Reinsurer SCOR Restructures Group Leadership Team

SCOR announced changes to its group executive committee, which aim to facilitate the reinsurer’s next phase of strategic development.

SCOR said all the changes were made with internal promotions.

The following group executive committee members continue to serve in their current capacity:

• Ian Kelly, as group chief financial officer
• Jean-Paul Conoscente, as chief executive officer of SCOR Global P&C
• Brona Magee, as deputy chief executive officer of SCOR Global Life.

The following group executive committee members have expanded responsibilities:

• François de Varenne, CEO of SCOR Global Investments, will oversee an enlarged area of leadership including investments, technology, budget, group project office and group corporate finance. In his new role, he will be in charge of the group’s transformation.
• Claire Le Gall-Robinson, group general secretary, responsible for governance, sustainability, legal and compliance functions, is appointed group chief sustainability officer. In addition to her existing responsibilities, she will be in charge of human resources, communications and hub operations in this new and expanded role.

The following group executive committee members have new responsibilities:

• Frieder Knüpling, previously group chief risk officer, is appointed CEO of SCOR Global Life, succeeding Paolo De Martin, who has decided to pursue a new direction in his career, having successfully served as CEO of SCOR Global Life since 2014.
• Romain Launay, previously group chief operating officer, is named deputy CEO of SCOR Global P&C and CEO of Specialty Insurance.
• Fabian Uffer, previously group head of Risk Modelling, in charge of the group’s internal model, succeeds Frieder Knüpling as group chief risk officer and joins the group executive committee.

“The breadth of global experience, the diverse backgrounds, the strong expertise, the knowledge of the industry and the leadership qualities of the members of this renewed group executive committee give me a high degree of confidence in our ability to successfully pursue SCOR’s development,” commented Laurent Rousseau, CEO of SCOR.

“These internal promotions bear witness to the depth of SCOR’s talent pool and the strong competencies of our rising leaders. I am confident that this new organization will ensure managerial continuity while reflecting the strategic importance of transformation and sustainability for the group,” Rousseau continued.

“I have shaped this group executive committee – both the members and the allocation of responsibilities – with a view to ensuring that we will work and act as one team to execute SCOR’s strategy and, together with our more than 3,000 employees, write the next chapter of SCOR’s success story.”

Biographies

Jean-Paul Conoscente, an American and French citizen, is a graduate of the University of California Berkeley (Master of Science in Structural Engineering) and the Ecole des Travaux Publics, Paris (diploma in civil engineering). He started his career in earthquake engineering in California and then in catastrophe modelling as the European head of the modelling firm EQECAT. He subsequently held several senior positions with Aon Benfield as a reinsurance broker in London and Paris, and then with AXA Re in Paris as the global head of Property. In 2008, he joined SCOR in New York as chief underwriting officer for the Americas for SCOR Global P&C. Conoscente helped transform SCOR’s team and portfolio in the Americas before taking on the role of CEO of SCOR’s P&C U.S. operations in 2016, then CEO of Reinsurance globally in 2018. In 2019, he was appointed CEO of SCOR Global P&C and member of the group executive committee.

Ian Kelly, a British citizen, is a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. Having begun his career with Prudential, he subsequently joined the London-based life reinsurance department of the Gerling Group, which later became Revios UK, holding the role of chief accountant. Following the acquisition of Revios by SCOR, he was appointed chief financial officer of the UK operations in 2007. In 2009, Kelly was appointed director of General Accounting and Group Reporting, with responsibility for the consolidation of financial reporting of the SCOR group. Kelly strengthened his strategic, regulatory and financial experience within SCOR with his appointment as head of Group Financial Planning and Analysis in 2011. Maintaining responsibility for the financial planning of the group, Kelly was named head of Investor Relations in 2016 before being appointed group chief financial officer and member of the group executive committee in 2020.

Frieder Knüpling, a German citizen, has been a member of SCOR’s group executive committee since 2010, serving first as deputy CEO of SCOR Global Life, then as deputy group chief risk officer and finally as group CRO. Before this, he held various actuarial, risk and finance roles at SCOR, Revios and Gerling Global Re. He holds academic degrees in mathematics and physics, and a doctorate in economics. He is a fellow of the Deutsche Aktuarvereinigung (DAV).

Romain Launay, a French citizen, is a graduate of the École Polytechnique, of the École des Mines de Paris and of the Centre des Hautes Études de l’Assurance. Having occupied various positions at the French Ministry for Economy and Finance between 2004 and 2009, he became adviser to the prime minister in 2009. He joined SCOR in February 2012 as senior adviser to the chairman and CEO, before being appointed group general secretary in May 2014. In February 2016, Launay was appointed group chief operating officer.

Claire Le Gall-Robinson, a French citizen, is a lawyer admitted to the Paris and New York Bars and a graduate of Harvard Law School (Master of Laws) and the Paris II- Panthéon Assas University (corporate and tax law). She practiced for more than 17 years in leading U.S. law firms Sullivan & Cromwell LLP and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. Prior to joining SCOR in 2016 as group general secretary, she was a partner of the UK law firm Gowling WLG. She has taught at the Sciences Po Law School since 2010. In March 2021, she was appointed to SCOR’s group executive committee.

Brona Magee, an Irish citizen, holds a bachelor’s degree in actuarial and financial studies from University College Dublin. From 2006 to 2011, she worked for Transamerica International Reinsurance Ireland, which was acquired by SCOR in 2011. She was CFO for SCOR Global Life Reinsurance Ireland from 2011 to 2013. In 2013, she moved to the United States to take the position of CFO, Americas, at SCOR Global Life and in 2015 was promoted to deputy CEO, Americas. In February 2017, she returned to Dublin and became chief actuary for SCOR Global Life. She was appointed head of Client Solutions and a member of SCOR Global Life’s executive leadership team in November 2017. In September 2018 she was appointed deputy CEO and head of Global Markets for SCOR Global Life and became a member of the group executive committee. Magee is a fellow of the Society of Actuaries in Ireland.

Fabian Uffer, a Swiss citizen, started his career in 2003 as a life actuary in the insurance industry at Allianz Suisse. He subsequently worked at a startup company named CelsiusPro and developed a weather derivative pricing engine. In 2009 Uffer joined SCOR’s P&C Risk Management department. He then transitioned to group financial modelling and risk analysis, where he held various positions including head of Risk Modelling. In 2021 he was appointed chief risk officer. Uffer studied at the University of Waterloo and holds a master’s degree in mathematics from the ETH Zürich. He is a fully qualified actuary of the Swiss Association of Actuaries.

François de Varenne, a French citizen, is a graduate of the École Polytechnique and a civil engineer of the Ponts et Chaussées. He holds a doctorate in finance and graduated as an actuary from the Institut de Science Financière et d’Assurances (ISFA). de Varenne joined the Fédération Française des Sociétés d’Assurances (FFSA) in 1993 as manager of Economic and Financial Affairs. In London, beginning in 1998, he served as insurance strategist with Lehman Brothers, vice president for asset management solutions, and structured transactions specialist in insurance and reinsurance companies at Merrill Lynch and then at Deutsche Bank. In 2003, he became managing partner of Gimar Finance & Cie. He joined the group in 2005 as director of Corporate Finance and Asset Management. In September 2007, he was named group chief operating officer. In October 2008, de Varenne was appointed CEO of SCOR Global Investments.

Photo credit: SCOR

Topics Leadership Reinsurance