Frédéric Lavenir: CNP Assurances CEO

Frédéric Lavenir was born in 1960. His a graduate of the École de Hautes Études Commerciales (HEC) and the Ecole Nationale d’Adminstration (ENA). He is Vice President of the Association for the Right to Economic Initiative (ADIE) of France. Frédéric served as a Finance Inspector from 1986 to 1990. Then he joined the French Treasury, initially as head of banking regulations and then as director of the insurance company office.

Frédéric was appointed Secretary General of the Interministerial Committee for Industrial Restructuring (CIRI) in 1995, then was appointed Deputy Director of the Office of the Minister of Economy and Finance from 1997 to 2000. In early 2001 Frédéric joined BNP Paribas as Chief Operating Officer of BNP Paribas Lease Group and was named the business line’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in 2002. In January 2007 he became Head of Human Resources at BNP Paribas and a member of the Executive Committee. 

He became the CEO of CNP Assurances effective September 26, 2012. Both his private and public sector experiences were cited as advantages for CNP Assurances to make Frédéric their CEO. 

CNP Assurances is based in Paris, France and generates annual sales of over $57 billion. 

Dean Connor: Sun Life Financial CEO

Dean Connor earned an Honors Business Administration (HBA) from Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University. He worked for Mercer Human Resources consulting for 28 years and became President for the Americas, responsible for its business operations in Latin America, United States and Canada. 

In 2006, Dean joined Sun Life Financial as Executive Vice-President with responsibility for Sun Life’s Reinsurance and United Kingdom operations as well strategic international activities and corporate functions. He was named President of Sun Life’s Canadian operations in 2008. 

On December 1, 2011, Dean was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer, and is a member of Sun Life’s Board of Directors. 

The company that Dean leads is around 150 years old having been founded on March 18, 1865, by Mathew Hamilton Gault. Sun Life which is one of the largest companies in the world is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. The firm has around 16,275 employees and generates sales of more than $23 billion. 

Sun Life Financial, Inc. is a diversified financial services company. It offers savings, retirement and pension products, and life and health insurance to individuals and groups through its operations in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Asia. 

Sun Life operates its business through five segments: Sun Life Financial Canada, Sun Life Financial United States, MFS Investment Management, Inc., Sun Life Financial Asia and Corporate Support. 

The Sun Life Financial Canada segment provides group benefits and retirement solutions sponsored by employers and affinity groups and more recently distributes directly through the Internet and other channels. The Sun Life Financial United States segment provides annuities, life insurance and group benefits. The MFS Investment Management segment is a global asset management company which offers products and services that address the varying needs of investors over time. 

The Sun Life Asia segment operates through subsidiaries in the Philippines, Hong Kong and Indonesia and through joint ventures with local partners in Indonesia, India and China. The Corporate Support segment includes Sun Life Financial United Kingdom and corporate support operations. 

Nigel Wilson: Legal & General Group CEO

British Nigel Wilson was born on November 17, 1956. He earned his economics degree from the University of Warwick. Nigel holds a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

He has held a number of senior positions in companies he worked for before becoming the CEO of insurance company Legal & General Group. He became the CEO on June 30, 2012, succeeding Tim Breedon. In 2009, Nigel joined Legal & General as Group Financial Officer and played a leading role in charting the insurance company through the financial crisis. 

Prior to Legal & General, he worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Co. where his clients included BP, Citibank, Cadbury’s, Santander, Kingfisher, Courtaulds, Whitbread and Globe Investment Trust. Nigel was Managing Director at Stanhope Properties, Head of Corporate Finance and Group Commercial Director at Dixons Group and Chief Executive, Corporate at Guinness Peat Aviation. 

In 1996, he was appointed Group Finance Director of Viridian Group, the Irish energy firm, helping to build the company’s Viridian Capital portfolio. This work would propel him to become Managing Director of Viridian Capital in 2000. 

Dan Amos: Aflac Chairman & CEO

Daniel Paul “Dan” Amos was born on August 13, 1951, in Pensacola, Florida. His father co-founded Aflac and Dan joined the company in 1973. Working in sales for 10 years, he was the company’s top sales person. He was promoted to president of Aflac in 1983, chief operating officer, chief executive officer of Aflac Incorporated in 1992 and chairman in 2001. 

