2026 Speakers

CHAIRMAN & CEO OF SAGE POLICY GROUP, INC.

Anirban Basu is Chairman & CEO of Sage Policy Group, Inc., a Baltimore-based economic and policy consultancy he founded in 2004. He serves the Chief Economist function for many organizations, including the Maryland Bankers Association and Associated Builders and Contractors. The Baltimore Business Journal named him one of the region’s 20 most powerful business leaders in 2010. In 2022, he entered the Daily Record newspaper’s Circle of Influence. He is the Distinguished Economist in Residence at Goucher College, where he teaches History of Economic Thought. He holds four graduate degrees, including a J.D. and a Ph.D.

SVP, HEAD OF EXCESS CASUALTY, LOCKTON

Jessica’s career began as a Casualty Broker and Account Executive in the U.S. She handled all aspects of the insured’s account, including program structure design and marketing. With deep technical expertise, she built strategic solutions to manage clients’ total cost of risk with a focus on nontraditional and unique risk placements and projects.

Her range of experience is primarily based in casualty with particular emphasis on large loss-sensitive primary programs and complex excess casualty placements. Additionally, she has negotiated and coordinated loss portfolio transfers, historical liability assumption agreements, and collateral.

Jessica’s experience spans multiple industries including real estate, financial institutions, manufacturing, retail, rail, energy, transportation, and construction. She was also tasked with generating thought leadership pieces to educate casualty colleagues and clients at her firm.

Jessica joined Lockton in 2024 as its London-based U.S. Casualty Practice Leader. She now leads the U.S. Excess Casualty Practice based out of New York. In this role, she is responsible for developing excess casualty products for clients, generating thought leadership, streamlining excess casualty marketplace connectivity, and developing training opportunities for Lockton Associates.

Prior to joining Lockton, Jessica spent nearly 20 years in the Casualty Practice at Gallagher, first as an Assistant Vice President and then later as the Managing Director. She also held the position of Vice President, Casualty Practice for two years at Marsh.

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, FLACKS GROUP

James Gassenheimer serves as Chief Executive Officer of The Flacks Group of Companies. He brings over 30 years of legal and business experience, having previously served as a Partner at The Berger Singerman Law Firm, one of Florida's premier business law firms, where he focused on dispute resolution, business reorganization, and complex commercial matters.

James relationship with Flacks Group spans more than 18 years, during which he served as legal counsel and a board member for several of the firm's portfolio companies. His deep familiarity with the organization's operations and long-term vision positions him uniquely to lead Flacks Group into its next phase of growth.

GLOBAL CHIEF BRAND OFFICER, SEDGWICK

As Global Chief Brand Officer, Kimberly serves on the executive leadership team and is the global ambassador for the Sedgwick brand. She leads the company’s client engagement and thought leadership platforms, industry collaboration programs and works across the business to promote Sedgwick, ensuring that the fulfillment of clients’ needs stays at the forefront.

With 25 years of tenure at Sedgwick, Kimberly has held prominent operational and client facing positions across the business. Previously she was Global Head of Product Development and Innovation and Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Healthcare. Over the course of her career, Kimberly has become a true industry expert on issues related to property and casualty claims solutions, healthcare trends and solutions, employee benefits, and business strategy.

Kimberly is a well-known thought leader and frequent global keynote presenter. She is president and co-founder of the Alliance of Women supporting women in risk management, workers’ compensation, and insurance industry. Kimberly serves on the board of directors of the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute, and co-hosts Out Front Ideas a recognized industry education platform.

SVP, SOUTHEAST PROPERTY PRACTICE LEADER, LOCKTON

Brett is a Senior Vice President working in Lockton’s Global Property Practice. He is based in the Southeast Series and will be responsible for the growth and leadership of the property practice in that series working closely with the Producers, existing property unit and the commercial insurance department. In addition to his responsibilities in the Southeast, as part of the global property practice he will provide strategic advice as well as servicing and placement of property and construction risks for Lockton’s more complex property accounts across the United States.

