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Evan G. Greenberg

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Evan G. Greenberg
Frontal portrait photo of Evan Greenberg in 2024
Evan Greenberg, 2024
Born1955 (age 68–69)
EducationNew York University, College of Insurance (did not graduate from either)
Occupation(s)Chairman and CEO of Chubb Limited
SpouseMariana Campero
FatherMaurice R. Greenberg
RelativesJeffrey W. Greenberg (brother)

Evan G. Greenberg (born 1955) is an American business executive. He is the chairman and CEO of the Zürich-based insurance company Chubb Limited (formerly ACE Limited).

Early life and education

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Greenberg is the son of Corinne Phyllis Zuckerman and Maurice R. Greenberg, the former chairman and CEO of American International Group (AIG).[1] He is also the younger brother of Jeffrey W. Greenberg, the former CEO of Marsh & McLennan.[2]

After graduating high school at 17, Greenberg traveled the country working odd jobs, including cooking at a nursing home and bartending.[3][4] He later attended New York University and the College of Insurance but did not graduate from either.[2]

Career

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Early career and AIG

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In 1975, Greenberg started working in insurance, initially working for New Hampshire Insurance Co. in its automobile policies department.[5] He began working for AIG later that year as an underwriter.[5] During the 25 years he worked for AIG, Greenberg held a number of senior management positions. He ran AIG's Japan and Korea operations from 1991 to 1994.[4] He then oversaw all international property-casualty operations from AIG's New York offices.[4] Greenberg was named president and COO in 1997 and was considered the heir apparent to take over as CEO of AIG.[2][1]

Despite Greenberg being in line to take over the company, he left his position as president in September 2000.[6] He spent a year away from work to spend time with his family.[6] After seeing the impact of the September 11 attacks on the insurance industry, with insurers affected by large claims, Greenberg decided to take the opportunity to accept then-ACE CEO Brian Duperreault's offer to join ACE.[6]

ACE/Chubb

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Greenberg joined ACE in November 2001 to lead the company's overseas unit.[6] In June 2003, he was promoted to president and chief operating officer, and in May 2004, was named CEO.[6] In May 2007, he was elected Chairman of ACE.[7]

Following his promotion to CEO, Greenberg grew the company both through expansion of existing operations and through a strategy of acquisitions, acquiring 15 companies by 2015.[5] In July 2015, Greenberg led a deal for ACE to acquire the insurance company Chubb for $28.3 billion,[8] which was the largest merger deal in property and casualty insurance history.[9] Shortly prior to the deal, he broke his ankle in a horse riding accident, and he worked on the merger while recovering.[4] When the deal became official in January 2016, ACE adopted the Chubb name globally and Greenberg became chairman and CEO of Chubb.[10] By 2021, Greenberg was credited in the media for having grown Chubb to the second-largest publicly listed insurance company in the U.S.[11] and the largest non-injury insurer in the U.S. based on market value.[12] As part of the acquisition plan to continue growing Chubb, he led an attempted acquisition bid for The Hartford in 2021. After making three offers that were each declined, he stated that Chubb would not continue to pursue the acquisition.[11]

Following the merger, Greenberg has sought to grow Chubb's presence in Asia.[13] He led the company's push to increase its holdings in Huatai Insurance, a China-based insurance company, by pursuing a regulatory change in China that would allow Chubb to become Huatai's majority owner. Officials passed the change in 2019[12] and Chubb gained majority ownership of Huatai in 2022.[14]

In 2021, he led the company's acquisition of Cigna Group's Asian businesses that focused on health and accident insurance.[13]

In 2023, Greenberg's total compensation from Chubb was $27.7 million, representing a CEO-to-median worker pay ratio of 452-to-1.[15]

Political and financial positions, board roles

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In the 2008 financial crisis, Greenberg opposed taxpayer-funded bailouts for the insurance industry.[16] He gave a statement on behalf of the American Insurance Association as its then-chairman, noting that most of the association's members were not in favor of including property and casualty insurers in the list of companies able to make use of available federal bailout funds.[17]

In February 2011, Greenberg was named to the board of directors at The Coca-Cola Company.[18] He stepped down from the board position to focus on his role at Chubb in January 2016.[19]

Greenberg has criticized protectionist trade policies[20] and spoken in favor of policies that promote global trade and U.S. interests, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement.[21]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Greenberg called for a public-private partnership for pandemic risk, saying such a program would lessen the financial blow of a future pandemic.[22] He testified at a July 2021 hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, to advocate for such a program.[23]

He has also advocated for better business and political relationships between the U.S. and China.[24][14] He is a member and former chairman of the US-China Business Council.[14][25]