Aflac is a huge company insuring more than 50 million people worldwide. The firm is the leading provider of individual insurance policies offered in the worksite in the United States. It is also the largest life insurer in Japan in terms of individual policies in force. 

Under Dan’s watch, Aflac’s revenues has grown from $2.7 billion in 1990 to $23.9 billion as of December 31, 2013. He has set the company on a path of being on the list of Fortunes’ Most Admired Companies every year since 2001. Aflac has been on Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work for list for 16 consecutive years.

Dan has been cited as one of America’s Best CEOs by Institutional Investor magazine five times. 

Michel Liés: Swiss Re CEO

Michel Liés was born in Pont-Sainte-Maxence, France in 1954. A citizen of Luxemburg he earned a mathematics degree at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland. Before joining Swiss Re, Michel was Chief Financial Officer of a ceramics company serving in Sao Paulo and Mogi Guaca, Brazil.

In 1978, he joined Swiss Re focusing on Latin American Life & Health markets. Michel became head of Swiss Re Ibéria & Latin America Property & Casualty in 1994. He became a Member of Swiss Re’s Executive Board by 1998 and Head of the Latin America Division. Michel was Head of Europe Division starting 2000 and also served as the as the company’s Head Clients Markets, where he was in charge of all client relationships globally. He was a member of the Group’s Executive Committee beginning 2005.

From 2011 to 2012, Michel was Chairman of Global Partnerships. In this position, he concentrated on building and deepening long-term relationships with public sector stakeholders, governments and NGOs, with a specific concentration on emerging markets. Innovative insurance solutions and public private partnerships are vital to help society create effective responses to major risks, including natural catastrophes, climate change and food security as well as infrastructure, healthcare and longevity.

He left the board in 2011 when he became the Chairman of Global Partnerships which is largely viewed as an ambassadorial appointment that looked to distance him from future executive positions. So it came as a surprise to some when it was announced he would become the Chief Executive Officer of Swiss Re effective February 1, 2012.  His appointed was viewed as continuity to the programs set by his predecessor and also his strength in emerging markets where much growth is expected.

Michel is fluent in French, English, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish having worked in a number of countries in Europe and Latin America.

Swiss Re is a leading wholesale provider of reinsurance, insurance and other insurance-based forms of risk transfer.  In 2013, premiums earned and fee income totaled $28.8 billion.

Steven Kandarian: MetLife CEO & Chairman

Steven Kandarian was raised in West Hartford, Connecticut; his parents Lillian and Albert Kandarian came from Armenia.  Steven received his B.A. from Clark University. He earned his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and obtained his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

He began his career as an investment banker with Rotan Mosle, Inc., a company based in Houston, Texas. Steven became a managing director at Lee Capital Holdings and later founded and was managing partner of Orion Partners, LP, a private equity firm headquartered in the Boston area.

He  was executive director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) from 2001 to 2004 and helped lay the groundwork for the enactment of the Pension Protection Act of 2006.

Steven joined insurance company MetLife in April 2005 as executive vice president and chief investment officer (CIO).  He has also overseen since 2007, the company’s enterprise-wide strategy, which identified key areas of focus for the company. He played a major role in MetLife’s reduction of exposure to sub-prime mortgaged-backed securities keeping the company in sound financial footing after the crisis.

Steven was appointed CEO of MetLife in May 1, 2011 and chairman on January 1, 2012.  MetLife generated $68.2 billion in revenue in 2013. 

Nikolaus von Bombard: Munich Re CEO

Nikolaus von Bombard was born in 1956 in Gunzenhausen, Germany. He studied law at the universities of Munich and Regenburg, finishing with a doctorate degree.

Nikolaus then began his climb up the corporate ladder at Munich Re starting out in the graduate trainee program in 1985. Later he started working as an underwriter in the Operational Division: Fire/Treaty. Nikolaus was appointed Deputy Head of the Operational Division: Germany. 

In 1997 he took on the job of building up and managing the Munich Re office in Sao Paolo, Brazil. He was appointed to the Board of Management in 2000 and from 2001 was responsible for the Europe 2/Latin America Division. On January 2004 Nikolaus reached the top post being appointed Chairman of the Board of Management.

He has help guide of the one of the world’s largest reinsurer through difficult times and has pursued initiatives to help combat global warming.  One project that his has been involved with is in Desertec Industrial Initiative (DII), a desert power scheme, which aims to produce enough electricity to meet 15 percent of the world’s energy requirements. 

