David Hall began his insurance career in 1963 with Sun Alliance, coming from an engineering background with a double 1st in marine engineering from Liverpool University

He has held a number of senior positions within the insurance industry, formerly with Royal Insurance and currently with Allianz Global Risks where he is director, client management and broker relations. He has over 25 years' experience in the insurance market as well as experience as an operational director with Ashdown Environmental.

DOUG PENNYCUICK is director, underwriting with Allianz Global Risks. Before joining the Allianz Group, he worked for 29 years with Commercial Union, his last position being director, London region. Over the past 10 years he has been dealing with some of the largest corporate clients in the industry.

LUCA LAGHI is the corporate risk engineering and loss prevention manager for the Pirelli Group, having joined the company in 1999. He has been deeply involved in all the projects which made Pirelli's risk management 'state of the art'. Before joining Pirelli he worked for five years with CIGNA Insurance Company of Europe, being the property loss prevention engineer for the Italian market. Besides his business activity, he has been active in the fire protection professional association. He is a member of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers and also of the Italian chapter of AIIA. He is a regular speaker at the Istituto Internazionale di Ricerca on loss prevention and risk engineering.

DERMOT O'DONOHOE is chief executive officer of XL London Markets. He also has regional responsibility for UK and Ireland within XL Insurance Global Risk, XL's global property/casualty business.

PAUL HOPKIN is based in London as the director of risk management for The Rank Group plc, having previously been head of risk management at the BBC. A former HM Inspector of Factories with the Health and Safety Executive, he is a chairman of the International Institute of Risk and Safety Management. He is also a Fellow of both the Institute of Risk Management and the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health. His previous positions include: loss control manager at BET plc, technical director at Sedgwick Risk Control Services and managing director of Fenchurch Risk Management. For four years he ran his own consultancy specialising in risk assessment and safety management, and he has just published a book entitled Holistic Risk Management in Practice in which he emphasises the contribution that embedded risk management can make to corporate success.

JAMES WEATHERSTONE is the head and chief underwriting officer of XL's professional lines business in the UK. He joined XL Europe Ltd in March 2003 to head up its newly established London branch, focusing on professional lines. Previously he was a professional lines underwriter and syndicate deputy for XL London Market Ltd (XL's wholly owned Lloyd's syndicate) which he joined in 1993. He began his career with Willis in 1988 and is an associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute.

DR PAUL COLLIER is senior lecturer in accounting and director of commercial services at Aston Business School in Birmingham, where he has been since 1999. Prior to joining Aston, he was head of training and development for West Mercia Constabulary, and has also held a number of senior financial and general management positions in manufacturing and service industries in Australia and the UK as well as having worked as a consultant. His lecture is based on research funded by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and looks at the results of case studies and a comparative survey of the views of FTSE executives, SMEs and CIMA members employed in a variety of sectors.

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