Kitchener, ON (Nov. 5, 2018) – Allianz Global Assistance, a leading Canadian travel insurance and assistance provider, has appointed Chris Van Kooten as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective immediately.
Chris brings extensive insurance industry experience to his new position, having held executive leadership roles with a number of well-respected Canadian companies. In recent years, he held actuarial roles with increasing responsibility at both The Co-operators General Insurance Company and Economical Insurance, culminating in his final role as Chief Underwriting Officer with Economical.
Most recently, Chris was Managing Director at Guy Carpenter Canada, where he led strategic relationship management, new business prospecting, designing comprehensive reinsurance programs, developing new products and advising on insurance technology solutions.
As CEO for Allianz Global Assistance, Chris will lead the company in further scaling its service capabilities as a leading travel insurance, assistance and cost containment provider for some of Canada’s top brands, while ensuring an exceptional end-to-end experience for its customers. Chris will also aim to drive strong, sustainable growth for Allianz Global Assistance and its long-standing partners across all of its strategic distribution channels, including its financial services, travel, insurance broker and group benefits lines of business.
“I am delighted to join the Allianz Global Assistance Canada team,” said Chris regarding his new role. “With strong roots in Canada and unparalleled global capabilities, the company has a track record of impressive growth. I intend to lead our company in accelerating this momentum while empowering our associates to make a positive impact on the lives of Canadian travellers in their time of need.”
“We are extremely pleased to have Chris join our Canadian executive team as CEO,” added Mike Nelson, Chief Executive Officer of Global Travel Insurance & Americas for Allianz Partners. “He is a driven and dynamic leader with proven success at building a ‘customer-first’ culture within his teams. I’m confident his extensive leadership and industry experience will position him well to deliver long-term, sustainable growth and profitability for Allianz Global Assistance and its valued partners.”
About Allianz Global Assistance (Canada)
For 30 years, Allianz Global Assistance has supported travelling Canadians when they need it most with value-added travel insurance and assistance services. More than 800 employees support long-term partnerships with some of the best known brands in the travel and financial services markets. Allianz Global Assistance also serves as an outsource provider for in-bound call centre services and claims administration for health insurers, property and casualty insurers and credit card companies. Allianz Global Assistance is a specialist brand of Allianz Partners for assistance and travel insurance, and is a registered business name of AZGA Service Canada Inc. and AZGA Insurance Agency Canada Ltd. For more information, please visit www.allianz-assistance.ca.
About Allianz Global Benefits
Dedicated to bringing global protection and care, Allianz Partners is the B2B2C leader in assistance and insurance solutions in the following areas of expertise: assistance, international health & life, automotive and travel insurance. These solutions, which are a unique combination of insurance, service and technology, are available to business partners or via direct and digital channels under four commercial brands: Allianz Assistance, Allianz Care, Allianz Automotive and Allianz Travel.
This global family of over 19,000 employees is present in 78 countries, speaks 70 languages and handles 54 million cases per year, protecting customers and employees on all continents.
For more information, please visit www.allianz-partners.com.
SOURCE: Allianz Global Assistance
Tags: Allianz, appointment