Shuzo Sumi: Tokio Marine Holdings Chairman

Shuzo Sumi is Representative Director and Chairman of The Board of Tokio Marine Holdings. Like many in Japan and the rest of the world the position was reached through years of hard work resulting in the climb up the corporate ladder.

For Sumi the rise to the top post took over 40 years. He joined Tokio Marine in April 1970. Rising through the ranks in June 2000 he became Director and Chief Representative in London, Overseas Division of Tokio Marine. Two years later he became Managing Director of Tokio Marine.

By June 2005 Sumi was appointed Senior Managing Director of Tokio Marine and Nichido. In June 2007 he was both President and Chief Executive Officer of Tokio Marine & Nichido and Tokio Marine Holdings. Six years later on June 2013 he was elected Chairman of the Board of Tokio Marine & Nichido as well as Chairman of the Board of Tokio Marines Holdings.

Tokio Marine Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2002 and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is an insurance holding company, primarily engaged in life and non-life insurance business in Japan and internationally. Earnings for nine months ended December 31, 2012 consolidated ordinary income was JPY 3,167,354 million which was a marked improvement from JPY 2,693,878 million a year ago. The company itself Tokio Marine was actually established in 1879.

Alexander Wynaendts: Aegon Chief

Alexander Wynaendts was born in 1960 and is a Dutch national. He graduated from Graduate Ecole Supérieure d’Electricité, Paris and has a degree in economics from University of Paris, Sorbonne. Alex started his career with ABN Amro in 1984 working in Amsterdam and London in the Dutch bank’s capital markets, asset management, corporate finance and private banking operations. He joined Aegon in 1997 as Senior Vice-President for Group Business Development. 

Alex became a member of Aegon’s Executive Board since 2003, overseeing the company’s international growth strategy. He was named Chief Operating Officer in April 2007.  Only a year later he was promoted to CEO and elected Chairman of Aegon’s Executive and Management Boards.

Alex leads a sprawling organization. Aegon offers insurance, pensions and asset management in more than 25 countries. The firm is listed on the Amsterdam and New York stock exchanges.  It has A-level ratings from the three main credit rating agencies.

Aegon manages more than EUR 460 billion of its own and its customers’ investments. It has millions of customers and employs more than 26,500 people. Aegon was founded in 1983 following the merger of two Dutch insurance companies, AGO and Ennia. The firm’s history goes back over 150 years though. Today, it is one of the largest insurance companies in the U.S. and is number one in the Dutch group pensions market. 

Yoshinobu Tsutsui: The Glass Is Half Full

Yoshinobu Tsutsui is the president and a director of Nippon Life Insurance Company. He previously served as senior managing executive officer and managing executive officer.  Nippon Life is one of the biggest institutional investors in the world with around $637 billion in assets.

Tsutsui became the president of Nippon Life the No. 1 life insurance company in Japan in April 2011. This was shortly after the devastating earthquake and tsunami hit Japan. He played an integral role in getting together the insurance industry’s response as chairman of the Life Insurance Association of Japan.  He left the post July 2012.

While the issue of a shrinking population and aging society in Japan has been seen as a negative by many, Tsutsui sees opportunity in coming up with new products and services for senior citizens. He also believes this is something the company can share with the rest of the world.

The same is true with issues regarding instability and regulatory constraints in the Japanese stock market. While others may be pulling out, as a large institutional investor he feels they have a responsibility as a stable shareholder and to also help revitalize the market. Tsutsui also believes it’s an opportunity to talk with regulators with their views on the market.

Moving more slowly in the global arena, Nippon Life is a least assured that it has a leader who sees things from unique and positive perspective. The opportunities he sees can help propel Nippon Life to new heights in the global arena.

Mario Greco: Insurance Man Inside Out

There are many top executives who got into their career in unexpected ways. For Mario Greco his whole career has basically been focused in the insurance industry. It is not such a bad industry to be in considering some of the largest companies in the world are in the insurance sector.

Greco comes from Italy having been born in Naples in June 16, 1959. He earned his economics degree at the University of Rome in 1983. Greco had an advantage as far as a varied academic education is concerned. Aside from his European education he went to the U.S. which has a slightly different approach. There he earned a masters degree in International Economics and Monetary Theory at Rochester University, New York in 1986.

