Nathalie Berger, head of unit, Insurance and Pensions, DG
Financial Stability, Financial Services, and Capital Markets Union, European Commission
Nathalie was appointed to her current role in May 2015 and before then (from July 2012) she was Head of Unit responsible for Audit and Credit Rating Agencies. Prior to this Nathalie worked as an expert in company law and corporate governance, and from 2007 as a Deputy Head of Unit in charge of Relations with the European Parliament and Council as well as Policy Coordination.
Her career started as a lecturer and consultant for a banking group. She joined the European Commission in 2000, mainly responsible for the development of Commission implementing powers in the field of financial services. She was a member of the Commission Task Force on the Future of the European Union and an advisor to the Commission representatives at the European Convention.
Nathalie holds a Ph.D. Doctorate in Law, a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and is the author of several articles and a book on European law and policies.
Martin Crouch, senior partner, improving regulation, Office of Gas and Electricity Markets
Martin’s current responsibilities include oversight of Ofgem’s enforcement team and supporting Ofgem’s regulatory policy development through central teams covering horizon scanning, sustainability, analysis and knowledge management.
Since joining Ofgem in 2003 Martin has led teams responsible for electricity distribution, European markets, renewable and energy efficiency support schemes and electricity transmission, including interconnector development and offshore tenders. From 2012 until early 2015, he chaired the Electricity Working Groups of the European regulatory bodies CEER and ACER.
Prior to Ofgem, Martin worked for an electricity company on commercial, financial and regulatory issues, including the sales of two British distribution and supply businesses and the renegotiation of financial arrangements for a power station joint venture. Before that, he was an economic consultant working primarily on regulatory and industry restructuring projects in the energy sector.
Michael Guthrie, director of policy and standards, Health and Care Professions Council
Michael has been in post since 2009 with his responsibilities including setting and reviewing professional standards; working with key stakeholders including government to bring further professions into statutory regulation; commissioning research to better understand and improve regulation; and representing the HCPC on numerous working groups at national level.
Michael holds an MSc in Public leadership and management from the University of Warwick and he is a board member at the National Registers of Communication Professionals working with Deaf and Deafblind People, a voluntary organisation which registers sign language interpreters and other communication professionals.
Elspeth Macdonald, deputy chief executive, Food Standards Scotland
Elspeth took up her current role in April 2015, when Food Standards Scotland (FSS) was created to take over the responsibilities previously carried out in Scotland by the Food Standards Agency (FSA).
Prior to this she spent 14 years with the FSA where she established and led its Regulatory and International Unit and the development of their Regulatory Strategy.
Elspeth has held a number of different policy, regulatory and operational roles with the FSA in Scotland and was its Head of Policy and Operations from 2011 to 2014.
Currently part of FSS’s senior management team, Elspeth has lead responsibility for FSS’s work on policy, evidence and regulation, communications and marketing and corporate services.
Elspeth is a science graduate and she first joined the Civil Service in 1990 working in scientific roles in fisheries and marine science.
Kathryn Morgan, director of regulatory operations, Gibraltar Financial Services Commission
Kathryn oversees the supervision and authorisation activity of the Commission which she joined in 2014 after a seven-year spell at the Prudential Regulation Authority (previously Financial Services Authority) in the UK where she worked on policy development for Solvency II and, more recently, supervising insurance companies.
She is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries and a Chartered Enterprise Risk Actuary, and was elected to the Council of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries in 2013. She was previously an appointed board member of the Casualty Actuarial Society.
Kathryn has contributed to several research papers on insurance and risk, and was recently presented with an outstanding contribution award from the UK actuarial profession.
Chris Moulder, director of general insurance supervision, Prudential Regulation Authority, Bank of England
Chris is the Director of General Insurance in the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). Previously, he was Head of London Markets Insurance Department, responsible for the supervision of Lloyd’s of London and other London market firms.
