UK executive team

Chief Executive Officer

Drazen Jaksic has over 30 years’ experience in the Insurance sector. Drazen was appointed as UK CEO in January 2025, having previously held the position of Benelux CEO, with responsibility for the Commercial Insurance Business in the region. Drazen joined Zurich in January 2019 as the Global Head of Accident and Health where he was responsible for driving growth, innovation and greater underwriting consistency across Zurich’s Accident, Health and Travel portfolio. Drazen holds significant experience in the global insurance market and prior to joining Zurich, he has held a number of business and cross-border leadership roles.

Chief Financial Officer

With a strong background in the UK insurance industry, Helen Pickford was appointed UK CFO on 1 September 2018, previously holding the position of Deputy CFO for Zurich UK and CFO for Zurich’s UK Life business.

Prior to joining Zurich in January 2016, Helen was Finance Director at Ageas and held senior finance roles at Royal Sun Alliance (RSA) during her 15-year tenure, including Finance Director of the UK Retail and Affinity business and Group Head of Investor Relations, accumulating over twenty-five years' experience in the insurance industry.

She is the chair of the PRA Practitioner Panel and a member of the Insurance Practitioner Panel.

Chief Underwriting Officer

With a wealth of experience in the UK insurance market, Caroline joined from Lloyds in November 2021 where she has spent seven years heading up various divisions such as Market Development and Underwriting.

In her most recent role, in the Markets division, Caroline is responsible for the distribution strategy, broker and syndicate relationships and leading the Lloyd’s Global Network. Prior to this, Caroline spent 14 years with RSA.

Head of Commercial

Frank Streidl joined Zurich in November 2010 and has held various roles including Head of Energy, Marine and Construction for Commercial Insurance UK. Frank assumed the role of Head of Commercial Insurance UK on 1st January 2023.

Frank has more than 20 years of experience in the industry and considers Upstream Energy his natural home. Prior to joining Zurich Insurance, he held senior roles at Hannover Re, Accenture and Deutsche Bundeswehr. Frank graduated from Maastricht University (NL) and The University of Western Ontario (CDN) and holds their respective degrees in Economics and Social Sciences. A former member of the Joint Rig Committee, he was invited to join the IUMI Offshore Energy Committee in 2013 which he is chairing since 2020. He is also a member of the International Underwriting Association Board.

Managing Director, Zurich Municipal and Zurich Engineering

Having joined the business on the actuarial graduate scheme, Amy has been with Zurich since 2007. She was appointed as Managing Director for Zurich Municipal in October 2022. Prior to this Amy held a range of senior leadership roles including Chief of Staff. Most recently, Amy led Zurich’s customer and digital transformation as Head of Customer in UK Claims. She was also a Trustee Director for Zurich UK’s Pension Scheme.

Amy has a passion for community and sustainability and has led or sponsored various activities across the business in this space. She is a Trustee of Zurich Community Trust and is Chair of the Ethics Board (pro bono) for Ninety, an insurance innovation consultancy committed to giving 90% of its profits to social causes. Amy also sits on the ABI Executive Sponsors D&I Advisory Group.

Head of Life

Alex joined Zurich in April 2020 after 13 years at Royal London Group. He was lately CEO of the Irish business, leading the expansion of its protection business and transformed its distributor and customer service experience.

Prior to this, he worked in senior roles across the Group, including as Head of Consumer Proposition and Group Strategy Manager.

Head of P&C Retail

In January 2023, David was appointed to Head of Retail. David’s been with Zurich for over 17 years and joined our Executive team in 2016 as our UKGI Chief Operations Officer before moving to our UK Claims team as Chief Claims officer in 2017. David’s recent move to Head of Retail means he’s now responsible for our Personal Lines, Commercial SME and Mid-Market propositions.

David’s breadth of strategic and operational expertise, strong customer and broker focus, and passion for continuous improvement and using technology have resulted in great customer and broker outcomes in the roles he’s held at Zurich. Before joining Zurich, David spent time at Aviva and held several senior positions. 

Chief Claims Officer

In February 2023 James was appointed Chief Claims Officer having end to end responsibility for the Claims operation within the UK. Prior to this, James was the Head of Expert and Commercial Insurance Claims, responsible for setting and implementing Zurich’s technical claims strategy for all lines of business and fraud.

James joined Zurich on the graduate programme in 1997 and has had a variety of leadership roles within Zurich, including Head of Global Corporate Claims, Head of Property & Specialty Claims and Property Branch Manager. He is passionate about customer advocacy, inclusivity and our future workforce.

