Byron’s experience over the past decade includes a plethora of cross-class responsibilities within the (Re)Insurance industry, having held both analytical and transactional roles at several leading insurance organisations, including Argo Syndicate 1200, Chubb, and Aon. As well as founding an analytics and targeted client acquisition business, Byron has supported the capacity acquisition, product development, and growth strategies of a number of market leading MGAs. Byron’s commitment in the co-founding of Ignite is driven by a strong appetite to further develop the harmonisation of Insurance and Commercial Litigation.

byron.sumner@ignitespecialty.com

David has worked in the Legal Expenses market for over 20 years and is a Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute. He has notable experience at a number of BTE and ATE insurance companies as well as most recently holding a senior management position at a leading reinsurer. David’s experience covers a wide breadth of ATE products, having insured high volume, low value claims, right through to multi–million international arbitrations. David drives Ignite’s ATE proposition forward and solidifies Ignite’s industry presence as the go-to market for ATE.

david.green@ignitespecialty.com

Nicole has a 20-year track record of success litigating complex disputes. She has worked at Winston & Strawn and Greenberg Traurig and has appeared before numerous courts and tribunals including before the US Supreme Court, various appellate and district courts, the ICDR, ICC, ICSID, UNCITRAL, and the USTR. Nicole’s experience in litigation finance includes her work at Validity Finance, where she supervised and advised on litigation matters including performing due diligence and underwriting portfolios of cases. As a funder, she worked with all aspects of litigation insurance, including ATE, judgment protection, contingency risk insurance, and capital protection insurance.

nicole.silver@ignitespecialty.com

Ankit serves as Ignite’s Head of IP Underwriting. He leverages his technical expertise to assess legal risks, negotiate insurance agreements, supervise and advise on insured litigation matters and manage claims. His experience also spans a wide array of disciplines including actuarial, underwriting, risk management, and operations.

Ankit began his career at Gibbons, specializing in complex commercial and patent litigation. He left Gibbons in 2014 to join Ambridge Partners LLC to launch market leading intellectual property insurance products and underwrite transactional and contingent liability insurance in the US and EMEA. Prior to joining Ignite, Patel led the Contingent Legal Risk Insurance team for the Americas at Liberty Mutual Corporation.

ankit.patel@ignitespecialty.com

As Client Relationship Director at Ignite, Tim serves as the primary liaison between the company and Mission’s supporting functions, including the digital team, vendors, finance, compliance, marketing, human capital and the client services team. Tim brings 20 years of insurance industry expertise to this role, as well as 5 years as a consultant.

Lisa Olney serves as Ignite Specialty Risk’s fractional Head of Marketing US. For over two decades, Lisa has been guiding lawyers and legal marketing professionals in strategic marketing and business development pursuits. She previously served as Chief Brand Officer for litigation funder Validity Finance, Chief Marketing Officer for securities litigation firm Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann, and Head of Marketing & Business Development for Littler, the world’s largest management-side labor and employment law firm, in addition to holding key marketing and business development roles at Seyfarth Shaw and Epstein Becker & Green.

Chris Leonardo serves as one of our outside strategic advisors. With almost 20 years of experience in litigation finance and risk transfer, he was previously GC for a publicly traded litigation finance fund with over $600mm in assets, then founder and managing partner of a funder-backed law firm generating billions for Fortune 500 clients. He co-founded two successful litigation finance companies and leads the litigation finance practice at his current firm, where he’s ranked in Chambers and LawDragon. He leverages his extensive experience and network on our behalf.