AXA Health appoints Heather Smith as new CEO

AXA Health has today announced the appointment of Heather Smith as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Heather will take on the role in mid-January 2024.

Heather will be joining AXA Health from Allianz where she is currently MD for Retail and responsible for providing personal lines insurance for 3.7 million customers across all major distribution channels. Heather has a diverse and extensive CV with significant experience of the insurance and health markets.

Previously, Heather spent 10 years at Aviva across both Life and General Insurance sectors in roles that moved from marketing and sales into profit & loss ownership of the Direct Insurance business line. Prior to this, she spent 13 years at Aviva Health in a number of roles that included responsibility for affinity partnerships, marketing (brand and product) and sales.

Heather succeeds Matt Vardy who has been carrying out the role on an interim basis since the departure of Tracy Garrad in March 2023.

We’re thrilled to welcome Heather as the new CEO for AXA Health and look forward to her joining us next year.

Heather is a strong and authentic leader who has a wealth of experience developing high performing teams and delivering the best outcomes for customers in both health and insurance businesses. I’m confident that she is an excellent fit for AXA and is the right person to lead Health through the important next stage of strategy delivery.

I’d also like to offer my sincere thanks to Matt who continues to do a tremendous job as interim CEO. Matt is passionate about our Health business and will be a great support to Heather when she takes up the role.

Tara Foley, CEO at AXA UK & Ireland

I’m really excited to have been given the opportunity to take up the role of CEO of AXA Health and continue the excellent work being delivered by such a forward-thinking business. I hope to be able to build on these successes and work with the team to continue to grow the business together.

Heather Smith

Heather Smith’s appointment is subject to regulatory approval.

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Legal notes

About AXA UK

AXA Insurance UK plc registered in England and Wales under registered number 078950 and authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority under Financial Conduct Authority registration number 202312. Registered office is 20 Gracechurch Street, London, EC3V 0BG.

AXA UK is part of the AXA Group, a worldwide leader in insurance and asset management, with 147,000 employees serving 94 million clients in 50 countries. In 2023, IFRS revenues amounted to Euro 102.7 billion and underlying earnings to Euro 7.6 billion. AXA had Euro 844 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2023.

In the UK & Ireland, AXA operates through a number of business units including: AXA Insurance, AXA Health and AXA Ireland. AXA UK & Ireland employs around 10,000 staff.

Important legal information and cautionary statements concerning forward-looking statements

Certain statements contained herein may be forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, statements that are predictions of or indicate future events, trends, plans, expectations or objectives. Undue reliance should not be placed on such statements because, by their nature, they are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties and can be affected by other factors that could cause AXA’s actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward looking statements. Please refer to Part 5: “Risk Factors and Risk Management” of AXA’s Universal Registration Document 2022, for a description of certain important factors, risks and uncertainties that may affect AXA’s business and / or results of operations. AXA undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any of these forward-looking statements, whether to reflect new information, future events or circumstances or otherwise, except as required by applicable laws and regulations.