Bruce Ballentine is a Vice President – Senior Credit Officer in the insurance rating group at Moody’s Ratings. He is the lead analyst for several major property & casualty insurers as well as insurance brokers and service companies. He also writes and speaks on various insurance industry themes. Bruce has worked at Moody’s since 2005 and in 1991-1995, and has done insurance related work at ABN AMRO Bank and The Bank of New York. Bruce holds a BA in geology from Harvard College and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Wayne  Peacock  is  the  president  and  chief  executive  officer  of USAA,  with  more  than  30  years  of  experience  at  the  company. Founded  in  1922  as  an  insurance  association  serving  military families,  USAA  is  one  of  America’s  leading  financial  services companies. It  offers  insurance,  banking,  and  investment  and retirement solutions to its more than 13 million members. The company is headquartered in San Antonio, with offices in the U.S. and Europe, and owns assets of approximately $200billion.

A proud USAA member for more than 30 years, Peacock joined the company in 1988 in its real estate investment subsidiary and has served on the Executive Council since 2006. During his tenure at USAA, he has led teams across the organization, including contact centers,    information    technology,    shared    services,    strategy,    marketing    and communications, security, and corporate real estate. Before becoming CEO in February 2020, Peacock was president of USAA’s Property & Casualty Insurance Group, the fifth-largest auto insurance carrier and third-largest homeowners insurance carrier.

USAA  ranks  94th  on  the  Fortune  500  and  27th  on  Fortune’s  World’s  Most  Admired Companies  and  sixth  on  its  America's  Best  Employers  for  Veterans  2020  list.  The company is committed to giving at least 1% of its pre-tax income to nonprofits, with 60% prioritized for military causes. 

Peacock is a member of USAA’s Board of Directors and USAA’s Federal Savings Bank Board of Directors. He is a member of the Business Roundtable(BRT), an association of CEOs of America’s leading companies, and an inaugural member of the Federal Reserve Board’s Insurance Policy Advisory Committee. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of  The  Institutes, a risk  management  and  insurance  knowledge  provider,  and  on  the Board  of  Directors  for  the  Insurance  Information  Institute. He is active  in  community, industry and trade groups, and is a proud Eagle Scout.

Peacock graduated from Tulane University with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics. He has completed executive education programs at Harvard, Duke and Stanford universities and the American Institute of CPCU Executive Education Program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Michael Fruchter is a Vice President – Senior Credit Officer in the Financial Institutions Group of Moody’s Investors Service. Michael is responsible for a portfolio of U.S. life insurance companies and has more than20 years of life insurance experience. Prior to joining Moody’s, Michael worked as an actuary in KPMG’s Financial Risk Management group.  

Michael holds a B.A. in mathematics from Yeshiva University. He is a fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a CFA charter-holder. 

Eric Steigerwalt is the president and chief executive officer of Brighthouse Financial. Brighthouse Financial was established by MetLife in 2016 and is a major provider of annuity and life insurance solutions in the U.S.

Prior to his current role, Steigerwalt was executive vice president of MetLife’s U.S. Retail business. He was appointed to this position in February 2012. During 2012, Steigerwalt also served as MetLife’s interim chief financial officer.

Steigerwalt held multiple leadership roles at MetLife over the course of 18 years. He served as chief financial officer for MetLife’s U.S. businesses, as well as the company’s corporate treasurer. Steigerwalt began his tenure at MetLife in 1998, managing many of the operational aspects of MetLife’s demutualization and IPO, and went on to become the company’s first head of investor relations.

Before joining MetLife, Steigerwalt worked in finance at the Equitable Companies and at the Fossett Corporation where he was a derivatives trader.

Steigerwalt is the chairman, president and CEO of Brighthouse Life Insurance Company. He serves on the board of directors for the American Council of Life Insurers and the Wells Fargo Championship’s Champions for Education foundation and is a member of the executive committee for the Learning Society at Queens University of Charlotte. Steigerwalt is also executive sponsor of Brighthouse Financial Scholar Connections and will be chairman of the foundation board.

