Group Executive Committee

Chief Executive Officer Reinsurance Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA)/Regional President EMEA
Born: 1964
Nationality: Swiss

Professional experience

Jean-Jacques Henchoz started his career in 1988 at the Swiss Federal Department of Economic Affairs and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Jean-Jacques Henchoz joined Swiss Re in 1998 as facultative property underwriter in Division Europe, and in 1999 he moved to the Swiss Re New Markets Division as finite risk underwriter. From 2000 he served as Head Financial Solutions until becoming Head of Strategy for Property & Casualty in 2003. From 2005 to 2010, he was Chief Executive Officer of Swiss Re Canada. Jean-Jacques Henchoz assumed leadership of the Europe Division in March 2011. He was appointed Chief Executive Officer Reinsurance EMEA, Regional President EMEA and member of the Group Executive Committee in January 2012.

Educational background

• Master’s degree in Political Science, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
• MBA, International Institute for Management Development (IMD), Switzerland

Chief Executive Officer Reinsurance Americas/Regional President Americas
Born: 1957
Nationality: American

Professional experience

J. Eric Smith worked in various roles in property and casualty insurance with Country Financial for more than 20 years, then joined Allstate in 2003, where he rose to the rank of President, Financial Services. He moved to USAA in 2010 as President USAA Life Insurance Co.

J. Eric Smith joined Swiss Re in July 2011 as Chief Executive Officer Reinsurance Americas and as a member of the Group Management Board. He was appointed Regional President Americas and member of the Group Executive Committee in January 2012.

Educational background

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, University of Illinois, USA
• MBA, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, USA

Group Chief Underwriting Officer
Born: 1964
Nationality: Swiss

Professional experience

Edouard Schmid joined Swiss Re in 1991 as a risk analyst, developing catastrophe models and supporting property catastrophe underwriting on a global basis. Since 1996, he was a team leader in the Cat Perils unit, until he became Head Cat Perils & Retrocession in 2002. From 2003 until 2008 he was based in Hong Kong as Chief Underwriter Property & Specialty Asia. He returned to Zurich in 2008 and served as Head Property & Casualty Risk and Actuarial Management, and, concurrently, as Chief Risk Officer Corporate Solutions from 2011. In May 2012 he became Head Property & Specialty Reinsurance.

Edouard Schmid was appointed Group Chief Underwriting Officer and member of the Group Executive Committee as of 1 July 2017.

Educational background

• Master’s degree in Physics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland

Chief Executive Officer Reinsurance Asia / Regional President Asia
Born: 1970
Nationality: American

Professional experience

Jayne Plunkett started her career at John Deere Insurance Company in 1992, where she held various positions in the Commercial Lines segment in Property and Casualty. In 1999 she joined GE Insurance Solutions, where she served as Insurance Pricing Team Leader, Deputy Chief Reserving Actuary, Head of Casualty Risk Management, and Head of Planning and Analysis.

Following the acquisition of GE Insurance Solutions by Swiss Re in 2006, Jayne Plunkett joined Swiss Re as Head of the Kansas City Hub for Property & Casualty. From 2008 to 2012 she worked in Asia as Head of Casualty Underwriting for the region. In 2013 she assumed the global position as Head Casualty Reinsurance, also managing the unit dealing with large and complex transactions for P&C Reinsurance. As of July 2016, Jayne Plunkett was appointed as Chief Executive Officer Reinsurance Asia, Regional President Asia and a member of the Group Executive Committee.

Jayne Plunkett is a fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries. Additionally, she was named a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum in 2010.

Educational background

• Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Drake University, USA

Chief Executive Officer Reinsurance
Born: 1966
Nationality: Nigerian and British

Professional experience

Moses Ojeisekhoba started his career in insurance as a registered representative and agent of The Prudential Insurance Company of America in 1990. From 1992 to 1996, he was a Risk and Underwriting Manager at Unico American Corporation. He then joined the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies as regional Underwriting Manager and in 1999 became Corporate Product Development Manager in New Jersey and thereafter moved to London as Strategic Marketing Manager for Chubb Europe. In 2002, he was appointed International Field Operations Officer for Chubb Personal Insurance before becoming Head Asia Pacific in 2009, a position he remained in until he joined Swiss Re.

