Thierry Léger

CEO Swiss Re Life Capital

Pravina Ladva

Chief Technology & Operations Officer, Swiss Re Life Capital 

Christoph Gaus

Christoph Gaus has more than 20 years’ experience in the international insurance sector. He possesses outstanding leadership skills and a great deal of experience in a variety of areas, including project and product management, sales and marketing. Prior to joining elipsLife, Christoph spent five years at Zurich Insurance Group, where he was employed as Head of Retail Management and was also a member of the management board for the group’s Swiss business unit.

He holds a Master in Economics, with a focus on Business Information Technology and Information Management, and this extensive theoretical knowledge is complemented by years of practical expertise gleaned from business, process and technology transformation projects.

Christoph has been CEO elipsLife since October 2019*. He was previously CEO Europe from June 2018.

*subject to regulatory approval

Julien Descombes

Julien Descombes has 22 years of experience in the life and health re/insurance industry. He started his professional career at Vaudoise Assurances in Lausanne as an Actuary for the Individual Life team in 1994. In 1997, Julien joined Swiss Re and over the years has held various leadership positions. In October 2012, he was appointed Head L&H Products Continental Europe, Middle East & Latin America Hub. In January 2015, Julien was appointed Head L&H Products Europe, Middle East & Africa. He joined Swiss Re's Life Capital Business Unit in 2017 as Chief Underwriting Officer and Member of the Life Capital Executive Committee. 

Julien has been interim Deputy CEO elipsLife since October 2019 in addition to his role as Chief Underwriting Officer of Swiss Re Life Capital.

*subject to regulatory approval

Bart den Hartog

Bart den Hartog has a wealth of expertise in employee benefits advice in the B2B market, particularly in the pension industry in the Netherlands. As a Qualified Actuary, he was also the external appointed Actuary for several large Pension Funds in the Netherlands. Furthermore, he brings many years of management and leadership experience in an international environment.

He worked for Willis Towers Watson in Amsterdam, the largest global employee benefits consultant, in leading positions for more than 25 years. He had both geographical responsibilities as Head of Benelux and functional responsibilities as Head of the Benefit Segment including Group Life and Health. In his role Bart den Hartog was Chairman of the Executive Board in the Netherlands and Member of the EMEA Board for several years.

As Chief Product Officer, Bart den Hartog has been in charge of global Product Management and Pricing since April 2017.

Alberto Franceschetti

Alberto Franceschetti has a wealth of experience as an independent entrepreneur and consultant to international insurance and financial companies and also held a managerial position in a global financial institution. With this background, Alberto is ideally equipped for the challenging position as CFO of a growing insurance company.

Alberto Franceschetti earned his doctorate in economics from the University of St. Gallen (HSG). After finishing his studies he joined McKinsey, where he was soon made a partner. He left McKinsey after ten years and joined Bain & Company, where his clients included many global financial institutions. In 2008 he moved to Credit Suisse, where his most recent position was Head of Strategy & Projects.

Alberto Franceschetti has led the finance area as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of elipsLife since 1 June 2014.

Ralf Hardegger

After his Master of Science in Biology Ralf Hardegger startet his career in Health Insurance in the area of Finance, IT and Organization. He introduced several projects parallel to the completion of his eMBA. After that he built the corporate business of Symany for the next 6 years working at the interface of business and IT.

Since August 2011 Ralf Hardegger has built up as COO of elipsLife the operational business across Europe. After half a year of investment into the operational launch of the US he is responsible since April 2019 for the global solution engineering as Chief Business Architect.

Eric Herbelin

Eric Herbelin is responsible for the market entry of elipsLife in the US and the overall development of our business in the region. He has worked in the insurance sector for over 28 years and has in-depth expertise in business development and strategy implementation across international markets. Prior to joining elipsLife, Eric spent 16 years at Zurich Insurance Group. He eventually rose to the position of Head of Group CEO Office, a role in which he was responsible for managing the strategic agenda of the entire Group.

He holds an Executive MBA from IMD, a Master in Human Systems Engineering and a Bachelor in Business Administration.

Eric spent a year as Head of Business Development & Acquisitions at elipsLife after joining the company. Since January 2018, he has been responsible for developing our business on the US market as CEO Americas.

