Descartes Underwriting

Tanguy Touffut is CEO and Co-Founder of Descartes Underwriting, a market leader in corporate insurance against climate and emerging risks worldwide. Descartes’ parametric insurance products integrate machine learning with real-time monitoring from satellite imagery and IoT, to unlock risk insights and better protect corporate and public sector clients against natural perils. Headquartered in Paris, Descartes' team spans the globe with offices in New York, London, Madrid, Singapore, Sydney, Frankfurt, & Hong Kong. 

An insurance veteran, Tanguy began his career at Oliver Wyman Financial Services as a Project Manager specializing in banking and insurance, working in a dozen countries across Europe, North America and Africa. In 2010, Tanguy joined AXA as Head of Global Property and Casualty Strategy, before moving to AXA Corporate Solutions in 2013 as Head of Parametric Insurance and Agriculture, and subsequently CEO and Founder of AXA Global Parametrics. Tanguy holds a Master’s Degree in Science in Management from HEC Paris and a CEMS Master’s in International Management following his exchange at the University of St Gallen. He also studied in Tsinghua, China and holds a “DEA” in Economics awarded by l’Ecole Polytechnique, HEC and the EHESS. 

He is the father of two daughters, and a rugby enthusiast in his spare time.

Daniel Vetter serves as Head of North America at Descartes Underwriting, based in New York City. He has over 30 years of experience in the insurance industry.

He joined Descartes in late 2020 following an extensive career at Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, where he held various senior leadership roles in underwriting and business development. During his many years in the industry, Daniel has developed an extensive broker and client network in the large and mid-sized global property and casualty marketplace.

Violaine Raybaud serves as Chief Operating Officer at Descartes Underwriting. She has over 10 years of experience in the insurance industry, working in various roles across Europe and the Middle East.

Violaine started her career as a Client Manager at Swiss Re before moving to AXA Insurance Gulf, where she served as the Regional P&C Underwriting and Development Manager. After two years, she became the Chief of Staff for AXA's European markets. Violaine holds a degree in engineering from MINES ParisTech and actuarial science from the Institut de Statistique de l'Université de Paris. She also graduated from Lycée du Parc, where she studied mathematics, physics and engineering.

Vania Hernandez Bello is the Innovation Project Manager at Descartes Underwriting. She has over 8 years of experience in engineering & innovation, working in various roles across Europe and North America.

Vania started her career as an Engineer for Valeo. This role enabled her to combine her passion for the environment and develop innovative products, inevitably leading her to find herself at Descartes. Initially, Vania served as a Business Developer, but after seeing the pain points clients were experiencing, her interest in developing products to fill this void enabled her to have her current position. She currently coordinates Descartes' ESG task force to manage their carbon footprint, KPIs and strategy development regarding environmental issues.

Vania graduated from École Polytechnique, completing her master's in Energy Environment: Science Technology and Management (STEEM), focusing on environmental studies and renewable energy. She also has a diploma in Sustainable Development, is a conductor of The Climate Fresk and is a volunteer at Sustainability by Education, an NGO that educates children on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Neha Yadav serves as Business Development Director at Descartes Underwriting. She focuses on broker and client engagement to pursue the expansion of Descartes’ solutions across the APAC region. She previously worked with Aon Singapore as Associate Director at financial Institutions & SME Affinity Asia, where she engaged with clients in various sectors and gained extensive expertise in the insurance and risk management industry.

Neha has represented Descartes in panel discussions at the UNEP FI Regional Roundtable Asia Pacific in Seoul and the Asian Insurance Meet in Kathmandu in 2023, where she provided insights on how parametric insurance can meet the evolving climate challenges clients face in the region.

Neha brings a diverse professional and educational background that enables her to provide a multi- disciplinary outlook. With many experiences, Neha adds global, holistic and strategic thinking to the table. In addition to a Diploma in Liberal Studies, Neha holds an MBA and Master in International Relations from IE Business School, Spain.

Hervé Tong serves as a Senior R&D Data Scientist at Descartes Underwriting. He has over 5 years of experience in data science, working in various roles across France and Singapore. 

