Big leadership shake-up at AIG in bid to become ‘top performing company’

Global insurance conglomerate  American International Group (AIG) has embarked on another major shake-up of its senior leadership in preparation for what it says will make it a “top performing company”. Key changes to its top rank include a new chief financial officer replacing Mark Lyons, departure of life & retirement CFO Tom Diemer, and a senior hire who previously served as CEO of Aon Re.

The move is a part of AIG's ongoing separation of its life & retirement businesses as the insurer aims to simplify its corporate structure with a renewed focus on creating better value for its stakeholders. AIG hopes the leadership changes will further position the organisation to deliver strong financial and operational performance over the long term.

“The leadership roles we are announcing today strengthen our senior management team and support the momentum we have with respect to our highest strategic priorities: positioning AIG’s core businesses for long-term, sustainable profitability, preparing our Life & Retirement business to be a standalone market-leading franchise, and the continued execution of AIG 200,” said Peter Zaffino, president and chief executive officer of AIG.

“We are deploying exceptional talent in critical roles to ensure AIG becomes a top performing company focused on value creation for all our stakeholders, increasing financial flexibility and achieving excellence in everything we do,” he added.

Effective January 1, 2022, Lyons, currently executive vice president (EVP) and CFO of AIG, will step into a newly created role of EVP, global chief actuary and head of portfolio management at AIG. In this role, Lyons will oversee AIG’s global actuarial and ceded reinsurance functions, as well as lead ongoing improvements and repositioning in AIG’s commercial and personal insurance portfolio.

When Lyons transitions to his new role, Shane Fitzsimons (pictured) will become EVP and chief financial officer of AIG. Lyons and Fitzsimons will both continue reporting to Zaffino and remain members of AIG’s executive leadership team.

“Mark is one of the most accomplished and respected actuaries and business executives in our industry. Serving in this new role will further strengthen our focus on high-quality underwriting excellence and portfolio positioning, which underpins AIG’s overall growth strategy. Shane is a seasoned finance and operations executive with a strong track record of success. His leadership and core capabilities accelerated the execution of AIG 200 during the global pandemic and established a strong foundation as we continue to instill a culture of operational excellence across AIG,” explained Zaffino.

AIG also revealed that Elias Habayeb, currently CFO of general insurance and deputy CFO of AIG, has been named CFO for AIG’s life & retirement business, effective immediately. Habayeb is replacing current life & retirement CFO Tom Diemer, who is leaving the company to pursue other opportunities.

“Elias has an extensive and accomplished financial and insurance background, as well as deep knowledge of all of AIG’s businesses, including our Life & Retirement and Investments businesses,” said Zaffino. “He will be an exceptional public company CFO and provide the Life & Retirement executive leadership team with significant expertise, insight and financial acumen as they move toward an initial public offering.”

As part of the ongoing work to separate the life & retirement business, including portions of AIG’s investments unit, Elaine Rocha, currently global chief operating officer of reinsurance, has been promoted to global chief investment officer of AIG, effective immediately. She reports to Lyons and will transition to reporting to Fitzsimons in January 2022. Rocha will lead the investments unit that will remain with AIG.

Zaffino commented: “Elaine has a multi-faceted background with considerable depth and breadth in the Property & Casualty insurance and investment management sectors. She also has significant operational expertise and a proven ability to lead complex programs and will continue to be an invaluable asset to AIG as we execute on our longer-term strategic priorities. Elaine’s broad experience and commitment to quality make her the ideal candidate to lead the Investments group that will remain with AIG as we separate the Life & Retirement business.”

AIG also announced that Ted Devine has joined the company as global head of AIG 200, reporting to Zaffino. Devine has been advising AIG on its AIG 200 effort since 2019, focusing on technology delivery and user experience. In this new role, he will be responsible for overseeing and driving continued momentum across AIG 200 to help modernises its infrastructure.

Previously, Devine served as founder and CEO of insurtech broker Insureon, president of Aon Global Retail Brokerage, CEO of Aon Reinsurance, president of Aon Americas, a senior partner at McKinsey and Company focusing on the insurance sector, and senior manager of Deloitte’s M&A practice where he focused on capital structure transactions.

Zaffino said: “Ted brings significant industry experience, deep insurance-operations knowledge, and a strong track record of leading successful transformational change resulting in improved performance for the long term. The AIG 200 effort is establishing a strong foundation that will improve our day-to-day operations; Ted’s oversight of this work will ensure that we maintain momentum and achieve lasting transformation as we continue to instill a culture of operational excellence at AIG.”

Did you get value from this story?  Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.