iNED Forum: AI - Real uses of AI in Insurance and how to govern them effectively

AI is now on the agenda of all insurance-sector boards, promised to boost both the top- and the bottom-line.  Yet many AI projects fail to deliver budgeted benefits, create undue risks, or don’t even make it past a pilot.  As a NED how can you govern them effectively to ensure success while minimising risks?

WCI iNED have been lucky to gather an outstanding panel of senior AI practitioners, all of who have implemented successful transformational AI projects in their diverse re/insurance organisations:

• Mark van Zanden – Chief Analytics Officer – Convex Insurance, Bermuda
• Ermir Qeli – Head Data Science & AI – Swiss Re, Zurich
• James Searle – COO – WPA Health, UK

The panel members are going to share their real-life experiences and ‘dos and don’ts’.  We are going to steer clear from any hype or consulting jargon, focusing strictly on real AI implementations and lessons learnt for the boards.

The forum will be Chaired by an iNED Committee member Artur Niemczewski, who himself is an AI practitioner, as AI Champion at the Chartered Insurance Institute, and an active board director.

By attending this forum, participants should be able to:

1. Identify the right conditions within an organisation for a successful large-scale AI implementation
2. Formulate key questions to ask during a board evaluation pre- and post- an AI project
3. Understand key risks, operational, conduct, or regulatory, and how to minimise them.

Speaker(s)

Mark van Zanden
Chief Analytics Officer, Convex Insurance

Mark has 30 years of (re)insurance industry experience.  He joined Catlin in 2005 and was most recently Chief Executive of Underwriting Capital Management for AXA XL.  Mark has also been a consulting actuary, a reinsurance broker and an underwriter.

Emir Qeli
Head Data Science & AI, Swiss Re

Ermir Qeli joined Swiss Re six years ago and currently leads Stargate Services, an initiative focusing around making better use of data at Swiss Re. Prior to that, he headed the Data Science team within within the Digital and Smart Analytics unit. In his role, he has been championing the use of data analytics to solve various business problems in insurance and reinsurance and bring analytics to the core of our industry.

Prior to Swiss Re, he had various roles focused around data analytics, visualization and software engineering. He received a diploma in Computer Science in Tirana, Albania and a PhD in Computer Science at the University of Marburg, Germany.

James Searle
COO, WPA Health

Jim Searle is Chief Operating Officer of WPA, the specialist UK health insurer. He joined WPA as Chief Information Officer in early 2017 and became Chief Operating Officer in 2018.

Before joining WPA, Jim was a Partner at Control Risks, the international risk consultancy, where he held a number of roles advising organisations on security, risk and resilience. Prior to this, he served as an officer in the British Army, initially as an infantry platoon commander and subsequently with the Intelligence Corps.

At WPA, Jim's focus has been on improving operational effectiveness and customer service while developing the organisation's technology capability. In recent years, this has included bringing more of WPA's technology development and expertise in-house and leading its adoption of artificial intelligence across software development and business operations. His particular interest is in how technology and AI can improve productivity and service while allowing organisations to retain control of their critical capabilities and data.