Martin Senn (born 22 March 1954,

Binningen, Switzerland Binningen (Swiss German: ''Binnige'') is a municipality in the district of Arlesheim in the canton of Canton of Basel-Landschaft in Switzerland. It is nestled in a valley, on a plateau, and on two hills overlooking the city of Basel. History Bi ...

; † 27 May 2016,

Klosters Klosters is a Switzerland, Swiss village in the Prättigau, politically part of the Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality of Klosters-Serneus, which belongs to the political district Prättigau/Davos Region, Prättigau/Davos in the Cantons o ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

) was a Swiss insurance manager. He was the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the

Zurich Insurance Group Zurich Insurance Group Ltd is a Swiss insurance company, headquartered in Zürich, and the country's largest insurer. As of 2021, the group is the world's 112th largest public company according to ''Forbes'' Global 2000s list, and in 2011 it ran ...

from 2010 until December 2015.

Life

He was born and raised in Binningen, in the canton of

Basel-Landschaft Basel-Landschaft or Basel-Country informally known as Baselland or Baselbiet (; german: Kanton Basel-Landschaft ; rm, Chantun Basilea-Champagna; french: Canton de Bâle-Campagne; it, Canton Basilea Campagna), is one of the 26 cantons forming ...

. He completed a business apprenticeship with the

Swiss Bank Corporation Swiss Bank Corporation was a Swiss investment bank and financial services company located in Switzerland. Prior to its merger, the bank was the third largest in Switzerland with over CHF300 billion of assets and CHF11.7 billion of equ ...

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

. During his time in the

Swiss armed forces The Swiss Armed Forces (german: Schweizer Armee, french: Armée suisse, it, Esercito svizzero, rm, Armada svizra; ) operates on land and in the air, serving as the primary armed forces of Switzerland. Under the country's militia system, re ...

, which he left as

Oberleutnant () is the highest lieutenant officer rank in the German-speaking armed forces of Germany (Bundeswehr), the Austrian Armed Forces, and the Swiss Armed Forces. Austria Germany In the German Army, it dates from the early 19th century. Trans ...

, he dreamed of becoming an

Aircraft pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

. His subsequent career led the assets specialist via the Swiss Bank Corporation to

Credit Suisse Credit Suisse Group AG is a global investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. Headquartered in Zürich, it maintains offices in all major financial centers around the world and is one of the nine global " ...

. He was only 26 years old when he took over the

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

branch store of the Swiss Bank Corporation in 1983. When he joined Credit Suisse in 1994 he served as treasurer for

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and chairman in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. In 2001 he joined the Credit Suisse board of directors and was appointed manager of the Trading- and Investment Services. After his transition into the insurance industry he worked for the companies

Swiss Life The Swiss Life Group is the largest life insurance company of Switzerland and one of Europe’s leading comprehensive life and pensions and financial services providers, with approximately CHF 276.3 bn of assets under management. Founded in 18 ...

and Zurich Insurance Group. At Swiss Life Senn was appointed

Chief Investment Officer The chief investment officer (CIO) is a job title for the board level head of investments within an organization. The CIO's purpose is to understand, manage, and monitor their organization's portfolio of assets, devise strategies for growth, act as ...

(CIO) in 2003 and joined the board of directors. In April 2006 after his transition to Zurich he headed up the investments unit as Chief Investment Officer (CIO) and in 2009 he replaced James J. Schiro as CEO of the Zurich Insurance Group. In December 2015 after a year of great financial loss for Zurich Senn resigned. On 27 May 2016, Senn died by suicide. He was married to the Korean violinist Guen Soo-Senn and had a daughter and a son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Senn, Martin Swiss chief executives 1957 births 2016 deaths Chief investment officers