Pierre-Denis Champvillard to Retire as SCOR Deputy COO

France’s SCOR Group announced that Mr. Pierre-Denis Champvillard, 57, Group Deputy Chief Operating Officer, has applied for leave to retire, effective July 1, 2003.

The announcement indicated that Champvillard, who has been with SCOR since 1971, had made a personal decision in order “to take advantage of SCOR’s existing early-retirement plan.” He has been a key figure in SCOR’s development for the last 32 years as a senior manager under former CEO Jacques Blondeau, who was forced out last November, and is the latest, and last, of the Blondeau team to leave the company.

Denis Kessler, who succeeded Blondeau, launched a “Back on Track” plan that has reduced underwriting capacity, sold off non-core businesses, and refocused SCOR on reinsurance operations. He has been bringing in a new team, and thus Champvillard’s departure was not unexpected.

Kessler thanked him “for his important contribution to the international reputation of French reinsurance in general, and of SCOR in particular, and for his involvement in the major issues affecting the industry.”