Alan Lakey has been gainfully occupied in the industry since 1978. He's been a financial adviser since 1986 and started the acclaimed CIExpert system in 2012. He is an ex-Director of Adviser Alliance and an ex-Council member of APFA. He also spent eight unhappy years working for an assortment of insurers and distributors and is the winner of 20 awards for advisory excellence. He is the author of Growing Old Disgracefully, a biography of seminal ‘60s rock band The Pretty Things and recently wrote ‘Idiocy in Commercial Life: Practical Ways to Navigate Through Nonsense'.

Andrew is a director of Moneysworth, a protection insurance only practice specialising in assisting those with current/previous health conditions. Andrew is a keen supporter of inclusiveness and of the #accesstoinsurance project. A challenger and innovator Andrew believes passionately in the need to ‘fill in the gaps’ that exist in the protection insurance market for people with health conditions. He believes the insurance industry and health charities sector need to work closely together to ensure that those with health conditions get the access to insurance they need. Moneysworth were one of the signatories to the Signposting Agreement

Angela has been in financial services for 33 years. Starting her working life in Barclays Bank and after 22 years furthering her career as an independent mortgage and protection adviser. Progressing to become a business development manager at Royal London in 2014, and latterly with Zurich in 2018. Inspired by training she received at Royal London, Angela took it upon herself to become an NLP practitioner in 2017. Her experience, not only in advising and business development, but also in NLP led to the creation of Angela’s company in 2018. ‘Passion for Protection’ was borne from Angela’s absolute passion to provide innovative protection sales training. Her mission, to fuel great protection conversations that will result in more clients being protected. An avid reader, Ted Talks follower and lifelong learner.

Claire Ginnelly has been in the private medical insurance industry since 1991. Before joining Premier Choice Group in June 2013, all her experience was gained working for large insurance companies and always working on the intermediary distribution. She has held senior positions within Standard Life Healthcare, as Head of Intermediary Sales, and Groupama Healthcare, as Head of Distribution. Claire started her career in Healthcare with Norwich Union Healthcare (now Aviva) and then moved to WPA before joining Standard Life Healthcare. In June 2013, Claire joined Premier Choice Group as Head of Healthcare and became Managing Director in June 2015. Premier Choice is an intermediary specialising in Healthcare and Risk products.

Emma has worked in the protection market for over 20 years and has experience in both distributor and insurer fields. After starting out in Unum’s underwriting team, in 2000 Emma joined LifeSearch. For eighteen years she helped LifeSearch grow to become the largest protection-specialist adviser firm in the UK. In October 2018 she took up the post of Product Strategist at income protection specialist British Friendly to develop their award winning proposition further. Emma has been a long-term contributor to industry lobby groups such as the Income Protection Task Force, and in 2016 became the inaugural chair of the Protection Distributor’s Group, a role held until October 2018. As the PDG chair, she led the group in launching its successful Funeral Payment Pledge and Claims Charter campaigns, initiatives which have improved outcomes for consumers at point of claim. In 2017 Emma founded the Women in Protection Network and is the group’s chair. The WIP Network promotes the need for our industry to become more inclusive, to help more women become more financially resilient and provides a positive support network for women working in the industry. Emma is also an Insuring Women’s Futures Ambassador. Emma is a passionate advocate for helping more consumers benefit from protection cover, becoming even more committed since being diagnosed with cancer last May and benefitting from being able to claim herself. She has been recognised with number of accolades for her work including winning the 2019 Women in Protection Inspirational Leader of the Year award.

Johnny Timpson is Scottish Widows’ and Lloyd’s Banking Groups financial resilience and protection specialist with over 40 years’ experience working in a variety of business development, technical and distribution roles. He is currently the Cabinet Office Disability & Access Champion for the Insurance Industry and Profession and chairs the Access to Insurance Working Group. In addition, he is a founder and current member of the Building Resilient Households Group and Resilient Households Taskforce plus a member of the Income Protection Task Force and sits on its Welfare Working Group. Johnny is also a member of the CII’s Insuring Women’s Futures Programme Expert Advisory Panel; the BIBA Access To Insurance Committee: the Insurance Institute of London Diversity & Inclusion Committee; the Insurance Disability, Ability & Wellbeing Network Steering Group; the Inclusion Scotland Leaders Group; the Group for Autism, Insurance and Neurodiversity Steering Group, the British Standards Institute Disability Committee and an Expert Friend of the Vocational Rehabilitation Association UK.

L&C is the UK’s leading fee free mortgage broker, offering advice on products from across the mortgage and protection market to borrowers throughout the UK from its offices in Bath, Newcastle and London. Lucy joined L&C in 2000 as a mortgage and protection adviser and has held a variety of roles prior to appointment as Head of Protection in 2013. She manages the strategic development of protection for L&C as well as working with the wider industry to develop products and processes that deliver better protection outcomes for customers. This has included the piloting of new products and processes within L&C, the development of enhanced products with industry providers and contribution to the wider education of consumers about the need for protection.

