CILA Claims Professionals’ Conference & Dinner 2026
NEW HORIZONS
Leadership across the claims landscape
Speakers
Date: Thursday, 24 September 2026
EVENT SPEAKERS
CILA
John Bissell
As Executive Director, John supports CILA’s Executive Committee. John also guides the CILA Council, which comprises Chartered Loss Adjusters and Council members elected to represent 18 focus areas and special interest groups.
John’s responsibilities include working with CILA’s leadership team to build upon the institute’s successes in qualifications, professional standards, and technical knowledge. He also drives forward its diversity, equity, and inclusion programmes alongside increasing industry engagement and awareness with key stakeholders, including government and policymakers.
THE INSTITUTE OF CUSTOMER SERVICE
Jo Causon
Jo Causon is CEO of The Institute of Customer Service, the UK’s independent professional customer service body, helping organisations improve performance by enhancing their customer experience. Working across public and private sectors, delivering strategic advice and demonstrating the connection between customer satisfaction and operational efficacy and profitability. A regular media commentator for national and broadcast media and member Board sessions. Working with politicians, highlighting the impact service has on the economy and productivity to help shape policy.
He has pioneered brand and service research in the sector setting up a range of independent benchmarking studies. Gracechurch works with over 25 insurance organisations many of whom use the independent Service Quality Marque accreditations to evidence excellent service performance.
IFED
Chris O’Donovan
Chris O’Donovan (BEng Hons) is the Deputy Head of the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED) at City of London Police (CoLP). He holds the rank of Detective Inspector and is a qualified PiP3 Senior Investigating Officer. He has twenty-four years experience in law enforcement, thirteen of which were within Counter Terrorism Policing, including two years seconded to the Ministry of Defence.
Prior to transferring to CoLP in 2025, he was a Financial Investigations Supervisor within the National Terrorist Financial Investigation Unit (NTFIU), specialising in Anti Money Laundering (AML) and Counter Terrorist Finance (CTF), utilising his own background experience as an Accredited Financial Investigator and knowledge of the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA).
McLARENS
Robin Ehrlich
Robin has worked in the insurance industry for more than 25 years, over 20 of those years have been in loss adjusting. Robin is now a Senior Executive Adjuster in Major Loss for McLarens, based in London. He has particular experience in extensive multi-million total loss fire damage as well as significant flood and escape of water claims in manufacturing, warehousing, hospitality retailing and real estate. Robin is a member of CILA’s Property Specialist Interest Group (SIG), whom he represents in the session today.
McLARENS
Mark Simmons
Mark is a Chartered Surveyor and Chartered Loss Adjuster. He has worked as a loss adjuster for over 35 years. He heads up McLarens Construction & Engineering team in the UK, which is part of the McLarens Global Construction & Engineering speciality line. Mark remains a working adjuster with a healthy case load of CAR/ contract works, construction third party property liability claims and ALOP/DSU losses. He has dealt with CAR/EAR claims on major infrastructure, power and commercial & residential projects in the UK, Europe, Middle East and India. Currently, he and the McLarens Construction & Engineering team are involved with a range of range of CAR/Construction liability claims both in the UK and internationally.
Mark chairs CILA’s Construction, Energy & Engineering Special Interest Group.
ZURICH
Paul Redington
Starting his career as a graduate trainee, Paul has been handling customer’s losses for over 35 years.
Paul’s experience spans four major UK and Global Insurers, and he joined Zurich’s property Major Loss Team (MLT) from AIG in 2010. His current “hands on” role involves the management of large and complex property losses. He has previously led responses to major Cat events, including the 2005 Buncefield explosion.
He has overseen many high-profile losses both here & abroad, and in 2023 one of his claims won the highly coveted “Major Loss of the Year” at the UK British Insurance Awards (BIAs).
Paul has previously been the recipient of a “Customer Hero” prize – awarded by Zurich’s worldwide Chief Executive Mario Greco at a Group leadership event in Venice.
Paul is currently co-Deputy Chairman of the Property Special Interest Group at the Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters (CILA). He was recently presented with honorary life membership of CILA, in recognition of his longstanding commitment to the Institute, and the wider insurance industry.
A passionate believer that Zurich can be a voice for its customers, Paul is an active contributor on social media (LinkedIn) and regular speaker at industry events. He also assists with political lobbying on key issues impacting Zurich UK’s clients and contributes to the company’s external thought leadership on various risk topics.
