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.

Yash Murarka

Pre-Sales & Actuarial Modelling Consultant

Yash is a seasoned actuary with over seven years of experience in the life insurance industry, specializing in managing business metrics. His expertise lies in modelling life insurance products using conventional actuarial methods. Yash's proficiency in actuarial principles, stakeholder management combined with his ability to build strong relationships, enables him to collaborate effectively and develop streamlined solutions.

Throughout his career, Yash has held roles in prominent life insurance companies, including Tata AIA Life and Canara HSBC Life. His achievements include successfully implementing projects, enhancing operational efficiency, improving team performance, and playing a key role in decision-making and strategic planning.

João Da Silva

Head of Platform Development & Architecture

João has worked in the software industry since 1994, gaining experience across many industries and organisations, from banking to point-of-sale systems, using a variety of development languages and technologies. In 2004 João took a break from IT to study his first passion, building architecture. His profound love for design later steered him back into IT, this time concentrating on software and cloud architecture.

João oversees the entire platform architechure while also leading the development team. He plays a pivotal role in driving the successful implementation of current workloads and is at the forefront of steering future advancements for the Mo.net platform.

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.

Jessica Bedford

Finance Director

Jessica has worked in accounting and finance for over 15 years. She began her career in Practice where she qualified as a Chartered Accountant. Here she specialised in Audit which provided a good understanding of the influence finance teams can have on the strategy and profitability of a business, as well as experience in the importance of effective systems and controls.

In recent years Jessica has worked in the Actuarial sector, being involved in a broad range of finance function tasks, including responsibility for the introduction of new finance software. Jessica oversees the finance department at Software Alliance, playing a pivotal role in ensuring the long-term success of the company and representing finance at 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.

Omolade Ajibade

Helpdesk Manager & Infrastructure Consultant

Omolade is a highly skilled and experienced technical consultant. He began his career as a front-end developer, transitioned to 1st line engineer, then refined technical skills as 2nd line engineer working closely with customers to implement innovative solutions. Omolade has also gained experience in network engineering, cloud technologies, and cybersecurity.

In his current role as Helpdesk Manager and Infrastructure Consultant at SAL, he oversees the Software Alliance helpdesk, liaising with customers and answering queries quickly and efficiently. Omolade is also responsible for offering strategic recommendations to optimise IT systems and enhance overall efficiency.

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.

Board

Guy Shepherd

CEO & Director
Guy serves on SAL's Board in addition to his role as CEO. Please see above for his full bio.

Stephen Curle

Founder & Director
Stephen represents SAL on the Board. Please see above for his full bio.

Lee Schopp

Chair & Director

Jessica Bedford

Company Secretary
Jessica serves on SAL's Board in addition to her role as Finance Director. Please see above for her full bio.

Gerry Gallagher

Advisor to the Board