Steigerwalt graduated from Drew University with a bachelor’s degree in economics.

Sarah Hibler is an Associate Managing Director in the Property and Casualty Group at Moody’s Ratings. She is responsible for managing analysts who cover a broad array of P&C insurers, reinsurers and insurance brokers. Prior to joining Moody’s in 1997, Ms. Hibler was a senior manager in the mergers & acquisitions practice of Deloitte & Touche LLP in New York City. At Deloitte & Touche, she also worked for a number of years in both the New York and London offices providing auditing and consulting services to insurance companies.

Ms. Hibler holds a degree in business administration from the University of Michigan and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Weston M. Hicks is the Chief Executive Officer of Alleghany Corporation, a New York-based holding company whose principal operating businesses are in the commercial property and casualty reinsurance and insurance industries.

Mr. Hicks joined Alleghany Corporation in October of 2002 as Executive Vice President, and became CEO in December of 2004.  Prior to joining Alleghany Corporation, Mr. Hicks was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for The Chubb Corporation, from March of 2001 through September of 2002.

From March, 1991 through March, 2001, Mr. Hicks was an equity research analyst covering the property and casualty and multiline insurance industry.  From 1991 through 1999 he was with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., Inc., and from February of 1999 through March of 2001 he was with J.P. Morgan Securities.  While an analyst, Mr. Hicks was ranked as the #1 property and casualty industry analyst by Institutional Investor magazine for seven consecutive years.

From March of 1986 through March of 1991, Mr. Hicks was an Associate Director with Moody’s Investors Service, where he was responsible for the firm’s global credit ratings of insurance companies.  From June of 1982 through March of 1986 Mr. Hicks was a commercial banker, primarily with Bank of America.  Mr. Hicks started his career in June of 1979 as an accountant with Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co.

Mr. Hicks is a chartered financial analyst, and was a certified public accountant until converting to inactive status following his career in public accounting.  He graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business and Economics from Lehigh University.  He was elected Phi Beta Kappa while at Lehigh.  Mr. Hicks is a member of the New York Society of Securities Analysts, a member of The CFA Institute, and a past President of the Association of Insurance and Financial Analysts. 

Colin is General Manager of Insurance Solutions at Moody’s Analytics. The bulk of Colin’s career has been spent in financial risk management with Barrie & Hibbert (B&H) and Moody’s Analytics. During his time at B&H, Colin had a broad involvement across the business, working within a range of technical, management and customer-focused roles, in the UK, Europe and the US. The business’ growth resulted in the acquisition of B&H by Moody’s Analytics in 2011. Since joining Moody’s Analytics, Colin has been involved across the ERS Insurance business, focused on implementation services. In his current role, Colin has overall responsibility for the Enterprise Risk Solutions business in the insurance sector.

Simon Harris is Managing Director for Global Financial Institutions, based in London. He is responsible for Moody’s analytic teams maintaining Moody’s ratings on banks and finance companies, re/insurers and funds and asset management globally.

Simon joined Moody’s European Insurance team in 1998, working on analysis of UK and German life and non-life insurance groups, and prior to his current role held various managerial responsibilities, including EMEA Insurance, Nordic Banking and Global Insurance and Managed Investments.

Prior to joining Moody’s, Simon was an actuary with Co-operative Financial Services in Manchester, England. Simon holds a B.A. in Economics from Leeds University, and is a Fellow of the UK Institute of Actuaries (FIA).

Born in 1974 in Bergisch Gladbach in Germany, Christoph Jurecka graduated with a diploma in technical physics and a PhD in theoretical physics from the technical universities of Graz in Austria and Braunschweig in Germany.

After holding various roles in the Winterthur and AXA Group, Christoph joined Munich Re Group in 2011 as Chief Financial Officer of ERGO. In January 2019 he was appointed Chief Financial Officer and a Member of the Board of Management of Munich Re.