Speaker's biographies - Economic Forum Event 2004
John Fitzpatrick, Head of the Life & Health Business Group
John H. Fitzpatrick joined Swiss Re in July 1998 as Chief Financial Officer and member of the Executive Board Committee. He held this position until 1 April 2003, when he became Head of Life & Health Business Group.
Mr Fitzpatrick, a US citizen born in 1956 in Chicago, Illinois, graduated from the Loyola Univer-sity of Chicago (Bachelor of Business Administration) in 1979. He is a Chartered Financial Ana-lyst (CFA) (1978) and a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) (1979).
Before joining Swiss Re, Mr Fitzpatrick was senior managing director and co-head of Securitas Capital, a joint venture between Swiss Re and Credit Suisse focusing on private equity opportu-nities in the insurance industry. From 1996 to 1998, he was a senior managing director at Zurich Centre Resources Ltd., where he focused on startups of new insurance companies. From 1990 to 1996, he was CFO and a member of the board of directors of Kemper Corporation. He originally started his career with Kemper as a financial analyst in 1978, rising to the position of vice president in corporate finance in 1986.
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CV in German
Thomas Hess, Head of Swiss Re Group Economic Research & Consulting
Thomas Hess has been Global Head of Swiss Re Economic Research & Consulting and Editor of "sigma", Swiss Re's internationally renowned research series on the insurance industry, since 1994. He is responsible for the Economic Research & Consulting groups in Zurich, New York and Hong Kong. The work of the group is focused on analysing insurance and reinsurance markets worldwide, including the alternative risk transfer (ART)markets.
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Bob Yates, Head of European Research, Fox-Pitt, Kelton
Educated at Oxford University where he read Modern Languages. Since joining FPK in 1987 he has built up the only specialised insurance and bank stockbroking activity with coverage extending throughout Europe. Prior to FPK, he worked in London for Kleinwort Benson, Lehman Bros. and Midland Montagu Ltd. He directs the efforts of FPK’s team of European insurance equity analysts. Under his leadership, the group has been consistently voted the leading European insurance company research team in the investor surveys conducted by Reuters, Extel and Institutional Investor.
