Helmut Heiss is a Professor of Private Law, Comparative Law and Private International Law at the University of Zurich. He is a founder and co-chair of the Project Group on ‘Principles of Reinsurance Contract Law (PRICL)’ and has been the chairman of the Project Group on ‘Principles of European Insurance Contract Law (PEICL)’. Heiss has been a member of the EU Commission´s Expert Group on ‘European Insurance Contract Law’ and acted as an expert to the European Economic and Social Committee twice. He also advised the European Parliament (Policy Department C: Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs).
Dr. Stefan J. Klein’s professional résumé comprises more than 30 years of experience in P&C primary insurance and reinsurance, in various roles and areas. Since March 2022 he pursues independent Compliance and Claims Advisory, with a focus on finance industry and SME clients as a self-employed Attorney at law and Certified Compliance Professional (Frankfurt School of Finance). Until March 2022 he was heading the Global Compliance Prevention Department of Munich Re Group. Previously, since 2006 he served as Head of the global Reinsurance Claims Unit (with responsibility for all lines of Property, Casualty and Marine Claims Management and Handling) as well as Head of a group wide central Claims Unit in charge of large loss coordination, claims policies, best practices as well as quality assurance for Claims Management including responsibility for Business Run-off Management. Between 1995 and 2006 Stefan was working in different reinsurance areas such as Group Investments/M&A and was in charge of different positions such as Head of Claims of an Group owned primary insurer in Italy for two years as well as an Executive Assistant to a Member of the Board. He started his professional (re-)insurance career at a large direct insurance Group in Munich and switched later into the reinsurance sector. Prior to that he worked for two years as an attorney in a Munich law firm in commercial and insurance law. Stefan is member of the German Bar Association, of the German Institute of Compliance (DICO), a Member of the International Association of Claim Professionals and a former IACP Board member. To the PRICL project for more than a decade he was a member and advisor of the reinsurance advisory group. He currently acts as pro bono director for a civil society organization as well as a parish council. He serves as a lecture on ESG Compliance and integrity for a Compliance expert course at the Frankfurt Business School for Finance and Management.
Lari Kuitunen is a Reinsurance Manager for casualty at If P&C, the largest pan-Nordic insurer covering Nordic risks on a global scale. Lari has 15 years of experience in reinsurance, placing reinsurance solutions, negotiating contracts, and creating solutions to cover complex risks. Lari splits his time between work and family and considers reinsurance not only a job but also a hobby and passion, contributing to legal development of the sector as an advisory group member in the Principles of Reinsurance Contract Law Project, a global endeavor to create private codification of law for the conduct of reinsurance business. Lari has a Master of Laws degree from University of Helsinki, specializing in reinsurance law, as well as Master of Social Science in Economics, from University of Helsinki as well.
Eberhard Witthoff is an independent expert and experienced senior executive for Claims Management and Insurance and Reinsurance Law. Eberhard has been Head of Claims at Munich Re since 2016 for Global Clients and the region Asia-Pacific with a worldwide responsibility for Casualty and Cyber claims until his retirement at the end of 2022. He had previously served as the Head of Claims for Germany and Central Eastern Europe in 2005 and then as the Head of Claims for the Asia-Pacific and Africa regions from 2007 to 2016. Before joining Munich Re in 1997, he began his career in 1997 as an insurance and contract lawyer in a law firm in Munich serving clients worldwide. After being a member of the Board of the IACP (International Association of Claim Professionals), Eberhard is now an advisor group member of the Principles of Reinsurance Contract Law Project (PRICL) since 2017. He focuses on advising on Climate Change, ESG risk, and claims management by combining insurance expertise and innovation.
Professor Dr. Manfred Wandt, since 1995, has been Full Professor of Civil Law, Commercial and Insurance Law, Private International Law and Comparative Law. He is Managing Director at the Institute for Insurance Law (IVersR) and a member of the executive board at the Institute for Law and Finance (ILF) and the International Center for Insurance Regulation (ICIR). He studied Law at the universities of Mannheim, Paris and Strasbourg. He wrote his doctoral thesis in conflict of laws and his post-doctoral thesis on international product liability. Before moving to Goethe University Frankfurt, he taught as a professor at the University of Hannover. He declined calls to chairs at the University of Hamburg and the University Mannheim (there each as Managing Director at the Institute for Insurance Law). His academic work focuses on contract law, tort law and Insurance Law in the European and international context. He is an author of textbooks on liability law and on insuance law. He is also co-editor of a leading, multi-volume commentary on German insurance law. He is editor-in-chief of the journal “Zeitschrift für Versicherungsrecht, Haftungs- und Schadensrecht VersR” (Journal of Insurance and Liability Law) and co-editor of the “Zeitschrift für die Gesamte Versicherungswissenschaft” (Journal of Insurance Sciences). After being a member of the former PEICL GROUP (Principles of European Insurance Contract Law), he is co-director of the PRICL Network (Principles of Reinsurance Contract Law). He serves as vice-president of the “Deutsche Verein für Versicherungswissenschaft” (German Association of Insurance Sciences), as a member of the Presidential Council of the Association Internationale de Droit des Assurances (AIDA) and as chairman of its German Chapter. From 2010 to 2020, he joined the Insurance Advisory Board of the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin). Since 2015, he is a member of the board of supervisors of an insurance group of companies after being board member of other insurance companies (since 2003 and 2009). Prof. Wandt frequently writes expert opinions on European and German insurance and reinsurance law, contract, and tort law. He acts as an arbitrator and a mediator in these areas.