Meet the iWIN Committee

Claire McDonald is Member of the Board for HDI Global SE, a corporate insurance provider which she joined in March 2019. Prior to that she worked for over 30 years with Allianz in a mixture of underwriting and operations leadership roles, both on a local basis in UK and France and in more recent years in Global roles as Global Head of Operations and Global Practice Leader, Allianz Multinational). Claire is a Liveryman in the Worshipful Company of Insurers and on the Board of iWin as well as an Ambassador for the Insurance Supper Club. Claire’s passion for working for a more gender equal world comes from her core values around fairness, meritocracy and wastefulness – gender should never be a reason why someone is overlooked and what are the societal “norms” that mean that the playing ground is not even and how can we work to change them. Claire is an active mentor and supporter of young women.

Paolo Cuomo is an Executive Director in the Global Strategic Advisory team at Gallagher Re where he started in autumn 2022, building on over twelve years’ experience in the London insurance market, working for Brit, Beazley, Charles Taylor and Boston Consulting Group. Paolo brings an unrelenting drive to ensure technology is effectively used across the insurance process in underwriting, claims and back-office functions. Over the past decade Paolo has set up a new Lloyd’s syndicate and Managing Agency, supported the creation of the Lloyd’s Lab, and pushed the development of the “bionic underwriter” which blends human experience and judgement with data analytics and technology-enable insight. At Brit he was part of the team that launch the innovative ‘Ki’ digital syndicate. In 2015 Paolo co-founded InsTech London, the world’s first insurtech association and a driving force in making London the centre of the global insurtech movement. Paolo sits on the IIL’s Cyber and Tech committee, is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Insurers (WCI), and a founding member of the Global InsurTech Alliance. He advises and mentors various insurtech start-ups. Paolo holds an MEng from Imperial College, London and an MBA from Kellogg School of Management, is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology. At the WCI, Paolo sits on the on the iWin Committee and is the Charity Link with Action Tutoring.

Nelly Grelet is an experienced Operations Leader with 15 years of experience in the London Market insurance industry in IT, Change, Data and Operational roles. She currently works as Director for Travelers European Operations where she is responsible for setting up a Central Bordereaux Service and managing and shaping the London Market Operations for Lloyd’s and Company business. Nelly has also worked for Ascot Underwriting, Arch Insurance and QBE.

Sarah Griffiths is Director of Marketing & Communications (EMEA) for Gallagher. She joined Gallagher in 2013 and is responsible for brand, marketing and internal and external communications across the EMEA business along with UK corporate partnerships and sponsorships, including Gallagher’s Title Partnership of Premiership Rugby. Sarah moved into the insurance industry ten years ago, initially out of curiosity, after spending 15 years in the telecoms and technology sector, latterly as Head of Communications for BT Wholesale and before that, Head of HR & Media Relations at CGI. She is a passionate advocate for working parents and has an eleven year old son who she is (desperately) trying to teach the Welsh language in an attempt to keep her homeland roots alive in London.

Erik Johnson is an insurance executive and an avid volunteer and passionate advocate for all things Canadian, insurance, and inclusion and diversity. He was a founding Co-Chair of Link (LGBT Insurance Network), the Insurance Institute of London’s first Diversity Champion, a founding Steering Committee member of iCAN (Insurance Cultural Awareness Network),and was part of the group that founded Inclusion@Lloyd’s and leads its Partner Network Initiative. Erik also sits on the Advisory Board of the University of Calgary’s Risk & Insurance faculty’s programme Advisory Board. His previous life was as a professional ballet dancer, having trained with Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet School. Following an injury that cut short his career, Erik returned home to Calgary to study his Bachelor of Commerce degree with a joint major in Insurance, Risk Management & Finance. Erik started his insurance career at Marsh in Canada and moved to London in 2004 to study his MSc Insurance & Risk Management at Cass Business School. Upon graduation, Erik joined Deloitte’s Corporate Finance Insurance Practice working as an Assistant Director on M&A due diligence and strategy projects across the insurance industry. He joined the London Market in 2011 working in strategy, corporate development, and syndicate management roles. In 2017 Erik was recognised as a ‘Market Inclusion & Diversity Champion’ by LM Forums; in 2019 as the Chartered Insurance Institute’s ‘Unsung Hero’ and ‘Special recognition Award’ at the Dive In Awards; and in 2019 the ‘Distinguished Alumni Award’ by the University of Calgary’s faculty of Risk Management & Insurance. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute and Liveryman of the WCI.

Simone Krummaker is an insurance and financial services researcher connecting practice and theory. Her applied empirical research underpins her teaching, scholarship and consulting activities. Simone’s experience includes more than 10 years of working in the insurance industry and more than 15 years of research, advisory and knowledge transfer. She has advised and researched for a range of financial services firms and ECAs. She also led several research projects with a strong practical focus, which were funded by the insurance industry, the German Government and the EU. Currently, Simone is a Senior Lecturer in Insurance as well as the Associate Dean for the MSc Programmes at Bayes Business School (formerly Cass). She holds a doctoral degree (Dr. rer. pol.) and a German University degree (Diplom Ökonom) in Business and Economics from the Leibniz University of Hannover. Simone is a Fellow and the Institute for Trade and Innovation at Offenburg University and an Associate at the House of Insurance, Leibniz University of Hannover. Before this, Simone worked for two other Business Schools in London and has been a lecturer and researcher at the Centre for Risk and Insurance at Leibniz University of Hannover, Germany.

