Speakers

Maria Elena Anker is an Associate at the Generation Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Generation Investment Management. The Foundation’s mission is to use strategic research, grant-making and advocacy to unlock the power of capital markets to drive a more sustainable economic system. The Foundation makes grants in three streams – Climate, Nature, and People, and Maria Elena leads the  “People” stream. Prior to joining the Generation Foundation, she worked with Developing World Markets, an impact investing firm, two microfinance institutions, Pro Mujer and Banco Solidario, and in emerging markets fixed income research at Salomon Smith Barney. Maria Elena has an MS in Foreign Service and an MA in Economics from Georgetown University and a BA in Economics from Boston College.

Karen Bennett is the CEO of Enterprise Credit Union and the President of the Association of British Credit Unions Limited.
Karen has played a significant role in the success of Enterprise Credit union and has been the CEO for the past 22 years, helping it grow from a small voluntary based credit union to one of the largest community credit unions in the Britain serving over 23,000 members and holding over £28 million in assets. Enterprise Credit Union provides savings and low-cost loans facilities to anyone who lives or works in, Liverpool, St Helens and Warrington Boroughs of Merseyside, encouraging savings and lending upwards of £20 million per year.
Karen received a C.B.E award in the Queens birthday Honours list in 2020.

Corina Constantinescu is a Professor of Mathematics and Director of the Institute for Financial and Actuarial Mathematics, in the Department of Mathematical Sciences, at the University of Liverpool. Prior to being an academic, Corina worked as an actuary and led the life insurance department of one of the first private Romanian insurance companies. Given her practical perspective, many of her papers are published in actuarial journals, however she also publishes in applied probability journals.  Her expertise is in analytical methods for deriving exact or asymptotic results for ruin probabilities, with light or heavy-tailed assumptions in complex insurance risk models. A more recent research interest of hers is financial inclusion, namely correctly pricing and regulating microfinance and microinsurance practices.

I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at York University. As an applied micro economist, I rely mostly on theoretical frameworks to analyze policy questions, particularly as they relate to the environment. Some of my recent theoretical works include analyses of the linkages between trade and the environment, social/moral considerations in voluntary contributions and environmental decisions, and the cultural transmission of environmental attitudes. My empirical works include analyses of household environment-based consumption and the environmental management of industrial emissions.

I am Assistant Professor of Data Science and Actuarial Mathematics at the Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. 

I work on nonparametric statistics and statistical machine learning methods where I try to understand and develop new ways of how low-dimensional structures in high(er) dimensional data can be exploited to provide both enhanced predictions and/or quantifications of risk as well as interpretation and visualization of predictors and risk factors.

My theoretical work is driven by applications. I work(ed) on reserving problems in actuarial science and the separation and visualization of different time-effects in biostatistics. Another application I am currently interested in is mortality predictions. 

I am an advocate for women-in-tech and a founding member of STEM Cambodia Organization. Professionally, I work as a senior product manager at Boost Capital.

I enjoy working in technology companies that drive positive changes in society. I choose to work in tech due to its potential impact, and the fact that I get to ship products and receive feedback to improve them. As a product manager with a background in design, humans are always at the center of my work. I practice Design Thinking and other human-centered design frameworks. I also facilitate design workshops and provide training for business leaders as well. 

My curiosity drives me to acquire different skill sets from graphic design, branding, illustration, and animation to product design and product management.

Michal Matul  has joined AXA Emerging Customers early 2017 after 9 years at  ILO’s Impact Insurance Facility, a leading think-tank in inclusive insurance. At AXA he leads digital health agenda and is supporting AXA entities in emerging markets to build internal capabilities and develop new solutions for low- and middle-income households. Michal’s work has been focusing for more than 20 years on understanding financial behaviours and improving risk-management options for low-income households. His previous assignments include work with PlaNet Finance in West Africa and with Microfinance Centre in Eastern Europe. He holds a Master’s degree from Sciences Po (Paris) in Economic Demography and a PhD in Economics from University of Warsaw.

Lisa Morgan supports ILO's Impact Insurance Facility by providing technical expertise on health insurance in the public and private sectors, offering insights into m-Health, actuarial analysis and strategy development. She has more than 15 years of experience in actuarial consultancy in Europe, Africa and Asia. Her experience includes pricing, reserving, benchmarking and budgeting for private and national health insurance schemes as well as advising on microinsurance. Lisa is a qualified health actuary and Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries in the UK.

Emily is Chief Impact Officer at Wagestream where she leads on the scale-up’s work to tackle financial exclusion and build a more inclusive app that improves workers’ financial wellbeing. The role brings together stakeholders across policy, public sector and the financial services sector - from running co-creation sessions with customers, through to leading an Impact Advisory Board. She also runs the company's programme of academic research in collaboration with leading think tanks and global universities. Before joining Wagestream, Emily co-founded a social impact fintech, Touco Lab, which built financial services products for people with cognitive impairments using open banking technology. Touco was awarded grant funding from the Nationwide Open Banking for Good programme, and was accepted onto the Techstars accelerator programme.