WHY IT RATES: Jeff Wright has succeeded Elena Edwards as Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. business unit. -Janeen Christoff, TravelPulse Senior Writer
Allianz Partners has announced that Elena Edwards has been promoted to Chief Markets Officer at Europe-based Allianz Partners Group and that Jeff Wright has succeeded Edwards as Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. business unit.
Prior to his promotion to CEO, Wright was the company's Chief Financial Officer. Edwards will also retain her position as CEO for North America, overseeing the company's business units in the US and Canada. In addition to Edwards' promotion to Chief Markets Officer, she also joins the Board of Management of Allianz Partners Group.
In her new position, she will focus on steering Allianz Partners' business units across the globe to ensure growth and profitability.
Allianz Partners USA offers travel and other specialty insurance products and assistance services through partners that include major airlines, hotel companies, cruise lines, online travel agencies, tour operators, travel advisors and directly to consumers. The company employs over 800 associates in the U.S. and is headquartered in the Glen Allen area of Henrico County, Virginia.
Edwards first joined Allianz Partners in 2019 as the General Manager for the US Business Unit, where she provided executive leadership on strategy, prioritization and execution. Then in June 2020, she was promoted to CEO of Allianz Partners USA and in July 2021, she took on an additional role as Regional CEO for North America, successfully managing the US and Canadian Business Units.
Prior to joining Allianz Partners, Edwards held a number of executive positions at General Electric companies over 30 years, including 17 years in the insurance industry.
Wright joined Allianz Partners in 2019, and has over 17 years of experience in the insurance industry. As CFO, he was responsible for driving and implementing the financial business strategy for the Global Travel line of business and the US and Canadian business units. Prior to joining Allianz Partners, he worked at Genworth Financial, where he was CFO of the US life insurance division, which had over $80 billion in assets and annual revenue of $4 billion. His work history spans treasury, financial planning and analysis, rating agencies, reinsurance, and mergers and acquisitions. He graduated from the University of Richmond with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and earned an MBA from the University of Maryland, College Park.
"We're deeply grateful for the leadership and dedication that both Jeff and Elena have provided during one of the most turbulent times the travel industry has ever experienced," said Sirma Boshnakova, Chief Executive Officer of Europe-based Allianz Partners Group and a board member of Allianz SE. "We are thrilled to have Elena take on this new global assignment to build upon the tremendous success she has had in the U.S. At the same time we are looking forward to Jeff maintaining our leadership position in the market and continuing to grow our business to develop new products, services and processes to benefit our partners and customers."
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