Chief Operating Officer

Anita became the Chief Operating Officer in July 2022, assuming responsibility for the company's daily business operations, leading key initiatives, and implementing company-wide strategies across all our locations in the UK. Anita joined Zurich in 2005 and has over 17 years of experience in the Operations area of Financial Services. Her background is in transformation, with experience ranging from large scale programme management, defining and delivering strategic change for functions in flux, leading organisational restructures, and running large scale outsourcing contracts.

Anita has previously held the roles of Operations Director, and latterly Chief Data Officer for the UK business, responsible for the Data and Analytics strategy and execution of transformation. Anita also sits on the Motor Insurance Bureau and UK Insurance Supper Club boards.

Prior to joining Zurich, Anita worked for IBM UK from 2002 – 2005. Anita is a Swiss national and is bi-lingual English/French, with Swedish, Spanish and German language skills. She’s PMP qualified and holds an MBA and Bachelors in Economics and Management Science from Southampton University.

Chief HR and Sustainability Officer

Steve leads the People Team across Zurich in the UK. He has been with Zurich for over 30 years, in a career that has seen him drive and deliver major initiatives within HR, communications, finance, and operations. In his current role, Steve and his team are at the heart of major advancements in employee engagement, benefits, and wellbeing and are focused on diversity, inclusivity, and building sustainable careers for Zurich’s talented workforce.

Steve works alongside the UK Executive team, shaping the employee value proposition to deliver Zurich's goal of being a great place to work for the widest range of people. He brings leadership, passion, and deep business experience to his role.

General Counsel

Ed joined Zurich in 2017, as General Counsel of Zurich Insurance UK.

He leads a team of lawyers, company secretaries and support staff, supporting both the life and general insurance sides of the UK business.

UK Chief Risk Officer

Richard was appointed UK Chief Risk Officer in July 2023, having served as UK Chief Compliance Officer for all UK business lines since January 2017. Prior to this, Richard was Head of Compliance, Markets and Customer Insight for the UK Life business.

Richard originally joined the Zurich Group in 2005 as a member of the UK Life Strategy and Planning team. He subsequently held roles with the Zurich Group in the Asia Pacific region before returning to Europe in 2011 and moving into the role of Head of Business Transformation based in Zurich.

Richard holds a degree in history, an MBA from Henley Management College and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments.

Chief Compliance Officer

Hilary joined us from Australia in October 2023, where she has been Chief Operating Officer of Zurich Financial Services Australia, working across Australia and New Zealand, with responsibilities including first-line governance.

Hilary started her career in the legal profession, working in private practice following her graduation with a law degree from the University of Sydney in 2000. She took her first role in insurance in 2004, specialising in claims, and worked for organisations including QBE and Chubb before joining Zurich Australia in 2016 as Chief Claims Officer for General Insurance. Having worked in both Australia and the USA, Hilary has significant experience across different markets and regulatory environments.

UK Audit Director

Lisa joined Zurich as UK Audit Director in April 2023, with over 20 years of insurance experience from roles within the First and Second Lines of Defence, as well as Internal Audit.

Prior to joining Zurich, Lisa held senior Internal Audit leadership roles within Aviva and also HSBC where, as part of her portfolio, she was responsible for Internal Audit assurance for HSBC’s insurance businesses globally. As a strong supporter of continuous improvement and collaboration, Lisa has led various transformation activities within Internal Audit.

Lisa holds various professional qualifications, including from the Chartered Institute of Internal Audit; the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists; and Chartered institute for Securities and Investment, in addition to her BSc in Psychology.

Chief of Staff

Having worked in the UK insurance industry for over 25 years across both Life Assurance and Property and Casualty, Nigel is an accomplished business leader with significant commercial experience (including mergers and acquisitions). He has an in-depth knowledge of distribution, propositions, first and second line control functions and execution of strategy.

Before his current role as Chief of Staff UK, Nigel held the position of Head of Strategy UK. He has held the following positions, Commercial Director Life for 15 years, Governance Director Life, Head of Retail a.i, Head of Compliance a.i and CEO of Zurich UK’s Wealth and Investment businesses alongside many executive and chair positions on statutory boards.

To start his career, he graduated from the University of Liverpool with a BA (Hons) degree in Economics as ‘Economic Student of the Year’. Since then, Nigel has become a qualified accountant and completed a Masters in Coaching and Mentoring at Oxford Brooks University, achieving a distinction and the top award for his contribution to executive coaching research and understanding metaphor.