AXA CEO and chairman de Castries retires
Henri de Castries, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of insurance company AXA, will retire on September 1, 2016.
Thomas Buberl will be appointed CEO and Denis Duverne will take on the role of chairman of the board.
Buberl joins the group head office in Paris and is appointed deputy CEO until September when he takes on the CEO role. He will work closely with Henri de Castries and Denis Duverne to finalise AXA’s new strategic plan, expected to be released on June 21, 2016, and to ensure an effective leadership transition.
Buberl joined AXA from Boston Consulting Group in 2005 as head of distribution and marketing in Switzerland. He was previously CEO, global life & savings and health and CEO AXA Germany.
Duverne has been deputy CEO at AXA since 2010. He was previously chief financial officer of the firm. He joined AXA as senior vice president, finance, in 1995.
De Castries said: “It has been a privilege to succeed Claude Bébéar and lead AXA over all these years, and I want to express my gratitude to the 166,000 women and men who are the face of AXA for our 103 million clients across the world - their professionalism and engagement have been a driving force and a fantastic motivation for me.
“The succession planning process initiated by the Board upon my request in October 2013, confirmed the breadth and the quality of AXA’s teams and helped us identify a new generation of leaders. Denis and I are extremely proud of the team we have been able to build and develop.”
Norbert Dentressangle, vice chairman of the Board of directors and lead independent director, added: “The Board of Directors agreed that the best combination for AXA is to associate Thomas Buberl’s clear strategic vision, his deep knowledge of the insurance sector, as well as his energy and leadership skills, with Denis Duverne’s great experience and knowledge of the Group as well as his understanding of corporate governance practices and of the regulatory environment.”