Hervé started his career as a Junior Data Analyst at Manty before moving to A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research), Singapore’s leading public research institute. In 2021, his passion for the climate and developing new risk models led him to Descartes. In June 2023, Hervé also became a facilitator at La Fresque du Climat to continue his passion for the climate outside of working hours and within Descartes for new joiners.

Hervé has graduated in Engineering and Computer Science/Artificial Intelligence from Ecole Centrale Paris and NUS.

Samia Mikou serves as a Data Scientist at Descartes Underwriting, where she works in the wildfire team. 

Before moving to NLP, she started her career as a Data Scientist at Input For You. She then worked as a Data Scientist at Carrefour, working in time series. Her interest in the climate and combining math and statistics led her to Descartes, where she could incorporate everything into one. 

Samia has her Master’s in Data Science from École Polytechnique and a Bachelor’s in Mathematics and Computer Engineering from Universidad de Granada.

Coraline Mounier serves as a Data Scientist/Underwriter at Descartes Underwriting, with over 3 years of experience in engineering and data science.

She started her career as a Research Engineer in Applied Mathematics/Fluid Mechanics at CEA before working at Université de Toulon (LIS Lab) as a Research Engineer in Machine Learning applied to bioacoustics. Her experience in mathematical modeling and machine learning, as well as her interest in assessing climate risk led her to Descartes.

Coraline graduated from CentraleSupélec with a Master of Science in Mathematics, Modeling, and Financial Mathematics and studied at the University of Technology Sydney for an academic exchange semester.

Houssam Halaby serves as a Software Engineer at Descartes Underwriting, with over 6 years of experience in engineering. 

He began his career as an ADAS Project Engineer at FEV France before being promoted to Software Developer. After developing autonomous driving algorithms, his engineering expertise and interest in climate modeling led him to Descartes. Outside his working hours, Houssam is also a recurring Instructor at IFP School, where he teaches an introductory course on ADAS and AD, designed, researched and prepared entirely by himself. 

Houssam has a Master’s in Powertrain Engineering from IFP School and a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from the Lebanese American University.

Pierre is our R&D Manager on Natural Risks,  leading the development of various R&D models, developing new products and managing the natural risks modelling team. After completing his engineering degree, Pierre obtained a PhD in Physics & Hydrodynamics from École Polytechnique & ESPCI Paris, where he built his understanding and experience modelling various phenomena, ranging from anti-fogging surfaces and condensation to statistical physics applied to microeconomics. A key part of Pierre's role is to lead the development of risk models by combining satellite imagery, climate modelling and machine learning.

During his free time, Pierre enjoys hiking, rock climbing and scuba diving.

Alex is our CTO heading the DSD team coordinating the scientific engine, devops, IT, product, full-stack and data engineering teams. DSD works with the Underwriting, R&D and insurance operations departments to develop, run and improve data tools and applications whose business need has already been confirmed. At Descartes, data science software, MLOps projects and internal applications usually require tight collaboration between all components within DSD.

Passionate about solving difficult problems, Alex enjoys sharing simple explanations of the difficult problems solved by the DSD teams. At Descartes, he finds it really satisfying to be able to work in a team where the contribution of each team member is valued. Previously, he worked on a variety of tech projects such as high performance computing for turbulence models, the deployment of anomaly detection softwares in factories or recommendation systems. He is the proud father of three children and he loves playing with them in the park whenever he gets a chance.

Chloé is our Head of Finance. Chloé brings experience in finance, business development, and investment analytics to Descartes Underwriting. With a business degree from HEC and dual-degree from Université Paris Sorbonne in Applied Mathematics, Chloé is a great addition to the team. Her role involves building out robust financial models and implementing operational tools to improve efficiency within her department!

Maria is an Underwriting Manager focused on risk modeling and the development of new products. She uses her experience in seismic hazard and risk in her role as part of our 'Nat Cat' team, working on Underwriting for Earthquake policies.

Holding a PhD from Politecnico di Milano, Maria has built on her engineering seismology expertise in positions as a Doctoral and Post-doctoral Researcher both in Academy and Industry.