Summary
The insurance investment market is entering a new frontier — vast, fast moving, and shaped by forces unlike any era before it. At the same time, competition for a finite pool of insurance capital is intensifying, as asset managers operate in an environment where opportunities are limited, crowded, and increasingly difficult to uncover. Firms are sharpening their tools, pioneering new approaches, and working to stay ahead in a landscape defined by AI innovation, evolving regulation, shifting interest rates, inflationary pressure, and geopolitical uncertainty.
At the Insurance Investment Symposium 2026, we bring together the trailblazers navigating this frontier — leaders exploring new terrain and seeking out real value in a complex, rapidly shifting market. Join insurance industry experts and investment professionals as we read the landscape, decode emerging risks, and map where opportunity is taking shape.
Through expert led panels and discussions, we’ll equip participants with the clarity needed to compete effectively in an environment where insight is the ultimate differentiator. Dedicated networking opportunities throughout the event will help attendees build meaningful connections and strengthen industry relationships. In A New Frontier, advantage belongs to those who read the landscape clearly and act decisively.
Who Should Attend
Insurance industry executives
(CEOs, CFOs, COOs, CIOs)
Investment and portfolio managers
overseeing insurance portfolios
Regulatory and risk management professionals
focused on insurance investments
Investment banking and private equity professionals
specializing in the insurance sector
Consultants and legal advisors
providing M&A and investment guidance to insurers
Business development and competitive intelligence professionals
driving strategic growth and market analysis in insurance
Agenda
*Agenda is subject to change.
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Thursday, October 8, 2026
Speakers
S&P Global Ratings
Devi Aurora
Managing Director, Financial Institutions
Devi Aurora is a Senior Director and Analytical Manager for U.S. and Canadian banks at S&P Global Ratings, where she is responsible for ensuring the rigor and analytical consistency across bank ratings. Prior to her most recent position, she served as a senior member of the global Financial Institutions team, where she specialized in analytical research and thought-leading commentaries on banking industry trends and outlook. She conducted credit analysis of banks, finance companies and housing-related entities, and represented the FI team at S&P’s Credit Conditions Committee, a key global internal forum for discussing macro views and identifying vulnerabilities and risks.
Devi began her career as an international macroeconomist and country risk expert at DRI/Global Insight. She subsequently moved on to specialize in fixed income research and corporate credit trends analysis for S&P Global, specializing in default research and leveraged finance.
She has 20+ years of experience with credit analysis, fixed-income analytics, economic modeling and forecasting. From 2008-2010, Devi was based in our Singapore office. Devi holds a M.A. degree in international economics from Yale University and a B.A. degree in Economics and French from Vassar College, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa.
Morgan Stanley
Ryan Cullen
Head of U.S. Operations
Ryan Cullen leads Insurance Sales for Morgan Stanley, responsible for both client coverage and product innovation tailored for the US annuities market. Prior to joining MS, Ryan spent 4 years as the Head of EQD Insurance Solutions Sales at BNP Paribas and 3 years as the Head of Structured Insurance at UBS. He previously served as the Head of Index Trading for Bank of America’s Quantitative Investment Strategies (QIS) business. Ryan earned a Master of Financial Engineering degree from U.C. Berkeley in 2011 and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering with University Honors from Carnegie Mellon University in 2007.
With Intelligence
Samuel Dale
Managing Editor, Private Markets
Managing Editor, Private Markets, With Intelligence
Debevoise & Plimpton
Eric Dinallo
Partner
Eric Dinallo is a Partner at Debevoise & Plimpton. He is Chair of the firm’s insurance regulatory practice and a member of its Financial Institutions and White Collar & Regulatory Defense Groups in New York.
Mr. Dinallo is a broad-gauged financial services lawyer who focuses on developing and executing regulatory strategies for clients involved in transactions in the insurance sector. He also counsels financial institutions, including banks and insurers, facing investigations or enforcement actions from insurance regulators, state attorneys general and prosecutors.
Mr. Dinallo has a broad range of public and private sector experience. Most recently, he served as the Executive Vice President and General Counsel at Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, where he led the company’s legal, regulatory, compliance and government relations functions as well as its corporate governance activities. Prior to his time at Guardian, Mr. Dinallo was a partner at Debevoise for seven years (2010–2017). Earlier in his career, he served as the New York State Superintendent of Insurance (2007–2009), where he led the department to become a national model on insurance regulation and a respected voice on the industry’s role in the financial system.
