Wakam, a B2B2C insurance firm has announced a series of leadership hires.
Among these appointments is Anouk Bara, who joins Wakam as VP Finance & Corporate Legal and brings over 25 years of expertise across a number of major blue-chip companies, which has given her an in-depth understanding of financial issues and the insurance sector.
Bara began her career in the industry by working at KPMG, before later going on to work with the investment company Groupe Chevrillon, before joining the AXA Group in 2006.
During her time at AXA, she served in a number of different senior positions, including CFO and member of the Executive Committee of Axa Corporate Solutions, where she contributed to the transformation of the finance department.
Most recently, Bara has used her skills to help a number of start-ups in the insurtech ecosystem, helping them to structure their growth phase, manage their financing and their external growth operations.
Moreover, Matthew Simon has been appointed to the role of VP Data at Wakam.
Simon is Australian and trained as an actuary. After several years in Australia with AMP and AXA, he leveraged his data skills by joining Quantium, a data consultancy, where he led projects on a wide range of data-related topics, and across a number of industries including retail, banking and insurance.
In 2016, Simon 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 he then joined Doctolib as head of the Data Science team.
At the same time, Lauren Johnson has been hired as Wakam’s new VP of Capital and Reinsurance.
In her new role, Johnson will be responsible for defining and monitoring Wakam’s capital management and reinsurance strategies, which will include the transfer of alternative risks. She will lead Wakam’s capital management and reinsurance teams from London.
Prior to joining Wakam, she 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, Johnson worked in actuarial consulting, pricing, re/insurance and ILS. She also previously worked at WTW.
And lastly, Mark Christer joins Wakam as UK Branch Manager.
Based in London, Christer will lead the insurer’s UK operations, driving risk management, internal audit, actuarial, operations, underwriting, claims and finance functions.
He also has over two decades of industry experience in the insurance sector, which includes 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 also served in a variety of senior management positions, including Managing Director of Personal Lines at RSA in the UK.
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.”
