Mirjam Bamberger
CEO, AXA Luxembourg
Mirjam Bamberger is CEO of AXA Luxembourg and CEO of AXA Wealth Europe.
Until June 2020, she has been serving as Member of the Board at AXA Switzerland, largest multi-line insurer in the market serving close to 2m clients. Over the past few years, Mirjam assumed different Board functions in Strategy, Customer Management, Marketing, Communications, Innovation and Human Resources. Prior to this, Mirjam assumed international management roles in Financial Services, High Tech and Capital Equipment based in Hong Kong, London, Chicago, Frankfurt, Geneva and Zurich.
She holds a Master degree of IMD Lausanne, a Master of University of Cologne as well as degrees from Harvard University and HSG St. Gallen.
Hadrien Bertrand
Economic Advisor, ACA
Graduated with a Master 2 in Finance, Hadrien started as Financial Auditor in 2010. He joined the insurance sector in Luxembourg in 2013. Hadrien is now working as economic adviser since 2019 for the ACA. He is involved in the following working groups: IFRS 17, Solvency II, reporting for custodian banks, statistics, and products.
Sandrine Chabrerie
Head of European Affairs, ACA
A lawyer by training, Sandrine Chabrerie worked at AXA Luxembourg for 18 years where she held various positions in the legal department and then in product management before becoming Head of customer service teams.
Sandrine joined ACA in 2015 where she is responsible for the activities of the International Life Commission and its working groups.
Christian Gibot
Chief Executive Officer, CARDIF Lux Vie
Christian Gibot has been CEO of Cardif Lux Vie since December 1st, 2019.
A graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris and alumnus of Saïd Business School Oxford, he began his career in 2005 as an actuary at ACA France. In 2008, he joined Caisse des Dépôts and the Office of the Chief Executive, before being appointed as Technical Director for France with CNP Assurances in 2011. He joined BNP Paribas Cardif in 2015 as Director of Actuarial Services, before being appointed CEO of Cardif Lux Vie end 2019.
Christian Gibot was the vice-president of the Institute of Actuaries in France. He is the vice-president of the ACA (Luxembourg Insurance and Reinsurance Association) and president of the Luxembourg Union of Insurance Companies.
Pierre Gramegna
Minister of Finance of Luxembourg
Pierre Gramegna was born on 22 April 1958 in Esch-sur-Alzette. He pursued studies in law and economics at the Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II), and completed his post-university education with a DEA (postgraduate diploma of advanced studies) in European Union law.
Following the legislative elections of 14 October 2018, Pierre Gramegna was re-appointed Minister of Finance on 5 December 2018 in the coalition government formed by the Democratic Party (DP), the Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP) and the Green Party (déi gréng).
Pierre Gramegna had first joined the government as Minister of Finance on 4 December 2013, after the legislative elections of 20 October 2013.
As Minister of Finance, Pierre Gramegna has initiated major reforms to balance the budget and to align Luxembourg’s tax rules with international transparency standards. Minister Gramegna is also a promoter of the diversification of Luxembourg’s financial center, in particular with regard to Fintech and sustainable finance.
As career diplomat, Pierre Gramegna joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1983. He was subsequently appointed political and economic affairs advisor to the Luxembourg embassy in Paris in 1988. In 1992 he was appointed consul general and director of the Board of Economic Development in San Francisco. From 1996 to 2002, Pierre Gramegna was Luxembourg’s Ambassador to Japan and South Korea. He was subsequently responsible for the Directorate of International Economic Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In 2003, Pierre Gramegna took up the position of director general of the Chamber of Commerce. Prior to joining the government, Pierre Gramegna was also member of the executive board of several companies, including in particular Cargolux Airlines International SA (as chairman from 2004 to 2008) and the Luxembourg Stock Exchange (Bourse de Luxembourg).
Marc Hengen
CEO, ACA
Marc Hengen has been the Managing Director of ACA since March 2013. After 18 years of experience in the Luxembourgish insurance sector, he joined the Executive Committee of ACA in 2010.
