Claude Bébéar

A 1955 graduate of École polytechnique, he began his career in the Anciennes mutuelles d’assurance (AMA) group, where he took on various roles before being named CEO in 1975. In the 1980s, he made AXA the leading French private insurer, through business creations (AMré) and acquisitions (Drouot Group, Mutuelles unies, Présence, Compagnie du Midi), before turning it into a world-class group (Equitable, National Mutual, UAP) in the 1990s. He is committed to humanitarian sponsorship, and is the founder and honorary president of Institut Montaigne.