Prior to his term as Superintendent, Mr. Dinallo was the General Counsel of Willis Group Holdings (2006–2007), supervising the legal, compliance and internal audit departments. He was the Managing Director, Global Head of Regulatory Affairs of Morgan Stanley (2003–2006), where he designed and led top-to-bottom reviews of conflicts and business practices and achieved major shifts in the firm-wide regulatory strategy. Mr. Dinallo served as Chief of the Investor Protection Bureau in the Office of Attorney General Eliot Spitzer (1999–2003). He also served as an Assistant District Attorney in the New York County District Attorney’s office (1995–1999), where he had primary responsibility for securities fraud and white collar and insider trading investigations and trials.
Mr. Dinallo received his B.A. in Philosophy in 1985 from Vassar College and his M.A. in 1987 from Duke University School of Public Policy. Mr. Dinallo earned his J.D. from New York University in 1990, where he was Review and Essay Editor of the New York University Law Review. He clerked with the Hon. David M. Ebel of the U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit in Denver (1990–1991). Mr. Dinallo is Chair of the American Institute for Stuttering.
KKR
Craig Fitt
Managing Director, Capital Markets
Craig Fitt (New York) joined KKR in 2022 and is a member of the KKR Capital Markets team, where he specializes in providing ratings advisory to the firm and its clients globally. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Fitt was U.S. head of ratings advisory at UBS for twenty years. Previously, he was a member of Credit Suisse's ratings advisory group, and spent eleven years at Moody's Investors Service as a senior analyst, responsible for rating corporate issuers across a variety of industry sectors. Mr. Fitt is a graduate of Yale University.
Morgan Stanley Investment Management
Stephen Fitzsimmons
Executive Director, Insurance Solutions
Stephen Fitzsimmons is a member of Insurance Solutions within Morgan Stanley Investment Management. He has experience managing multi-sector investment portfolios in support of Life, P&C and Health insurance liabilities. He was a Director and portfolio manager at Conning for the better part of a decade followed by time as a Portfolio Manager at Resolution Life where he helped optimize insurance investment portfolios and supported M&A and reinsurance transactions.
Stephen has over ten years of insurance asset management experience. Stephen earned a B.A. in Economics from the University of Connecticut.
S&P Global Market Intelligence
Jay Gaffney
Customer Success Leader, Financial Corporates
Jay Gaffney is the Head of Customer Success for US Financial Corporations at S&P Global Market Intelligence. In this role, Jay helps clients maximize the value of their subscriptions by ensuring they are effectively using the full suite of S&P Global solutions. Jay is passionate about building strong client relationships, supporting product adoption, and helping customers achieve their business objectives, while specializing in bank regulatory, insurance statutory, and valuation workflows. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Politics from the University of Virginia.
Bermuda Monetary Authority
Gerald Gakundi
Deputy Managing Director, Head of Insurance and Investment Funds
As Deputy Managing Director and Head of Insurance and Investment Funds at the Bermuda Monetary Authority (Authority or BMA), Gerald Gakundi is a member of the BMA’s Senior Leadership Team, contributing to the development and implementation of the Authority’s strategies and policies, with a specific focus on leading the teams supervising all (re)insurance and investment funds licensed entities.
Mr. Gakundi has over 25 years of experience working in the insurance industry, including almost 20 of those in Bermuda. Mr. Gakundi joined the Authority in 2010 as Assistant Director, Supervision (Insurance). He has extensive knowledge of Bermuda’s insurance regulatory environment, which has allowed him to be an active contributor in the BMA’s international engagement efforts, including leading dialogue with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) and numerous other insurance regulatory authorities. Over the years, he has also assisted in developing and implementing the Authority’s long and medium- term insurance supervision strategy and policy.
Prior to joining the Authority, Mr. Gakundi worked as a Senior Audit Manager at Ernst & Young Ltd. Bermuda.
S&P Dow Jones Indices
Anu R. Ganti, CFA
Head of U.S. Index Investment Strategy
Anu R. Ganti is Senior Director and Head of U.S. Index Investment Strategy at S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI). The index investment strategy team provides research and commentary on the entire S&P DJI product set, including U.S. and global equities, thematics, commodities, fixed income and sustainability indices. She is also a frequent contributor to both print and broadcast media outlets.
