Martha Boeckenfeld buzzing with new tasks

It is rare that the appointment of a member of the Board of Directors causes more of a stir than that of the Chairman. But that is the case for Martha Boeckenfeld.

Financial services expert and former UBS banker Martha Boeckenfeld has been appointed as an independent director of two companies.

As of January 2023, she will join the supervisory boards at Generali Personenversicherungen and Generali Allgemeine Versicherungen. She succeeds Carola Wahl, Generali Switzerland announced Tuesday.

Back to the roots

Actually, this is a return to Boeckenfeld’s roots. She has already been a member of the Board of Directors of Generali Investments Switzerland since the end of October 2022. However, she was already a member of the board of directors of several Generali Switzerland companies from 2016 to 2019. 

Böckenfeld has more than 20 years of experience in platform economics, dynamic ecosystems, digital business and digital transformation, the insurer said in acknowledging the appointment.

As a thought leader, strategist and advisor for the Metaverse and Web3, Dean & Partner of the Metaverse Academy, she supports individuals and companies to leverage this innovation for both themselves and their stakeholders, it added.

Networks for women

Personality is not without controversy, however. A flagship project at the major bank UBS, where the digitization specialist worked not long ago, is said to have been ‘a complete failure’ in the eyes of observers.

After leaving the bank, she set up her own business and became increasingly involved in the cypto world. In the commercial register, her name is registered with the management of Azure Capital Real Estate International in Walchwil.

The manager is also active in networks for women and sits on the advisory board of Gentwo, a Zurich-based securitization company.

A word from Finma

According to the communiqué, Boeckenfeld’s appointment is subject to approvals by the general meetings of December 29, 2022, and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, Finma.

Since Generali is the majority owner everywhere, the whole thing should be merely a formality. It was not possible to find out what the Italian insurer intends to do with the appeal or what it expects from the return.

The media hotline of Generali Switzerland was not willing to answer the simplest of questions by muula.ch about either the structure of the group or about its personnel.

20 billion in premiums

At the same time as the nomination of Böckenfeld, the Italian insurance group also announced that Giovanni Liverani, the head of the group for Germany, Austria and Switzerland (Roof), would become the new chairman of the board of directors of Generali (Schweiz) Holding AG, Generali Personenversicherungen AG and Generali Allgemeine Versicherungen AG.

Accordingly, his appointment is linked to the creation of the new Roof business unit. Liverani was previously head of Generali in Germany for many years.

The new umbrella business unit has a premium volume of 19.4 billion euros and, with an operating profit of 1.26 billion euros, represents the second-largest unit within the Generali Group and is the second-largest primary insurer within the umbrella region.

From eleven to seven

At the beginning of September 2022, Generali Switzerland restructured itself and reduced the Executive Board from eleven to eight members. The Life & Pension and Non-Life divisions were then combined once again under the leadership of Ralph Schmid (Chief Insurance Officer).

The Executive Board of Generali Switzerland is therefore currently composed of the following seven members: Christoph Schmallenbach (CEO), Alessio Sarti (CFO), Ralph Schmid (Chief Insurance Officer), Sepp Ruchti (Chief Distribution Officer), Andreas Schloegl (Chief Transformation and Operation Officer), Jean-Pierre Schmid (Chief Human Resources & Organization Officer) and Philipp Keller (Chief Risk Officer).

12/13/2022/kut./ena.