Swiss Re Appoints Dacey as CFO, Succeeding Cole in April 2018

Swiss Re announced that John Dacey, currently group chief strategy officer, has been appointed group chief financial officer, effective April 1, 2018. He succeeds David Cole, who will step down to pursue a non-executive career, while remaining a board member of several Swiss Re subsidiaries.

Dacey joined Swiss Re’s group executive committee five years ago as group chief strategy officer. His career in the re/insurance industry spans more than 20 years, during which time he has held various senior executive positions.

From 2007 to 2012, Dacey served as AXA’s group regional CEO and group vice chairman for Asia-Pacific. Prior to that, he was a member of the group executive board at Winterthur Insurance, first as its chief financial officer from 2000 to 2004 and subsequently as the company’s chief strategy officer from 2005 to 2007and member of its risk and investment committees.

After seven years with Swiss Re, Cole will step down as group CFO on March 31, 2018 to pursue a non-executive career while remaining a board member of Swiss Re subsidiary companies.

“We are grateful for David’s leadership and outstanding contribution to Swiss Re over seven years,” said Swiss Re Chairman Walter B. Kielholz.

“As Group Chief Financial Officer, he has transformed our Finance division into an efficient allocator of capital across the group. While we will miss having him in our group executive committee, we are delighted that he will stay involved with Swiss Re and that we will continue to benefit from his experience,” he added.

In comments about Dacey’s appointment, Kielholz said, “he has been instrumental in shaping Swiss Re’s strategic framework and launching the Swiss Re Institute – both of which strongly position Swiss Re as the leading risk knowledge company.”

With these changes, the board of directors has also decided that the two positions group chief financial officer and group chief strategy officer will be merged.

Source: Swiss Re