LS&A-Our Team

We have "hands on" experience at the highest levels of the Canadian government. For example, team members have experience as: Deputy Minister of Finance for Canada, Superintendent of Insurance for Ontario (Canada's largest province), Superintendent of Insurance for the province of Alberta, CEO of the Financial Institutions Commission of British Columbia, head pension regulator for Canada, head property/casualty insurance regulator for Canada, Director of Life Insurance inspections for Canada and former partners from several of Canada's leading legal firms with specialization in insurance law. We also appreciate the perspective of the private sector, however, as team experience includes CEO of a Canadian life insurer, Senior Vice President of one of Canada's largest life insurers, Vice Chair of a property/casualty insurer and a number of financial institution directorships.

Lawrie Savage - President of LS&A

Lawrie has been involved with the Canadian insurance industry for over 40 years. He served as Superintendent of Insurance for the province of Ontario from 1991 to 1995 and worked in senior positions with the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Canada (OSFI), from 1966 to 1985. For the last 8 years with OSFI he was in charge of property/casualty insurance supervision. He was CEO of a Canadian life company for 3 years and also served as Vice Chair of a general insurer. He was Director, Insurance Consulting Services for Coopers & Lybrand Consulting in Toronto, Canada prior to establishing Lawrie Savage & Associates Inc. in 1997. He is author of "Re-engineering Insurance Supervision", a comprehensive paper jointly commissioned by the Inter-American Development Bank and The World Bank. He is also author of the IAIS/World Bank Core Curriculum modules for the areas of "Preventive and Corrective Measures" and "Supervisory Reporting" Lawrie has carried out many assignments in Canada and has also specialized in working with emerging market countries to modernize their financial supervisory infrastructures and to provide staff training. Risk based supervision has been a focus of many of his recent assignments. Lawrie is a Program Leader and a member of the Insurance Advisory Committee of the Toronto International Leadership Centre for Financial Sector Supervision and a member of the Advisory Board for the Risk Studies Centre at the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary. He is a director of the Property and Casualty Insurance Compensation Corporation, Canada's insurance consumer compensation plan. Lawrie has a BSc in Mathematics from the University of Calgary and an MBA from the Ivey School of Business (Dean's List).

Fred Gorbet - Project Counsel

Fred Gorbet provides high level advice and oversight with regard to various LS&A projects. He has had a long and distinguished career in the Canadian financial sector. As a former Deputy Minister of Finance for Canada, he was responsible for management of the Department of Finance (700 employees; operating budget of about $75 million) and provision of policy advice to Minister of Finance and Prime Minister. During his tenure he oversaw reform of the Canada Pension Plan and the development and implementation of modern financial supervisory legislation for Canada. As a private consultant Fred has had broad, high level experience as evidenced by the following examples:

Member of Panel of Experts on Federal Equalization Program and Territorial Finance, appointed by Minister of Finance for Canada (2005-06)
Chair of Market Surveillance Panel for deregulated Ontario electricity market (2000-06)
Advisory Board to the Consortium for Economic Policy, Research and Advice (Russia), (1999-present and Canadian chair, 2004-07)
Executive Director of the Task Force on the Future of the Canadian Financial Services Sector from February 1997 to September 1998. (Managed the administration, staffing, research and production of the Final Report, background documents and supporting research studies)
Executive Director Joint Committee on Corporate Governance (appointed by TSE, CDNX and CICA) during 2000-01. Authored the Joint Committee's interim and final reports
Commissioner on the Federal Judicial Compensation Commission (1999-2003)

For the past nine years and continuing, Fred has served as the CIT Chair in Financial Services and Co-Director of the Financial Services Program at the Schulich School of Business of York University, Toronto Canada. He holds a PhD in Economics from Duke University.

Yoseph Aseffa - Specialist in Capacity Building in Insurance and Pension Supervision

Yoseph is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and has extensive knowledge and experience with regard to the insurance and pension industries in African countries as well as the supervisory systems. For 14 years, Yoseph served as Secretary General/CEO of the African Insurance Organization (AIO). He is a Fellow of the Life Management Institute (USA) and holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. He has designed specific capacity building programs in a number of countries, tailored both at national and regional levels. He has also been active in identifying national and regional development programs in the insurance sector aimed at making the insurance industry responsive to national insurance needs as a means for social and economic development. Such programs include natural catastrophe risks, agricultural insurance programs, life and pensions, insurance schemes for micro finance institutions and the informal sector, etc.

