Peter Zaffino (born 1967) is an

insurance industry Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

executive. He is the

Chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

and CEO of

AIG American International Group, Inc. (AIG) is an American multinational finance and insurance corporation with operations in more than 80 countries and jurisdictions. , AIG companies employed 49,600 people.https://www.aig.com/content/dam/aig/amer ...

. Zaffino joined AIG in August 2017 as

executive vice president A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...

and global

chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the "C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if t ...

. He served as CEO of AIG's General Insurance business, the company's core property-casualty insurance unit, from September 2017 to August 2020. On 1 January 2020, Zaffino was promoted to president of AIG and continued to serve as global COO. On March 1, 2021, he became AIG's CEO. Later that year, Zaffino was appointed chairman of the AIG board of directors, effective January 1, 2022. Prior to joining AIG, he was with

Marsh & McLennan Companies Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc., doing business as Marsh McLennan, is a global professional services firm, headquartered in New York City with businesses in insurance brokerage, risk management, reinsurance services, talent management, investme ...

(MMC) for 16 years. With MMC he served as president and CEO of Guy Carpenter from 2008–2011, CEO of

Marsh A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

from 2011–2017, and chairman of MMC's Risk & Insurance Services segment from 2015–2017.

Early life and education

Zaffino was born in 1967; his father was Salvatore D. Zaffino, an insurance executive who was chairman of Guy Carpenter & Company from 1999 through 2007 and prior to that was CEO of the company. He received a BA in economics from

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

, where he played collegiate soccer, in 1989, and an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

in finance from New York University's Leonard N. Stern School of Business. He holds the

designations

CPCU Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) is a professional designation in property-casualty insurance and risk management, administered by The Institutes (AKA American Institute for Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters). Achieving the ...

and Associate in Reinsurance designations.

Career

Early career

Following university, Zaffino worked steadily in the insurance and

reinsurance Reinsurance is insurance that an insurance company purchases from another insurance company to insulate itself (at least in part) from the risk of a major claims event. With reinsurance, the company passes on ("cedes") some part of its own insu ...

industry, beginning at

The Hartford The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., usually known as The Hartford, is a United States-based investment and insurance company. The Hartford is a Fortune 500 company headquartered in its namesake city of Hartford, Connecticut. It was ranke ...

. He held a number of senior executives roles at a portfolio company of

GE Capital GE Capital is the financial services division of General Electric. The company currently only runs one division, GE Energy Financial Services. It had provided additional services in the past; however, those units were sold between 2013 and 2018 ...

, which specialized in alternative risk insurance and reinsurance.

Marsh & McLennan Companies

Guy Carpenter

From GE Capital Services, in 2001 Zaffino joined Guy Carpenter & Company, a global risk and reinsurance firm and a subsidiary of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. From 2005 forward he successively held several senior positions at Guy Carpenter, including head of global specialty practices; managing director and eastern regional manager; and executive vice president and head of treaty operations in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. In February 2008 he became Guy Carpenter's president and CEO. He streamlined the company's operations and staff, improved profitability, made acquisitions, and hired high-profile executives. In addition, '' Global Reinsurance'' says he improved Guy Carpenter's analytical tools for clients; overhauled operations in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and

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 also worked to improve sales culture and integration within the company.

Marsh CEO and MMC risk and insurance-services chairman

, a professional services firm that includes risk management companies

and Guy Carpenter and consulting firms

Mercer Mercer may refer to: Business * Mercer (car), a defunct American automobile manufacturer (1909–1925) * Mercer (consulting firm), a large human resources consulting firm headquartered in New York City * Mercer (occupation), a merchant or trader ...

and

Oliver Wyman Group Oliver Wyman is an American management consulting firm. Founded in New York City in 1984 by former Booz Allen Hamilton partners Alex Oliver and Bill Wyman, the firm has more than 60 offices in Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Asia- ...

, had appointed Zaffino as a member of its executive committee in 2008. In April 2011 MMC appointed him president and CEO of its subsidiary Marsh, Inc., a global insurance brokerage and risk management firm. Under Zaffino, Marsh grew in part via acquisitions, and the company launched several technological products such as a mobile platform. In 2008 Marsh had launched Marsh & McLennan Agency, aimed at providing insurance for small and mid-sized companies, and Zaffino continued to expand it via acquisitions. In early 2015 Marsh & McLennan Companies named him

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of MMC's Risk & Insurance Services segment, which included both Marsh and Guy Carpenter. In this capacity he led teams providing risk advice and capital solutions to companies in around 130 countries.

AIG president & global COO

Zaffino was appointed

and global

effective August 2017. This entails leading the day-to-day business of all country operations, including U.S. commercial field operations and AIG's multinational organization, as well as global business services, administration, and communications. He is also responsible for expanding and profitably executing AIG's commercial and consumer strategies. Zaffino was also appointed to AIG's executive leadership team in 2017. He was hired by AIG's new CEO

Brian Duperreault Brian Charles Duperreault (born May 8, 1947) is a Bermuda-born American executive in the insurance industry. He is executive chairman and former CEO of American International Group. Duperreault's entire career has been in the insurance industry ...

, who had been CEO of Marsh & McLennan Companies from 2008 to 2012. Together with Duperreault, Zaffino develops AIG's long-term strategy and operating plan. In September 2017, Duperreault split AIG's organizational structure into three divisions – general insurance business, a life and retirement unit, and a stand-alone technology unit – and appointed Zaffino as CEO of General Insurance, in addition to his position as global COO. The General Insurance division includes commercial and personal insurance, and U.S. and international field operations. In January 2020, Zaffino assumed the additional title of president of AIG from global CEO

. Zaffino retained his position as global COO. He also continued to lead the firm's General Insurance unit as CEO until August 2020, when that position transitioned to David McElroy, as Zaffino moved to focus more on enterprise-wide leadership responsibilities in his role as president and global COO. Zaffino heads AIG 200, a multi-year, company-wide operational overhaul and modernization plan announced in August 2019. The name "AIG 200" refers to the second 100 years for AIG, which was founded in 1919. Under Zaffino, the program aims to improve AIG's infrastructure, operational processes, efficiency and

expense ratio The expense ratio of a stock or asset fund is the total percentage of fund assets used for administrative, management, advertising (12b-1), and all other expenses. An expense ratio of 1% per annum means that each year 1% of the fund's total assets ...

. Zaffino will oversee modernizing and digitizing workflows, as well as eliminating legacy processes and manual interventions. The investments in software and services are also intended to unify operations. On March 1, 2021, Zaffino succeeded Duperreault as AIG's CEO, with Duperreault becoming executive chairman of the board. In September 2021, he was appointed to lead the AIG board and succeeded Duperreault as chairman on January 1, 2022.

Board memberships

Zaffino is the chairman of the board of

and is on the board of directors of the

Michael J. Fox Foundation The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research is dedicated to finding a cure for Parkinson's disease (PD) established in 2000 by Michael J. Fox. It concentrates on funding research and ensuring the development of improved therapies for ...

. He was appointed to the board of the

New York Police and Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund The New York Police and Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the families of New York City's first responders who have been killed in the line of duty. Through lifelong financial assistance ...

in 2013 and in 2015 was the honoree at its annual gala.

Personal life

Zaffino and his wife Kirsten have three children and are based in the

New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass, at , and one of the list of most populous metropolitan areas, most populous urban agg ...

References

External links

Profile at AIG
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaffino, Peter American chief executives of financial services companies 1967 births Living people New York University Stern School of Business alumni Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences alumni American chairpersons of corporations