Kaspar Weiss

With Kaspar Weiss, elipsLife has found a highly qualified IT specialist with many years of experience to take over responsibility for the company's Information Technology department. From 2001 to 2005, Kaspar Weiss worked for Sunrise as Customer Care Director and Head Technical Support. From 2005 to 2009, he worked for British Telecom as International Head of Services Operations in charge of customer support and network operations in large parts of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. From 2009 until most recently, Kaspar Weiss worked for Swisscom Switzerland Ltd as Head of Service Center & Assurance, in which position he was responsible for ensuring the availability and quality of all Swisscom's networks and IT applications.

Kaspar Weiss is in charge of elipsLife's Information Technology department as of March 2013.

Albert Bakker

Albert Bakker is responsible for the elipsLife Benelux organization. He has worked in the Dutch insurance industry for over 22 years. In the initial 9 years he worked as COO in one of the leading insurance companies, SNS Reaal. In the last 13 years he was CEO of several Dutch and international insurance companies, a.o. the pension Division of Achmea.

Albert studied Business Economics at the University of Rotterdam, followed by a post MBA in Accountancy. After working for 3 years as an auditor he held various Finance functions, before stepping into the insurance world.  He joined elipsLife in 2017, the moment elipsLife changed to a country organization. As CEO Benelux he is responsible for both the Dutch and Belgian market.

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Massimo Carassinu

Massimo Carassinu joined the Swiss Re Group in 2012 and has in-depth understanding of Life & Health Re/Insurance businesses. Prior to joining elipsLife, Massimo led the design and development of Swiss Re Life Capital target operating model, and worked in the Divisional Operating Office in the Life & Health Products Division. In his 7-year tenure with McKinsey, he developed significant experience in strategy consulting.

He holds a Master in Management of Production from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, and a Master in Industrial Engineering and Management from Politecnico di Milano, Italy. Since February 2017, he has led elipsLife’s market entry in Italy and is currently responsible for the overall business development and operations in the Italian market.

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Lucas Müller

Lucas Müller is responsible for elipsLife Germany. In his role as country CEO he has the challenge to raise local needs and to develop a new German market for biometric risk insurance. For more than 10 years he has been working in the area of biometric Group insurance solutions in connection with private pension provision.

Following his masters degree in  economics from the university of Fribourg, Switzerland, he successfully completed the Swiss Re Graduates Programme. After a short stint with a Swiss health insurance company, he joined elipsLife in 2011 where he was Head Sales Switzerland/Liechtenstein and responsible for building up the Swiss distribution department. Since May 2017 he has been leading the German entity of elipsLife as country CEO.

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George Harbut

Appointed elipsLife Ireland CEO in January 2019, George Harbut is responsible for the Private Medical Insurance and Group Life & Health business in Ireland, and is also Swiss Re’s Country President for Ireland.  He has 25 years of experience across sales, product and finance roles in the international re/insurance sector, joining elipsLife as Head Strategy and Business Development in October 2017.

Prior to that he held several roles at Swiss Re, most recently Head of Corporate Development for Life Capital, responsible for establishing and growing the business unit. George holds a degree in Accounting, a Masters in Insurance & Risk Management and is a member of the Chartered Insurance Institute. 

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Eric Herbelin

Eric Herbelin is responsible for the market entry of elipsLife in the US and the overall development of our business in the region. He has worked in the insurance sector for over 28 years and has in-depth expertise in business development and strategy implementation across international markets. Prior to joining elipsLife, Eric spent 16 years at Zurich Insurance Group. He eventually rose to the position of Head of Group CEO Office, a role in which he was responsible for managing the strategic agenda of the entire Group.

He holds an Executive MBA from IMD, a Master in Human Systems Engineering and a Bachelor in Business Administration.

Eric spent a year as Head of Business Development & Acquisitions at elipsLife after joining the company. Since January 2018, he has been responsible for developing our business on the US market as CEO Americas.

E-Mail Eric Herbelin, CEO USA

Lucas Müller

Lucas Müller is responsible for elipsLife Germany. In his role as country CEO he has the challenge to raise local needs and to develop a new German market for biometric risk insurance. For more than 10 years he has been working in the area of biometric Group insurance solutions in connection with private pension provision.

Following his masters degree in  economics from the university of Fribourg, Switzerland, he successfully completed the Swiss Re Graduates Programme. After a short stint with a Swiss health insurance company, he joined elipsLife in 2011 where he was Head Sales Switzerland/Liechtenstein and responsible for building up the Swiss distribution department. Since May 2017 he has been leading the German entity of elipsLife as country CEO.

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