He is also a member of both the Executive Committee of UEL (Union des Entreprises Luxembourgeoises) and the Executive Committee of IE (Insurance Europe), as well as Secretary General of AGERE (Association des gestionnaires d’entreprises de réassurances).
Marc Hengen has a Master’s Degree in Law from the Robert Schuman University of Strasbourg.
Ivo Hux
Director general, Swiss Re Luxembourg
Ivo Hux is General Manager for Swiss Re Europe S.A. Swiss Re International S.E. and other legal entities of the Swiss Re Group in Luxemburg, member of the ACA board and chairman of its reinsurance commission. He joined Swiss Re 27 years ago to build the Eastern European market portfolios and subsequently served in various functions including CEO France in Paris and Head of France, Benelux and Switzerland.
He studied in Zurich, Paris and Saint Petersburg, holds a PhD in Russian Literature and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Marc Lauer
Chairman, ACA
Marc Lauer was born in 1965. Graduated as economist and actuary, he was an official at the Commissariat aux Assurances (CAA) from 1989 to 2004. He became a member of the Board of Management in 1995, in charge of the Reinsurance and Non-Life departments. In 2004, he joined the Group Foyer S.A. as COO.
He was appointed as Director of the Board on April 2013 and holds the position of CEO of Foyer S.A. in April 2014.
Besides, he is the Vice-Chairman of the Board of the Association des Compagnies d’Assurances Luxembourg (ACA), is a member of the Board of the Chamber of Commerce Luxembourg and a member of the Board of the Automobile Club of Luxembourg (ACL).
Sarah Lentini
Head of Communication
With a degree from IEP d’Aix-en- Provence(Sciences-Po, Aix), Sarah has worked in the Luxembourg financial sector for 12 years, 8 of which were in life insurance. She joined ACA in 2015 as specialist advisor. She is in charge of ACA’s communication and the promotion of the sector both in Luxembourg and abroad.
Frédéric Lipka,
Managing Director, Natixis Life
Since July 1st, 2016, Frédéric Lipka has been the Chief Executive Officer of Natixis Life. He is also a director of several investment funds. Having graduated from ESCP Europe, he started his career at Zurich Financial Service and then joined Egis Project. In these companies, he held various management positions, both in France and abroad. In 2007, he joined Natixis Assurances. He created the Life and Non-Life Development Department and took responsibility for it.
During his graduate studies, he pursued a high-level sports career. A double figure skating champion of France, now puts the expertise acquired during his professional and sports career at the service of the transformation of Natixis Life.
Nicolas Mackel
CEO, Luxembourg for Finance
Nicolas Mackel is CEO of Luxembourg for Finance, the Agency for the Development of the Financial Centre, since July 2013.
Nicolas is a career diplomat. He has graduated with a law degree from the University of Aix-en-Provence, and holds two post-graduate diplomas in European law from the Sorbonne University, respectively the College of Europe in Bruges where he then also served as a teaching assistant in the Law Department. He worked as a legal clerk at the European Court of Justice before joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1999. His assignments focused on the successive EU Treaty negotiations (Amsterdam, Nice, Constitution, Lisbon).
Nicolas was consecutively posted at Luxembourg’s Permanent Representation to the EU (2002-07), as Deputy Chief of Mission at Luxembourg’s Embassy in Washington DC (2007-11) and as Consul General in Shanghai (2011-13) where he was in charge of promoting Luxembourg’s economic interests throughout China as the Executive Director of the Luxembourg Trade and Investment Office.
Flavia Micilotta
Sustainability Leader, Audit & Insurance, Deloitte
Flavia Micilotta is leading the Sustainability practice at Deloitte Luxembourg to accompany clients with the low carbon transition and the implementation of the Sustainable Finance Action Plan.
She is formerly Director of the Luxembourg Green Exchange, which she joined after leading for 4 years Eurosif, the pan-European sustainable and responsible investment (SRI) membership organisation whose mission is to promote sustainability through European financial markets. As a sustainability consultant and qualified environmental auditor at EY and Deloitte, she assisted companies embed sustainability in their business models and go beyond the remits of social and environmental compliance. Focused on issues ranging from climate change and adaptation, to supply chain management and responsible investments, Flavia worked with several European banks and asset managers to help them streamline their responsible Investment approach.
