Canada leadership
As Chief Underwriting Officer (CUO), Stefanie McKay is responsible for leading and developing underwriting strategy across all lines of business within Victor’s Underwriting Management division. She focuses on delivering a high quality experience for our brokers and building on our strength in underwriting standards, product development and innovation.
Previously, Stefanie was a Senior Vice-President and Manager of the Errors and Omissions Underwriting department, which included Victor’s A&E, E&O and Technology departments. She was responsible for the overall underwriting of professional and general liability for professionals in the medical, legal, financial, miscellaneous and information technology business sectors, as well as for architects and engineers.
Stefanie joined Victor in 2000 as an underwriter in the Directors and Officers department after obtaining her Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Ottawa. In 2002, Stefanie joined the Errors and Omissions department where she managed large professional liability programs with a focus on programs for health care, legal and financial practitioners. Stefanie was appointed to Senior Vice-President in 2012 and CUO in March 2017. Stefanie has also earned the Registered Professional Liability Underwriter (RPLU) designation.
Tara McGuire is the strategic partner and advisor for human capital matters to the leadership team at various Victor operating companies. Her areas of responsibility include developing and executing human capital strategy and change initiatives, compensation, talent management process and employee relations.
Tara brings more than 20 years of Human Resources experience in talent acquisition, compensation/job evaluation, talent management programs, employee relations and HR systems to this position. She has an Honours Bachelor of Commerce degree majoring in Human Resources from the University of Ottawa.
She is a member of the Human Resources Professional Association (HRPA) and earned her Certified Human Resource Leader (CHRL) designation.
As Victor’s Claims Leader, Tanya Banfield leads the claims management team and is responsible for overseeing the strategic direction for claims management, and liaising with the company’s underwriting departments, carriers and service partners.
Since joining Victor in 2005, Tanya has gained in-depth knowledge of claims management through the various positions that she has held, including Manager of the D&O Claims department and Claims Analyst. Her previous experience includes practicing law in the private sector with a local litigation boutique firm.
Tanya obtained her Bachelor of Arts from Mount Allison University and her Bachelor of Laws from Dalhousie University. She is a member of the Law Society of Ontario.
In her role as the Group and Retiree Benefits Manager, Rhonda Sommerville is responsible for overseeing all aspects of Victor’s Group and Retiree Benefits division.
Rhonda has garnered extensive experience in the group benefits industry, holding a variety of positions within Victor during her more than 30 years with the company. She began her career at Victor in 1989 as a member of the Human Resources department. She quickly moved into a business role as a Client Service Representative, where she was responsible for building and maintaining client relationships. In 1991, she took on a sales role and was promoted to manage the Third Party Administration division in 1995. In 1997, she was made an Assistant Vice-President and she was promoted to Vice-President in 1999.
In 2001, Rhonda was appointed to the role of Senior Vice-President, with continued responsibility for managing the company’s Group Benefits operations. In 2004, she also assumed responsibility for managing the Retiree Benefits operations. Rhonda was appointed Managing Director in 2016.
A graduate of The University of Western Ontario, Rhonda holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology.
Robert De Mello is the Senior Information Technology Lead for Victor Canada. Leading the Canadian IT service delivery team, Robert provides management, leadership and digital strategy oversight for application development and infrastructure across multiple insurance programs.
With over 20 years of experience in IT service delivery, Robert is responsible for program management of strategic initiatives as well as “business as usual” activities. These initiatives support sales, policy placement/servicing, fiduciary, claims management and risk/compliance for both the Group and Retiree Benefits division and the Underwriting Management division.
Robert holds a B.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of Toronto and a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from the Project Management Institute.
As the Head of Marketing and Communications for Victor Canada, Barb Drysdale is a strategic partner to the company’s leadership team. She is responsible for overseeing key growth and communications initiatives for the three Canadian insurance businesses, including commercial insurance, group benefits and retirement insurance.
Barb brings more than 25 years of marketing, communications, management and business transformation experience to this role. She is a leader known for focusing on high impact outcomes, with an ability to find creative, cost-effective solutions that meet business needs. Prior to joining Victor, she held a number of marketing and communications leadership roles in organizations across Canada, including the University of British Columbia (UBC), NATIONAL Public Relations, Opsis Communications and KPMG.
