Wakam strengthens its management team

Wakam’s management team is strengthened by the arrival of:

– Anouk Bara, VP Finance & Corporate Legal,
– Lauren Johnson, VP Capital & Reinsurance,
– Matthew Simon, VP Data,
– Mark Christer, UK Branch Manager.

Catherine Charrier-Leflaive, CEO of Wakam, said: “I am delighted to welcome Anouk, Lauren, Matthew and Mark to my management team. Their profiles, which are both experienced and entrepreneurial and in the DNA of Wakam, will enable us to consolidate our position as the European leader in white-label digital and embedded insurance. 

Mark’s arrival will also enable us to strengthen our presence in the UK, which is one of
Wakam’s most important markets today.

I’m also looking forward to continuing the diversification of the management team with more women and international profiles.”

Anouk Bara joins Wakam as VP Finance & Corporate Legal

A graduate of KEDGE Busines School and ESSEC’s Master of General Management, Anouk has over 25 years’ experience in a number of major blue-chip companies, which has given her an in-depth understanding of financial issues and the insurance sector.

Anouk began her career with KPMG, then with the investment company Groupe Chevrillon, before joining the AXA Group in 2006. There she held senior positions, including CFO and member of the Executive Committee of Axa Corporate Solutions, where she contributed to the transformation of the finance department.

More recently, she has put her skills at the service of several start-ups in the insurtech ecosystem, helping them to structure their growth phase, manage their financing and their external growth operations.

Her experience and in-depth knowledge of all the financial challenges facing the insurance sector, both in France and internationally, will be put to good use in Wakam’s growth and financial performance.

Matthew Simon appointed VP Data at Wakam

Matthew’s main mission is to ensure that Wakam makes full use of all the data that lies at the heart of the insurance business. In particular, Wakam provides its distribution and reinsurance partners with its Play&Plug platform, giving them transparent access to a wide range of key data for managing their portfolios. Matthew is also responsible for overseeing policies and procedures to comply with the RGPD and for spreading a culture of innovation by exploring the capabilities offered by AI.

Matthew is Australian and trained as an actuary. After several years in Australia with AMP and AXA, he broadened his data skills by joining Quantium, a data consultancy, where he led projects on a wide range of data-related topics (data analytics, data science, etc.) and across a number of industries including retail, banking and insurance.

To build on his international experience, Matthew moved to Paris in 2016 and worked in AXA’s Data Innovation Lab, where he led the fraud and claims data innovation team. In 2021 Matthew joined Doctolib as head of the Data Science team.

Lauren Johnson, new VP of Capital and Reinsurance

As VP Capital and Reinsurance, Lauren is responsible for defining and monitoring Wakam’s capital management and reinsurance strategies, including the transfer of alternative risks. Lauren leads Wakam’s capital management and reinsurance teams from London.

Prior to joining Wakam, Lauren was a founding member of the Corporate Advisory & Solutions team at reinsurer Acrisure Re, where she was responsible for project execution on capital raisings, Lloyd’s advice and historic transactions.

Prior to joining Acrisure Re, Lauren worked in actuarial consulting, pricing, (re)insurance and ILS.  She also worked at Willis Towers Watson, one of the world’s largest consulting, brokerage and software solutions firms.

Lauren is a graduate of Cambridge University in the UK and a qualified actuary.

Mark Christer joins Wakam as UK Branch Manager

Mark leads the insurer’s UK operations, driving risk management, internal audit, actuarial, operations, underwriting, claims and finance functions. He is based in London.

Mark has over twenty years of experience in the insurance industry, including over ten years in international markets. In 2017, he became CEO of South British Capital, an international insurer operating in surety and credit reinsurance, and of its UK-based MGA Franchiseefirst, specializing in the European surety market.

Prior to this, he held a number of senior management positions, including Managing Director of Personal Lines at RSA in the UK (sales of €1.4 billion), where he achieved a significant turnaround in profits. He also developed the insurer’s direct, brokerage and affinity businesses, creating new product lines such as pet insurance and telematics.

Mark holds an MBA from the University of Warwick (UK) and a Diploma in Business Administration from INSEAD

About Wakam

Wakam is a B2B2C insurance company that creates white-label insurance solutions via its Play&Plug® technology platform for more than 150 distribution partners. With a footprint spanning 32 countries and revenue of more than €650 million in 2022, mostly generated outside France, Wakam is the European leader in digital and embedded insurance. Strongly committed to social responsibility, Wakam is a mission-driven company dedicated to “enabling transparent and impactful insurance.