HAWKINS
Yvonne Ainsworth
Yvonne Ainsworth is a Chartered Civil Engineer, ROGEP Adviser, Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and holds an MBA in Strategic Leadership. In 2024, she was awarded the John Mitchell Award in recognition of her contribution to the geotechnical profession.
With more than 25 years’ experience in the built environment sector, Yvonne has held senior engineering and leadership roles across major infrastructure, energy and construction projects, working for both leading contractors and consultancy organisations. Her experience spans design, construction delivery, asset risk management and forensic investigation.
As a Forensic Investigator at Hawkins, Yvonne specialises in the investigation of failures, defects and incidents within the built environment, combining technical expertise with a structured, evidence-based approach to determine root causes and support effective resolution. Her work helps clients, insurers and other stakeholders understand what happened, why it happened and how similar issues can be prevented in the future.
NATIONAL EMERGENCIES TRUST
Jonathan Clark
Jonathan is a Trustee of the National Emergencies Trust and Chair of a Hampshire-based youth charity. During his professional career, he served as President of both CILA and the CII, where he also held the role of
Interim CEO.
He retired as Global Head of Single Risks Claims at SCOR before taking up a position as an adviser on disaster and claims management to a US state government agency. Prior to joining SCOR, he held senior roles at Cunningham Lindsey and Crawford, and worked as a loss adjuster specialising in complex financial losses. He remains a passionate advocate for collaboration in addressing the challenges of an evolving risk landscape.
GATELEY SMITHERS PURSLOW
Mike Boast
Mike holds more than 17 years’ experience as a chartered building surveyor, specialising in the delivery of complex commercial and residential reinstatement projects for insurance, public and private sector clients.
In his role as commercial director at Gateley Smithers Purslow (GSP), Mike is responsible for developing and implementing commercial strategies to drive growth and raise awareness of GSP’s services for the insurance industry. He is also the chairman of the Pyramus & Thisbe Party Wall Society and an approved RICS APC assessor.
Gateley Smithers Purslow is the multi-disciplinary surveying, engineering and architecture practice arm of professional services group, Gateley.
EDWIN COE
Nicola Maher
Nicola is a Partner in Edwin Coe’s Insurance Disputes team. She is known for her strategic and pragmatic approach to resolving complex insurance disputes. Nicola is passionate about advocating for policyholders and ensuring they receive fair treatment and maximum recoveries. Her work is driven by a commitment to clarity, efficiency, and client-focused outcomes.
Nicola leads on insurance and professional indemnity disputes representing international and domestic corporate entities, SME, and high-net-worth clients across a wide range of sectors.
Beyond her legal practice, Nicola is committed to nurturing the next generation of lawyers. As a Training Principal, she is actively involved in graduate recruitment and training, ensuring that trainees receive a solid and supportive foundation to their legal career.
MARSH
Melissa Cunningham
Melissa Cunningham FCA, FCILA is CILA President for 2026/2027. She sits on the Claimant, Business Interruption and Cyber & Technology Special Interest Groups and is a member of the Education and Training Committee. As UK Business Interruption Practice Leader at Marsh, Melissa manages a team of forensic accountants who support policyholders pre- and post-loss, providing technical guidance, policy advice and claim quantification in the UK and overseas. Dually qualified as a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Loss Adjuster, she helps clients understand how risk exposures can be mitigated through insurance cover and, in the event of a claim, provides strategic guidance on the preparation and presentation of losses.
RIMKUS
Chantel Russell
Chantel is a chartered structural engineer with 11 years of experience across design, fabrication, and delivery of complex multi-disciplinary projects. She has worked on major offshore oil and gas developments as a Lead Engineer, and has international site experience in South Korea, as well as nuclear sector experience in Paris.
Over the past 7 years, Chantel has specialised in delay analysis, supporting insurance and construction claims (DSU/ALOP, Business Interruption, and construction delays) across sectors including energy, data centres, infrastructure, tunnelling, and buildings. She has worked globally, in the UK, France, and South Korea. She is fluent in French and has experience with NEC and bespoke contracts.
McLARENS
Chris Nüstedt
Chris Nüstedt is an Executive Adjuster at McLarens, specialising in Private Clients, Fine Art, Jewellery & Specie. Having entered the insurance industry in 2010 after graduating from the University of Portsmouth, Chris brings a broad range of experience spanning counter-fraud, Commercial Property, and Complex & Major Loss. Before focusing on specialist markets, he also spent time leading operations in property and building compliance management, focussing particularly on fire safety.
Presently, Chris manages complex High Net Worth, Jewellery and Specie claims, ranging from high-value museum thefts and jewellers’ block losses, to complex heritage property fires.