Insurance Industry Conference (WEBCAST ATTENDANCE)

Andrew Pidgeon

Andrew is an Audit & Assurance partner in Deloitte's national office. He assists clients with technical accounting matters, including those matters related to the accounting for insurance contracts and other financial instruments, derivatives and hedging, debt and equity capital transactions, securitizations and other transfers, fair value measurements, and consolidation of SPEs and VIEs. Andrew's clients include insurers, commercial and investment banks, and fintech lenders, among others. Additionally, Andrew serves as the deputy insurance industry professional practice director and the liaison between Deloitte's national office and the firm's insurance industry practice. 

Prior to his current role, Andrew was a Professional Accounting Fellow in the SEC's Office of the Chief Accountant. In that role, he gained experience in establishing and enforcing U.S. securities law as it relates to the accounting for insurance activities, financial instruments, securitizations, derivatives, fair value measurements, leases, and other topics. Specifically, Andrew led the office's activities related to insurance, fair value measurements, and leases. He also liaised regularly with registrants, professional and industry groups, and staff in the Divisions of Corporation Finance, Enforcement, and Investment Management. Prior to the SEC, Andrew spent time in Deloitte's audit and advisory practices in Los Angeles, Orange County and San Francisco. 

Boz Bostrom, Accounting Professor

Boz Bostrom, CPA, is a professor of accounting and finance at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University. Boz teaches a variety of accounting and finance courses and speaks nationally on the topics of ethics and leadership. Boz is the author of three books and serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors for the Minnesota Society of CPAs. Prior to becoming a professor, Boz was a senior manager in Deloitte’s international tax practice.

Brandy Shy, Partner, Forvis Mazars LLP

Brandy is a member of the Forvis Mazars National Insurance Practice. She has nearly 17 years of professional experience in income tax accounting, tax compliance and tax process improvement for various types of insurance companies.  Brandy co-authored the Forvis Mazars SSAP 101 Resource Guide. She has managed income tax provision preparation, tax reviews, deferred tax inventory reconciliations and federal and state income tax compliance engagements for various types of insurance companies. Brandy has significant experience with life and property and casualty returns, as well as the complex life and nonlife tax return consolidation rules. In addition to tax compliance, she has assisted audit teams with tax provision interim and annual audits on both GAAP and statutory bases.

Brandy has been involved with various tax consulting engagements, most significantly with tax process improvements.  She has assisted insurance companies with the transition to technology-based provision processes, through both design and configuration phases, as well as user acceptance testing.

She is a member of the American Institute of CPAs and Missouri Society of CPAs. She also is the immediate past president of the Insurance Accounting & Systems Association, Inc. (IASA) Show-Me Chapter and is a frequent speaker at IASA's regional and national conferences. Brandy is a graduate of University of Missouri, Columbia, with an M.Acc. degree.

Christopher Yuska, Managing Partner, Ernst & Young LLP

Chris Yuska, CPA, is a partner in EY’s FSO Audit Insurance Services practice with more than 23 years of experience serving the financial services industry specializing in life, property/casualty, reinsurance, wealth and asset management operations. Chris has extensive experience on both public and private companies, ranging from small to large global companies.
 
Chris enjoys working and problem solving with client to address complex accounting, financial reporting, internal control and business issues using the knowledge and experience that EY and serving his clients has provided him. Chris has significant experience in US GAAP, statutory accounting principles, US SEC reporting and internal control reporting under SOX and the model audit rule. Chris also has experience working with EY teams in throughout the world in accounting and financial reporting under their local basis of accounting. Chris’ leadership roles include: Des Moines Office Managing Partner, US Insurance Operations Co-Leader and Central Insurance audit operations leader

Chris along with his wife Karen have three children, Colin (21), Blake (19) and Ethan (13). Chris enjoys attending his children’s activities and domestic and foreign traveling with family and friends, with a goal of visiting every National Park in the US. Chris enjoys coaching his children in baseball and staying active on the tennis court. Chris has been active in community organizations including serving as current member of the University of Northern Iowa Accounting Advisory Board, past board member of the Iowa Society of CPAs (ISCPA), past chairperson of the ISCPA insurance industry committee, and past Faith Formation Council president at his local church. 

Connie Jasper Woodroof

Connie Jasper Woodroof began her career in the insurance industry in 1984 completing statutory filings for both Life and Property/Casualty companies. Ms. Woodroof spent nine years with the NAIC where she served in various capacities; reviewing of statements for quality, testing of RBC formulas and software during formula development, and assisting with the development and teaching of an industry educational series. Connie completed 18 years as the NAIC Liaison for Fiserv/StoneRiver/Sapiens, where she helped both Sapiens and its clients keep abreast of events at the NAIC, responded to statutory reporting and accounting information requests and provided educational opportunities. Currently, Ms. Jasper Woodroof is serving as a statutory insurance industry consultant for FORVIS as well as offering consulting services to the insurance industry. Connie remains active on several industry interested parties groups working with NAIC issues. Woodroof holds a FLMI, a B.S. in Accounting and a M.A. in General Psychology.

