Willis Towers Watson appoints Asia life practice leader

Broker Willis Towers Watson has appointed Mei-Chee Shum as Greater China life sales and practice leader in its insurance consulting and software business.

Shum will focus on the mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan markets, and will be responsible for leading and developing the life insurance consulting practice across Greater China.

The company stated that the newly-created divisional role aims to address vast client, geographical, cultural and regulatory differences across the Asia region.

Based in Hong Kong, Shum will report to Richard Collis, managing director for Willis Towers Watson’s insurance consulting and software business in Asia Pacific.

Prior to joining Willis Towers Watson, Shum held a number of senior positions across Asia, most recently as chief marketing officer for AIA’s operations in the Philippines and group head of product strategy for AIA Group based in Hong Kong.

Prior to that, Shum was chief financial officer and later chief executive officer for Manulife Taiwan. Shum has previously worked at Tillinghast – Towers Perrin (now forming part of Willis Towers Watson, as part of the Towers Perrin and Watson Wyatt merger in 2010) as Actuarial Consultant in the UK.

"Mei-Chee's mix of skills and experience make her a very valuable addition to the regional team as we adapt our business to meet the specific local needs of our clients in a rapidly changing market environment," Collis commented.

"This new appointment continues our strong hiring pipeline, supplementing the senior client-focussed hires of Ken Brown, Kevin Angelini, Siaowearn Leong, among others over the past year. Market size, the participants, technology and operational process are all transforming the industry."

Collis added: "We see growing market sophistication and the need for better use of technology. Instead of focusing on past trends and, implicitly, causes of death, insurers are seeking new ways to model disease-based processes of mortality and their drivers by using medical data and input from medical experts about factors that are likely to cause variations in future mortality. With these dynamics, we continue to build our talent base to meet the changing needs of the insurance industry."

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