Benmosche Named 2013 Insurance Hall of Fame Inductee

The International Insurance Society (IIS) announced Robert Benmosche, president and CEO, AIG, as the 2013 Insurance Hall of Fame inductee. He will be honored at the June 17 gala dinner in conjunction with the IIS 49th Annual Seminar in Seoul, Korea, June 16-20, 2013. He is one of the five nominees for the Insurance Hall of Fame selected by the IIS Honors Committee, a body of senior insurance executives and academics, and voted on by the IIS membership by secret ballot tabulated and conducted by Deloitte & Touche.

The award honors insurance leaders who have made a broad, encompassing and lasting contribution to the insurance industry and who are recognized by their peers as successful leaders, innovators and visionaries.

Benmosche is credited as “the man who saved AIG” from financial collapse during the worldwide financial crisis that started in 2008. He joined AIG as president and CEO in August 2009, coming out of retirement to lead AIG, IIS said. The turnaround mitigated a global wave of repercussions that the failure of a company that size could have caused. AIG’s potential demise threatened millions of businesses, families, and individuals around the world including the more than 85 million customers and 57,000 global employees whose financial security would have been jeopardized had the company collapsed.

“The entire insurance industry, and society as a whole, owes Mr. Benmosche their immense gratitude for coming out of retirement to return AIG to profitability and into a fully privately owned enterprise once again,” said IIS Chairman Norman Sorensen.

Benmosche returned AIG to financial stability and profitability and his appointment to AIG is recognized as one of the most important steps in the company’s turnaround. Since September 2008, America committed a total of $182.3 billion in connection with stabilizing AIG during the financial crisis. Since then, through asset sales and other actions by AIG, America recovered $182.3 billion and earned a combined return of $22.7 billion, according to AIG.

“AIG’s astonishing turnaround during Mr. Benmosche’s three-year reign is nothing short of remarkable and further speaks to his outstanding management abilities evident throughout his extensive career in the industry,” said Michael Morrissey, IIS president and CEO.

Prior to joining AIG, Benmosche served as chairman and CEO of MetLife, retiring in 2006 after eleven years during which he led the transition of MetLife from a mutual to a public company in April 2000.

Before joining MetLife as EVP, Benmosche spent more than 13 years at PaineWebber Group Incorporated, where he served in several capacities including: SVP of marketing, CFO of the retail brokerage division, and EVP from 1989-1995, serving as the head of operations and technology and director and sales manager for more than 1,500 retail investment advisors. Earlier in his career, Benmosche was a Chase Manhattan Bank VP and a staff consultant with Arthur D. Little.

“We cannot think of anyone who more fully embodies the criteria for the Insurance Hall of Fame Award than Mr. Benmosche,” said Bernhard Fink, IIS Honors Committee Chairman. “During his long and successful career in our industry he has demonstrated extraordinary leadership skills and business acuity.”