In March 2024, Greenberg defended Chubb's decision to provide former President Donald Trump a $91.6 million appeal bond for the civil case E. Jean Carroll v. Donald J. Trump in a letter to Chubb investors claiming the company doesn't "take sides."[26] Greenberg was appointed by Trump to the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations in 2018, serving on the committee from then into the Joe Biden presidency, stepping down in March 2023.[26]

Greenberg is executive vice chair of the National Committee on United States-China Relations' board of directors and a member of the US-China Business Council's board of directors.[27][28]

References

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  1. ^ a b Starkman, Dean (July 5, 2005). "Hoping to Avoid The Third Out". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2024-02-14.
  2. ^ a b c Treaster, Joseph B. (March 12, 2004). "A Greenberg, 3rd in Family, to Be Chief of an Insurer". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 9, 2014. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
  3. ^ Basak, Sonali (July 1, 2015). "Evan Greenberg, Long in Father's Shadow, Comes Into His Own". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
  4. ^ a b c d Scism, Leslie (December 16, 2015). "Evan Greenberg Dropped Out, Then Built Insurance Behemoth". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 12, 2024.
  5. ^ a b c Kandell, Jonathan (January 12, 2016). "Evan Greenberg's Ace in Chubb Clothing". Institutional Investor. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d e Starkman, Dean (July 5, 2005). "Hoping to Avoid The Third Out". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  7. ^ "ACE Limited appoints Evan Greenberg Chairman of Board of Directors". Reuters. August 9, 2007. Retrieved February 22, 2024.
  8. ^ Bray, Chad; de la Merced, Michael J. (July 1, 2015). "Ace to Buy Chubb for $28.3 Billion". The New York Times. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  9. ^ Gray, Alistair (August 6, 2017). "Chubb CEO Evan Greenberg on a winning M&A formula". Financial Times. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  10. ^ Simpson, Andrew G. (January 15, 2016). "ACE and Chubb Are Now One; New Chubb Brand Logo Unveiled". Insurance Journal. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  11. ^ a b Chiglinsky, Katherine (March 19, 2021). "Like Father, Like Son: Evan Greenberg Seeks Insurance Empire". Bloomberg News. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  12. ^ a b Smith, Ian (March 26, 2021). "Insurance veteran Evan Greenberg eyes his next prize". Financial Times. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  13. ^ a b Bary, Andrew (March 3, 2023). "Insurance Doesn't Have to Be Boring. Why Chubb Stock Is a Buy". Barron's. Retrieved February 29, 2024.
  14. ^ a b c Wei, Lingling; Hutzler, Charles (June 13, 2022). "One American CEO Argues for Mending Fences With China". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  15. ^ Anderson, Mae; Harloff, Paul; Ortutay, Barbara (2024-06-03). "CEOs made nearly 200 times what their workers got paid last year". AP News. Archived from the original on 2024-09-03. Retrieved 2024-09-04.
  16. ^ DiStefano, Joseph (October 30, 2008). "PhillyDeals: Insurance leader says 'no' to bailout". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
  17. ^ Hofman, Mark A. (November 2, 2008). "P/C insurer groups unite in opposing federal capital aid". Business Insurance. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
  18. ^ "Coca-Cola Company elects Evan G Greenberg as director". FoodBev. February 18, 2011. Retrieved February 12, 2024.
  19. ^ Grantham, Russell (September 27, 2016). "Coca-Cola board director to step down after his own job gets bigger". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. ISSN 1539-7459. Retrieved February 12, 2024.
  20. ^ Philip, Agnel (July 27, 2016). "Greenberg Calls Out 'Wannabes' for Wagers on Political Risk". Bloomberg. Retrieved March 4, 2024.
  21. ^ Hollmer, Mark (April 8, 2024). "Chubb CEO Greenberg Sounds Off on NAFTA, China and 'America First'". Carrier Management. Retrieved March 4, 2024.
  22. ^ Sundaram, Anjali (July 30, 2020). "Chubb CEO on insuring in a pandemic: It's unlike any other catastrophe". CNBC. Retrieved March 4, 2024.
  23. ^ Moorcraft, Bethan (August 2, 2021). "Chubb CEO makes case for pandemic insurance program". Insurance Business Magazine. Retrieved March 4, 2024.
  24. ^ Schmidt, Blake (December 22, 2022). "After AIG, Greenbergs Build $6 Billion Fortune and Push Into China". Bloomberg. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  25. ^ "Chubb CEO Evan Greenberg elected Chair of the US-China Business Council | US-China Business Council". The US-China Business Council. June 9, 2017. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  26. ^ a b Mangan, Dan; Brewer, Contessa (March 13, 2024). "Chubb CEO defends backing Trump appeal bond in E. Jean Carroll case". CNBC. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  27. ^ Crane, Brent (September 4, 2022). "Insuring Engagement". The Wire China. Retrieved September 5, 2022.
  28. ^ "Board of Directors". NCUSCR. Retrieved 2024-11-18.