Stop by and meet the Insurance & Technology editorial team in an informal setting. Find out who covers what, upcoming features, and let the editors know what's going on at your organization.

Kathy Burger, Editorial Director, Insurance & Technology

Thanks to their embrace of tools and concepts such as Web services and SOA, insurers of all sizes are abandoning their lumbering, bureaucratic paper-based pasts and transforming into agile, flexible organizations focused on speed-to-market and customer-centricity. Or are they? Learn what it takes to avoid the hype and become a truly agile insurance enterprise that can flourish on an increasingly competitive and high-stakes playing field.

• Designing the right architecture.
• The next generation of governance and BPM.
• Eliminating paper and achieving true STP.
• Impact on the workforce - changing roles and responsibilities.

Moderator:
Anthony O'Donnell, Executive Editor, Insurance & Technology

Speakers:
Stephen Wrenn, VP, Operations & Process Excellence, Liberty Mutual Insurance
Mark Wood, Director, Data Center Infrastructure, Highmark, Inc.

Insurers know better than any other industry that risk is a fact of life - and that the world is getting riskier every day. As the risks facing insurers become increasingly complex - encompassing terrorism, financial/investment/ risk, underwriting-related risk, security challenges and fraud - what are the key technologies and emerging best practices that will enable companies to survive and continue successful, profitable operations?

• Separating the hype from the hopes of enterprise risk management.
• Are analytics living up to their promise?
• Preparing for the moving target of operational risk.
• The people factor in managing risk.

Moderator:
Nathan Conz, Associate Editor, Insurance & Technology

Speaker:
Shamla Naidoo, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), WellPoint

Over the past 10 years the industry has endeavored to shift from a product-centric view of the business to a customer-centric view. But have insurers done enough? It's possible to have a new kind of customized and profitable relationship with customers, thanks to the emergence of analytics tools, modeling and segmentation capabilities and Web 2.0 technologies that enable a new level of interactivity - but do insurance companies have the technological and cultural wherewithal to capitalize on these opportunities? Gain insights into what's required to capitalize on the customer-centricity revolution.

• Customer metrics that matter.
• Translating customer analytics into profitable products and services.
• Managing risk and improving underwriting.
• Capitalizing on the consumerization of technology.
• Leveraging insight to take service to new levels.

Moderator:
Kathy Burger, Editorial Director, Insurance & Technology

Speaker:
Neeraj Arora, Director of Analytics, Insight & Innovation Group Farmers Insurance

Most insurers acknowledge that a talent crunch is looming, as baby boomers retire and young workers replace them. But is the industry sufficiently prepared to manage a workforce that spans the digital age gap? The next generation has a different set of expectations from its workplace environment, both from a technological and cultural perspective. This forecast will provide insights into how young workers interact with technology and one another, and how insurers can adjust to optimize their workforce for future, including:

• Attracting and retaining next-generation talent
• Transferring knowledge across the multi-generational workplace
• Uniting the tech savvy of "digital natives" with the experience and knowledge of "boomerang boomers"

Author and consultant Rob Salkowitz (Generation Blend: Managing Across the Technology Age Gap and Listening to the Future) explores the issues, challenges and solutions to help insurers get the most from next-generation talent and the next wave in information technology.

Moderator:
Nathan Conz, Associate Editor, Insurance & Technology

Speaker:
Rob Salkowitz, Author, "Generation Blend: Managing Across the Technology Age Gap"

The competitive, regulatory and demographic requirements of today's banking business make strategic planning more critical than ever. But organizational silos, budget restrictions and cultural issues often cause strategic planning and innovation to be pushed to the back burner. How should today's insurance IT executives approach strategic planning? How can organizations keep their focus and carry out strategic plans during downturns and cutback? Most important, how can effective strategic planning make insurance companies more effective?

In this unique, interactive session, led by Wachovia's Steve Clement, SVP and Director, Information Technology Strategic Initiatives Office, you will learn how to implement a methodology for strategic planning and innovation at your organization, with a hands-on opportunity to apply this approach to core insurance technology challenges:

• Developing a Workforce for the Future
• Life After a Merger: Integration Challenges
• The New, Green Data Center
• The SOA Journey: Where's the Next Stop?
• Rethinking Speed to Market
• Ease of Doing Business: The Key to Distribution Dominance
• Legacy Transformation: What's Stopping You?
• Accelerating the Claims Value Chain

Moderator:
Kathy Burger, Editorial Director, Insurance & Technology

Speaker:
Steve Clement, SVP and Director, Information Technology Strategic Initiatives Office, Wachovia

In this interactive "battle of the CIOs," current and former Elite 8 executives will face off in a fast-moving debate over the most controversial and challenging issues facing insurance technology executives - including the dramatic changes that have occurred in their own roles. What's the outlook for the role of IT in insurance? What are the most significant issues and challenges facing insurance CIOs and other senior executives - and what are the best approaches to addressing these challenges? We'll hear and evaluate different perspectives and then weigh in on the views and strategies that seem to be most on target - all with a goal of making sure that the IT organization is not "the weakest link" as carriers strive to survive and succeed in the current difficult financial services environment.

• Management skills for the future.
• 2009 IT budget forecasts.
• Hot technologies to pursue - or avoid.
• Implications of the global credit crisis for insurance IT.

Moderators:
Kathy Burger, Editorial Director, Insurance & Technology
Nathan Conz, Associate Editor, Insurance & Technology
Anthony O'Donnell, Executive Editor, Insurance & Technology

Speakers:
Rick Roy - SVP & CIO, CUNA Mutual
Jim Court - Chief Operating Officer, First American P & C
Piyush Singh - Senior VP & CIO, Great American Insurance Group
Akhil Tripathi - Senior Vice President & CIO, Harleysville Insurance
Bill Jenkins - CIO, Penn National Insurance
Linda Squires, Senior Executive for Operations and Information Systems, North Carolina Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co.