The SCOR board of directors has unanimously selected Laurent Rousseau to become the next CEO following the general meeting on 30 June 2021.
This comes as Denis Kessler, the current CEO and chairman, has revealed his plans to step down from his role earlier than he previously announced due to personal reasons. He will leave his role on 30 June.
As part of this announcement, the board of directors has decided to separate the roles of chairman of the board and CEO at the end of this general meeting.
Rousseau is currently the deputy CEO of SCOR Global P&C, chairman of SCOR Europe and member of the group executive committee.
The board states that Rousseau, who has held senior positions within the group for the past 11 years and benefits from 20 years of experience in the (re)insurance sector in London and Paris, has all the skills and qualities necessary to become CEO of SCOR.
He was one of three candidates selected by the Compensation and Nomination Committee as part of the chairman and CEO succession planning conducted in 2019 and 2020.
In addition to this appointment, the board of directors will propose to the 2021 General Assembly that Rousseau be appointed as a director of the group.
However, in December 2020, it was announced that Benoît Ribadeau-Dumas was to succeed Kessler.
Ribadeau-Dumas was appointed deputy CEO on 1 January 2021 with a view to becoming CEO following the general meeting in 2022.
However, the SCOR board of directors concluded that during his time in his role, the conditions were not met for Ribadeau-Dumas to take up the position of CEO of SCOR in June 2021.
The board noted that he had not worked in the insurance or reinsurance sector before joining the SCOR.
The board has also appointed Kessler as non-executive chairman following the general meeting of 30 June, and will help to ensure the continuity of the group’s strategy and to perpetuate its values.
Commenting on his new role, Rousseau, says: “I am honoured by the confidence the SCOR board of directors has placed in me by choosing me as the next CEO of the group. The entire executive committee and I are determined to actively pursue the growth of the company for whose operations we will now be responsible.”
In November 2020, SCOR elected Adrien Couret, CEO of the Macif group, as director, following the resignation from Jean-Marc Raby as he stood down to pursue other interests.