Moses Ojeisekhoba joined Swiss Re in February 2012 and was appointed Chief Executive Officer Reinsurance Asia, Regional President Asia and member of the Group Executive Committee in March 2012. In July 2016, Moses Ojeisekhoba was appointed as Chief Executive Officer Reinsurance.

Educational background

• Master’s degree in Management, London Business School, United Kingdom
• Bachelor of Science in Statistics, University of Ibadan, Nigeria

Group Chief Executive Officer
Born: 1969
Nationality: Swiss

Professional experience

Christian Mumenthaler started his career in 1997 as associate with the Boston Consulting Group. He joined Swiss Re in 1999 and was responsible for key company projects. In 2002, he established and headed the Group Retro and Syndication unit. Christian Mumenthaler served as Group Chief Risk Officer between 2005 and 2007 and was Head of Life & Health between 2007 and 2010. In January 2011, he was appointed Chief Marketing Officer Reinsurance and member of the Group Executive Committee, and became Chief Executive Officer Reinsurance that October. In July 2016 Christian Mumenthaler was appointed as Group Chief Executive Officer.

External appointments

• Board member of the Geneva Association; of economiesuisse; of the Swiss American Chamber of Commerce; and of the Society for the Promotion of the Institute of Insurance Economics, St. Gallen
• Member of Insurance Europe’s Reinsurance Advisory Board; of the Pan-European Insurance Forum; of the IMD Foundation Board; of the Global Reinsurance Forum; of the Steering Board Insurance Development Forum; and of the Board of Trustees of the St. Gallen Foundation for International Studies

Educational background

• PhD in Physics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland

Group Chief Risk Officer
Born: 1965
Nationality: Swiss and Italian

Professional experience

Patrick Raaflaub began his career as an economist at Credit Suisse. He then was a founding member of a consulting start-up and research fellow at the University of St. Gallen. He joined Swiss Re in 1994 and was appointed Chief Financial Officer of Swiss Re Italia SpA in 1997, and then was Divisional Controller Americas Division from 2000. He worked as Head of Finance Zurich from 2003, then Regional Chief Financial Officer Europe and Asia from 2005. From 2006, he was Head of Group Capital Management, where he was responsible for capital management at Group level and global regulatory affairs. In 2008 he joined the Swiss Financial Markets Supervisory Authority FINMA as Chief Executive Officer.

Patrick Raaflaub returned to Swiss Re as Group Chief Risk Officer and member of the Group Executive Committee as of September 2014.

Educational background

• PhD in Political Science, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland

Group Chief Financial Officer
Born: 1961
Nationality: Dutch and American

Professional experience

David Cole began his career in 1984 with ABN AMRO. In 1999, he was appointed Executive Vice President and regional Head of Risk Management for Latin America, located in Brazil. In 2001, he returned to Amsterdam to assume Corporate Centre responsibility within Group Risk Management. He became Chief Financial Officer of Wholesale Clients (WCS) in 2002 and was appointed Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of WCS in 2004. In January 2006, he became Head of Group Risk Management for ABN AMRO Bank and in 2008 was named Chief Financial Officer and Chief Risk Officer.

David Cole joined Swiss Re in November 2010 as Deputy Chief Risk Officer and was appointed Group Chief Risk Officer and member of the Group Executive Committee in March 2011. He was appointed Group Chief Financial Officer as of May 2014.

External appointments

• Member of the Board of Directors FWD Group
• Member of the Supervisory Board IMC B.V.
• Member of the Board of Directors Vontobel Holding AG

Educational background

• Bachelor of Business Administration, University of Georgia, USA
• International Business Program, Nyenrode Universiteit, The Netherlands

Group Chief Operating Officer
Born: 1955
Nationality: Swiss

Professional experience

Thomas Wellauer started his career with McKinsey & Company, specialising in the financial services and pharmaceutical industry sectors, and was elected Partner in 1991 and Senior Partner in 1996. In 1997, he was named Chief Executive Officer of the Winterthur Insurance Group, which was later acquired by Credit Suisse. At Credit Suisse he was a member of the Group Executive Board, initially responsible for the group’s insurance business before becoming Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Services division in 2000. From 2003 to 2006, Thomas Wellauer headed the global turnaround project at Clariant. In 2007, he joined Novartis as Head of Corporate Affairs and became member of the Executive Committee of Novartis. From April 2009 until September 2010, he was a member of the Supervisory Board of Munich Re.