Dan Israel, Managing Director

Dan Israel is the Managing Director of the Global Insurance Accelerator (GIA), where he has led the organization since 2022. As the chief executive, he spearheads the GIA's strategic vision, aiming to strengthen its position as the premier global insurance accelerator. Dan is responsible for the overall success of the programs, including attracting investors and sponsors to ensure financial stability, overseeing accelerator functions and staff, and managing relationships with the Board of Directors comprised of senior executives from investor firms. Under his leadership, the GIA achieved recognition as a Top 2 InsurTech Accelerator globally in 2023.
Bringing over 15 years of experience in strategy, innovation, and finance, Dan previously held significant roles at Principal Financial Group from 2015 to 2022, There, he directed strategic planning and designed an investment program for strategic innovation. His earlier career includes finance leadership roles at Target Corporation and experience at Rolls-Royce North America. Dan holds an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management and a BBA from the University of Iowa.

Elisabeth Sandersfeld, CFO, Merchants Bonding Company (Mutual)

Elisabeth Sandersfeld, CPA, is the Chief Financial Officer, Chief Risk Officer, Treasurer and Secretary with Merchants Bonding Company. She joined the company in 2023, after serving as Chief Financial Officer for three operating units of W.R. Berkley Corporation. Elisabeth was Chief Financial Officer at GuideOne Insurance until 2021, after more than a decade in various strategy, innovation and finance roles at Thrivent Financial in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Elisabeth began her career at Ernst & Young, working in both Des Moines and Minneapolis.  Elisabeth serves on the Board of Trustees of EveryStep and as President of the Luther College Alumni Council. She earned her B.A. at Luther College in Accounting, Economics and Spanish and obtained a Master of Business Administration degree in Strategy and Finance from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. Elisabeth is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA), and a certified Mutual Insurance Director (MID).  She is a member of the ISCPA and AICPA, and is active in the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC), Surety and Fidelity Association of America (SFAA) and Women in Surety (WIS).

Joshua Schwartz

Joshua Schwartz is a Partner with PwC’s US Insurance Advisory practice. He leads PwC’s US Consulting practice across the Life & Annuities, Group & Voluntary Benefits and Retirement sectors. For over 25 years, Josh has helped domestic and global insurers define and execute technology and operations strategies to improve business performance and meet changing market demand. He has helped insurers with operational improvement and cost reduction through divestitures and M&A, business process outsourcing, closed and open block management, and large-scale technology modernization. These include core platforms supporting core business operations, customer experience, distribution and finance/actuarial processes. In addition to technology implementation experience, Josh has led business and IT operating model design and IT cost reduction programs in the context of large-scale business process redesign. Recently, he has advised numerous insurers on digital transformations, leveraging AI/GenAI and hyperautomation technologies.

Prior to PwC, Josh was a Principal at Diamond Management & Technology Consultants where he worked as an Enterprise Architect helping insurers connect technology modernization with business transformation goals.

Ken McCullum, Principal

Ken McCullum is executive vice president, chief risk officer and general account of Principal Financial Group. He is responsible for helping the company identify and successfully manage risk to deliver the best value to our customers, employees, shareholders, and communities where we do business.

McCullum joined Principal in April 2015 as vice president and chief actuary. In September 2020, he was named senior vice president and chief risk officer and was promoted to executive vice president and chief risk officer in March 2023. Prior to joining the company, he served as executive vice president responsible for business development and in force management at Delaware Life Insurance Company. Before Delaware Life, McCullum was a senior vice president responsible for managing the life and annuity businesses at Sun Life. He helped lead the transaction which created Delaware Life, when Sun Life sold its closed life and annuity blocks to a group of private investors arranged by Guggenheim Partners. Earlier in his career McCullum spent 15 years with The Hartford where he held several positions including leading their institutional investment products division and chief actuary of their legacy holdings division.

McCullum earned his bachelor's degree from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. He is currently a fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries. Additionally, he serves as Chairman of the Board for Principal Charity Classic, is an interested director on the Board of Principal Funds and is an appointed member of the Drake Board of Trustees.

Mary Zajicek, Tax Senior Manager, Deloitte & Touche LLP

Mary Beth Zajicek, CPA, is a Tax Senior Manager with Deloitte in Des Moines, Iowa. She has 14  years of experience serving various life and property and casualty insurance companies, including insurance investments and fund structures managed by insurance companies with complex foreign and domestic partnership transactions. 

She has experience with both private and public companies, projects related to mergers and acquisitions, tax opinion memos, due diligence related to transactions, and structuring transactions to best achieve tax planning objectives.

Michael Wolf, Global Economist, Deloitte

Michael Wolf is a global economist at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd. He provides written commentary and analysis on global economic issues that affect the firm and its clients. He has been quoted by various media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal and NPR. Wolf began his career as an economist at the US Labor Department and has since held economist positions at Moody’s Analytics, Wells Fargo Securities, and PwC. He has two graduate degrees, one in economic policy from Columbia University, and the other in statistics from Baruch College. He also has a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Maryland.

Wendy Young, Chief Liability Officer, Fidelity & Guaranty Life

Wendy JB Young, FSA, MAAA, is the Chief Liability Officer with Fidelity & Guaranty (F&G). Wendy has over 35 years of insurance industry experience and over 25 years with F&G, working in a broad range of actuarial, finance and reinsurance functions. Most recently Wendy served as the company’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer where she led all aspects of the corporate finance function. As Chief Liability Officer, she leads all aspects of F&G’s liability management, corporate actuarial functions, reinsurance activities and our off short entities. She is a Fellow in the Society of Actuaries as well as a member of the Academy of Actuaries.