It’s been a long time coming but in a
landmark development Allianz has appointed a woman as a member of
its holding company’s management board.
The honour of being the first
female appointee in the insurer’s 121-year history has gone to
Helga Jung, since 2000 head of group mergers and acquisitions
(M&A).
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Is Jung’s appointment a token
gesture? Posed this question, Allianz CEO Michael Diekmann retorts:
“That would be a completely false and unfair interpretation. We
made our decision purely on the basis of performance criteria.”
Jung is also conscious of the
possibility that her appointment may be viewed as tokenism.
“It’s to be expected,” she says.
“But it really doesn’t bother me.”
Jung, who holds a doctorate in
business administration, brings a depth of M&A experience
having been involved in all major Allianz transaction over the past
10 years. These include merging Italian insurer RAS into Allianz,
the minority buyout of French insurer AGF and Allianz’s conversion
into a Societas Europaea.
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By GlobalDataIn addition to M&As, her new
position brings with it the responsibilities of insurance
businesses in Spain, Portugal and Latin America, strategic
participations and legal and compliance.
Jung is one of three new senior
appointments by Allianz. Also joining its management board is
Dieter Wemmer (54) as head of Western European insurance activities
except Spain, Portugal and German-speaking countries.
He will also head global property
and casualty operations.
Wemmer, an actuary, joins Allianz
from Zurich Financial Services where he held the position of chief
financial officer. His view on Allianz’s potential is
noteworthy.
“After what happened to AIG in the
crisis, Allianz was given the opportunity to become a global market
leader,” Wemmer says.
“Now it’s a question of making
effective use of its strengths in the market.”
The third management board
appointee is Gary Bhojwan as head of Insurance USA which
encompasses Allianz’s US life, general insurance and asset
management operations.
An actuary, Bhojwani was born in
India, grew up in Chicago and describes himself as a “product of
the East and the Midwest”.
Bhojwani has an impressive record in insurance, having started
out in an insurance broking firm he himself founded. He went on to
become CEO of Lincoln General Insurance before joining Allianz in
2004 as Fireman’s Fund’s president, commercial business. He was
appointed CEO of Allianz Life (US) in 2007.
