In-person: Sustainability and Climate Change Forum

Joe Kennedy is Director of Risk Modelling Services for PwC in Ireland with over 30 years of industry and consulting experience, and an MSc in International Development. As well as supporting clients with sustainability and climate change issues in his current role, Joe previously worked for the World Bank’s Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance Program and GOAL. Joe was a member of the Insurance Working Group contributing to the National Sustainable Finance Roadmap and has presented at Climate Finance Week and other forums. A founding member of the Society’s Sustainability and Climate Change Steering Committee, Joe has also been a member of boards and committees for the IFoA and the (North American) Society of Actuaries.

Prof. Patrick Paul Walsh is the Vice President of Education and Director of the SDG Academy at the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN). He is is on secondment from University College Dublin where he remains a Full Professor of International Development Studies, Director of the UCD M.Sc. in Sustainable Development in partnership with the SDG Academy and President of the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society (SSISI) of Ireland. He received a Ph.D. in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is a Government of Ireland Fellow, Marie Curie (Brussels) Fellow, IZA (Bonn) Fellow, RSA (London) Fellow, EIIR (Brussels) Fellow and REPOA (Tanzania) fellow. He has held academic positions in Trinity College Dublin, K.U. Leuven, Harvard University and Columbia University. He has also held positions in the United Nations, European Commission, IMF and World Bank. His current focus is on Sustainable Development Education than is informed by Science, Practice and Policy.

Lisa Campbell is responsible for the examination of corporate reporting for listed entities, the quality assurance of public interest entity auditors and sustainability assurance providers, and for the supervision of the regulatory activities of the five prescribed accountancy bodies in Ireland. Lisa is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland and  joined IAASA in 2015. Prior to this, Lisa spent 12 years with PwC providing audit services. Lisa also chairs the Audit and Risk Committee of the National Council for Special Education and sits on a number of Boards.

Tom Popple is CEO of BE IMPACTFUL, a fiercely independent advisory for leaders on climate, nature and community impact financing. For the last decade Tom has built impact programmes for more than 200 global organisations with delivery values exceeding USD 500m, including Accenture, Sky, BBC, Logitech and PwC.

Lorcán Hall is a Senior Advisor at the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.  He recently obtained an MSc. in Sustainable Development at University College Dublin in partnership with the United Nations.  He also holds an MBA.  Lorcán has 25+ years’ industry experience, working with primary insurance and reinsurance companies in Ireland, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and the UK.  Most recently he was Global Head of Strategy and Innovation for the Life & Health division of SCOR.  Before beginning the MSc. Lorcán worked in a variety of global roles at Hannover Re.

Rebecca Prouse is a member of the non-life actuarial team in the Insurance Supervision Directorate at the Central Bank. She has 10 years’ experience in supervision and regulation, working on various reserving, capital, and pricing projects. In recent years, Rebecca’s main areas of focus have been the Domestic Non-Life sector, and more recently climate change risk for Insurance firms.

Arpita Das is Founder & Director at Impact Actuarial, based in Dublin, Ireland. Prior to establishing Impact Actuarial, Arpita was Senior Actuary at Allianz Partners, serving as lead Life Actuary and Global Project Manager, and was CVP & Actuary at New York Life Insurance.  Arpita has been a long-time volunteer and leader within the actuarial profession and sustainable development space. She is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Society of Actuaries (SOA) and currently serves on the International Actuarial Association Inclusive Insurance Forum, the Society of Actuaries Ireland Sustainability & Climate Change Committee.

Sandra Rockett is Vice President, Global Sustainable Investments at Great-West Lifeco, the parent company of Irish Life.  In this role Sandra is responsible for leading Great-West Lifeco’s Sustainable Investment Strategy across Europe, Canada and the US, which is part of the Group’s commitment to achieving net-zero for its investment portfolio by 2050.  Sandra has been with the Great West Life Group since 2014 as a member of the Executive Management Team of the Group’s Irish asset manager, Irish Life Investment Managers. Sandra has led the Irish Responsible Investment Strategy. In addition to this role, Sandra has also held a number of executive leadership positions including overall responsibility for ILIM’s Retail and Wealth Channels and prior to this responsibility for ILIM’s International Business and Strategic Partnerships.  Prior to joining ILIM, Sandra was Head of Financial Planning and Pensions with Ireland's leading wealth manager, responsible for the establishment and delivery of financial and investment advice to High Net Worth clients, pension funds and charities. Sandra previously worked in Mercer as an actuarial consultant, working with a range of public sector and multinational clients in relation to their pension arrangements.  Sandra is a graduate in Actuarial Finance and Economics from University College Dublin, a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries in Ireland. She is a Council Member of SIF Ireland (part of the European Sustainable Investment Forums) and a previous member of the Pensions Council of Ireland. The latter was established to advise the Minister for Social Protection on matters of relevance to pensions, with a particular focus on policies to support the sustainability and adequacy of pension provision.

Miriam Sweeney is an experienced actuary specialising in risk management. Her previous roles include Chief Risk Officer for MetLife Europe d.a.c. and MetLife Europe Insurance d.a.c. In 2023 she completed an MSc. in Management for Sustainable Development and is currently working as Risk Manager for the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. 

Christopher Joyce is a fellow of the Society of Actuaries, and Policy Manager within the Insurance Policy Team at the Central Bank. Chris has been in the policy team for over 5 years working on a range of topics covering Solvency II, domestic policy and sustainable finance. Prior to joining the Bank, he worked in life insurance firms in Ireland and the UK.