Zurich Financial Services Ltd (Zurich) announced today that the Board of Directors will propose to the 2010 Annual General Meeting of shareholders on March 30 the election of Josef Ackermann (age 61, Swiss) to the Board of Directors. As already announced at last year’s Annual General Meeting, Philippe Pidoux is retiring from the Board of Directors and will not stand for re-election.
Manfred Gentz, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Zurich, said: “My colleagues and I are delighted that Josef Ackermann accepted our nomination. In light of his wide-ranging experience in the international financial services industry, he will be an excellent addition to our Board following the retirement of Philippe Pidoux.”
Josef Ackermann studied Economics and Social Sciences at the University of St. Gallen, and in 1977 – after obtaining his doctorate – he joined Schweizerische Kreditanstalt (SKA). In 1990, Ackermann was appointed to the Executive Board of SKA, becoming its President in 1993.
In 1996, Ackermann joined the Management Board of Deutsche Bank. In 2002, he became Spokesman of the Management Board and Chairman of the Group Executive Committee. On February 1, 2006, he was appointed Chairman of the Management Board.
Ackermann is a member of the Supervisory Board of Siemens AG, Germany, of Royal Dutch Shell plc, Holland, and of Belenos Clean Power Holding Ltd, Biel. He is a member of the International Advisory Council of Zurich Financial Services Group, and he also plays an active role in, among other things, the “Initiative Finanzstandort Deutschland” (member of the Initiators’ Group), the Institute of International Finance (Chairman of the Board), the World Economic Forum (Vice-Chairman of the Foundation Board), the St. Gallen Foundation for International Studies (Chairman) and the Metropolitan Opera New York (Advisory Director). Since 2007, Ackermann has been a Visiting Professor in Finance at the London School of Economics. In 2008, he was named Honorary Professor at Frankfurt’s Johann Wolfgang Goethe University and was appointed to the Honorary Senate of the Lindau Meetings of Nobel Laureates. Furthermore, Josef Ackermann is an Honorary Fellow of the London Business School and holds an Honorary Doctorate from the Democritus University of Thrace in Greece.