Brett has been with Lockton since December 2017. Prior to joining Lockton he spent over 20 years with Marsh, most recently as the property practice leader for their Southeast partnership based in Atlanta. He started his career in the London and has held positions in Dubai (UAE) and New York prior to moving to the Atlanta, GA office in July 2015. Throughout his career he has predominantly been focused on the global property and builders risk placement and servicing needs of major U.S. based clients.

LEADER, SECURITIES AND GOVERNANCE LITIGATION TEAM, BAKERHOSTETLER

‍Doug Greene leads BakerHostetler’s firmwide Securities and Governance Litigation Team. He has defended public companies and their directors and officers in securities class actions, shareholder derivative litigation, and SEC investigations and enforcement actions full time for more than 30 years. He views himself as his clients’ friend and guide—to help them through securities litigation not only successfully, but also with empathy for their fears and frustrations.  He works collegially with his clients’ D&O insurers and brokers to tap their strategic insights and to maximize his clients’ economic protections and peace of mind.  Doug is the author of D&O Discourse, a blog providing securities litigation opinion from a defense perspective; author of several U.S. Supreme Court amicus briefs; frequent speaker and writer; and advocate for improvement in securities class action defense and economic protections for directors and officers.

BESTSELLING AUTHOR & SPEAKER

Kindra Hall told her first story in the spring of 1992.

Long before storytelling became a business buzzword, Kindra was fulfilling a 5th grade language arts assignment by reading a story to a room full of out-of-control 3rd graders. Instead of reading from the pages, Kindra set the storybook aside and told the story herself. Within the first few sentences, she held those unruly 3rd graders in the palm of her hand and knew, in that moment, she had stumbled upon something powerful.

Since that time, Hall has become the go-to expert for storytelling in business and beyond. She is the best-selling author of Stories that Stick: How Storytelling Can Captivate Customers, Influence Audiences, and Transform Your Business. Stories that Stick debuted at #2 on the Wall Street Journal Bestseller List, and companies like Forbes and Gartner say it “may be the most valuable business book you read.” Her second book, Choose Your Story, Change Your Life is one of the Next Big Idea Club’s top 10 happiness books. Her newest book, The Story Edge, inspires leaders to harness the power of stories to win in business.

Kindra Hall is a sought-after storytelling keynote speaker trusted by global brands to deliver messages that inspire teams and individuals to better communicate the value of their company, their products and their individuality through strategic storytelling. Hall is also the former Chief Storytelling Officer at Success Magazine where she shared the inspiring, often untold, stories of achievers like Daymond John, Deepak Chopra, James Altucher and Misty Copeland in print and on the podcast Success Stories with Kindra Hall.

Kindra lives in Manhattan with her husband, young son and daughter. When she is not traveling the world speaking, Kindra can usually be found at spin class, spending time with friends or exploring the city with her family.

MANAGING DIRECTOR, CLAIMS, TRAVELERS

Leor is a senior claims leader at Travelers, overseeing teams of experienced lawyers handling D&O, Fiduciary, Transactional and Multinational claims. In this role, he collaborates with colleagues across each of these business segments to deliver strategic claims leadership and innovative risk solutions. Leor has experience managing a variety of complex corporate litigation and works closely with clients to develop and execute effective defense and resolution strategies. Leor represents Travelers in industry associations, and has provided thought leadership on topics ranging from AI to class action litigation trends.

Prior to joining Travelers in 2024, Leor was the Management Liability Product Officer at Zurich where he developed underwriting strategies for a variety of specialty lines. He previously was in private practice at several national law firms focused on commercial litigation and insurance coverage matters.

Leor has a bachelor’s degree from Binghamton University and juris doctor from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.  

MANAGING DIRECTOR, PROFESSIONAL & EXECUTIVE RISK, LOCKTON

Andrea is the Lockton U.S. Financial Claims Leader. In that role, Andrea is responsible for developing and implementing Lockton’s national strategy with respect to complex claims overall and with regard to the interaction with colleagues, clients and prospects. She also leads Lockton’s efforts in the creation and delivery of claims-related content for internal and external distribution and often speaks externally on matters relevant to the D&O and other financial and professional lines industries.

