Meet the board
Here you will find who is on the UK Board. A short biography for each board member is also included.
Anthony Hamilton - Chairman
Born 1941, his early career was spent in London and New York working for the investment banks Schroders, Morgan Grenfell, and Wainwright. In 1978, he joined Fox-Pitt, Kelton and was appointed Chief Executive Officer in 1994. In 1993, he became a non-executive director of AXA Equity and Law plc (Chairman, 1995) and in 1997 a non-executive director of AXA UK plc. Since September 2000, he has Chairman of AXA UK plc. He is also a member of the Management Board of AXA and is Chairman of its Audit Committee.
Membership of AXA UK Committees:
• Remuneration and Nomination (Chairman)
Jonathan Asquith - Non-executive Director
Born 1956, he was appointed to the Board as a Non-executive Director in March 2009. Before joining the Board of AXA UK plc, he spent thirty years in financial services in investment banking and asset management with Morgan Grenfell, Deutsche Bank and Schroders, where he served as CFO and later Vice Chairman until 2008.
He is also Chairman of AXA investment Managers SA and a Non-executive Director of 3i Group plc and Ashmore Group plc.
Membership of AXA UK Committees & principal Operating Company Boards:
• Audit Committee (Chairman)
• AXA Wealth Management Board
Ian Brimecome - Non-executive Director
Born 1953, he was appointed to the Board as a Non-executive Director in March 2007. He was a Non-executive Director of Winterthur UK Financial Services Group Ltd until December 2006. He has over 30 years' experience of the financial services industry in a wide variety of roles.
He has advised on more than one hundred merger and acquisition transactions in the insurance and asset management industries in more than twenty countries. He is an Associate of the Institute of Financial Services and a Member of the Institute of Management.
He is also Chairman of Equitable Life Assurance Society and Kiln Group; Executive Chairman International of Tokio Marine Holdings, Chairman of Tokio Marine North America and Deputy Chairman of Tokio Marine Asia; and a Non-executive Director of Philadelphia Consolidated Holdings and Edelweiss Tokio Life.
Membership of AXA UK Committees & principal Operating Company Boards:
• Audit Committee
• Risk Committee (Chairman)
• AXA Wealth Management Board
• Bluefin Management Board (Chairman)
• SecureHealth (Holdings) Limited (Chairman)
Peter Burrows - Non-executive Director
Born in 1953, Peter was appointed to the Board as a Non-Executive Director in June 2011.
Prior to his retirement at the end of 2010 Peter was Executive Chairman of Brit Insurance UK who he joined in July 2006 from Zurich Financial Services where he had been Managing Director of the UK Commercial business for some five years. Much of his previous executive career was spent with RSA where he held a number of senior positions including Managing Director of National Vulcan Engineering Insurance Group Limited and Director of UK Regions for the Commercial Lines business.
He is a Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute and is also a Non-Executive Director of Thistle Insurance Services Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of JLT plc and Argo Managing Agency Limited.
Membership of AXA UK Committees & principal Operating Company Boards:
• AXA Insurance UK plc
• AXA PPP Healthcare limited
• AXA Ireland Limited
• AXA Insurance Limited (Ireland)
Henri de Castries - Non-executive Director
Born 1954, he was appointed to the Board as a Non-executive Director in 1997.
He is a graduate of the École des Hautes Études Commerciales (HEC) and obtained a law degree before completing preparatory studies at the École Nationale d'Administration (ENA). After graduating from ENA he began his career with the French Finance Ministry Inspection Office. He joined AXA's Corporate Finance Department on September 1st, 1989. He was appointed Corporate Secretary in 1991 and Senior Executive Vice-President for the Group's asset management, financial and real-estate businesses in 1993. In 1997, he was appointed Chairman of The Equitable Companies Incorporated (now AXA Financial, Inc.). From May 2000 to April 2010, Mr. de Castries was Chairman of the AXA Management Board. Since April 2010, Mr. Henri de Castries has been Chairman & CEO of AXA.
Bob Dench - Non-executive Director
Born 1950, he was appointed to the Board as a Non-executive Director in September 2004, . after a long career at Barclays during which time he was a member of the Retail Bank and Wealth Management Boards.
Bob has been Chairman of The Paragon Group of Companies plc since 2007.
Membership of AXA UK Committees & principal Operating Company Boards:
• Audit Committee
• Remuneration and Nomination Committee
• Risk Committee
• AXA Insurance UK plc
• AXA PPP healthcare limited
• AXA Ireland Limited (Chairman)
Denis Duverne - Non-executive Director
Born 1953, he was appointed an Alternate Director in 1997 and a Non-executive Director in his own right in September 2000.
He is a graduate of the École des Hautes Études Commerciales (HEC). After graduating from the École Nationale d'Administration (ENA), he started his career in 1984 as commercial counsellor for the French Consulate General in New York before becoming director of the Corporate Taxes Department for the French Ministry of Finance in 1986. In 1988, he became Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy for the French Ministry of Finance and, in 1991, he was appointed Corporate Secretary of Compagnie Financière IBI. In 1992, he became a member of the Executive Committee of Banque Colbert, in charge of operations. In 1995, he joined the AXA Group and assumed responsibility for supervision of AXA's operations in the US and the UK and managed the reorganization of AXA companies in Belgium and the United Kingdom. From February 2003 until December 2009, he was the Management Board member in charge of Finance, Control and Strategy. From January 2010 until April 2010, Mr. Duverne assumed broader responsibilities as Management Board member in charge of Finance, Strategy and Operations. Since April 2010, Mr. Denis Duverne has been director and Deputy Chief Executive Officer of AXA, in charge of Finance, Strategy and Operations.
