Zurich North America announces new Chief Financial Officer
September 11, 2019
Peter Hirs moves from Zurich Asia Pacific to become CFO for Zurich North America.
Peter Hirs, previously Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for Zurich Asia Pacific, has been appointed CFO for Zurich North America. Hirs is relocating from Hong Kong to the Chicago area to succeed Dalynn Hoch, who has taken on a role as Head of Group Mergers & Acquisitions for Zurich, based in Switzerland.
As Zurich North America CFO, Hirs will lead North America's Actuarial, Controller, Corporate Tax, Treasury, Planning & Expense Management, and Business Analysis & Insights functions. He will be a member of the North America Executive Committee and the Group Leadership Team while continuing his membership on the Group Finance Executive Team.
“Peter has nearly 25 years of financial experience, coupled with strong leadership and strategic acumen,” said Kathleen Savio, Chief Executive Officer for Zurich North America. “Those qualities will help us continue to deliver on our strong capabilities.”
Hirs joined Zurich as a Senior Project Manager in Group Mergers & Acquisitions in 2005 and has held several senior positions across the business, including CFO for Global Corporate North America and CFO for Switzerland, where he successfully led a number of finance transformation initiatives to improve systems, processes and operations. In his most recent role, he enhanced the capabilities of the finance function to help support and drive the business.
Prior to joining Zurich, Hirs was based in New York and worked in investment banking at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse First Boston. He also previously worked as a casualty underwriter at Winterthur International.
Hirs earned his Master of Law from the University of Zurich and practiced law in Switzerland. He earned a Master of Business Administration from Columbia University.