Prior to joining Lockton in 2023, Andrea spent more than 25 years at Marsh, where she most recently served as Managing Director and Senior Claims Advocate within its

financial and professional risk practice. She previously was in private practice at several national law firms, representing management liability insurance carriers in connection with insurance coverage analysis, disputes and litigation.

SENIOR ADVISOR, ENVIRONMENTAL RISK MANAGEMENT, FLACKS GROUP

Michael Malley is Senior Advisor, Environmental Risk Management at Flacks Group, where he advises on strategy for the acquisition, disposition, and redevelopment of surplus and environmentally impaired real estate assets. He is a real estate, environmental remediation, and risk management professional with more than thirty years of experience in distressed asset transactions and complex brownfield redevelopment.

Mr. Malley has extensive experience in brownfield transaction financial modeling, deal structuring, environmental liability quantification, transaction due diligence, and investment analysis. He advises investors and corporations on environmental liability risk management strategies associated with distressed asset acquisitions and dispositions, including the use of environmental insurance and financial assurance mechanisms to manage environmental exposure. His work includes environmental loss exposure analysis and the development of mitigation strategies for complex environmental liabilities.

He also serves as Executive Director of the Surplus Property Roundtable, a consortium of Fortune 100 companies focused on best practices for the sustainable management, disposition, and reuse of corporate-owned surplus and environmentally impaired real estate assets.

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR & SPEAKER

Once expected to die, now teaching others how to Live Inspired.

In 1987, John O’Leary was a curious nine-year-old boy. Playing with fire and gasoline, John created a massive explosion in his home and was burned on 100% of his body. He was given less than a 1% chance to live.

This epic story of survival was first showcased in Overwhelming Odds, the book his parents wrote in 2006. It was this book that first invited John to embrace his miraculous recovery and share it with the world.

Today, John inspires tens of thousands of people at more than 100 live and virtual events each year. He partners with companies and organizations across fields, such as: sales, healthcare, safety, marketing, finance, faith, education and insurance.

Consistently described as “the best speaker we’ve ever had,” John’s tireless schedule is a testament to the power of his message. His emotional storytelling, unexpected humor and authenticity make each presentation unforgettable.

John is a two-time bestselling author of On Fire: The 7 Choices to Ignite a Radically Inspired Life and In Awe: Rediscover Your Childlike Wonder to Unleash Inspiration, Meaning and Joy.

John’s award-winning Live Inspired Podcast has more than seven million downloads and enjoys world-class guests such as Brené Brown, Mitch Albom, Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Bob Costas.

Amazingly, John’s story is taking on a new form: a full-length feature film starring Joel Courtney, John Corbett, and William H. Macy. SOUL ON FIRE was released in theaters nationwide on October 10, 2025.

Regardless of his professional accomplishments, John considers his greatest success to be his marriage to his wife Beth, their four children and his relationships with friends and family.

PRESIDENT OF GLOBAL RISK SOLUTIONS NORTH AMERICA, LIBERTY MUTUAL

As President of Global Risk Solutions North America, Marc is responsible for the leadership, strategic profitable growth, management and performance across the four core business segments of Major Accounts, Middle Market, North America Specialty and Canada. He leads a team of more than 6,000 underwriters, claims specialists and distribution professionals to deliver a comprehensive array of products, services and solutions to our customers.

Previously, Marc served as the President of North America’s Middle Market business division. His prior roles also include President and EVP of North American Field Operations and Marketing for GRS, and General Manager for Risk Management and Middle Market Casualty Lines in the Northeast region.

Before joining Liberty, Marc spent 10 years at Travelers Insurance in various roles across underwriting, distribution, finance and operations.

Marc graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, finance and economics from the University of Hartford and holds a master’s degree in business administration with honors from Boston University’s Questrom School of Business.

Marc is a member of the Board of Governors of the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation. 

