The former vice chairman of reinsurance group Swiss Re is to take over as chairman of the board of directors, having stepped in at short notice following Sergio Ermotti’s departure for UBS. 

Swiss Re will propose the election of a new chairman of the board of directors at the annual general meeting on April 12, 2024, according to a press release issued on Wednesday. It proposes the re-election of Jacques de Vaucleroy as board member and his election as the new chairman of the board of directors for a one-year term.

De Vaucleroy has headed the board of directors in his role as vice chairman since Sergio Ermotti - who is now CEO of major Swiss bank UBS - resigned on 30 April 2023. He has been a member of Swiss Re’s board of directors since 2017 and has over 30 years of experience in the insurance industry.

New Member

The board of directors has also nominated Geraldine Matchett for election as a new non-executive and independent board member for a one-year term, it is also reported. Matchett was co-chief executive officer and chief financial officer of DSM-Firmenich (formerly Royal DSM) from 2020 to 2023, where she was head of finance from 2014 to 2020.

Prior to that, she was global chief financial officer and a member of the operations council of the SGS Group in Switzerland. Matchett is a Swiss, British and French citizen. She holds a master’s degree in sustainable development from the University of Cambridge in the UK and a bachelor’s degree in physical and human geography from the University of Reading, also in the UK.

The agenda items published by the board of directors for the 2024 annual general meeting include the following:

  • Proposal to pay an ordinary dividend of $6.80 per share for the 2023 financial year
  • Proposal to re-elect the existing members of the board of directors for a term of one year
  • Proposal to re-elect the members of the compensation committee
  • Approval of compensation for the board of directors and the executive board and consultative vote on the 2023 compensation report
  • Consultative vote on the 2023 sustainability report

This year’s annual general meeting will be held at 2 p.m. (CEST) on April 12, 2024, at the Hallenstadion Zurich.