The exclusive MENA Insurance CEO Club (MICC) has grown bigger with Mr Michael Jensen, Managing Director (MENA) of AIG, and Mr Brian Reilly, CEO of Zurich Insurance Middle East, joining as new members, bringing the total membership to 20.
Mr Jensen leads AIG’s MENA Zone, which consists of Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Sri Lanka and UAE. He joined AIG in 1992 in Denmark and has worked at senior management levels in numerous countries, including Romania, Kazakhstan and Poland. He moved to the Middle East and Africa region in 2010 as the Managing Director of AIG Egypt Insurance Company and in 2012, he assumed a dual role and worked as the Commercial Lines Manager-Arabia and North Africa until 2014.
Mr Reilly is responsible for leading Zurich’s General Insurance (GI) team in the Middle East and also holds the position of Country CEO Middle East, which oversees Zurich’s shared life and GI services in the region. He has worked in over 30 countries during his career and has almost four decades of emerging markets experience.
Dr Bassel Hindawi, MICC Steering Committee Member, said: “The MICC welcomes the wealth of experience in both emerging and developed markets that Mr Jensen and Mr Reilly bring. We are confident that they will be able to contribute meaningfully towards the Club’s mission of serving as a think tank to shape and spearhead the future development of the regional insurance industry.”
The MICC was set up in 2010 as a by-invitation-only Club by pro-active leaders in the industry, with the vision to become the mouthpiece of and think tank for the MENA insurance industry. It has achieved several milestones and firsts and will launch a Public Insurance Forum this year to mark its fifth anniversary.
The Club is led by the Steering Committee, consisting of Dr Hindawi, immediate past Insurance Commissioner of Jordan; Mr Yassir Albaharna, CEO of Arig; and Mr Sivam Subramaniam, Editor-in-Chief of Middle East Insurance Review and Asia Insurance Review.
MICC’s list of members now comprise the following:
• Mr Imad Abdel Khaleq, Jordan Insurance Company, Jordan;
• Mr Mahomed Akoob, Hannover ReTakaful, Bahrain;
• Mr Fahad Al-Hesni, Saudi Reinsurance Company, Saudi Arabia;
• Mr Nagib M Bahous, MIG Holding, Bahrain;
• Mr Fateh Bekdache, AROPE Insurance, Lebanon;
• Mrs Lamia Ben Mahmoud, Société Tunisienne de Réassurance, Tunisia;
• Dr Michael Bitzer, National Health Insurance Company – Daman, UAE;
• Mr Farid Chedid, SEIB Insurance & Reinsurance Company, Qatar;
• Mr Ronald Chidiac, Arab Reinsurance Company, Lebanon;
• Mr Patrick Choffel, Oman Insurance Company, UAE;
• Mr Michael Jensen, AIG, UAE;
• Mr Mohamed Larbi Nali, Société Centrale de Réassurance, Morocco;
• Mr Elie Nasnas, AXA Middle East SAL, Lebanon;
• Mr Brian Reilly, Zurich Insurance Company, UAE;
• Mr Tarek A Hayel Saeed, United Insurance Company, Yemen;
• Mr Walid A Sidani, former CEO, Abu Dhabi National Insurance Company, UAE; and
• Mr Christian Vogel, Gulf Reinsurance Ltd, UAE.
The MICC’s secretariat services are provided by Middle East Insurance Review.