Former SCOR CEO Kessler, 71, Dies

Denis Kessler, 71, non-executive chairman of SCOR and the reinsurer’s former chief executive, died Friday, the company said.

“Over the past two decades, Denis Kessler has been the architect behind SCOR’s success and reputation throughout the world,” said Thierry Léger, CEO of SCOR. “His passion for reinsurance was unparalleled, and his ambition to make SCOR an industry leader never left him. It has been the driving force behind all his actions at the head of the group over the past 21 years.

“I am privileged to have had the opportunity to work alongside Denis. He leaves us an extraordinary legacy. It is now up to us to carry on his work. The strong foundations on which he rebuilt the group enable us to look to the future with total confidence.”

Kessler joined SCOR as its chairman and CEO on Nov. 4, 2022 and is credited by the company with turning the group around, enabling it to become a leading global reinsurer.

SCOR said vice-chairman Augustin de Romanet will chair the board for an interim period, until a new chairman is appointed.

A member of the Institut de France, Kessler was a man of culture, firmly committed to the spread and transfer of knowledge. His own breadth of knowledge ranged from economics to philosophy, literature and music, SCOR said.

Kessler Biography

Denis Kessler was born on March 25, 1952, in Mulhouse, in France’s Haut-Rhin region. After completing his secondary education at the Albert Schweitzer high school in Mulhouse and then the Kléber high school in Strasbourg, he began studying at HEC Paris in 1973, graduating in 1976. Following his studies, he joined the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) as a research associate (1976-1977). Having obtained his agrégation in social sciences, he taught for a year in secondary school (1977-1978). He then embarked on a career as an economics researcher, working from 1978 to 1985 as an assistant lecturer in economics at Paris X-Nanterre University. He chaired CEREPI, the Center for Study and Research on Savings, Wealth and Inequalities, from 1982 to 1990. In 1985, he became a research fellow at CNRS. Obtaining advanced degrees in economics and social sciences in 1988, he was made a professor at the University of Nancy II in the same year. In 1990, he became a professor at EHESS, the School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences. From 1984 onwards, he was a member of the National Accounts Commission. He chaired the Foundation for Economic and Financial Research from 1985 to 1992.

In 1983, he was appointed to the Board of Directors of UAP (Union des assurances de Paris). He sat on the board until 1986, and again from 1988 to 1990. In 1985, he was appointed Chairman of the Banking Services Users’ Committee at the French National Credit Council, remaining in the post until 1990. In the same year, he became Chairman of the French Federation of Insurance Companies (FFSA), a position he held until 1997, and then again from 1998 to 2002. He then joined the Executive Committee of the National Council of French Employers (CNPF), becoming its Executive Vice-Chairman under Jean Gandois in 1994, as well as Vice-Chairman and Chairman of the Economic Commission. Appointed Senior Executive Vice-President and Executive Committee Member of AXA in 1997, he left this position to support the Chairman of the CNPF, Ernest-Antoine Seillière. He was First Executive Vice-Chairman of the Mouvement des Entreprises de France, or the MEDEF (ex-CNPF), from 1999 to 2002. In 2002, he left the MEDEF to become Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the SCOR group, turning it in just a few years into one of the reinsurance industry’s leading players.

Denis Kessler was a member of France’s Economic, Social and Environmental Council (ESEC) from 1993 to 2010.

He was a board member of several companies: Dexia (1999-2009), Bolloré (1999-2013), BNP Paribas (2000-2022), Invesco (since 2002) and Dassault Aviation (2003-2014). He also joined Dassault’s “Committee of Wise Men” in 2013.

(provided by SCOR)