UK’s Aviva Names Former Zurich Exec Blanc as CEO, Succeeding Tulloch

Aviva plc announced the appointment of Amanda Blanc as chief executive officer with immediate effect. She succeeds Maurice Tulloch, who has stepped down from the role for family health reasons.

Blanc is currently an Independent non-executive director at Aviva plc. She was appointed to the Aviva board in January 2020 and chairs the Customer, Conduct and Reputation Board Committee.

She was previously CEO, EMEA & Global Banking Partnerships at Zurich Insurance Group. Prior to that she was group CEO of AXA’s UK and Ireland business and has served as chair of the Association of British Insurers and president of the Chartered Insurance Institute.

In addition to her previous roles at AXA and Zurich, Amanda has held senior positions at Towergate Insurance Brokers and Groupama Insurance Co.. She started her career with Commercial Union, which subsequently became part of Aviva.

Tulloch joined Aviva in 1992 and held a number of senior positions in the business during his time with the company. He joined the Aviva plc Board in 2017 and was appointed chief executive in March 2019.

Since that time, Tulloch has been in the process of reorganizing the company, which has had a sluggish share price and has not delivered the returns that shareholders expected. Tulloch’s predecessor, Mark Wilson, was pushed from the job after his work on transforming the company did not yield the expected results.

“I want Aviva to be the leader in our industry again and the first choice for our customers and partners. My focus will be on achieving that for the benefit of all of our stakeholders,” said Blanc in a statement.

“We will look at all our strategic opportunities, and at pace. I have been on the Aviva board since the start of this year and have a good understanding of where the business has its strengths and what actions we should take across our portfolio,” she added.

“I would like to thank Maurice for his valuable contribution over many years with Aviva. The board and I were saddened to hear of the personal reasons behind his desire to step down and we wish him and his family the very best for the future,” said George Culmer, chairman of Aviva.

“We are delighted that Amanda will be our new CEO. The board was unanimous in endorsing her appointment. I know she will bring real dynamism to Aviva and re-establish our credentials as a high-performing, innovative and customer-centric business,” Culmer continued.

Blanc will step down from all of her current non-executive commitments. She will continue in her voluntary role as chair of the Welsh Professional Rugby Board.

Photograph: Aviva’s headquarters in London. Photo credit: Aviva