Thomas Wellauer joined Swiss Re in October 2010 as Group Chief Operating Officer and member of the Group Executive Committee.

External appointments

• Chairman of the Swiss Chapter of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)
• Member of the global Executive Board of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)
• President of the Board of the University Hospital Zurich Foundation

Educational background

• PhD in Systems Engineering, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland
• Master of Business Economics, University of Zurich, Switzerland

Group Chief Strategy Officer
Born: 1960
Nationality: American

Professional experience

John R. Dacey started his career in 1986 at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. From 1990 to 1998, he was a consultant and subsequently Partner at McKinsey & Company. He joined Winterthur Insurance in 1998 and was its Chief Financial Officer from 2000 to 2004 as well as member of its Group Executive Board until 2007. From 2005 to 2007, he was Chief Strategy Officer and member of its risk and investment committees. He joined AXA in 2007 as Group Regional CEO and Group Vice Chairman for Asia-Pacific as well as member of their Group Executive Committee.

John R. Dacey joined Swiss Re in October 2012 and was appointed Group Chief Strategy Officer and member of the Group Executive Committee as of November 2012. He also served as Chairman Admin Re^® from November 2012 to May 2015.

Educational background

• Bachelor of Arts in Economics, Washington University, St. Louis, USA
• Master in Public Policy, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA

Chief Executive Officer Life Capital
Born: 1966
Nationality: French and Swiss

Professional experience

Thierry Léger started his career in the civil construction industry before joining Swiss Re as an engineering underwriter in 1997. In 2001 he moved to Swiss Re New Markets, providing non-traditional solutions to insurance clients. Between 2003 and 2005 he was a member of the executive team in France as leader of the sales team. From 2006 Thierry Léger assumed increasing responsibility for Swiss Re’s largest clients, ultimately becoming the Head of the newly-created Globals Division in 2010 and a member of the Group Management Board. In 2013, Thierry Léger became Head of L&H Products Reinsurance. As of January 2016 he was appointed Chief Executive Officer Life Capital and member of the Group Executive Committee.

Educational background

• Master’s degree in Civil Engineering, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland
• Executive MBA, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland

Group Chief Investment Officer
Born: 1963
Nationality: Swiss

Professional experience

Guido Fürer commenced his career at Swiss Bank Corporation/O’Connor & Associates in 1990. During the following seven-year period, he held leading positions in option trading and at its capital market division in Chicago, New York, London and Zurich.

Guido Fürer joined Swiss Re in 1997 as Managing Director at Swiss Re New Markets, focusing on alternative risk transfer. From 2001 to 2004, he worked for Swiss Re’s Private Equity unit with responsibility for the European strategic participations. In 2004, he joined Asset Management, first taking over responsibility for tactical asset allocation prior to assuming the role of Head of Swiss Re’s CIO Office with responsibility for strategic asset allocation and additionally Chief Investment Officer for the Business Units Reinsurance and Corporate Solutions. Guido Fürer has led Swiss Re Group Asset Management since his appointment as Group Chief Investment Officer and Member of the Group Executive Committee in November 2012.

Educational background

• Master’s degree in Economics, University of Zurich, Switzerland
• PhD in Financial Risk Management, University of Zurich, Switzerland
• Executive MBA from INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France

Chief Executive Officer Corporate Solutions
Born: 1960
Nationality: Italian and Swiss

Professional experience

Agostino Galvagni joined Bavarian Re, a former Swiss Re subsidiary, in 1985 as a trainee in the fields of underwriting and marketing. He joined Swiss Re New Markets in New York in 1998. Agostino Galvagni returned to Bavarian Re in 1999 as a member of the Management Board.

In 2001, he joined Swiss Re in Zurich as Head of the Globals Business, and in 2005 he was appointed to the Executive Board to head the Globals & Large Risks Division within Client Markets. In 2009, Agostino Galvagni was appointed Chief Operating Officer and member of the Group Executive Committee. He was made Chief Executive Officer Corporate Solutions in October 2010.

Educational background

• Master’s degree in Economics, Bocconi University, Milan, Italy