Lars started his professional career as a maritime lawyer with the law firm Blaum Dettmers Rabstein in Bremen. In October 2008 he took over the position as head of the marine and aviation insurance department at the German Insurance Association (GDV) in Berlin. In January 2013 he moved to his present position as Secretary General of the IUMI where he runs the association's IMO and EU activities and fosters the relations with other maritime stakeholders. Lars also chairs the International Quality Assessment Review Body (IQARB) under the auspieces of the IMO and holds a number of honorary posts such serving as a member of the Advisory Committee to the IACS QSCS and as a technical expert to the BIMCO Safety and Security Committee.

Matthew works with ship-owners, NVOCs and transport operators, cargo interests and insurers on logistics and supply chain related disputes and projects. Matthew's dispute resolution and litigation practice includes claims arising out of the carriage of goods, which encompasses defence work, cargo recovery, and salvage and general average claims; representing ports and terminal operators on third party liability, property damage and business interruption claims; and marine insurance policy and commercial disputes.

Ashleigh is a member of the knowledge management team at HFW with particular responsibility for aerospace. She focuses on the provision of knowhow support to the group and its clients and is also involved in several firmwide knowledge management and technical training projects.

Prior to working in knowledge management Ashleigh was a Partner in the aerospace team in Hong Kong and worked in-house for a London aviation underwriter.

Andrew D’Alessio completed an Masters of Business Administration with a dual concentration in Finance and International Business at Fordham Graduate School of Business after earning his Bachelor of Science Business Economics from the State University of New York education system.

Andrew presently serves as the Head of Ocean Cargo Americas at AXA XL based in New York.  Over his 24 year career he worked at Marsh Inc.’s Marine team in New York as a broker two years, Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty for 8 years, Royal & SunAlliance, and AIG.

Additionally, Andrew serves as the AIMU Cargo Committee Chair since 2020 after several years as a contributing member with subcommittee involvement aimed at development of coverage wordings and special projects.  Previously he served as the AIMU Education Co-Chair supporting subcommittees, projects, and the development of educational content as well as instructing for AIMU’s Advanced Cargo class and the Multinational Admitted Global Programs class. 

Andrew participates in other marine insurance trade associations including American Marine Insurance Forum (AMIF) including board positions, National Cargo Bureau including committee participation, AMUSF, BMUSF, and the Marine Insurance Association of Seattle.

Andrew presently lives in Warren, NJ and is actively involved with his son as a volunteer for local youth sports coaching for Baseball and Soccer as well as the local Cubs Scouts den.  He enjoys golf and the outdoors in his free time.

Christopher has a law degree from the University of Stockholm with focus on insurance and maritime law. Having spent his entire career in the insurance industry he started out as a claims handler with a local Swedish insurance company before moving into underwriting more than ten years ago at the largest Nordic insurance company If P&C. He has worked as a marine manager since 2017 working for AXA XL and nowadays QBE underwriting some of the largest and most complicated risks in the Nordic market with a special focus on global cargo programmes.

Christopher is a member of the Swedish Board of Marine Insurers and has been engaged with IUMI and the Education Forum since 2018, having chaired the working group tasked with developing the curriculum for the IUMI Master Class in Cargo Insurance.

Andrew Corton has been in the London Marine market for 40 years. Both in Lloyd’s and the Company markets, almost all of that time in the Cargo world. His current position is - Project Cargo Underwriter for Starr Companies in London. He is the longest serving member of the Joint Cargo Committee and has just stepped down from position of Chair after three years, he remains a committed committee member. He is a regular speaker on various subjects related to Cargo insurance such as IUMI and also ICIC.

Outside of the Cargo Market, he is a qualified goalkeeping coach and says his main strength is shouting loudly and pointing his finger.

Mike has over 30 years’ experience in marine insurance dispute resolution, handling a broad range of coverage, liability and recovery cases acting for London and foreign market insurers/reinsurers and their insureds/reinsureds. He also has significant experience of general commercial disputes with a marine flavour. Mike heads up the fine art practice in London, often working closely with Clyde's New York office, acting for clients across a diverse range of issues including as to provenance, attribution, valuation and the recovery of stolen or looted art. Mike sits as the ex officio Legal Adviser to the London market’s Joint Cargo Committee and is a supporting member of the Average Adjusters’ Association. He is regularly asked to draft new Policy wordings and clauses, a number of which have been adopted by the JCC and by clients.

Richard has worked in insurance for 39 years, and for virtually all of that time, exclusively in marine insurance. He has worked at the highest leadership level in the Marine insurance sector and in multi-specialty lines. He was CEO of RSA Luxembourg (until 2020) and prior to that, head of RSA’s European Specialty lines business from 2017 onwards. Earlier in his career, he ran the London Market Marine operation of RSA, and then its wider UK & European Marine business. Between 2012 and 2016, he was Global Marine Director at RSA. In 2020, Richard was appointed as Global Head of Marine at Victor International, one of the largest international MGAs. In 2023 he joined West P&I as Head of Product Development. Richard was elected President of the International Union of Marine Insurance from 2018-2022 and chairs IUMI's ESG Working Group.

Alice Gauld, PhD, is a product manager at Moody’s supporting clients to improve their quantification and management of catastrophic risk. Alice joined Moody’s in 2005 and has had various roles within the company, building up extensive product management experience in climate catastrophe models. She currently works as a product manager for specialty insurance models, including inland marine cargo and specie, industrial facilities (including energy), offshore platforms and builders risk. Prior to joining Moody's, Alice worked for WeatherXchange Ltd, originally a U.K. Met Office joint venture weather derivatives business. She holds a PhD in Oceanography from the University of Southampton.

Rob is a Senior Director within the U.K. sales team based at Moody’s offices in London. Before joining Moody’s, Rob was the Head of Operations at Apollo Underwriting and previously held senior roles including Head of Exposure Management and Head of Insurance Operations at Tokio Marine Kiln and Head of Exposure Management at Wellington Underwriting.

Rob helps to provide Moody’s clients with innovative, integrated solutions to manage risk challenges and to help their businesses excel.

Neil Roberts has worked in the London insurance market since 1985. He is Head of Marine and Aviation for the Lloyd’s Market Association and acts as London market liaison with the wider maritime services community, at both commercial and government levels, on technical and maritime security issues. He is secretary to IUMI’s Ocean Hull Committee and chairs the IUMI Policy Forum.