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER AMERICAS, AXA XL INSURANCE

Lucy Pilko leads AXA XL’s insurance business throughout the US, Canada, and Bermuda. She joined AXA XL in October 2023 from The Boston Consulting Group (BCG).  She was a Managing Director & Senior Partner in the New York office and led BCG’s North American Insurance Practice

Lucy brings over 20 years of consulting experience with particular focus on growth strategy, operating model and transformation for Insurance carriers and brokerage. She has worked closely with leaders from nearly all of the region’s major carriers and broking houses, helping them solve problems and uncover opportunities, among them:

- With a leading US insurer, building a Generative AI strategy and launching wave 1 use cases, tech and data architecture roadmap and associated talent & change management efforts

- Directing an enterprise portfolio strategy for leading global commercial P&C insurer covering SME, Middle Market and Large Corporate client segments

- Reprioritizing $2B of strategic investment spend of major commercial insurer to align with strategy

- Developing US middle market segment entry strategy for global commercial carrier

- Building a growth strategy and leading design and implementation of streamlined operations model for US commercial insurance broker, delivering sizable cost improvement and organic growth

- Leading the diagnostic, blueprint development and implementation of a $100M+ organization simplification program for a global insurance broker

​Prior to BCG, Lucy was employed at Marsh McLennan and Bain Capital.

Lucy has a BS in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University, and an MBA with High Distinction from the Harvard Business School, where she was recognized as a Baker Scholar.

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, SENIOR MANAGING DIRECTOR, NATIONAL SURETY GROWTH LEADER, LOCKTON

Paul currently serves as an Executive Vice President and U.S. Growth Leader for Lockton’s National Surety and Performance Security Practice. His role is to serve as a senior relationship manager around Infrastructure, Construction, Development and Fortune 1000 business across the U.S. He is involved in the design, brokerage and advocacy roles around a client’s surety, Subcontractor Default and risk programs. He also serves as a strategic account manager and corporate executive sponsor around a client’s relationship with Lockton. Further, he has National responsibility around the development of talent, client offerings and strategic client placement needs.

Prior to Lockton, Paul brings over 20 years of surety and construction risk brokerage experience having served in various senior leader roles at Aon Corporation. This included P&L oversight and executive sponsorship responsibility over the West Region and being the lead senior account executive on numerous ENR 400, ENR Specialty 600 and Fortune 1000 account relationships. Paul served in leadership roles in the Western US and Southeast US for Aon. Paul’s expertise is around strategic account management and brokerage responsibility servicing clients with International and Domestic performance security needs. He has supported a diverse set of clients from middle market construction accounts to multi Billion revenue Global organizations. He has worked with firms around a wide variety of complex needs involving areas such as ESOP transition, Private Equity, P3/Alternative Project Delivery, Fronted L/C, Integrated Risk and Captive Solutions.

Prior to working in the surety industry, Paul served in various financial analyst roles for a Fortune 50 defense contracting subsidiary including procurement, financial planning and analysis and audit.

CHAIRMAN, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, AND FOUNDER OF 1970 GROUP

Stephen Roseman is Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and Founder of 1970 Group. Prior to forming the Company, Stephen was the Chief Executive Officer of Spy Optic. Previously, Stephen served as President of Spencer Capital Holdings, Ltd. His responsibilities included overseeing a portfolio of insurance and financial services companies including USA Risk Group (USARG) – where he also served as President and CEO, Spencer RE, and SouthWest Dealer Services.

Stephen has additionally held leadership positions across a range of financial services companies, including Senior Vice President at Calamos Advisors, Managing Member at Thesis Capital Group, as well as roles at Kern Capital Management and OppenheimerFunds.

HE is a CFA® charterholder, and an alumnus of Fordham University’s MBA and Harvard Business School OPM programs.

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, ARCH INSURANCE NORTH AMERICA

Matt Shulman has been Chief Executive Officer, Arch Insurance North America since January 2019. Prior to that, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Arch Insurance International, based in London, a role he assumed in September 2016. He joined Arch Insurance in 2009 where he served as Executive Vice President overseeing the Management Liability and Professional Liability divisions. Prior to Arch, Matt was employed by The Hartford in various manager capacities within their Financial Products division since 2000. Prior to The Hartford, he worked at Reliance National in various underwriting roles.