Dr. Catherine Chandler-Crichlow - Specialist in Training

Dr. Chandler-Crichlow has served as an executive and leadership development advisor to a number of international agencies such as the Toronto International Leadership Centre for Financial Sector Supervision, an international financial sector development initiative funded by the Government of Canada, the World Bank and the IMF. She has overseen the design and delivery of capacity building programs for financial sector supervisors in countries such as Malaysia, Brazil, Armenia, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago and Poland. She has also played a key role in the development of training programs for international organizations involved with financial sector supervision, such as the International Association of Insurance Supervisors. From 1993 to 1999 Catherine was Associate Vice President – Education & Training, TD Bank Financial Group, one of Canada's largest banks. Catherine has a PhD from the University of Toronto and a Master's Degree in Education from Harvard University.

Mark Fowler - Pension and Insurance Specialist

Mark is a professional actuary who, prior to entering the consulting field, has held senior positions with the government of Canada in respect of the supervision of life insurers and pension funds. As Director General of the Pension Benefits Division of OSFI from 1987 to 1996 he was head of pension supervision for the Canadian government. He has also held senior positions with the federal government in the supervision of the life insurance industry in Canada. He has been consulting since 1996. In the international field Mark is particularly interested in the development of public policy and modernization of supervisory techniques in the pension and life insurance fields. He has carried out a number of assignments with Lawrie Savage & Associates in the field of life insurance and pension reform. Mark is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries.

Marilyn Hill - Specialist in Banking Supervision

Marilyn Hill is experienced in international financial sector reform and modernization, strategic planning, divestment and forensic work. She has worked on projects in Jamaica, Bosnia, Canada, the U.K. and Tanzania. In the past three years, she has worked on financial system modernization and reform in Jamaica and currently is providing expert advice on banking and insurance restructuring in Sarajevo, Bosnia. As a General Manager for FINSAC in Jamaica (FINSAC is the government agency charged with the rehabilitation and ultimate divestment of some 160 companies, banks and insurance companies intervened during the financial sector crisis in the late 1990's), she played a significant role in assisting with the stabilization and restructuring of the failed banking sector. She also played a major role in increasing the government's shareholding to a controlling interest in the largest indigenous bank to allow for divestment. Prior to her consulting career Marilyn was with the Royal Bank of Canada for 10 years, leaving the organization as Manager of the Global Energy Group. She has an MBA and is an Associate of the Institute of Canadian Bankers.

Michelle Li - Business Coordinator

Michelle immigrated to Canada from China in 2005. She joined LS&A in February of 2006 where she initially worked with the LS&A team carrying out the Enterprise Annuity pension project for the People's Republic of China. As Project Assistant she provides administrative, research and organizational support for projects, in some cases from home office in Canada and in other cases working on site with the consulting team. She now has experience in pension supervisory work as well as training in risk based supervisory techniques. She graduated with a Master's degree in Management from Massey University in New Zealand in 2004. In China she obtained degrees in Management of Industrial Enterprises and in Computer Applications. She is presently taking courses in Risk Management through the University of Toronto. Michelle is fluent in Mandarin and English.

Frank Mackowiak - Property/Casualty and Risk Based Specialist

With almost 20 years of OSFI experience, Frank spent the last six years of his OSFI career preparing guides and assisting supervisory staff with matters related to the theory and application of OSFI's advanced risk based supervisory framework. As well, Frank is a technical expert in the field of regulatory governance and compliance in property and casualty insurance. Frank also tutors an insurance accounting course conducted annually at McMaster University by the Canadian Insurance Accountants' Association and has taught The Business of Insurance course in the Insurance Institute of Canada's C.I.P. program. Before entering public service, Frank worked with both primary and reinsurance companies in the property and casualty industry. He is a Certified General Accountant and a Chartered Insurance Professional.

Catherine MacLellan - Specialist in Financial Reporting to Supervisors

Catherine has many years of Canadian experience both as an insurance supervisor and also as a consultant. Catherine is an accountant by training and has served as a Senior Bank Inspector and as Director of Special Services with OSFI. She has been consulting since 1987. Over the last few years, as a joint venture with the firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers, she has focused on the development and design of computer software for use by insurance companies in completing their required federal financial filings, which are extensive. In the international field she is interested in the design and specification of financial statement reporting and the electronic capture and filing of financial information with supervisors. Catherine holds an Honours BCom degree from the University of British Columbia and is a Certified Management Accountant.

