Experience + Focus = Excellence.

Mission

Our mission is to create innovative insurance solutions for stakeholders by combining the strength of leading Canadian Insurers to provide true risk transfer and nuclear risk management for our clients.
Experience + Focus = Excellence.

Values

• Experience. Expertise in nuclear insurance on a global scale and how it translates to Canadian business.
• Value. There is no way Insurers, individually, could create a centre of excellence. NIAC’s specialty is in this business and NIAC is continually striving to provide value to the various sectors of our industry.
• Integrity. NIAC strives to provide equitable treatment to clients and members, carefully balancing the needs of both.
• Good Governance. NIAC, because of inter-related dependencies provides good governance due to being in our particular niche. Good governance also creates our value.
• Dependability. We are financially strong because members of NIAC are top rated insurers.
• Innovation. NIAC provides true risk transfer solutions for nuclear liability and property insurance.

What We Do

We specialize in high quality insurance risk management, underwriting and inspections for Canadian nuclear exposures. We provide true risk transfer, secure insurance capacity and collaborate with the world’s nuclear experts to create innovative domestic solutions for our clients and members.

Whom We Serve

The benefit of our experience works for all stakeholders: insured clients, members, multi-level government agencies and all Canadians. Since 1958 NIAC has had a history of partnering with Insurers around the globe to create reliable risk management for the nuclear industry.

What We Stand For

NIAC stands for the value of excellence. We offer Canadian risk solutions, thought leadership and expertise that provides security and confidence to our customers and members. NIAC is passionate in leading the domestic nuclear industry in the areas of nuclear insurance law, good governance and claims administration and we collaborate with the world’s leading experts to create a true Centre of Excellence.

Why NIAC Exists

Governments and industry are aware of the need for financially strong insurance for the sustainability of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. NIAC is a voluntary, non-profit, unincorporated association of insurers forming liability and property damage pools - insuring nuclear installations, suppliers and transportation of nuclear substances in Canada.

Who Runs NIAC

A committee of member companies provides oversight for NIAC. Pool members are property/casualty insurers, reinsurers and Lloyd's Underwriters licensed in Canada and approved by committee. The association employs in-house staff and specialists to manage the underwriting and administration of the pool operations.

Staff Profiles

Chair

Jean-Raymond Kingsley

MSc ACAS

Jean-Raymond Kingsley is Senior Vice President and Chief Agent for the Canadian operation of Odyssey Reinsurance Company, a subsidiary of Odyssey Group Holdings Corp. (“OdysseyRe”), a leading worldwide underwriter of reinsurance and specialty insurance. Odyssey Group’s worldwide gross premiums written in 2021 were $4.4 billion. OdysseyRe is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited a financial services holding company.

Prior to joining OdysseyRe in November 2010, Jean-Raymond held the position of Vice President underwriting specialty casualty at PartnerRe for 8 months, before the acquisition of ParisRe by PartnerRe, Jean-Raymond was Chief Underwriting Officer at ParisRe and also held different role in the underwriting department including responsibilities of pricing actuaries since 2006. His experience also includes AXA Canada for 17 years, and 4 years in actuarial consultation roles.

Jean-Raymond graduated from Montreal University with a bachelor degree in Mathematics in 1984, followed by a Master Degree in Statistics in 1986. He received his ACAS (Associate Casualty Actuarial Society) certification in 1995.

General Manager

Colleen P. DeMerchant

FCIP, CRM

Colleen DeMerchant is General Manager. She joined NIAC in 1997 and promoted to her current role in 2012.

As General Manager, she leads key strategic endeavours and has transformed NIAC into a dynamic team of insurance and nuclear engineering professionals, maintaining the confidence of world-class insurers, reinsurers and Lloyds in order to provide the Canadian nuclear industry with top-tier insurance capacity and specialized expertise in these very unique areas.  Colleen, a recognized expert in the complex Canadian nuclear insurance regime has presented talks and seminars to assist insurers and other stakeholders in the understanding of nuclear liability regimes and their roles within the broader insurance industry. 

Always looking for ways to bring clarity to the complex world of nuclear and the complex world of insurance, Colleen, along with the capable expertise of Brian DeBruin of AON New York, have produced a paper to explain the generally accepted General Liability nuclear exclusion language, for both the Canadian context as well as the American context.

Colleen fosters strong collaboration with nuclear insurance pools around the world because a nuclear loss anywhere is a nuclear loss everywhere.

A former Casualty Manager of the Insurers’ Advisory Organization (IAO), and prior spent 12 years in one of Canada’s leading Property/Casualty Insurers, she brings more than 40 years of general insurance experience to the organization.

Colleen is a Fellow Chartered Insurance Professional (FCIP) through the Insurance Institute of Canada and holds a Canadian Risk Management (CRM) designation.

 

Underwriter

Eileen Ho

BComm, CRM, FCIP

Eileen supports NIAC’s management team to implement underwriting/claims management strategies, develop products, build business relationships, manage compliances, and enhance administrative processes.

Prior to joining NIAC, she held a variety of senior underwriting and management roles with global insurance companies. Her experiences include technical underwriting and product development in global Property, Casualty, Marine, and Environmental Liabilities.

Eileen graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Finance and Economics. She also holds a Canadian Risk Management (CRM) designation and is a Fellow Chartered Insurance Professional (FCIP).