A member of EFRAG’s EU reporting Lab and of the EIOPA Occupational Pension Stakeholder Group, Flavia has supported the work of the European Commission to devise a sustainable finance framework as member of the High-Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance (HLEG) and of the Technical Expert Group (TEG) for a Green Bond Standard.
As founding member of the UN Global Compact in Belgium, Flavia has developed much of her career working with companies to improve their transparency and accountability through material and forward-looking sustainability reporting.
Paul Mousel
Partner, Arendt & Medernach
Paul Mousel is a Founding Partner of Arendt & Medernach. He is a member of the Banking and Financial Services practice where he specialises in securities law, regulatory matters involving banks, investment firms, insurance and reinsurance companies as well as all aspects of organisation, reorganisation, mergers & acquisitions and liquidation of financial institutions.
He has been a member of both the Luxembourg and Brussels Bar since 1978.
He is a member of various working committees at the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF), the regulatory authority of the financial sector in Luxembourg and acts as a non-executive board member in numerous companies.
He has been reader of general jurisprudence and financial law at the Université du Luxembourg since 1984.
Prior to joining Arendt & Medernach, he was assistant-counsel at the Chamber of Commerce and Arbed (now Arcelor Mittal), the Luxembourg steel conglomerate.
Paul Mousel holds a Master's degree in law from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium), as well as a degree in business law from the same university.
Jonathan Prince
Co-Founder - Sales & Partnerships, Finologee
Jonathan Prince is co-founder of Finologee a Luxembourg-based FinTech and Regtech specialist. The company runs a trusted digital platform that simplifies connectivity between financial institutions and a variety of FinTech solution such as ID document validation, video chat, electronic signatures, access to bank account (PSD2), KYC/remediation tools and messaging features.
Jonathan is also partner at Mpulse handling over 95% of messaging and micropayments made via mobile operators in Luxembourg. In 2012, Jonathan co-founded Digicash, the Luxembourg banks’ mobile payment system. In 2007, he founded TCG an advisory firm operating in the telecom and payments industries. Jonathan is also public speaker and host in various Finance and Technology conferences.
Sylvia Pucar
PWC, Partner (moderator)
Sylvia is an audit partner with PwC Luxembourg with more than 18 years experience. She started her career with PwC Paris and joined the insurance practice of Luxembourg in 2006. Her clients range from global (re)insurance to local players, both in non-life and life space. Sylvia leads the assurance practice for Insurance and oversees the Actuarial Services practice. She also advises her clients on transformation projects (finance, operations) as well as on regulatory and compliance matters.
Kim Schumacher
Lecturer in Sustainable Finance and ESG, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Dr Kim Schumacher is a Lecturer in Sustainable Finance and ESG at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. He is an associate researcher at the University of Oxford and an Adjunct Lecturer in Sustainable Finance at the University of Luxembourg.
He belongs the ISO Technical Committee on Sustainable Finance (TC 322) and the Technical Working Groups of the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) and the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI).
He holds a PhD degree in Environmental Science from the University of Tokyo and Masters degree in Environmental Law and Policy from UC Berkeley.
Carlo Thelen
CEO, Chamber of Commerce
After obtaining a Master of Science in Economics at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium, Carlo Thelen joined the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce in 1996 as an Economic Adviser.
In August 2003, he joined the Executive Committee of the Chamber of Commerce and in January 2004, he became Director of International Affairs. He was then appointed Chief Economist of the Chamber of Commerce in January 2007, and in January 2014 he was nominated Director General. Until 2019, he was also the Chief Economist of the Chamber of Commerce, each year preparing and presenting the most important official opinion of the Chamber of Commerce: the opinion on the state budget.
Carlo Thelen is also the author of a notable expert blog that highlights current big socio-economic questions, as well as articles and strategic papers published by the Chamber of Commerce, and he regularly makes presentations both at home and abroad about the economy of Luxembourg.