Mark McKenzie - Specialist in Insurance and Financial Supervision

Mark is a leading financial sector technical expert in the field of regulatory governance and compliance, with hands-on supervisory experience in developing countries and emerging markets. He is a specialist in the development of regulatory policies and procedures, compliance audits and compliance training, and AML/CFT, BCP and Insurance Core Principle assessments. Broad cross sector experience in an integrated supervisory environment, along with significant experience in supervisory consulting, perfectly position Mark to assist financial supervisors in moving their jurisdictions towards international standards and best practices. Mark has a BSc in Economics and Accounting, an MBA and has completed the first level of the Chartered Financial Analyst program.

Colin McNairn - Legal and Drafting Specialist

Colin is a former Partner of one of Canada's leading law firms, Fraser Milner, where he specialized in insurance law. He is well known as an expert in the practice and theory of insurance legislation and for a number of years has been editor of the Carswell "Consolidated Insurance Companies Act of Canada, Regulations and Guidelines", the definitive publication on federal insurance legislation. From 1989 to 1991 Colin headed up the Insurance Legislation Review Project, which was a wide ranging review of insurance legislation for the Government of Ontario, with recommendations for change in all areas of the legislation. In the international sphere, Colin is interested in assisting with the development of modern insurance legislation. He has provided extensive input to the development of new financial legislation in Trinidad and Tobago where LS&A completed a major project in 2001 and has drafted the Model Law for Lebanon, in a project sponsored by the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank and the Financial Sector Reform and Strengthening Initiative (FIRST). Colin was Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, from 1967 to 1975, and in the 1960's was a tutor in law at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. Colin has a Master of Laws degree from Harvard University. He represents LS&A on international assignments and is currently the Chair of the Financial Services Commission of Ontario.

Shelley L. Miller - Specialist in Insurance Law

Shelley Miller is a partner with Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP one of Canada's most prestigious law firms. Shelley has a special arrangement with LS&A whereby she is able to make her services available to LS&A international clients subject to certain constraints related to her Canadian law practice. Shelley has also pioneered a more efficient and effective way to reform legislation, regulation and legal processes, known as negotiated reform, which builds consensus among competing multilateral stakeholders and arrives at solutions more quickly and economically. She is recognized as an international expert in automobile insurance tort reform. and brings global experience to the team.

Raymond Mongeau - Specialist in Insurance Supervision

Raymond Mongeau has had a 22 year career with the Quebec Inspector General of Financial Institutions. Raymond has specialized in the area of financial solvency and reporting for general insurers. Recently he has been involved with the development of the proposed new risk based capital requirements for P/C insurers. Raymond was also an active member of the CCIR Statement Committee, which has devised and maintained the uniform financial filing requirements for both federal and provincial insurers. He has also been part of the team at the Inspector General of Financial Institutions that has played an important role in the development of industry guidelines such as the Earthquake Exposure Guideline.

Javier Montero - Specialist in Latin American Insurance

Based in Lima, Peru, Javier has many years of senior experience in the insurance industry in both Canada and Peru. He has served as President and CEO of one of the largest Peruvian insurance companies and also as a Director and Senior Vice President of Great Lakes Reinsurance Company, a Canadian subsidiary of Munich Re. All in all, Javier has more than 20 years experience in top management positions in the insurance, reinsurance and managed care sectors, with leading international companies. Javier has excellent knowledge of the cultural and business environments in most Latin American countries and is fluent in four languages. He is the Founder and President of the Canada-Peru Business Council (Chamber of Commerce). With more than 100 members, the CPBC has become one of the most active bi-national institutions in Peru and has cooperated in the significant growth of Canadian investment in Peru. To ensure the best possible service to our Latin American clients, Javier has also completed specific training with regard to the supervisory modernization techniques practiced by LS&A.

Louise Pelly - Legal and Drafting Specialist

Louise Pelly is a former partner of one of Canada’s leading law firms, Stikeman Elliott, where she specialized in the law relating to banking, insurance and the regulation of other financial services. She is well known in Canada as an expert in the practice and theory of Canadian financial regulatory legislation. She was Special Counsel to the Department of Finance Canada, advising on the major revision of the laws governing Canadian banks, trust, loan and insurance companies and cooperative credit associations, which came into force in June 1992, including development of underlying policy and drafting legislation. This landmark legislation marked Canada’s adoption of a new supervisory framework incorporating a risk based approach to financial supervision, significantly higher standards of corporate governance for institutions, and increased responsibilities for professional auditors and actuaries within the supervisory framework. In February 1997 she was appointed Advisor to the Task Force on the Future of the Canadian Financial Services Sector, which reported to the Minister of Finance in September 1998. She is co-author of the definitive work on the revised banking legislation, The Annotated Bank Act, now in its fifth edition. She is also author of Canada: Business and Finance, published in the Fall of 1997, with a Preface by the Honourable Paul Martin, Minister of Finance. For the last several years she has been providing legal assistance in emerging market countries on assignments having to do with the modernization of financial legislation. Louise has a Master of Laws degree from Harvard University.

