French multinational insurance firm Axa appointed a new chief executive officer for Asia, including Japan.
Gordon Watson will take on the new role on January 1 2018 and will also be confirmed as a member of the management committee of the Axa Group. Watson will report to Axa CEO Thomas Buberl, the firm said in a press release.
Watson has more than 30 years of experience in the insurance industry. From 2011 to 2017, he was regional chief executive of AIA Group's operations in Hong Kong and Macau, Australia, the Philippines, Vietnam and New Zealand. During this time, he also led the group's corporate solutions, healthcare, partnership, and AIA Vitality businesses.
Between 2008 and 2010 he was the regional president for AIG Life Companies in Japan and Korea, and was also global executive vice chairman for ALICO responsible for the Japan business and overseeing 50 other countries for strategy, distribution, corporate solutions, product and marketing.
