Speaker information: Construction Risk Management

Company	Job Title	Name	Speaker Bio	Speaking At
Aon	Practice Leader – EMEA Claims Preparation, Advocacy, and Valuation	Mike Sgarlata	-	Panel discussion: Claims – how to navigate megatrends
McKinsey & Company	Associate Partner	Birgit Biemans	-	Keynote address: Construction market economic outlook
Swiss Re Corporate Solutions	Global Head Engineering & Construction	Manuela Baroncini	-	Panel discussion: Major risks and insurance market outlook
Swiss Re Corporate Solutions	Head E&C UK	Cedric Wong	-	Presentation: Flood risk – the journey from knowledge to protection
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority	Risk Director	Hannah Wynne	-	Breakfast session workshop: Building the perfect construction risk manager – what skills are needed and is the profession ready for the future?
Aon	Design Firms Specialist Risks	Oliver Heaton	-	Presentation: Professional liability – what to expect next
Berkeley Estate Asset Management	Head of Construction	Rob Rotbart	-	Workshop: Leaks, losses and liability: the AI revolution in water risk prevention
Wint AI	UK Insurance Partnership Manager	Rory Baker	-	Workshop: Leaks, losses and liability: the AI revolution in water risk prevention
Wint	Country Manager	Pratik Patel	-	Workshop: Leaks, losses and liability: the AI revolution in water risk prevention
Allianz Commercial	Global Head of Construction Claims	Christian Kolbe	After working in the automobile industry developing diesel engine components, Christian joined Insurance in 2008 working as an Independent Loss Adjuster for Onshore Energy, Property, Engineering and Construction losses in different countries of Latin America, before leading a loss adjusting office in Brazil. He joined Allianz Commercial in 2018 and has been Claims Manager and Field Adjuster for Engineering and Property in Germany before joining Global Claims Key Case Management, recently also dealing with on/offshore wind/solar and IDI losses. In his current position, Christian is Global Head of Construction Claims, responsible for the Global Construction Claims book within AGCS.	Panel discussion: Claims – how to navigate megatrends
Swiss Re	Director, UK & Ireland Public Sector Lead, Public Sector Solutions	Aidan Kerr	Aidan leads on Swiss Re's engagement with Government and the public sector in the UK and Ireland. He has over 20 years' experience in banking, consulting, Government, and insurance. Before joining Swiss Re, Aidan was COO at Flood Re, which enables affordable home insurance to be available for people at risk of flooding in the UK. He led the design, build and operation of Flood Re which has, to date, helped over 500,000 homes access affordable flood cover. Prior to Flood Re, Aidan was the Head of Investment and Funding for Flood Risk Management at the Environment Agency.	Panel discussion: Climate change and extreme weather – who bears the risk?
Chubb	Property and Energy European Technical Claims Lead	Andy McAvan	Andy has 35 years’ experience in claims the majority relating to first party Property Energy Construction and Terrorism. He was part of the team that previously won the Major loss award at the British Insurance Awards and has handled many losses in excess of £100 million. He has also been involved in operation projects to create new claims systems and open new Chubb claims offices.	Panel discussion: Claims – how to navigate megatrends
Mott MacDonald	Senior Associate Risk Manager	Anna Dowle	Anna is a seasoned risk professional with a diverse background across various sectors and government departments. She has spearheaded effective risk management in multi-million-pound endeavours, ensuring that both threats and opportunities are well understood. A specialist in risk management at all levels, Anna has a focus on open communication. She is a skilled consultant, facilitator, and trainer, specialising in enterprise and strategic risk, as well as bid, portfolio, and project risk management. Helping businesses to identify and manage risks, she has developed robust continuity and crisis management strategies.	Quick fire presentation: Learning from failures – is AI the answer to effective risk management?
