AIG CEO Taps Peter Zaffino As Key Lieutenant -- 3rd Update
July 05 2017 - 6:38PM
Dow Jones News
By Leslie Scism
New American International Group Inc. Chief Executive Brian
Duperreault hired former Marsh & McLennan Cos. colleague Peter
Zaffino to be one of his top lieutenants, his first high-profile
recruit since joining the insurance giant in May.
Mr. Zaffino will start as executive vice president and global
chief operating officer on Aug. 1. Current chief operating officer
Jeffrey Hurd will leave AIG at the end of July, according to an
employee memo from Mr. Duperreault that was reviewed by The Wall
Street Journal.
Mr. Zaffino comes to AIG after six years as CEO of Marsh &
McLennan's Marsh brokerage unit. He was also chairman of Marsh
& McLennan's risk and insurance-services operation. Current
Marsh President John Doyle will take Mr. Zaffino's spot as CEO.
Mr. Duperreault was CEO of Marsh & McLennan from 2008 to
2012.
Mr. Zaffino's selection was first reported by trade publication
Insurance Insider.
Mr. Zaffino is expected to become a key part of a team tasked
with improving AIG's profit margins after years in which the
company has trailed many peers. He will "work closely with me" and
other executives to "develop AIG's long-term strategy and operating
plan," Mr. Duperreault said in his memo to employees.
Some of AIG's woes stem from its near collapse in the 2008
global financial crisis. A U.S. government bailout required it to
sell off some prized businesses to fully repay nearly $185 billion
provided by taxpayers.
Mr. Duperreault was named to the top job after a
profit-improvement plan championed by the previous AIG chief
executive, Peter Hancock, fell behind schedule.
Some activist investors -- including Carl Icahn, who has a
representative on AIG's board -- last year called for the insurance
conglomerate to improve its results by splitting itself apart. But
those investors have given AIG some leeway to improve returns using
other methods.
Mr. Hancock's strategy was to eliminate, or shrink, lines of
business that didn't meet profit-margin targets, cut costs and
return $25 billion to shareholders through buybacks and
dividends.
Thus far Mr. Duperreault has said he is open to slowing down the
firm's share buybacks and instead using the capital for
acquisitions. He also has said he won't split up AIG and instead
pledged to "grow it."
He has said he doesn't have specific acquisitions in mind but
was "open for business" and believes there are "lots of growth
opportunities," internationally in particular.
The CEO said in his memo to employees that there would be
changes to the company's operating structure but didn't elaborate
on what those would be. His goal, he said in the memo, is to
"retain, attract and motivate a diverse group of top-quality talent
at all levels."
Write to Leslie Scism at leslie.scism@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 05, 2017 18:23 ET (22:23 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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