Prior to joining S&P DJI, Anu worked in the asset management space, completing a post-MBA rotational program at Russell Investments within their fixed income research and trading divisions and working as a portfolio manager focusing on emerging market equities at Parametric Portfolio Associates (part of Morgan Stanley Investment Management).
Anu is a CFA charterholder and holds an MBA in finance and economics from Columbia Business School, and a bachelor’s degree in finance and marketing from NYU’s Stern School of Business.
S&P Global Ratings
Paul Gruenwald
Global Chief Economist
Paul Gruenwald is the Global Chief Economist at S&P Global Ratings based in New York. He leads the economic research agenda and serves as the primary spokesperson on macro-economic matters for the company.
Before joining S&P Global Ratings in 2013, Paul spent almost five years at the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) as the Asia Pacific Chief Economist, where he was responsible for helping set and direct ANZ’s Asian and global economic research agenda, as well as building the bank’s economic research efforts and profile in the region. Previously, Paul worked at the International MonetaryFund(IMF) for nearly 16 years, where he led the team producing the IMF’s Asian regional outlook reports. He was also the IMF Resident Representative to Hong Kong and Korea, the Deputy Chief of the China Division, and did considerable work on both public (Paris Club) and private (London Club) debt restructuring issues.
Paul has a Ph.D. in Economics from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in Economics/Mathematics from the University of Texas.
Voya Investment Management
Jeffrey Hobbs, CFA
Chief Investment Officer, Fixed Income
Jeffrey Hobbs is the chief investment officer of fixed income at Voya Investment Management.
In this role, Jeff is directly responsible for oversight of public and private fixed income teams and leads Voya’s fixed income investment teams. Previously at Voya, he served as Voya’s head of insurance portfolio management, where he was responsible for developing and implementing full-service customized investment solutions across all asset classes for Voya’s proprietary general account as well as Voya’s external insurance clients. He is also a member of Voya IM’s Fixed Income Investment Committee governing the broader platform and acts as chair of the Voya IM Credit Committee. Prior to that at Voya, Jeff served as an insurance portfolio manager focused on the management of proprietary U.S. insurance assets and multi-sector insurance accounts for third party insurance clients. Prior to joining Voya, he was a portfolio manager at 40|86 Advisors, the investment management subsidiary of CNO Financial Group. Jeffrey earned an MBA from the University of Chicago with concentrations in analytic finance, corporate finance and economics, and a BBA in finance with honors from the University of Oklahoma. He serves on the Emerging Leaders for Children’s board at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, supporting pediatric healthcare initiatives in our community. Jeff is a member of the Insurance Board of AIF Global, and is a CFA® Charterholder.
S&P Global Ratings
Saurabh Khasnis
Director and Lead Analyst, North America Financial Services Ratings
Saurabh Khasnis is a Director at S&P Global Ratings, based in Englewood, Colorado. He leads a team of credit analyst that covers North American Property and Casualty insurance companies. Saurabh has authored various industry research articles and actively participates in investor forums and conferences representing S&P Insurance Ratings.
Saurabh joined S&P in 2009, beginning his career in the firm’s Mumbai office, and since focused on P/C re/insurance and Mortgage Insurance sector. Saurabh holds a Master of Applied Finance from Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
S&P Global
David Knutson
Head of Industry Outreach, Chief Client Office
David joined from Schroders where he most recently worked as the Head of US Fixed Income Product Management after joining the firm as Head of Credit Research. Before moving to New York, he helped establish the US asset management business and led the research initiatives for global financials and emerging markets for Legal and General in Chicago. Prior to that David was responsible for financials research at Mason Street Advisors, the investment adviser to Northwestern Mutual. Previously he worked at UBS in risk management, debt capital markets and liability management (restructuring) and earlier started his career at Bank of America as a credit analyst and later as the research manager for Latin America. He is a Board member of the CFA Society of New York and a Board member of the Fixed Income Analyst Society (FIASI). Before leaving the buyside, David was a founder and Chair of the Credit Roundtable, a member of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board’s Standards Advisory Group and participated on the advisory councils of several rating agencies. He earned the Chartered Financial Analyst, Financial Risk Manager and Chartered Market Technician designations and was a Rotary Scholar at the Universidad Argentina de la Empresa in Buenos Aires and also attended the University of Glasgow while earning a Masters in Finance, Economics and Foreign Languages and a Bachelors in International Studies and Political Science with Minors in History and Foreign Languages from Iowa State University of Science and Technology.