Sabrina Kruse joined SCOR in 2013 and is Group Head of Diversity, Inclusion and Engagement and Global HR Business Partner for SCOR P&C. Since 2018, Sabrina has been chairing the London CSR committee, leading D&I, Health and Wellbeing, SCOR for Good and Social activities. She has over 15 years' experience in Learning and Development and HR roles, mostly in the London Insurance Market. Her passion is to work in true collaboration with the business to achieve high performance and employee engagement. Born and raised in Paris, Sabrina moved to London in 2007 after completing her Master’s Degree in Business and HR Management at Business School ISC in Paris. The subject of her Master thesis was Multicultural Management in the Workplace, demonstrating a passion for diversity and inclusion from early on.”

Kishan Mangat is a specialist litigator who defends catastrophic injury claims on behalf of large insurers and corporate self-insured companies predominantly in the context of RTAs and EL/PL matters dealing with all aspects of liability, causation and quantum. She has a particular interest in defending brain injury and amputation claims by adopting bespoke and innovative strategies. In 2018, Kishan was elected as President of Tomorrow's Forum of Insurance Lawyers (TFOIL) and short-listed in the legal category for the We are the City Rising Star Awards. In 2019, Kishan was a finalist in the legal category for the Women in Insurance Awards. Kishan regularly appears in the legal and insurance industry press. She is a passionate commentator on the importance of ethnic diversity and she is a founding member and Co-Chair of the Insurance Cultural Awareness Network (iCAN), which promotes and supports ethnic minority talent across the insurance industry.

Nishma Tate is the Head of Global Business Development for Allianz’ Alternative Risk Transfer Business. Having trained as an accountant (ICAEW) and spending the initial 10 years of her career in various Finance functions across the UK and Zurich, Nishma moved to the front office, first as a Chief of Staff to the CUO Specialty lines, followed by various Client facing roles. She was one of the founding members and chairs of her company’s Diversity and Inclusion networks in London. Outside of the work she is a trustee for a charity the supports and advocates for single mothers from a South Asian heritage in inner city London.

George Tsounias joined The CII in 2017 and is the Education Programme Manager, managing outreach programmes in schools with the help of volunteers as a way of raising financial literacy and awareness of the profession. Within CII, George has been an active member of several ERG networks to deliver companywide initiatives and activities. He is passionate about E, D & I and more recently, in 2022, led on & presented on a DiveIn event focusing on the power of Allyship. Prior to working in the profession George was in fact a teacher of Modern Languages. Born and raised in Greece, George is bilingual in Greek/English and fluent in French and Italian.

Kay White With over two decades of her own corporate career at Willis London, since 2006 Kay now uses her career experience, knowledge and life wisdom to coach and mentor corporate career women in financial services towards career success and satisfaction. She also partners with organisations to support them accelerate (and stop them losing) the leadership potential of their female talent pipeline. Kay is the author of the Amazon Number 1 bestsellers The A to Z of Being Understood (2011) and It’s Always Your Move (2018) empowering corporate career women to overcome the belief they have to sell their souls or sacrifice their well-being to get ahead at work. She’s the creator of the ELEVATE Programme, a process showing women how to leverage the value of their skills, experience and how to take responsibility and drive their own career potential. Passionate that ‘we teach what we most needed to learn’ Kay is committed to infusing women with the courage and commitment to show up fully and future-proof their careers.

Irem Yerdelen brings almost two decades of risk advisory & insurance industry experience having worked at major firms (Marsh and WTW) and performed leadership roles across the topics International (Re)insurance, Alternative Risk Transfer Solutions, Risk Management Strategy for corporate clients. Currently Irem is a Partner of the largest global sustainability consultancy ERM:Environmental Resources Management; advising global organisations from variety of sectors regarding how to manage their climate-related risks and opportunities to achieve an orderly transition to low carbon economy. Also, Irem is an elected Common Councillor of City of London Corporation for the Lime Street Ward and supports City’s Climate Action Strategy actively, through implementation at ward level and raising awareness within the Livery companies. Having held senior positions, Irem brings the ability of liaising with her network and engaging with variety of other internal & external stakeholders in a collaborative way to drive results. One example of that is Irem’s passion for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion that keeps her busy. Irem was awarded 'Freedom of The City' in 2018 as a recognition of her outstanding contribution in making the City of London a diverse place to work, attracting talent. Irem is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Insurers (WCI) since then and contributes to promoting excellence and exceptional ethical behaviour within insurance industry by mentoring & coaching the wider community. Outside the day job, Irem is a significant contributor to various charity organisations that are determined to help others in need within under-represented societies. Irem is an environmentalist who loves conserving nature, walking, foraging and drive positive vision & mission forward globally in today's changing world.