Focus on Insurance

Lize-Mari Barnes joined Swiss Re in South Africa in 2006 and relocated to Luxembourg in 2012. She holds the position as CFO for the Reinsurance Property and Casualty Business Unit. Previously she held various different CFO positions (of which the last CFO Reinsurance EMEA) as well as General Manager Luxembourg. Before joining Swiss Re in 2006, she worked for PwC in South Africa specialising in Financial Services. Lize-Mari has more than 20 years of experience in financial services, majority in Reinsurance, both Property & Casualty and Life & Health.

Lize-Mari is a member of the Swiss Re Global Property and Casualty Executive committee, member of the Boards of directors of Swiss Re Europe S.A. and Swiss Re International SE, Chairperson of the Swiss Re Capital Markets Europe S.A Board, and also board member of Swiss Re Lux Funds.

Lize-Mari is a qualified South African Chartered Accountant.

Alexandre Draznieks is CEO of Cardif Lux Vie since September 2022.

He began his career in 1994 at INSEE as a research officer. In 2002, he joined the treasury department of the French Ministry of the Economy and Finance as deputy head of “G7 and preparation of summits”, then as Head of Emerging Markets. In 2005, he was appointed to the EBRD in London, where he was in charge of the President’s office, and then held the position of Director “Official Co-financing “.

He joined the BNP Paribas Group in 2009 at IRB (International Retail Banking), where he was in charge of strategy. In 2012, he becomes Head of the Northern Europe & Emerging Markets area of BNP Paribas Cardif. In 2020, he joined BNP Paribas Cardif France where he was appointed director of the AEP business unit.

Alexandre Draznieks is a graduate of the École Polytechnique de Paris and the École Nationale de la Statistique et de l’Analyse Économique (ENSAE).

Julie Dubuisson is the Dirigeant Agréé and General Manager of Convex Europe and serves on its Board of directors.

She joined Convex in 2021 to establish its European entity in Luxembourg, bringing over 20 years of experience in corporate and specialty Re/insurance. Throughout her career, she has held senior roles at Axa Corporate Solutions (now AXA XL), AXA Africa Specialty Risks (Lloyd’s Syndicate 6130), Marsh and Swiss Re, spanning North America, Europe, and Africa.

Since 2023, Julie has served as a Board Member at ACA (Luxembourg Insurance Association) and Chair of its International Non-Life Commission.

Julie holds a MSc in Insurance from Ecole Nationale d’Assurances (Paris) and a MSc in Finance from Fordham University – Gabelli School of Business (New York City). Fluent in English and French, she is a dual citizen of Luxembourg and France.

Gilles Dusemon is a Partner in the Investment Management practice. He specialises in the formation of alternative investment funds (AIF) with a particular focus on private equity, infrastructure and private credit funds including secondaries, funds of funds and special situation funds. He is qualified in investment management related regulatory, corporate and tax law matters, in particular advising AIFMs on strategic and operational matters. He is also assisting clients on high profile litigation cases involving alternative investment funds and AIFMs.

Marc Hengen has been the Managing Director of ACA since March 2013. After 18 years of experience in the Luxembourgish insurance sector, he joined the Executive Committee of ACA in 2010. He is also a member of both the Executive Committee of UEL (Union des Entreprises Luxembourgeoises) and the Executive Committee of IE (Insurance Europe), as well as Secretary General of AGERE (Association des gestionnaires d’entreprises de réassurances).

Marc Hengen has a Master’s Degree in Law from the Robert Schuman University of Strasbourg.

Marc Lauer began his career at the Insurance Commission in 1989, where he became a member of the management committee in 1995. In 2004, he joined the Foyer Group as COO. In 2013, he became a director of Foyer S.A., and since the General Assembly in 2014, he has been the Managing Director.

Marc is also Chairman of the Board of Foyer Global Health and serves as a director of Foyer Assurances, Foyer Vie, WEALINS, and CapitalatWork Foyer Group.

He is Chairman of the Board of INDR and PROFIL. He is Vice-President of the ACA and the Chamber of Commerce. He is also a founding member of ILAC, a member of the HCPF, a director of CAA, ABBL, LFF, as well as the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

Marc holds a degree in actuarial science and a degree in economics from the Université libre de Bruxelles.

Maria Mateo Iborra, leveraging her expertise in the space and satellite industry since 2005 and her early involvement in blockchain technology in 2015, has now anchored herself in the climate insurance industry. Equipped with a background in Telecommunication Engineering and an Executive MBA, Maria’s journey is a unique convergence of technology and impactful business solution creation. Her agricultural roots and personal experiences with climate risks drove her to co-found IBISA in 2019, an insurtech startup delivering customized parametric insurance for climate-related challenges. Maria’s curiosity and creativity propel her towards harnessing technology for lasting, positive societal change.

Mattia Musetti is an Adviser for Luxembourg for Finance (LFF).

Mattia’s role is to advise LFF and its stakeholders on the strategic orientation of the financial centre, specializing on a number of topics including talent, insurance and private equity. He represents the Luxembourg financial industry abroad and helps others understand Luxembourg’s financial services and fund structuring toolbox and the industry in general.

He advises international financial services companies, FinTechs and MNEs to develop and scale up globally their cross-border financial operations through Luxembourg as the gateway to Europe. His geographic focus of attracting financial companies to Luxembourg is global, with specialties in North America, India, Italy, Russia & CIS and Eastern Europe.

Christine Theodorovics has been in the finance industry for 25 years, both in insurance and banking in many different roles. Since June 2023 she is the CEO of Baloise Luxembourg, number 3 insurance on the local market and member of the Global Board. She is also an independent board member at Athora Germany and the Association of Insurance Industries in Luxembourg.

Before she was at AXA in the European executive board as Head of Strategy and in non-executive board memberships in five countries. From 2011-2019 she spent her professional career at Zurich Insurance in various functions, executive board and non-executive board member in Germany, Life CEO in Switzerland and Austria. She also held global distribution responsibilities in Zurich Group. Prior to that Christine built up an insurance branch in Dubai and a subsidiary in Singapore for Swiss Life, where she was also Head of Operational Excellence in Zurich and Paris. She also worked in banking and market research prior to these engagements.

Christine is also in the Board of Trustees in SOS Children’s village, an independent NGO founded in 1949, now the world’s largest non-governmental organization that is active in 137 countries with the vision is “to give children a safe home”.

Christine Theodorovics speaks five languages fluently, holds a Doctorate from the University of Gloucestershire in Business & Leadership, a Master in European Economic Studies from the College of Europe in Bruges, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Business Administration & Economics in Vienna, and a Diploma of Advanced Studies of the Swiss Finance Institute in Zurich. She also holds the certificate of the International Directors’ Program at INSEAD.

Thea Utoft Høj Jensen is director general of Insurance Europe, the European insurance and reinsurance federation.

Previously, she served as senior managing director and head of financial services in Brussels at FTI Consulting, where she provided strategic advice on financial services policy. Thea held the position of financial services counsellor for the Danish Permanent Representation to the European Union, where she led Council negotiations at attaché-level for Denmark at the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) and represented Denmark’s interests on key financial services issues. Her experience also includes serving as a special advisor on EU affairs at the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority and as a policy officer at the European Commission.

Thea holds a Master of Arts in Law from the University of Copenhagen. She is also a passionate advocate for women’s rights, diversity and equality in the workplace, championing equal opportunities within the financial sector.