insurance, he assumes primary coverage responsibility for several of the Bank’s largest and most important global insurance clients. He advises in M&A situations across a variety of complex life and annuity liabilities, as well as the structuring of reinsurance solutions.

Recently, Paul led the establishment of SkyRidge Re, an independent Bermuda sidecar vehicle, as well as two significant transactions for Sixth Street and affiliates, including a $20 billion Fixed-Indexed Annuity reinsurance agreement with Allianz, and the firm’s acquisition of Talcott. He also has extensive experience in pensions, and advised on the $2.5 billion transfer of pension obligations to MassMutual and Prudential, and later managed Deutsche Bank’s $20+ billion Pension and Insurance Risk book.

Paul received his BSE from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and holds FSA and CPA designations.

Daniel Ryan is a medical demographer with almost 3 decades of experience in the insurance industry. He led global multi-disciplinary research teams at Swiss Re and Willis Towers Watson in diverse areas including behavioural science, digital data ecosystems and the development of forward-looking risk models of morbidity, mortality & longevity. A keen advocate of better understanding and longevity risk transfer, Daniel was the Chair of the Life & Longevity Market Association from 2012.

Nick Spencer is a sustainable investment strategist. He founded Gordian Advice which helps UK Pension Funds integrate responsible investment into their investment strategies and portfolios. Gordian Advice currently works with a range of corporate DB, LGPS and DC clients who are responsible for £80bn in assets.

Nick is an IFoA council member, he is the Immediate Past Chair of the IFoA’s Sustainability Board and was co-chair of the IFoA's climate-related risks taskforce. He recently co-authored a paper on "Climate scenario analysis - An illustration of potential long-term economic & financial market impacts" as well as the DCIF Good Citizen’s Guide to ESG. Nick is a founding member of Actuaries for Transformational Change, and a member of the Biodiversity Working Party.

Nick is a passionate believer in the importance of values and culture and an advocate for aligning the asset management industry with a broader societal purpose. He was Co-Chair of Russell Investments’ EMEA Diversity & Inclusion Committee and is an Ambassador for the Diversity Project.