Peter Zaffino (born 1967) is an insurance industry executive. He is the Chairman and CEO of AIG.
Zaffino joined AIG in August 2017 as executive vice president and global chief operating officer. He served as CEO of AIG's General Insurance business, the company's core property-casualty insurance unit, from September 2017 to August 2020. On 1 January 2020, Zaffino was promoted to president of AIG and continued to serve as global COO. On March 1, 2021, he became AIG's CEO. Later that year, Zaffino was appointed chairman of the AIG board of directors, effective January 1, 2022.
Prior to joining AIG, he was with Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMC) for 16 years. With MMC he served as president and CEO of Guy Carpenter from 2008–2011, CEO of Marsh from 2011–2017, and chairman of MMC's Risk & Insurance Services segment from 2015–2017.
Early life and education
Zaffino was born in 1967; his father was Salvatore D. Zaffino, an insurance executive who was chairman of Guy Carpenter & Company from 1999 through 2007 and prior to that was CEO of the company.
He received a BA in economics from Boston College, where he played collegiate soccer, in 1989, and an MBA in finance from New York University's Leonard N. Stern School of Business. He holds the insurance industry designations CPCU and Associate in Reinsurance designations.
Career
Early career
Following university, Zaffino worked steadily in the insurance and reinsurance industry, beginning at The Hartford. He held a number of senior executives roles at a portfolio company of GE Capital, which specialized in alternative risk insurance and reinsurance.
Marsh & McLennan Companies
Guy Carpenter
From GE Capital Services, in 2001 Zaffino joined Guy Carpenter & Company, a global risk and reinsurance firm and a subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies in New York City. From 2005 forward he successively held several senior positions at Guy Carpenter, including head of global specialty practices; managing director and eastern regional manager; and executive vice president and head of treaty operations in the United States.
In February 2008 he became Guy Carpenter's president and CEO. He streamlined the company's operations and staff, improved profitability, made acquisitions, and hired high-profile executives. In addition, Global Reinsurance says he improved Guy Carpenter's analytical tools for clients; overhauled operations in the United Kingdom and Europe; and also worked to improve sales culture and integration within the company.
Marsh CEO and MMC risk and insurance-services chairman
Marsh & McLennan Companies, a professional services firm that includes risk management companies Marsh and Guy Carpenter and consulting firms Mercer and Oliver Wyman Group, had appointed Zaffino as a member of its executive committee in 2008.
In April 2011 MMC appointed him president and CEO of its subsidiary Marsh, Inc., a global insurance brokerage and risk management firm. Under Zaffino, Marsh grew in part via acquisitions, and the company launched several technological products such as a mobile platform. In 2008 Marsh had launched Marsh & McLennan Agency, aimed at providing insurance for small and mid-sized companies, and Zaffino continued to expand it via acquisitions.
In early 2015 Marsh & McLennan Companies named him chairman of MMC's Risk & Insurance Services segment, which included both Marsh and Guy Carpenter. In this capacity he led teams providing risk advice and capital solutions to companies in around 130 countries.
AIG president and global COO
Zaffino was appointed executive vice president and global chief operating officer of AIG effective August 2017. This entailed leading the day-to-day business of all country operations, including U.S. commercial field operations and AIG's multinational organization, as well as global business services, administration, and communications. He was also responsible for expanding and profitably executing AIG's commercial and consumer strategies. Zaffino was also appointed to AIG's executive leadership team in 2017.