A graduate of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Barb holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science. Her continuing education includes earning a Certificate in Digital Marketing from UBC, where she was recognized as the class valedictorian based on academic achievement.
Stéphane Renaud is the Chief Actuary for Victor Canada. He is responsible for Victor Canada’s various actuarial functions, such as large account pricing, ratemaking, program assessments and aggregate loss reserving. In addition to his actuarial responsibilities, Stéphane is also highly involved in other Victor Canada operations related to data analytics, forecasting, insurer relationships, auditing and various strategic decisions.
Stéphane joined Victor Canada as an actuarial analyst in 2003. He was appointed manager of the Actuarial Department in 2009 and promoted to Managing Director in 2020.
Stéphane holds a Bachelor of Mathematics from the University of Waterloo, where he specialized in the field of Actuarial Science. After obtaining the status of Associate of the Casualty Actuarial Society in 2007, he achieved the status of Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society in 2009. Stéphane is also a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries.
Global leadership
Charles Williamson
Chief Executive Officer, Victor
Alex Arias
Country Manager, Victor Germany
Michael Ashkar
Principal Legal Support, Victor
Mark Bates
Chief Operating Officer, Victor
Matteo Bonfà
Country Manager, Victor Italy
Tim Carter
Chief Underwriting Officer, Victor Interim International Leader
Ashleigh Cashman
President, ICAT
Kristen Coffel
Global Head of Marketing, Victor
David Cook
President, Victor Canada
Michael Ferber
Head of Victor Small Business
Carie Ferdani
Chief Operating Officer, Victor US & ICAT
Melanie Herman
General Manager, Victor Australia
Tara McGuire
Senior Human Resources Business Partner, Victor
Tara McGuire is the strategic partner and advisor for human capital matters to the leadership team at various Victor operating companies. Her areas of responsibility include developing and executing human capital strategy and change initiatives, compensation, talent management process and employee relations.
Tara brings more than 20 years of Human Resources experience in talent acquisition, compensation/job evaluation, talent management programs, employee relations and HR systems to this position. She has an Honours Bachelor of Commerce degree majoring in Human Resources from the University of Ottawa.
She is a member of the Human Resources Professional Association (HRPA) and earned her Certified Human Resource Leader (CHRL) designation.
John (Jack) Sallada
President, Victor Access
Jack Sallada is President of Victor Access, Victor’s wholesale brokerage. He is responsible for overall strategy and delivery of client solutions within the wholesale-only US E&S marketplace.
Jack brings over 25 years of experience in the insurance industry. Prior to Victor, he served in a variety of leadership roles with steadily increasing responsibility at Marsh, and most recently served as the Risk Practice Leader of its Qualified Solutions Group, a unit he helped create.
Jack holds a BA in History from Colgate University in Hamilton, NY.
John Stephenson
CEO Victor UK & Australia
John Stephenson is responsible for developing the vision and strategic direction for Victor's businesses in the UK and Australia
John joined Victor UK (formerly Bluefin Underwriting) in 2011, bringing more than 20 years of industry experience. He started his career with UK broker Helm Group, then spent seven years at Bluefin Insurance Services where he held a number of positions before being appointed Commercial Director of Bluefin Underwriting in 2015. He brings a unique expertise in sales, distribution and operational excellence and has been instrumental in Victor UK's digital transformation and growth of third party distribution networks.
Venkat Swaminathan
Chief Information Officer
Venkat Swaminathan is Chief Information Officer for Victor. He is responsible for all aspects of technology, including formulating the overall strategic vision, leading all aspects of application development, infrastructure, quality assurance, maintenance, end-user support, emerging technology and innovation.
Prior to Victor, Venkat led a global technology team at Prudential focused on accelerating digital transformation and modernizing its core systems and has previously held a range of leadership positions at Verizon, JetBlue, Rational Retention LLC and Microsoft. In his current role, he oversees the implementation of digital portal strategies and automated solutions to align with business strategy and growth. In addition, he collaborates with the executive team to make decisions around product strategy, concept and architecture, as well as driving IT delivery to adhere to government, industry, and organization compliance and security standards.
Venkat holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from the Institution of Engineers of India (IEI).