FPA Reception with Mr. Philippe Donnet

Philippe Donnet - Speaker
Group CEO, Assicurazioni Generali

Philippe Donnet is a business executive with Italian and French citizenship and has been CEO of the Generali Group since March 17, 2016.

He joined the French insurer AXA in 1985, holding various managerial roles until 1997. In 1999, he became CEO of AXA Assicurazioni in Italy and in 2001, Regional CEO with responsibility for Southern Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Canada. In 2003, he became CEO of AXA Japan and in 2006, assumed the position of CEO for the entire Asia-Pacific region.

Since 2007, he has been Managing Director of Wendel Investissement for the Asia-Pacific region in Singapore. Subsequently, in 2010, he co-founded the investment firm HLD in Paris. In 2008, he joined the Board of Directors of Vivendi where he sat until 2016.

Donnet first arrived in Generali in October 2013 as Country Manager Italy and CEO of Generali Italia, where he led the integration program of the company’s five brands within the national territory. During the same period, starting in February 2015, he held the position of Chairman of the MIB School of Management in Trieste, Italy for three years.

He was appointed CEO of the Generali Group, which currently employs 75,000 people and has 173,000 agents in fifty nations around the world, in March 2016. In this role, he oversaw the successful completion of two strategic plans and led Generali to the best operating result in its 190-year history.

Within the current strategic plan, sustainability is the originator of everything Generali does. Under Donnet’s leadership, the Group’s efforts in embedding sustainable practices into every aspect of the business accelerated, and these initiatives were duly recognized by the most authoritative international rating agencies. In addition, during his mandate, Generali adopted best practices in corporate governance throughout the Group.

Beyond the business itself, Donnet reinforced the Group’s historic ties with Venice, where it has been present since 1832, by enabling the renovation of the city’s Royal Gardens as well as the restoration of the monumental Procuratie Vecchie in Saint Mark’s Square. He is among the promoters of the association that supports Venice as the world capital of sustainability.

In 2017, he also launched The Human Safety Net, the Generali Group’s global sustainability program that supports vulnerable families as well as the integration of refugees into the business world through entrepreneurial projects. Donnet is a member of the Board of Directors of The Human Safety Net and a member of the General Council of the Giorgio Cini Foundation. He also sits on the Steering Committee of the Insurance Development Forum (IDF).

In 2022, Donnet was named "Best CEO" in the insurance sector in the All-Europe Executive Team ranking of “Institutional Investor”.

He obtained a degree in Engineering from École Polytechnique in 1983, and in 1986, he became an actuary. In 1991, he received the title of agrégé from the Institut des Actuaires Français (IFA).

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