Anne Riley - Specialist in Marketplace Issues, Government Policy on Financial Institutions

Anne Riley is well known in the Canadian financial services community. She has extensive experience with Canadian financial institutions and over the last several years has worked in financial policy consulting and project management on a contract basis with such organizations as Bank Works Trading, the Canadian Bankers Association, the Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services and the Bank of Montreal. Prior to that Anne was Director, Financial Institutions at the Canadian Bankers Association, where she was responsible for policy research, including preparation of submissions and testimony before the House of Commons and Senate Committees, with regard to bank regulation, insurance and deposit insurance reform. She served as industry spokesperson on matters related to insurance and legislative reform, appearing on national media and frequently speaking at industry conferences. With LS&A, Anne works closely with Laura Gaughan and Lawrie Savage to provide increased capacity for our work on the Insurance Regulatory Newsletter and other matters related to government policy and supervision. She holds an MBA degree from the University of Manitoba.

Bernard Rodrigues - Specialist in Insurance and Financial Supervision

Bernard has more than 38 years of insurance experience, 24 years as a senior insurance regulator in Canada and prior to that, 14 years industry experience in Georgetown, Guyana. Before joining LS&A Bernard was Superintendent of Insurance for the Province of Alberta, Canada, a position he held for 14 years. He has played a significant role in insurance supervision in Canada through his involvement with the Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators. Bernard was on-site with LS&A in Trinidad for over a year working on the banking and insurance supervisory modernization project in that country. In that role he was involved in all project work, provided input and advice on all aspects of the modernization process and played an especially important role in the development of the draft Insurance Law. Bernard also played a key role in our project related to supervisory integration in Barbados as well as a number of projects in Canada.

Gordon Smith - Specialist in Insurance and Financial Supervision

Gordon is a Chartered Financial Analyst who had a 27 year career with OSFI. Gordon specialized in life insurance, and particularly the area of life insurance company inspections. For 10 years Gordon was Director of Life Insurance Examinations at OSFI. Consulting with Lawrie Savage & Associates Inc. since 1997, Gordon has experience in working with emerging market countries in the insurance supervisory area. He also specializes in utilizing his CFA skills in the analysis and identification of systemic problems in the overall health of financial institutions and financial markets in developing countries. Gordon is especially interested in staff training and the design of supervisory mechanisms related to the identification, quantification and management of the various risks involved with the insurance business in developing countries. He has a BA, an MBA and is also a Fellow of the Life Management Institute.

Wayne Steele - Specialist in Banking Supervision

Wayne Steele is a highly experienced, former Canadian financial supervisor who has specialized in deposit taking institutions. He had a 26 year career with OSFI, the Canadian financial sector supervisor and for the last 4 years of his work with OSFI he was Director, Supervision Sector. From 1996 to 1998 he was Manager, Examinations and prior to that he was Senior Examiner. In addition to directing risk based on-site examinations, Wayne's experience in Canada has included the supervision of problem institutions and employee training. In emerging market countries Wayne was a key member of the LS&A project team in Trinidad and Tobago, where he worked on risk based supervision and examination in the banking area.

Andre Swanepoel - Specialist in Insurance and Pension Supervision, Corporate Governance

Andre’s career spans a 38 year period and covers the insurance and banking industries as well as government supervision of financial institutions. He started his career with 12 years in the actuarial and investment departments of a large life insurer in South Africa, thereafter a stint of 13 years in merchant and hire purchase banking and the last 13 years as the deputy at the Financial Services Board (FSB) in South Africa, responsible for the supervision of life and general insurers and occupational pension plans. Andre was a member of the executive team at the FSB and, apart from the normal strategic and budgetary planning and controls for the supervisory office, also interacted with government on long range regulatory planning. Andre chaired various industry and ad hoc committees, was an ex officio member of several others and was a member of the King Committee that revised the corporate governance Code for South Africa. Andre was also a member of the executive committee of the IAIS and chaired the Emerging Markets and Educational sub-committee of the IAIS for several years. Andre was a speaker at many meetings and conferences in and outside South Africa and was involved as reviewer and writer of IAIS training curriculums under the supervision of the World Bank.