He joined the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in December 2011 from KPMG where he was a partner and during his 26 years at KPMG Chris specialised in financial services, focusing on insurance. He delivered a range of audit and consulting services to firms across the insurance sector from brokers to both life and general insurers and reinsurers.
Prior to joining KPMG, Chris served in the armed forces as a Royal Engineer.
Jan Parner, deputy director general, Danish Financial Supervisory Authority
Jan read actuarial science at the University of Copenhagen and has a Ph.D. in biostatistics. From 2001 to 2008 he worked in different roles, lastly as chief actuary, in the Scandinavian part of Royal Sun Alliance.
He joined the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority in 2008 in the role as Deputy Director General and is responsible for supervision and regulation of the areas of insurance, pensions, financial reporting and auditing.
Jan chaired the EIOPA Pilar II+III working group from 2009 to 2012 and is the Danish member of the Board of Supervisors of EIOPA. He has also been a member of the Management Board of EIOPA from January 2011 to December 2015 and served in other committees within EIOPA.
Amanda Spielman, chair, Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation
Amanda is Chair of Ofqual. After more than 15 years in finance and strategy consulting, she was a co-founder of the academy chain Ark Schools, where she was Research and Policy Director.
She is a board member at Brunel University, Floreat Education and Stemnet.
Philip White, head of operational strategy, Health and Safety Executive
Philip joined HSE as a Factory Inspector in 1985 and has broad experience of regulating a number of industries. He took up his current post as Head of HSE’s Operational Strategy Division in April 2013 after four years as HSE’s Chief Inspector of Construction.
Prior to this he was seconded to the Department for Work and Pensions to head up the Health and Safety Sponsorship Team, advising ministers on health and safety policy and the work of the Health and Safety Executive.
Manuela Zweimueller, head of regulations, EIOPA
Manuela assumed her new position as Head of Department Regulations in September 2013. In this function, she is a member of EIOPA’s Senior Management and reports directly to the Executive Director. She is responsible for EIOPA’s regulatory and policy tasks in the fields of insurance, pensions, consumer protection and financial innovation, related impact assessments and peer reviews, external relations, trainings & events as well as for cross-sectoral topics dealt with by the ESA’s Joint Committee. Before this, she coordinated the External Relations Team at EIOPA for two years.
Prior to EIOPA, Manuela was a member of Senior Management at Munich RE. In her last task until July 2011 she led the implementation of Solvency II at ERGO International and set up a Risk Management Hub in London for Munich RE.
From 2008 to 2010, she was the Managing Director of Munich RE’s branch office in France. In 2007, she chaired the Emerging Risks Initiative of the CRO Forum. A year before, she was promoted Head of Department Risk Identification and Control.
Manuela has extensive work experience in the (re)insurance business and particularly in risk management, and served in several positions at Munich RE and Allianz, also in Paris, London and Sydney.
Co-chairs
Mike Power, professor of accounting, Centre for Analysis of Risk and Regulation, LSE
Mike was a founding co-director of CARR and is a former Director of the Centre within the London School of Economics.
He was educated at St Edmund Hall, Oxford; Girton College Cambridge; and LSE. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and an Associate member of the UK Chartered Institute of Taxation.
Mike is also an Honorary fellow of the Institute for Risk Management and has held visiting fellowships at the Institute for Advanced Study, Berlin and at All Souls College, Oxford. He has an Honorary doctorate in Economics (University of St Gallen, Switzerland) which was awarded in 2009.
Gideon Benari, editor, Solvency II Wire
Gideon is the editor and owner of Solvency II Wire, a leading independent source of news and insight about Solvency II. He is well connected to the EU legislative body and the industry, and has been closely following Solvency II since 2011.
Gideon holds an Investment Management Certificate from CFAUK, a Masters in Anthropology from the University of East London and is a qualified technical writer (ISTC). Before setting up the site he was a press officer for a number of organisations and prior to that worked as a freelance video editor for over twenty years for major broadcasters in the UK.