Ms. Preeti Chandrashekhar is a seasoned insurance and pension leader with nearly 35 years of experience spread across industry and consulting. As the first elected women President of the Institute of Actuaries of India, her focus is on attracting bright young minds to the profession, collaboration and value creation for sustainable growth of the profession.

Leadership Philosophy:
A firm believer in developing a growth mindset she constantly challenges the status quo for herself as well as her team. She firmly believes that today’s complex problems need a collaborative approach since one single profession cannot address the myriad of issues.

Education & Credentials:
Preeti holds an M.Sc and M.Phil in Statistics from University of Delhi and is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Actuaries of India and Institute and Faculty of Actuaries UK. She is a panel and committee member in several committees of the government and interacts with policy makers in matters relating to design and risk management relating to pension, social security and employee benefits in the macroeconomic context in India. She is often quoted in the media and has co-authored several papers in areas of Pension and Enterprise Risk Management.

Key Achievements:
In her recent role at Mercer as the India Business Leader for Health and Wealth, she provided advice to companies on managing long terms costs and risks for employee benefits through actuarial advice, evaluating design alternatives for employee benefits, governance and risk management and communication strategies for better employee engagement

• She has rich industry experience in areas of design and implementation of pensions and has worked extensively in the Actuarial valuation of Pension and Group Schemes, Pricing of Voluntary Retirement Schemes and Annuity products

• She has program managed and implemented a DB to DC pension transformation program for a multinational Bank in SriLanka. As part of this, the work included assessing risks across various stakeholders including beneficiaries, engagement with employee groups, designing and implementation of employee communication.

• At Infosys, she led a team of insurance experts in conceptualizing a solution on Risk Based Capital and Solvency 2 and has authored several papers on the subject. She is a regular speaker at client and industry events of financial and actuarial issues and has been quoted several times in media. She has authored several international and national papers discussing issues relating to the insurance and pension industry.

Mr. G N Agarwal, a Fellow Member of the Institute of Actuaries of India is Actuary of National repute. He has been President of Institute of Actuaries of India for four years from 2006 to 2010 and before that he was Vice President as also Chief Editor of the magazine “The Actuary India”. Mr. Agarwal has worked as a Member of the International Actuarial Association, Insurance Advisory Committee of IRDA, Risk Based Capital Steering Committee of IRDAI and Appellate Authority constituted under CA Act, 1949 by Government of India.

Mr. Agarwal has held some notable positions during last two decades such as Executive Director in LIC, Chief Executive Officer & Whole Time Director of Future Generali India Life Insurance Co. Ltd. Presently he is serving as Independent Director of a Life and a General Insurance Company of India.

Mr. Agarwal’s special achievements include conducting Mortality Investigation of Annuitant Lives in India in 1999 - Mortality Table LIC (a) (1996-98).

Akshesh Shah – a partly qualified actuary with 2.5 years of experience in the actuarial industry working, across various verticals of practice including General Insurance, Employee Benefits and Life Insurance.

A proud member of the Institute of Actuaries of India for the past 4 years, he has successfully cleared 11 professional examinations.

Currently with BDO India, Akshesh applies his skills to deliver actuarial solutions while gaining diverse exposure to industry practices. Beyond his corporate responsibilities, he is passionate about education and mentorship — serving as faculty at Thakur College of Science and Commerce and at Actuarial Edge, where he guides aspiring actuaries and bridges the gap between academic learning and industry application.

Riddhi is a qualified Actuary accredited by The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA), with a Bachelor's degree in Commerce. She brings with her over 7.5 years of work experience in the Life Insurance domain.

Throughout her career, Riddhi has worked across a variety of actuarial functions, including shareholder reporting, business planning, and actuarial modelling. She is here with us today to connect with others who share the same passion for numbers and problem-solving.

Vinit is an experienced professional with approximately a decade of expertise in Property & Casualty Insurance, UK Pensions, and Pensions Consulting. He specializes in Actuarial Advisory services for multinational companies, focusing on risk placement and management. Presently, he heads the Analytics Solutions UK team at Marsh. His skills encompass claim analysis, actuarial services, process enhancement, and digital transformation. Vinit is a qualified Actuary accredited by the IFoA and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Mumbai.