Board and Advisors

Our board and advisors give Montoux the strategic direction to drive innovation and change for life and health insurers.

The Montoux board

Claudia van der Salm

Claudia van der Salm

Claudia brings extensive executive insurance experience from Europe, USA, and Asia Pacific, most notably in her recent roles as Chief Investment Officer and Chief Risk Officer, Transamerica Life at Aegon. She has a passion for building the future of insurance and creating life time value for all stakeholders involved.

Serge van Dam

Serge van Dam

Chair Person

Serge is a full time director of multiple high growth tech companies. He was previously CMO of M-Com, driving its growth to be the world’s leading mobile banking platform - acquired by NASDAQ-listed Fiserv in 2011.

Sam Knowles

Sam Knowles

Sam was the founding CEO of KiwiBank, and has worked extensively in governance for growth companies, including as chairman at Xero and a Director of Synlait Ltd, both publicly listed companies.

Allan Dawson

Allan Dawson

Allan brings a wealth of governance, financial and international business experience to the Montoux Board, with a passion for supporting organisations and industries undergoing transformational change.  Currently serving as Chair of SaaS training software provider - Arlo Software Limited and a Board member of New Zealand's Electricity Authority (the industry regulator). Allan is a Chartered Accountant.

Allan Dawson

Klaas Stijnen

Klaas is the Chief Product Officer and Co-Founder at Montoux. He is an expert financial modeler, business actuary, and consultant with over a decade of experience working with some of the world's largest insurance brands in Europe and Asia, including PwC and Deloitte.

Advisors

Troy Thompson

Troy Thompson, FSA, MAAA

Troy Thompson joined Ethos in 2021 and serves as Chief Actuary. He is accountable for insurance products, carrier relations, underwriting, product performance and actuarial assumptions. Troy joined from Legal & General America where he served as Senior Vice President and Chief Actuary and was accountable for products, reinsurance, underwriting, data science and valuation. His career also includes non-actuarial roles including insurance and investment company operational leadership and enterprise transformation at USAA. A mathematics graduate with honors from The University of Texas, Troy is a Fellow in the Society of Actuaries and Member of the American Academy of Actuaries.

Steve Gathje

Steve Gathje

Steve Gathje worked as an actuary for almost 40 years before retiring in 2019. He held leadership roles at various life insurance, annuity and non-medical benefits companies. Most recently, from 2011 to 2019 he was Chief Actuary at Ameriprise.

During his professional career, he successfully led multiple actuarial function reorganizations which resulted in reduced turnover, reduced costs and higher effectiveness, implemented a number of large reinsurance transactions that resulted in lower risk, better returns and a more efficient use of capital, and played a key leadership role in the $1 billion sale of the life insurance and annuity business of a large multinational company

Jim Cristallo

Jim Cristallo, FSA, MAAA

Jim Cristallo has worked as an actuary and life insurance executive for over 20 years. He spent a vast majority of his career at New York Life Insurance Company in various finance and business leadership roles. His last role at NYL was leading the Individual Life product area, including business strategy, product management/development, competitive intelligence and third-party distribution. Prior to that, Jim successfully lead the Institutional Life business for 4 years. In 2021, Jim left NYL to pursue a new business endeavor. Jim graduated Tulane University with a degree in Mathematical Economics. He is a Fellow in the Society or Actuaries, Member of the American Academy of Actuaries and a Registered Representative and Principal.