Aviva plc the savings, investments and insurance group, says that, after almost a decade in a CEO role, Richard Harvey has expressed his intention to retire as group chief executive on 11 July 2007.
Andrew Moss, currently Aviva’s group finance director, will succeed Richard following his retirement as group chief executive. Philip Scott, currently the executive director of Aviva International, will become group finance director and Patrick Snowball, appointed executive director of Aviva UK, in January last year, will continue to be responsible for Norwich Union, RAC and Aviva’s offshore services.
“Richard Harvey is a class act by anyone’s standards. His professionalism, skill, and foresight have made a lasting, positive contribution not only to Aviva but to the international insurance industry,” says Lord Sharman of Redlynch, the chairman of Aviva. “When I became Aviva’s chairman, Richard signaled to me that he may not want to stay until the normal retirement age of 60. This is characteristic of his openness, integrity, capacity for thinking well-ahead and innate desire to do what is right. I respect his wish to apply his many and varied talents to other ventures, all of which will undoubtedly benefit from his visionary insight and strong leadership.”
“I am proud of having helped to create in Aviva a business that has scale, presence and identity in more than 25 markets across the world,” adds Harvey “Aviva is now one of the outright leaders in the global insurance industry with an increasingly powerful brand that is instantly recognisable and highly differentiated in international markets. With almost 10 years as a CEO under my belt, there are other dimensions to my life and other things I want to achieve in both international charity work and the business world. Now is the right time for me to set out on my next adventure while I have the energy and desire to make a difference. Having built a management team at Aviva which has real strength and depth I know that I will leave the company in expert hands.”