Matthew Chapman is the Senior Protection Expert at Plus Financial Group, which he started with his wife in 2018 and the founder of MCAB.uk, an agency that helps Advisers learn how to promote, prioritise and sell protection insurance. He has worked in various roles across the Financial Services industry since leaving school over 21 years ago. Previously, he served as Operations Manager for Nationwide Building Society, managing their PPI remediation activities. Prior to that, he lived and worked in Spain for 10 years and before that, he held roles at both Britannic Assurance and Lloyds Banking Group. For the past four years, Matthew has specialised in protection solutions with a specific focus on long-term financial resilience and raising awareness of the need for regular income and the importance of Income Protection. Matthew actively supports the Income Protection Task Force, is a regular contributor to both COVER magazine and FTRC forum events. He lives in Solihull with his wife and four children.

Melissa Collett is Professional Standards Director at the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), leading its professional standards, ethics and conduct activity as a united profession across insurance and financial planning. She is also responsible for the professional body’s legal affairs, risk management, disciplinary matters and governance. She is keen to raise awareness of best practice and drive ethical behaviour through engagement with the profession and external stakeholders. Melissa has an extensive background in consumer insurance and legal issues. She spent over a decade at the Financial Ombudsman Service, was a Director at Fairer Finance and sits as a Tribunal Judge. She is also qualified solicitor, and specialised in insurance law at Hogan Lovells. She is a frequent speaker at insurance conference and events, sits on judging panels, and is the author of numerous articles and publications on consumer insurance law subjects.

Monica Garcia is a health and wellbeing consultant, working in the Life & Health Insurance industry. She offers expert advice on the introduction of evidence based health initiatives to improve customers’ wellness and satisfaction. Monica is passionate about outcome focused rehabilitation initiatives. She brings in a combination of clinical, vocational, and insurance experience to promote best practice. Monica also supports industry initiatives to encourage access to insurance.

At Swiss Re, Monica led pioneering award winning research, evaluating the role of psychosocial factors in return to work at claims and underwriting level. She’s been invited to share her expertise and research at international conferences in the UK and overseas. She also developed many claims management initiatives, including: training, portfolio management, and the design and implementation of large scale return to work rehabilitation programmes for the Income Protection market.

Monica moved to the UK in 2001 as an undergraduate psychology student. She completed her undergraduate and postgraduate education in London. Monica's specialist research interest is related to the role of beliefs and social factors in the recovery process, with a particular focus on work stress and the role of resilience. Monica maintains her interest in mental health issues related to her home country, Bolivia, and has published in the Journal of International Psychiatry. "Mental Health in the Plurinational State of Bolivia" (2011) Vol 8 No 4. 

Naomi started her career working in the corporate space of the Life Assurance sector in 2002, helping advisers understand the products available in the UK market whilst giving training and development on the benefits of personal and business products. In 2014 Naomi founded specialist brokerage Heath Protection Solutions, which offers Private Clients and Businesses whole of market advice on a full range of insurance solutions. In addition to running her own business Naomi has brought her deep understanding of the UK life assurance market to LDNfinance as Protection Director, where she supports the development of their protection advice to mortgage clients. Naomi has become an Ambassador for the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), working to raise awareness of the importance of protection products for women. She speaks at events in London on the education and guidance of young women and the importance of protecting their futures regularly appearing at events such as ‘She’s on the Money’. Recently awarded the Woman of the year in Protection Advice Award at the Women in Financial Awards 2019, Naomi looks to continue raising the awareness of the need for Protection Advice by supporting the education of both brokers and clients.

Roshani Hewa is the Assistant Director, Head of Protection and Health, having previously worked at the ABI as Assistant Director, Head of Savings Policy. She is responsible for leading the ABI’s strategy and policy development on protection and health policy issues. She joined ABI in September 2017 from Barclays, having joined in 2011 and was responsible for engaging with UK regulators (PRA/FCA/PSR) to optimise outcomes for Barclays; developing and communicating insights on regulatory engagement internally and externally. Primary focus was on Barclays UK businesses i.e. Mortgages, Personal Banking, UK Cards and Treasury. Prior to Barclays, Roshani worked at KPMG for 5.5 years.

Roy is an IFA at Cavendish Ware and has been an adviser for 30 years.

He is a passionate advocate of protection in both the individual and group markets as well as advising on corporate and wealth management areas. He is the co-chairman of the income protection task force where he was a founding member and integral in the seven families campaign. On this subject he has toured the UK talking to audiences of advisers, insurers, reinsurers and HR professionals on the impact that 7F has made.

He regularly trains advisers on all protection subjects. He is consulted by insurers on product development and is a regular contributor in the press. He is also a founder member of the PDG and sits on the FTRC forums.

He was also the first person to advocate employer sick pay statements and integral in the call for mandatory annual protection statements.

He is also the adviser representative on the resilient households’ group.

Steve has over thirty years’ experience working in the life insurance market in the UK, Europe and the Far East. A Chartered Insurer, he has been responsible for some of the more innovative developments within the protection market specifically wrapping around the customer. Originally trained as an underwriter, Steve has extensive experience of working in product development, distribution management and risk assessment. He is the current Chairman of ILAG and a Advisory Board member for LegaCare