Matt has a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and a juris doctor degree from Fordham University School of Law.

MANAGING DIRECTOR, U.S. D&O/EPL PRODUCT LEADER, LOCKTON

Kelly is Lockton’s U.S. D&O/EPL Product Leader. In this role, she is responsible for advancing the firm’s overall strategy around D&O and EPL product offerings and coverage. She collaborates with Associates across the U.S. and Lockton’s global ProExec platform to further strengthen Lockton’s market leadership and continue to deliver innovative, client-focused risk solutions.

Before joining Lockton in 2025, Kelly spent more than 12 years at Marsh, most recently serving as Managing Director, U.S. EPL and Wage & Hour Coverage Leader and FINPRO Claims Advocate Team Leader within its financial and professional risk practice. Prior to Marsh, she was a practicing attorney who counseled and litigated on behalf of management liability insurer clients in coverage matters nationwide. During her seven years as a litigator, Kelly tried multiple cases to verdict and successfully argued motions in a variety of Virginia state and federal court actions. In addition to insurer clients, Kelly has experience representing parties in white collar, antitrust, and a wide variety of commercial litigation matters while in private practice.

CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER, SAFETY NATIONAL

Mark joined Safety National in 1996, as part of the Claims Department, rising to the role of Vice President. In 2014 he was named Vice President of Communications & Strategic Analysis, developing the internal and external communications teams. Mark became Vice President of Client Engagement in 2021, taking on the additional responsibilities of developing and leading a new department. He was promoted to Chief Marketing Officer in 2025. Mark also leads the Government Affairs Committee and is a Sustainability Committee member. Prior to joining Safety National, he handled workers’ compensation claims for a self-insured, self-administered company. Mark is the creator of the Work Comp Analysis Group on LinkedIn, with over 35,000 members.

MANAGING DIRECTOR, GATEHOUSE ADVISORY PARTNERS

Over the past 20 years, Nathalie has worked with senior leaders across the private and public sectors to transform intelligence functions and integrate geopolitical intelligence into strategic decision-making. At Gatehouse she leads on client solutions and continues to work directly with executives to build effective geostrategy.

Prior to joining Gatehouse she was Vice President for Risk Intelligence Solutions at IHS Markit and S&P Global where she led strategy for country and geopolitical risk products and consulting solutions. She led the design of solutions and provided geopolitical advisory for clients across sectors, particularly focused on identifying the most relevant future scenarios to test corporate and investment strategies against. She has also worked in an advisory capacity on geopolitical risk for global advisory firm StoneTurn, and as the Africa and consulting lead for political risk forecasting company Exclusive Analysis.

In addition to her work for Gatehouse, Nathalie is a non-executive director at sustainability specialists Forster Communications. Nathalie has a PhD in War Studies from King’s College London and an MSC and BSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics.

CHIEF DATA ANALYTICS & DIGITAL OFFICER, LOCKTON

At Lockton, Claude is Chief Data Analytics and Digital Officer. This includes responsibility for the Digital Office launched in early 2025 to enhance the firm’s data and analytics tools and strategies. Claude formerly served as Global Head of Analytics overseeing the work of our Technologists, Actuaries, Data Scientists, and CAT Modelers. Claude joined Lockton Re in May 2019 as a founding member.

Prior to joining Lockton, Claude was the Global Chief Innovation and Product Development Officer at Guy Carpenter from 2017 to 2019. In addition to overseeing innovation, Claude led the effort to form a new company, Genesis LLC, which provides insurance carriers with consulting concerning InsurTech and startup companies.

From 2012 to 2017, Claude lead the global analytics team at Marsh, where he was responsible for building and delivering new analytics and technology capabilities globally, including a unique, mobile-based analytics delivery system for clients.

Before Marsh, Claude held a variety of actuarial and underwriting roles on the insurance carrier side of the business. Most recently before joining Marsh, Claude was the Head of Research and Development at The Hartford, where he oversaw a team of 50+ data science, statistical and actuarial professionals. Claude’s team was responsible for developing predictive models and actuarial science underpinning most of the major class plans at The Hartford.