The same year he graduated Greco joined McKinsey & Company. At McKinsey he was a Partner Leader in the insurance segment and was with the company from 1986 to 1994. It has pretty been much in the insurance sector from then on. He joined RAS (Allianz Group) (Riunione Adriatica) as Head of Claims Division in 1995. By the following year Greco was promoted to General Manager in charge of Insurance business. He became the Managing Director in 1998.

Greco was already a rising star having been named Insurance CEO of the year in 2004. He became the CEO of EurizonVita, which is a company in the Sanpaolo IMI Group in 2005. He then was appointed CEO of Eurizon Financial Group.

Looking for other opportunities Greco joined Zurich Financial Services in 2007 as Deputy CEO Global Life. By the following year he became CEO and member of the Executive Committee. Greco was named CEO General Insurance at the Zurich Insurance group in 2010.

In what could be described as his biggest promotion to date he became the Group CEO of Assiucarazioni Generali on August 1, 2012. The Italian insurance company Greco now leads is one of the largest in the world. It has presence in 60 countries and has more than 80,000 employees. The company’s assets stand at more than €400 billion.

Greco has worked with various insurance companies and has always been promoted to higher positions. He knows insurance and it’s only fitting he is leading one of the largest in the world.

 

Making Up For Lost Time

Michael Diekmann was born on December 23, 1953 in Bielefeld, German.  He earned his degree from Goettingen University studying law and philosophy.

Right out of university he established his own publishing business, Diekmann/Thieme in 1983. This company fit into the lifestyle he liked.  It produced travel guides and adventure books.  This meant that he was also out in the field travelling and doing outdoor adventures and writing about it.

By his own account he was making a living having published a number of books.  In 1988 he was frustrated with having to compete with the big publishing houses. It was also around that time that his wife told him to get a real job and handed him an ad for a job at Allianz in Hamburg.  He went for the interview and got the job in the insurance sales department at Allianz.

You could say he was a late starter in the corporate field since this was his first serious job and he was already 33 years old. Michael certainly made up for lost time.  Fifteen years into the job he wound up being the group chairman in 2003.  This was no easy achievement he was now leading the world’s biggest general insurer, the second-largest asset management company, and the third-biggest life insurer.

Many were surprised he got the top job.  He record though showed that he was the right man for the top post.  In several new positions he held he was faced with daunting work challenges which he overcame and made his business unit prosper.   When he headed Alliance’s Asia-Pacific Operations he supervised key acquisitions as well as led the operations through the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s. He turned a failing division into a profitable one.

Michael was sent to America in 2000 and he had to manage around the “de-pegging” of Argentina and the 2001 World Trade Center terrorist attacks. He was able to save the underperforming US Fireman’s Fund. He did this by aggressively cutting cost involving laying off thousands of employees.

When he took over Allainz in 2003 it was in deep trouble due to its $22.5 billion acquisition of Dresdner Bank in 2001.  Again he resorted to cost cutting ad workforce shrinkage and raised capital. Within 12 months of being the new CEO he returned Allainz to financial health.

Evan Greenberg: The Consummate Insurance Man

You can say that insurance runs in the blood of Evan Greenberg. He father was the former Chairman of the American International Group (AIG).  Greenberg worked for 25 years under his father. Given his father’s insurance knowledge he must have learned a lot.

In those 25 years he has held a number of senior management positions at AIG. Among them were as CEO of AIG Far East and President and CEO of AIU (the foreign General Insurance of AIG).  From 1997 to 2000 he was already the President and COO of AIG.  It was widely thought that he would become the next CEO; for whatever reason Greenberg left AIG in 2000.

In 2001 he became the Vice Chairman of ACE Limited. This was just up his alley since ACE Limited is also in the insurance business.  The ACE group is a multiline property and casualty insurer and one of the largest in the world. The group offers products such as property insurance, personal accident, and life insurance.  This insurance company is based in Switzerland.

In 2004 he was elected as President and CEO of ACE Limited and in 2007 the title of Chairman of the Board was added. This shows Greenberg has been doing very well in leading the company. He still currently holds these positions.

In 2008 at the height of the financial crisis he was one of the executives who refused federal funding saying his company and the property insurance industry was able to take care of itself. This was not the case of AIG, the company he bolted many years ago.

Greenberg really knows the insurance industry.