Shamik Dhar, Director Economist, Deer Run Advisory
Shamik has 40 years experience as a macroeconomist, half in the public sector and half in the private sector.
Starting as an economic assistant at H.M.Treasury in the mid-1980s, Shamik moved to Oxford Economic Forecasting in the late 1980s during accession to the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) and the early ‘90s recession. He joined the Bank of England in 1992, just before the UK’s ejection from the ERM, and was asked to run the forecast process in the early days of inflation targeting, ending up managing the Monetary Policy Division in the late 1990s. He joined Aviva Investors (Morley Fund Management at the time) in 2000.
He co-founded Fathom Consulting in 2004, and returned to Aviva Investors in 2009, where he advised on GFC ripples, including the euro crises of the early 2010s.
In 2014, he returned to the public sector, joining the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) as Chief Economist. In 2018, he joined BNY Mellon Investment Management (now BNY investments) as Global Chief Economist.
Darren Pain, Director of Research, Geneva Association
An economist by training, Darren is the Geneva Association’s Director of Research. Alongside managing the think tank’s overall research programme, he leads and undertakes research on cyber and evolving liability topics. His recent studies include reports on cyber risk accumulation, the drivers and implications of social inflation for liability claims and the role insurers can play in supporting digital entrepreneurship.
Prior to joining The Geneva Association, Darren worked at the Swiss Re Institute, researching and writing about strategic issues facing the re/insurance sector, both life and non-life, such as product innovation in insurance, changing mortality/longevity trends and understanding cyber risk.
Before Swiss Re, Darren had a career in central banking, working for both the Bank of England and the European Central Bank. Starting out in macroeconomic forecasting, he progressed through various analyst and managerial roles spanning the core analytical functions: monetary policy, financial stability and financial market operations.
