Chris is VP, Underwriting at Northwestern Mutual. In this role, Chris leads all new business operations and risk standards for the company’s life, disability and long-term care product lines. Chris also leads underwriting innovation with the goal of transforming how NM selects and stratifies risk. In this role Chris is focused on improving client experience, generating operational agility and improving mortality and morbidity outcomes. Chris joined NM in October, 2021

Norm has served over 20 years in leadership positions with local, regional, and national underwriting organizations and associations. He is most proud of being involved in several strategic initiatives to advance the value of the underwriting profession across North America and was honored to be recognized by his peers as a 2019 inductee into the AHOU Hall of Fame.   

Sears oversees Mass Mutual's technology strategy by bringing together Technology & Data, Digital Experience, Platform Transformation and Enterprise Cyber Security. Before joining Mass Mutual, Sears founded a startup that designed and implemented a real-time machine learning and inference platform  for predicting within-competition events in college and professional basketball games. He was previously responsible for architecting one of the nation's first regional telehealth networks in Colorado. 

Lauren is responsible for analyzing and monitoring the impact of new and evolving product, underwriting, and wellness offerings on pricing assumptions, as well as negotiating and implementing reinsurance rates and terms that support John Hancock's innovative life insurance products and underwriting processes. She co-chaired the Society of Actuaries SI/AUW/VM20 Practice Work Group to examine the treatment of Accelerated Underwriting under Principles Based reserving (PBR), and is a frequent participant in industry projects and forums involving underwriting, mortality, reinsurance, and behavioral insurance. Lauren is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA) and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries (MAAA). 

Cassi Chandler is an innovator, strategist, investigator, and leader who has broken barriers, led diverse teams, and built cultures of motivational leadership and inclusivity at some of the world's most important organizations, including Bank of America and the FBI. In a career that has included many "firsts" across the U.S. government and financial services industries, she served as the FBI's first African American female special agent assistant director as well as the Bureau's first female national spokesperson and director of public and community affairs. The founder, president, and CEO of Vigeo Alliance - a leadership and talent rist management partner helping organizations elevate their cultures through diversity and inclusion - Chandler is dedicated to helping organizations position themselves for success by building more diverse and inclusive cultures that thrive. 

Exclusively represented by Leading Authorities speakers bureau, Chandler draws from her personal experiences leading diverse teams as a change agent in a broad range of fields to facilitate honest conversations on what can be achieved when organizations go "all in" on diversity. In addition to defining the tools motivational leaders need to mindfully build more high-performing cultures, Chandler provides actionable insights on how to move the needle while leading with empathy. An engaging storyteller, she immerses audiences as she retraces her journey reinvigorating the world's leading intelligence organizations in the post-9/11 landscape, managing risk, and driving global equity at one of the world's top multi-national banks. Her exploration of the influences that impact perceptions of diversity is integral for any organization focused on establishing a more inclusive vision. 

Prior to Vigeo Alliance, Chandler was senior vice president of business operations at Bank of America, where she led enterprise-wide teams and developed integrated frameworks for identifying and addressing cybercrimes, fraud trends, and consumer risks. She also served on the corporation's Global Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council and led the bank's compliance relationships with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Before Bank of America, she spent 23 years with the FBI, where she directed white collar crimes, financial crimes, terrorism, and cybercrimes investigations and foreign intelligence activities, while also leading the evolution of its healthcare fraud and criminal and domestic terrorism intelligence program.

Chandler continues to drive organizational change as the CEO of Chandler Consulting and a former adjunct professor on intelligence and terrorism at Pace University's master's in public safety and homeland security graduate program. As part of her commitment to impacting progress, Chandler served as an independent federal monitor with the NYPD, is an instructor at the Pacific Coast Banking School, and a member of the League of Women Voters and Rotary Club International. She also served on the U.S. Marine Corps Red Team, which monitored the Corps' assessment of expanding infantry officer roles to women, and on numerous charitable and diversity boards. She is currently a member of the Board of Direcotrs of Leafly Holdings, Inc. 

Chandler's groundbreaking accomplishments have been recognized through numerous awards, including the Senior Executive Service Presidential Rank Award of Meritorious Executive under President George W. Bush, the National Center for Women & Policing's "Breaking the Glass Ceiling" award, and the Norfolk NAACP Trailblazer Award. She earned her B.A. from Louisiana State University, where she serves on the board of alumni association, and her J.D. from Loyola University School of Law, where she is a member of the board of trustees.