Matthew Connell is Director of Policy and Public Relations at the Chartered Insurance Institute, where his focus is to build public trust in insurance through dialogue with consumers, policymakers, influencers and industry professionals. He has worked at the CII since March 2017. 
Previously, he was Head of Regulatory Developments for Zurich Insurance Group’s UK Life Business. He has worked in banking and insurance for more than 20 years, and was the Chairman of the Investment and Life Assurance Group (ILAG) between 2015 and 2017. He holds an MSc in Public Relations from the University of Sterling and a PhD in Policy Studies from the University of Warwick.

With over 12 years' fraud experience, Damian is a well-known and respected practitioner in the field. His work ranges from single policyholder frauds to complex, highly organised cross-insurer fraud rings.  He acts for a range of professional clients, from household name insurers, retailers and large-scale fleets to local authorities and self-insured publicly listed and private companies.  Damian contributes to industry debate and awareness through regular public speaking, workshops, published articles and involvement with industry groups.  He is responsible for the day to day management of various insurer client accounts, managing a dedicated team based in the London office.  Damian is an experienced litigator and has advised various insurers with drafting of precedent repudiation documents for claims pre-issue and assisted in setting up/implementing initial claims validation strategies including KFI checklists.

Roger’s insurance career started in September 1970 as a fire and accident insurance broker at Brokers at Lloyd’s, Leslie & Godwin (long ago subsumed into what is now Aon) where he cut his teeth on a wide variety of international property insurances in USA, Northern Europe and Scandinavia.

In the mid-1970s he migrated to, the then relatively new class of liability insurance, professional indemnity, the demand for which was fuelled by the rapid development of case law in the 1980s which created a new source of remedy against the professions and service providers of sundry types and sizes.

In 1979 at Lloyd’s broker C T Bowring (later integrated with Marsh) he became involved in the mandatory insurances of Lawyers, Accountants and Chartered Surveyors, and advisers to the professional bodies on the developing demands and needs of protection for both the practitioners and their clients. This was followed by the development of Directors and Officers insurances and other high-risk liability programs both at home and overseas, which led Roger to be exposed to a rich vein of developing law and insurance needs for professionals and construction industries in particular. A period of time in Australasia in dealing with Mutuals and Defense Unions led to a new angle to tackling the development of insurance contracts to meet financial service industry needs and later, the evolving computer and Bio Science industries that were in need of insurance more flexible than the traditional lines. In the mid-1990s Roger became involved with the PI insurance of insurance brokers at Lloyd’s of London and soon thereafter with the British Insurance Brokers Association who engaged him to advise its members on broker duties, obligations and liabilities; and the management of the risks in an increasingly high-speed, high-tech sales environment.

In January 2000 after a thirty-year career as national and international broker Roger set up a business advising professional bodies and trade associations and this led to a claims advocacy service for policyholders and increasing demand for his services as an expert to the courts; mainly in matters of insurance industry practice and broker/ agent negligence claims.

Since 2000 Roger has served in circa140 cases as expert to the courts. He is a member of the Academy of Experts.

Roger is well known and respected in the industry for his independent advice and services and his special ability to get to the working heart of an insurance conundrum with the minimum of fuss.