S&P Global Market Intelligence
Mila Kuznetsov
Managing Director, Head of Derivatives Data & Valuations Business Development
Mila Kuznetsov is an Executive Director leading the Americas Derivatives Business Development team at S&P Global within Market Intelligence. In her role, she is responsible for Americas derivatives commercial and product strategy across the sell side, buy side, auditors/regulators, and asset servicers.
Prior to joining S&P Global, Mila held multiple leadership roles at key financial services organizations such as Sculptor Capital Management where she was the Global Head of Valuations, Citi as a V.P focused on Equity Derivative Valuations, and at Ernst & Young within financial services for clients in Risk Advisory and Derivative Valuations. In her previous roles, she has implemented new pricing and valuation policies and procedures across multi-asset portfolios (equities, fixed income, derivatives, private assets), led valuation automation projects, and reviewed key valuation questions with internal stakeholders (Valuation Committees) and external stakeholders (auditors, regulators, investors).
Mila graduated from Binghamton University’s School of Management with a Bachelor of Science in Management, Concentration in Finance, and a Minor in Russian and East European Studies.
S&P Global Ratings
Carmi Margalit
Managing Director and Life Insurance Sector Lead
Carmi Margalit is Managing Director and the Life Insurance Sector Lead for the North American Financial Services Ratings group. Carmi leads the group’s research, commentary and analytical outreach efforts on life insurance. He serves as the subject matter expert on life and annuities in North America and is one of the primary voices of S&P Global’sinteractions with the market in the sector. He directly covers a portfolio of high profile life insurers and follows the entire sector very closely.
Prior to his current role, Carmi was the analytical manager of the life and health insurance team; he was an analyst on the life team and in the structured finance group before that.
Carmi is a Chartered Financial Analyst, holds an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School and a B.A. in industrial engineering from the Tel Aviv University.
S&P Dow Jones Indices
Kelsey Stokes
Head of Financial Institutions Sales, Americas
Kelsey Stokes is Head of Financial Institutions Sales, Americas at S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI). The insurance sales team works with insurance carriers, product design groups, banks, IMOs and other parts of the insurance ecosystem to understand the market’s needs and deliver the iconic and innovative S&P DJI indexing franchise.
Previously, Kelsey held roles in both sales and marketing at S&P DJI, where she worked closely with insurance carriers to identify new multi-asset indices best suited to their needs and support their education and distribution efforts. Before joining S&P DJI, she led equity and alternative index derivatives marketing globally for CME Group.
Kelsey graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism from Northwestern University and holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
S&P Global Market Intelligence
Jai Thakker
Associate Director for Insurance Client Operations
Jai Thakker is the Associate Director for Insurance Client Operations at S&P Global Market Intelligence, based out of Toronto. In this role, he leads a global team of insurance analysts who support the various CIQ Pro insurance products including NAIC statutory, Rate & Product Filings, European Solvency, and more. He holds a Bachelor of Business Management from the University of Mumbai and a Masters' in Finance & Investment from the University of Nottingham.
Kirkland
Lindsay Trapp
Partner and Co-head, Structured Capital & Insurance Solutions
Lindsay Trapp is a partner in Kirkland’s New York office and a co-head of the Structured Capital & Insurance Solutions team. Her practice focuses on complex credit fund formation and insurance solutions for global private fund sponsors, handling fund structuring, compliance and distribution matters. She has extensive experience in rated funds and other structures for capital-efficient insurance investing; structuring funds for tax-efficient global fundraising; captive CLO equity funds with EU risk retention compliant manager originators; levered private funds utilizing captive CLOs; collateralized fund obligations (CFOs); evergreen illiquid asset funds; liquid multicredit funds; and funds of closed-end funds.
