Matthew joined the CII in April 2024. Prior to that he was Chief Executive and executive Board Member at The Legal Services Board (LSB).

He started his career in the Civil Service, working in a wide range of areas over a twenty-year span. His brief has included food safety, animal health, alcohol, civil contingencies, broadcasting, gambling, creative industries and healthcare regulation.

Before joining the LSB, Matthew was Executive Director, Strategy at the General Dental Council, and prior to that he was Director, Regulatory Risk & Analysis at the Gambling Commission.

Duncan Strachan specialises in complex and international (re)insurance matters across multiple lines of business.  His focus is on international disputes and policy coverage analysis, with particular expertise in Latin America and the Caribbean, due to his familiarity with the legal and political landscape across the region.  Duncan is also fluent in Spanish.

Illustrative recent and current cases include:

• Representing London reinsurers in relation to the impact of regressive erosion in Ecuador on the energy sector.
• Advising on the environmental impact of large oil spillages across Latin America, most notably in Peru, Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador.
• Representing Reinsurers on complex D&O claims, typically US securities class actions against non-US incorporated entities.
• Advising insurers on complex casualty claims often involving multiple jurisdictions and international conflict of laws issues.
• Drafting environmental impairment liability, D&O and cyber wordings for Latin America on behalf of insurers in London and the US.

Duncan regularly presents to insurers and reinsurers across the world.  As co-lead of both Class Actions and Global Risk, Duncan contributes to our Informed Insurance thought leadership and predictions.  He also leads the Social Inflation working group across DACB, Legalign and international offices. 

Duncan’s reputation for international work is recognised by Chambers Global and Latin America-wide.  Duncan is the author of the Latin America chapter to the Insurance & Reinsurance Law Review and ICLG - Insurance & Reinsurance texts.  He has strong links to the US, having previously worked at the London office of a US firm and as a member of the International Association of Defence Counsel.  Duncan also spent six months working in the Miami reinsurance market in 2017. 

Sarah specialises in Professional Indemnity, Directors & Officers and Financial Institutions coverage disputes and defence work.

She has over 15 years’ experience advising clients across a range of sectors, with particular emphasis on insurance brokers and legal professionals.

As lead of ESG in Insurance and co-lead of Class Actions, Sarah contributes to articles for both the Insurance and National press, and to our Informed Insurance thought leadership and predictions.  Sarah is DACB’s representative for ClimateWise, part of the Centre for Sustainable Finance.

Sarah’s cases generally involve complex, high value claims, often with an international element. She is experienced in mediation and arbitration. Sarah has a strong understanding of the London Market having undertaken secondments in the claims teams at two Insurers and in the legal team at a global insurance brokerage.

Relevant experience includes:

• Defending an insurance broker in a multi-million pound negligence claim brought following insurers’ avoidance of a policy.
• Representing a boutique West End law firm in a US$100 million claim arising from the solicitors’ inadvertent involvement in an offshore Ponzi scheme.
• Defending an insurance broker against a claim alleging breach of duty in the placement of reinsurance in Russia of a Nigerian aviation policy.
• Advising D&O insurers on cover for claims brought in the US and in Japan which alleged fraud and concealment of earnings of $190 million.

Sarah is recommended in Who’s Who Legal 2020: Professional Negligence.

Catherine – a journalism graduate turned marcoms professional – has spent the last five years immersed in in the world of GI pricing and consumer behaviour data, turning golden nuggets of insight into juicy stories that help the industry make more confident, data-driven decisions. Passionate about true customer-centricity, Catherine empowers firms to see and understand the world through the eyes of their customers.

Dr. Eliza Filby is a speaker, academic and consultant who specialises in ‘Generational Intelligence’, helping companies and services navigate the complex generational developments within politics, society and the workplace. Eliza educates companies on long-term generational trends, offering deep insights as well as practical solutions on how business can adapt, not only for Millennials and Gen Z's needs, but crucially across the generations. Her aim is to smash some of the misconceptions and generalisations that come with speaking about the generations. Types of questions she addresses includes: Why are the over-50s dominating the Gig-economy? Why do Millennials save the most but invest the least? Why are Gen Z techinate but tech-skeptics? Eliza Filby has lectured at some of the world’s leading universities including LSE, Cambridge and Harvard and leading businesses from VICE media to Barclay’s Bank. She has presented to some of the premier business forums from the FT’s 125 Club to the Women’s Network Forum as well as the EU Forum on Human Rights and the House of Lords Select Committee. Past clients include: Barclays, Pictet Group, Business Growth Fund, Brewin Dolphin, UK’s Ministry of Defence, hotel group IHG, publishing industry bible ‘The Bookseller’, hairdressing company Toni & Guy, and Procter and Gamble.

Chris joined the CII Group as Communications Director in October 2022. Chris spent 10 years as an economist at the Bank of England before joining Ofqual, the qualifications regulator for England, as Director of Communications in 2015. There he oversaw marketing around the introduction of reformed GCSEs and the associated numerical grading system. He moved from regulator to regulated when he joined Cambridge Assessment in 2022, leading the department’s communications in response to the cancellation of exams here in the UK and around the world during the global pandemic.