The Governance Trap II – Contributors

Gabriel Bernardino, chair, EIOPA

Gabriel Bernardino is chairman of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA). He is responsible for the strategic direction of EIOPA and represents the Authority at the Council of the European Union, the European Commission and the European Parliament. Mr. Bernardino prepares the work of EIOPA’s Board of Supervisors and also chairs the meetings of the Board of Supervisors and the Management Board.

Mr. Bernardino is the first Chairperson of EIOPA. He was elected by the Board of Supervisors of EIOPA on 10 January, 2011. His nomination followed a pre-selection of the European Commission and was confirmed by the European Parliament after a public hearing held on 1 February, 2011. Mr. Bernardino assumed his responsibilities on 1 March, 2011 for a first five-year term. On 16 December 2015 the European Parliament confirmed the re-appointment of Mr Bernardino for a second five-year term, which started on 1 March 2016.​

Prior to his current role, Mr. Bernardino was the Director General of the Directorate for Development and Institutional Relations at the Instituto de Seguros de Portugal (ISP). He has served in several positions of increasing responsibility since he joined the ISP in 1989 and represented EIOPA’s preceding organisation, CEIOPS, as Chairman between October 2009 and December 2010.


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.


Fiona Frobisher, head of policy, The Pensions Regulator

Fiona Frobisher is head of policy at the Pensions Regulator with responsibility for producing regulatory strategies, policies and products to help the regulated community fulfil their duties and to ensure that TPR’s regulatory objectives are met.

Fiona joined Opra (the Pension Regulator’s predecessor) in 2002 before which she worked in the voluntary sector specialising in welfare legislation. She has held a wide range of posts at the Pensions Regulator covering both strategy, regulatory and operational areas. She has led the development and implementation of many initiatives at TPR such as the clearance process, the introduction of new strategic objectives, administration of public service schemes and new governance standards for defined contribution schemes.


Ed Humpherson, director general for regulation, UK Statistics Authority

Ed Humpherson was appointed as director general for regulation in October 2013 and took up post in January 2014.

Prior to joining the Authority, Ed was a Board Member and Executive Leader for Economic Affairs at the National Audit Office, a post he held since July 2009. This role included responsibility for the overall strategic direction of NAO’s work on economic affairs.

Amongst other previous responsibilities, Ed oversaw the NAO’s response to the recent financial crisis through building capability in capital markets and financial services work. He also coordinated the NAO’s programme of work on the administration of the tax system and the welfare system; led the NAO’s work on public private partnerships and major infrastructure developments, including in transport and energy; and oversaw the development of the NAO’s audit of the Whole of Government Accounts.
Between 2007 and 2009, Ed Humpherson was Assistant Auditor General, and before that was NAO’s Director of Regulation between 2003 and 2007. Ed joined the National Audit Office in 1993.
Ed Humpherson was educated at the University of Edinburgh where he obtained a first-class MA honours degree in Politics and Economic History.

Ed is a Chartered Accountant and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.


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).

Before that, she spent 14 years with FSA, latterly in its London HQ, where she established and led FSA’s Regulatory and International Unit, leading the development of FSA’s Regulatory Strategy.

Prior to that, Elspeth held a number of different policy, regulatory and operational roles with FSA in Scotland, and was its Head of Policy and Operations. As part of FSS’s senior management team, Elspeth has lead responsibility for FSS’s work on strategy, policy and regulation.


Kathryn Morgan, director of regulatory operations, Gibraltar Financial Services Commission

Kathryn Morgan joined the organisation in 2014 and oversees the Commission’s supervision and authorisation activity.

Prior to joining the Commission, Kathryn worked at the Prudential Regulation Authority (Bank of England) and the Financial Services Authority in London, developing policy and supervising insurance companies. She has over 30 years of industry experience in a variety of financial services firms.

Kathryn has a first class honours degree in mathematics and she is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries as well as a Chartered Enterprise Risk Actuary.


Wijnand Nuijts, head of department, Expert centre Governance, Behaviour and Culture, De Nederlandsche Bank

Wijnand Nuijts has headed DNB’s Expert Centre on Governance, Behaviour and Culture since 2011. His background is in international law and civil law and he worked as a corporate lawyer with a Dutch law firm before joining DNB in 2003.

Prior to his appointment as head of the Expert Centre, he held management positions in different DNB divisions and supervised large Dutch insurance companies.

Wijnand propagates a closer focus on the interface between the structure of governance and its effectiveness. He takes great interest in analysing the processes at the root of boardroom decision-making processes.


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 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. From April 2016 he has been the chair of the EIOPA Insurance Policy Committee.


Elisabeth Stheemann, senior advisor, Bank of England

Elisabeth has been a senior advisor at the Bank of England, PRA since September 2015, focusing on Governance across Financial Services. She is a member of the Supervisory Board of Aareal Bank AG, the third largest listed bank in Germany, the Deputy Chair of the Risk Committee as well as member of the Technology and Innovation Committee since May 2015.

She is on the Supervisory Board and Audit Committee of TLG Immobilien AG in Berlin prior to the company completing an IPO. In addition, Elisabeth is a a member of the London School of Economics Court of Governors and the LSE Finance Committee. Her executive experience includes 24 years at Morgan Stanley and as Global COO of LaSalle Investment Management.


Philip Yelland, executive director of regulation, The Law Society of Scotland

Philip Yelland, executive director of regulation at the Law Society of Scotland – the body charged by the Solicitors (Scotland) Act 1980 with representing members and regulating them, assuring that public interest in looked after by setting and monitoring and enforcing solicitor standards for Scottish solicitors. There are currently 11,500 of them working all over the world.

Philip, who is a practicing solicitor, joined the Society in 1990 as part of the Complaints Team. He moved on to head that team and become Director of Regulation in 2008. The role of Director of Regulation has changed over the years and he now works closely with the Regulatory Committee, formed in 20011 with responsibility for overseeing the regulatory work of the Society.


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.