Lindsay is frequently quoted by industry press including Ignites Europe and Creditflux, where she has been quoted about matters affecting rated funds, insurance investors, private funds, CLOs and their managers in the U.S. and Ireland. Most recently, Lindsay was recognized by Best Lawyers®: Ones to Watch in 2026. She was recognized as a Rising Star Partner in IFLR1000 in the area of private equity funds in 2024 and 2025.
Somerset Re
Stephanie Urdahl
Head of U.S. Operations
As Head of U.S. Operations, Stephanie is responsible for building out and growing Somerset Re's U.S.-based reinsurance entity. Prior to joining Somerset, Stepanie led financial strategy and investor communication for Group Protection at Lincoln Financial (and at Liberty Mutual, before Lincoln's acquisition of Liberty's Group business), gaining significant experience in responsible growth strategies, capital management, and corporate governance. Prior to joining Liberty, Stephanie was a Lead Pricing & Structuring Actuary for Hannover Re in its Financial Solutions business unit. Stephanie is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries. Stephanie graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Actuarial Science from the University of Central Florida.
Virginia Bureau of Insurance
Scott White
NAIC President & Virginia Commissioner
Scott A. White was appointed Commissioner of the Virginia State Corporation Commission’s Bureau of Insurance in 2018. He was elected NAIC President in December 2025.
White joined the Bureau as a research analyst in 1998. From 1999 until 2011, he worked as an attorney advising the Bureau on all major insurance regulatory and compliance matters. In 2011 he became head of the Commission’s financial services legal division, expanding his practice areas to include securities and banking.
At the NAIC, White has chaired the Financial Condition (E) Committee, the Long-Term Care Insurance (EX) Task Force, and the Southeast Zone. He is a member of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) Executive Committee, Macroprudential Committee, and Insurance Capital Standard Task Force.
White earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Virginia and a law degree from the University of Missouri. He and his wife, Jodi, have two grown daughters.
S&P Global Market Intelligence
Chris Winter
Associate Director, Business Development
Chris Winter is the North America Insurance solutions lead for S&P Global Market Intelligence. In this role, Chris helps insurance clients utilize the full suite of solutions offered by S&P, such as financial data, credit risk solutions, data feeds, and more, while specializing in the NAIC Statutory and Rate Filings products. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in History and English from the University of Virginia and an MBA from the College of William & Mary.
Travelers
Daniel T. H. Yin
Executive Vice President and Co-Chief Investment Officer
Daniel Yin is Executive Vice President and Co-Chief Investment Officer for Travelers, a position he has held since August 2019. He is a member of the company’s Management Committee. He served previously as Executive Vice President and Deputy Chief Investment Officer and oversaw Travelers’ alternative investment activities, including private equity, hedge funds and direct investments.
Dan joined Travelers in 2002 from ACE Asset Management, the investment arm of what is now Chubb Ltd., where he was responsible for implementing investment strategies across a global portfolio.
He holds a bachelor’s degree from The University of Pennsylvania, an MBA from New York University and a J.D. from Suffolk University in Boston. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a member of the New York Security Analysts Society. Dan is a member of Hartford Healthcare Corporation’s Investment Subcommittee.
S&P Global Market Intelligence
Tim Zawacki
Principal Research Analyst
Tim Zawacki is a principal research analyst covering the U.S. insurance industry for S&P Global Market Intelligence.
He has covered the insurance industry in various capacities since joining SNL Financial in 1999. Based in Charlottesville, VA, Tim authors the annual US P&C Market Report, US Life and Annuity Market Report and various other thought leadership providing historical context and forward-looking outlooks regarding key industry trends and developments at the line of business level.
Tim has also published numerous articles and research on M&A activity in the property and casualty and life and health insurance sectors, focused on trends in the underwriting and distribution sides of the business.
Tim is a 1999 graduate of the University of Virginia.
Pricing
Early Bird Rate: Expires June 26, 2026
$199
Insurers and Regulators
$399
Asset Managers and Others
Advance Rate: Expires September 4, 2026
$299
Insurers and Regulators
$499
Asset Managers and Others
Standard Rate
$399
Insurers and Regulators
$599
Asset Managers and Others
Current clients include any firm that currently subscribes to products/services offered by S&P Global Market Intelligence, excluding other conferences and training classes.
Venue
Convene 360 Madison
360 Madison Avenue
New York, NY