Leadership

Guy Shepherd

CEO

Guy has more than 30 years of experience developing and implementing insurance technology solutions, working in large insurance groups, both directly and as an advisor. Guy's career started at Prudential Assurance where he held a number of roles including Head of Actuarial Systems, Head of Business Intelligence, and Head of Group Wide IT Solution Design for Solvency II.

Prior to joining SAL, Guy worked as a consultant, first as head of the Life Modelling Practice at PwC, and then as a director at Quintant Partners, a boutique consulting firm focused on the design and implementation of actuarial systems & modelling strategy for a wide range of clients.

Mike Zhang

Head of Development and Infrastructure

Mike has over 20 years of experience in the software industry, spanning sectors such as medical, fashion, cybersecurity, and SaaS. With strong expertise across both front-end and back-end development, he brings deep knowledge of modern software architecture, frameworks, and design principles.

Throughout his career, Mike has worked closely with startups and scale-ups, gaining hands-on experience in product development, business strategy, and commercial delivery.

He currently leads the Software and Infrastructure Engineering team, driving the ongoing modernisation of the Mo.net platform and ensuring the team delivers innovative, high-quality solutions that strengthen our leadership in the rapidly evolving insurance landscape.

Clare Stone

Product Manager & Head of Consulting

Clare has worked in the financial services industry for more than 20 years. Clare started her career at Unum and then moved to Prudential where she worked in the actuarial world of stochastic modelling for 12 years, having been responsible for a team of people running stochastic models and then latterly as the release manager for the stochastic modelling suite. Clare's expertise lies in the knowledge of the end-to-end process of running modelling software and an understanding of how to turn modelling requirements into results.

Juliette Brown

Operations Director

With a Masters degree in HR Strategy, Juliette started her career in HR Advisory within the Tax business at Deloitte & Touche. After moving to the People & Change Consultancy at KPMG, she built up experience of both large-scale implementation projects & more focussed people & organisation transformation work, for a broad range of both government and commercial clients.

Following a career break to raise a family, Juliette applied her process and operational experience to establishing the back-office function within a fintech startup. Juliette’s role at SAL is to oversee the operational activities to ensure the business objectives are met efficiently and effectively.

Joanna Jones

Financial Controller

Jo has more than 30 years of experience in accounting and financial management. A qualified chartered accountant, her career started with a solid grounding in audit practice including an oversees post with PwC in Botswana. On leaving audit, she gained extensive experience in various industries and financial management disciplines, including serving as the finance director for a Pan-African real estate group for 16 years and concurrently sat on the Board of a Botswana-listed investment property group for 9 years.

As well as being proficient in performing finance function tasks, she also has experience in the areas of risk management, corporate governance, fund raising and asset management.

Jo oversees the finance function at Software Alliance, playing a pivotal role in ensuring the long-term success of the company, reporting both internally to management and to the Board.

Development & Support

Stephen Curle

Founder and Consultant

Stephen qualified as an actuary while working for Standard Life. He left Standard Life 20 years ago to form Software Alliance and has since been working to develop Mo.net into a leading financial modelling solution. He continues to work with Software Alliance's development team on a consultancy basis. Stephen has a deep understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of various financial modelling solutions and, in particular, how to get the best from Mo.net's capabilities.

Luke Mackin

Test Analyst

Luke started his testing career at LBG as an apprentice where he received a placement in the UAT Testing Team. After completing the apprenticeship he went on to become a Test Analyst with a primary focus on the bank desktop and mobile applications. Luke has completed his ISTQB Foundation Level Certification and has continued to improve his skillset whilst developing a strong interest in automation and software development.

Luke works closely with members of the SAL development team to design and execute testing in accordance with the QA best practice framework.

Abdi Ahmed

Test Analyst

With an Honours degree in Information Systems Management, Abdi has worked as a software tester for over 8 years, leading the testing efforts on small to medium sized projects for web and desktop based applications. Having recently moved to the UK from New Zealand, he is an ISTQB certified tester and has experience in functional, performance and automation testing. His commitment to excellence and attention to detail ensures products meet the highest standards before reaching end users.

Abdi is responsible for analysing, developing and executing automated tests of the SAL financial modelling platform as well as working closely with the development team to improve software quality.

Kayleigh O'Rourke

Executive Assistant

Kayleigh holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music Technology and furthered her expertise in Digital Marketing. Following University she worked as a Psychiatric Medical Secretary for the HSE, handling all administrative tasks for the South Kerry Mental Health Team in her home country of Ireland.

Prior to joining SAL, she served as a Quality Evaluator for Meta, overseeing intellectual property reports for Instagram and Facebook. In this position, she managed a large team, conducted workshops, and provided training and feedback to ensure compliance with Meta's KPIs.

Kayleigh is responsible for providing business administration support to the CEO and Management Team, as well as overseeing the company’s marketing initiatives.



Lawrence Tsang

Back-End Desktop Developer

Prior to joining SAL, Lawrence worked for 10 years in the clinical technology field in Hong Kong. In 2022, he immigrated to UK with his family to continue his career in the IT industry. Lawrence has experience developing enterprise level IT systems and is specialized in Microsoft .NET and MSSQL. He also holds a MSc in Chinese at the University of Hong Kong.

Lawrence is responsible for analysing, designing, and building the back-end of new systems, as well as making enhancements to existing systems.

Cameron Milne

Software Developer

Before joining SAL, Cameron gained an MMus in piano performance and continued to develop his skills as a musician, teacher, and performer. He recently started developing websites for a friend and discovered a new passion for programming and development.

Cameron is now on a level 4 software developer apprenticeship program with Estio Training and is working at SAL full-time as a junior developer. He is responsible for the front-end Angular development of the SAL web apps and assisting with maintenance and migration.