Membership of AXA UK Committees:
• Remuneration and Nomination Committee
• Risk Committee
• Risk Committee
Paul Evans - Group Chief Executive
Born 1965, he was appointed as Group Chief Executive in October 2010 having held the position of Chief Executive of AXA Life since May 2003. Prior to that he was the Group Finance Director of AXA UK, responsible for finance, strategy, treasury and taxation.
Paul joined AXA in January 2000 from PricewaterhouseCoopers and was appointed to the Board in November 2001. Paul is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and of the Board of the Association of British Insurers (ABI), and is Chairman of the General Insurance Committee of the ABI.
Membership of AXA UK Committees & principal Operating Company Boards:
• Corporate Responsibility Committee
• Executive Committee
• Risk Committee
• Investment Committee
• P&C Insurance Risk Committee (Chairman)
• Architas Multi-Manager Limited
• AXA Insurance UK plc
• AXA Ireland Limited
• AXA PPP helathcare limited
• AXA Wealth Management Board
• Bluefin Management Board
Amanda Blanc - Executive Director
Born 1967, she was appointed to the Board in March 2011 following her appointment as Chief Executive, AXA Insurance Commercial Lines in February 2011. This is her second career within AXA where she was previously Regional Director in the Commercial Lines Intermediary business from 1999 to 2003.
She rejoined AXA UK from Towergate where she had worked since 2006 as Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer, with responsibility for the leadership of their retail broking operations including regional offices, networks and e-trading businesses. Prior to joining Towergate, Amanda was Customer & Service Director at Groupama for two years.
Amanda graduated from the University of Liverpool and has an MBA from the University of Leeds. In addition, she is a Chartered Insurer and is currently Deputy President of the Chartered Insurance Institute where she will serve as President in 2013.
Membership of AXA UK Committees & principal Operating Company Boards:
• Corporate Responsibility Committee
• Executive Committee
• AXA Insurance UK plc
Jean Drouffe - Executive Director
Born 1975, he was appointed to the Board in July 2010. He joined AXA in 2000, launching the AXA Group Risk Management practice through various roles in the Economic Capital project.
In 2004, he joined AXA UK & Ireland, where he took up the transversal position of Head of Financial Risk Management, putting to best use his technical expertise of Asset Liability Management, Actuarial and Risk Management. In June 2008, Jean was appointed Finance Director of AXA Insurance, the UK P&C company of AXA. Most recently, in July 2010, Jean was appointed as Group Finance, Risk & Strategy Director of AXA UK.
Jean graduated from École Polytechnique in Paris (94) and ENSAE (99) and is a Qualified Actuary (99). Prior to joining AXA, Jean worked for Arthur Andersen, as a Pension Actuary. He is a member of the Financial Regulation and Taxation Committee for the Association of British Insurers.
Membership of AXA UK Committees & principal Operating Company Boards:
• Corporate Responsibility Committee
• Executive Committee
• Risk Committee
• Investment Committee (Chairman)
• P&C Insurance Risk Committee
• Operational Risk Committee (Chairman)
• Architas Multi-Manager Limited
• AXA Insurance UK plc
• AXA Ireland Limited
• AXA PPP helathcare limited
• AXA Wealth Management Board
• Bluefin Management Board
Keith Gibbs - Executive Director
Born 1958, he was appointed to the Board in February 2004. Since November 2001 he has been Chief Executive of AXA PPP healthcare. Keith also has responsibility for the direct life business (AXA Sun Life Direct).
He formerly held a wide range of senior positions at Sun Life of Canada, Sentinel Life, Citibank and Lloyds TSB.
Membership of AXA UK Committees & principal Operating Company Boards:
• Corporate Responsibility Committee
• Executive Committee
• AXA Insurance UK plc
• AXA PPP helathcare limited
Steve Hardy - Executive Director
Born 1963, he was appointed to the Board in March 2011. He joined AXA following its acquisition of Swiftcover in 2007 where he had held the role of CFO. He was appointed managing director of AXA Insurance Direct in April 2008, when he also became CEO of Swiftcover. He was appointed Chief Executive, AXA Insurance Personal Lines in October 2010.
Prior to founding Swiftcover, he held a number of senior roles within financial services for organisations such as Royal Bank of Scotland Insurance and Churchill. He was Director of Central Finance at RBS Insurance from 2003 to 2005 prior to which he was Group Finance Director of Churchill Insurance Group plc. Steve is a chartered accountant.
Membership of AXA UK Committees & principal Operating Company Boards:
• Corporate Responsibility Committee
• Executive Committee
• AXA Insurance UK plc
Mike Kellard - Executive Director
Born 1961, he was appointed to the board in April 2011. He joined Winterthur Life in 1999 and subsequently became Managing Director of its Professional Advisers Division, where he was responsible for all sales, marketing, administration and service functions. In 2003, Mike was appointed CEO of Winterthur Life UK Limited.
AXA acquired the Winterthur group in 2006, and Mike was appointed CEO of AXA's Wealth Management business. Following the sale of part of AXA UK's Life business in 2010, Mike became CEO of the new standalone AXA Wealth business.
Membership of AXA UK Committees & principal Operating Company Boards:
• Corporate Responsibility Committee
• Executive Committee
• Architas Multi-Manager Limited
• AXA Wealth Management
John O'Neill - Executive Director
Born 1954, he was appointed to the Board in February 2004. He is Chief Executive of AXA Ireland (previously Guardian PMPA Insurance)
He has worked for Guardian PMPA Insurance since 1990. His career also includes several years with Guardian Royal Exchange, Coyle Hamilton and AIB Insurance Services.
Membership of AXA UK Committees & principal Opearting Company Boards:
• Corporate Responsibility Committee
• Executive Committee
• AXA Insurance UK plc
• AXA Ireland Limited
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