He also represents the Chamber of Commerce in different working groups and councils of Luxembourg ministries, administrations and other organisations, is in charge of strategic papers, studies, surveys and statistics, research and innovation, documentation and literature on economics, and regularly gives advice and consultations on these subjects.
In addition to his economic expertise, Carlo Thelen has extensive experience in commercial and economic advocacy as he regularly organises and participates in numerous state visits and official economic missions abroad where he presents the strengths and challenges of the Luxembourg economy and businesses.
Valérie Tollet
Legal Advisor, ACA (moderator)
After twenty years in tax consulting in Belgium and Luxembourg, Valérie joined ACA in February 2020 as legal and tax advisor.
Holding Master’s degrees in Law and Tax Law, she leads a number of working groups and is involved in international tax matters, including work in relation to the Inclusive Framework on BEPS addressing the tax challenges arising from the digitalisation of the economy, Luxembourg tax issues related to teleworking, attracting talents and innovation, implications of the current sanitary crisis on the (re)insurance sector, and legal and regulatory subjects like PRIIPs.
Fons Trompenaars
Founder, THT
Known all over the world for his work as consultant, trainer, motivational speaker and author of many books on the subject of culture and business. He has spent over 25 years helping Fortune 500 leaders and professionals manage and solve their business and cultural dilemmas to increase global effectiveness and performance, particularly in the areas of globalization, mergers and acquisition, HR and leadership development.
Author of Riding the Waves of Culture, Understanding Cultural Diversity in Business This book sold over 200 000 copies and was translated into 16 languages amongst them Chinese, Estonian, French, Dutch, German, Hungarian, Korean, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish and Turkish, He is co-author of Seven Cultures of Capitalism,
Building Cross Cultural Competence, Riding the Whirlwind and 21 Leaders for the 21 st Century with Charles
Hampden Turner Recently he published 100 +Management Models with Piet Hein Coebergh 2014 Fons has co-written an article with Peter Woolliams entitled “Lost in Translation” regarding culture and failure, which was published in the April 2011 online issue of the Harvard Business Review Most recently, he has co-authored Nine Visions of Capitalism Unlocking the Meanings of Wealth Creation, Servant Leadership Across Cultures, M&A Tango on Mergers and Acquisitions and Rewarding Performance Globally. Voted one of the top 20 HR Most Influential International Thinkers 2011 by HR Magazine. He is also ranked in the bi-annual Thinkers50 ranking as one of the most influential management thinkers alive in 2011, 2013 and 2015 and shortlisted as making substantial strides in the contribution to the understanding of globalization and the new frontiers established by the emerging markets in 2011. He was inducted into the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame in November 2017.
Claude Wirion
Director, Commissariat aux Assurances
Graduate of Ecole Polytechnique (Paris) and of Ecole Nationale d’Administration (Paris) and holder of a master degree in law of the University of Paris I, Claude Wirion started his career as a civil servant at the Inspection générale des Finances in Luxembourg.
In 1992 he joined the Luxembourg insurance supervisory authority (Commissariat aux assurances) as a member of the management board responsible for the supervision of life insurance and pension funds from 1992 to 2014 and as the general director since 2015.
Internationally Claude WIRION has contributed to the preparation and the negotiation of most of the European directives adopted in the field of insurance supervision during the last 25 years. He sits on the Board of Supervisors of the European Insurance and Occupational Pension Authority (EIOPA) headquartered in Frankfurt and is a bureau member of the Insurance and Pensions Committee of OECD in Paris.
Since 1992 Claude WIRION is a lecturer at the University of Luxembourg.
Léa Zanda
Legal and Tax Advisor, ACA (moderator)
Léa Zanda joined ACA in January 2020 after 10 years of tax expertise in Luxembourg, including 8 years in Big 4. Specialized in international tax, Léa was Senior Manager at PwC before joining the ACA team. With a legal background, specialized in Business Law, Léa is responsible of the working groups linked to tax like DAC 6 or linked to regulation like sustainability.