Aon Credit Solutions	CEO	Stuart Lawson	As the CEO for Aon’s Credit Solutions global business, Stuart’s responsibilities include developing and executing Aon’s strategy in respect of Trade Credit Insurance, Structured Credit, Political Risk and related financing solutions. Stuart has over 30 years industry experience, gaining valuable experience in leading market leading teams, client management and sales with specialist expertise in global trade credit programmes and receivable trade finance.	Panel discussion: Implications of US tariffs for the construction industry
Zurich Insurance Group	Head of Continental Europe & Canada Construction, Commercial Insurance	Richard Gordon	Before assuming his current position, Richard served as Head of Construction for Zurich in London and previously as Underwriting Manager for Engineering Lines with Zurich Commercial Insurance in Dubai, UAE. These roles involved extensive international engagement, particularly across the GCC region, and reinforced his expertise in complex infrastructure risks and multinational project portfolios. Richard began his Zurich career in 2015 as a Senior Underwriter. Prior to joining Zurich, he worked with Infrassure Ltd in Zurich, Switzerland, as a Construction Underwriter within the Construction and Infrastructure team, underwriting major international engineering projects. His professional foundation is in civil engineering, having worked on large scale infrastructure schemes in the UK as well as overseas in India and Kazakhstan.	Panel discussion: Major risks and insurance market outlook
Royal BAM Group nv	Director Insurance	Bernard van den Berg	Bernard is a seasoned insurance professional with 30 years of experience, including 11 years at Royal BAM Group NV, 6 years as Insurance Manager at Ballast Nedam NV and 13 years in various sales roles at Rabobank.	Panel discussion: The importance of collaborative sharing
Rimkus	Insurance Delays Director	Chantel Russell	Chantel is a chartered structural engineer with 11 years of experience in both design and fabrication, having worked in multi-disciplinary teams in order to deliver complex major projects. She has experience in offshore and onshore projects in design and analysis as well as experience as a Lead Engineer on major offshore oil and gas projects. Chantel also has site experience in the Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) construction yard in South Korea on the fabrication of an offshore platform. In addition, Chantel has worked as a structural engineer working in the nuclear industry in Paris. Chantel has 6 years’ experience in delay analysis, working on delay claims in Insurance and Construction in a variety of sectors (Delay in Start-up [DSU], Business Interruption [BI], and Construction Delay claims). Over the last 6 years, her technical industry experience has enabled her to understand the intricacies of construction delays and utilise her knowledge in the analysis of delay claims (DSU, BI, and Construction).	Panel discussion: Delays on construction projects – managing and mitigating the risks
Aon	Head of Strategic Risk Consulting	Charles Winter	Charles has over 35 years’ experience in the insurance sector and has worked for Aon for over 20 years. He is currently Head of Strategic Risk Consulting for the Aon Risk Consulting business in the UK. Previous roles have been in corporate broking and underwriting.	Panel discussion: Europe's changing captives landscape
Turner & Townsend UK	Director and Testifying Expert	Chris Hillier	Chris is part of the Turner & Townsend Expert Team based in the London HQ Office. He has over forty years of experience as a Chartered Engineer as part of the project management teams in many energy related major and mega projects worldwide, with over twenty of those years specialising in dispute resolution and expert witness work. He has acted as an expert in over 75 cases and has been cross examined 30 times in the Technology and Construction Court, Commercial Court and both domestic and international arbitrations on many continents of the world as both expert or witness of fact, along with representation in mediation, as a Dispute Board Member, being the Adjudicator, and as an Expert Determiner.	Panel discussion: Claims – how to navigate megatrends Workshop: Avoiding conflicts & disputes on construction projects
K&L Gates LLP	Partner	Clare Kempkens	Clare Kempkens is a partner based in K&L Gates’ London office and is the Practice Group Co-Ordinator for the firm’s global Maritime and Offshore Energy Group. Clare advises a wide range of contractor clients on both contentious and non-contentious issues connected with offshore construction contracts and insurance around the world. On a day-to-day basis she advises on shipbuilding, EPC contracts and associated insurance cover with a particular focus on WELCAR and WINDCAR. Clare specialises in offshore energy disputes with a heavy technical content including claims concerning the design, engineering, construction and insurance of a variety of offshore projects.	Panel discussion: Delays on construction projects – managing and mitigating the risks