Aviva Appoints CFO & COO

Aviva announced the appointment of Helen Hislop as Chief Financial Officer and Patrick Dixneuf as Chief Operations Assistant with effect from 1st January 2011.

Helen Hislop's previous experience includes senior finance roles at QBE International Insurance and PricewaterhouseCooper, where she started her career. Before joining Aviva, Helen was the CFO at General Electric, responsible for Western Europe at GE Capital Global Banking from 2000. Helen graduated from New College Hall, Cambridge as an Economics graduate and replaces Tim Harris who is now Aviva Deputy Group Chief Financial Officer and Chief Capital Officer.

Helen Heslop said "The European Insurance market has unique growth opportunities and finance has a key role in helping Aviva seize them. I will be focussing on continuing the integration of the finance function across the region into a single, strong and efficient pan European operation"

Patrick Dixneuf joins from Allianz where he was Head of Group Operations. He joined Assurances Generales de France (AGF), which is a majority owned Allianz business in 2000, and was made CFO in 2006. After the buyout of AGF minority shares, Allianz France appointed Patrick as COO. Previous experience includes Paribas, Goal Technologies and Alcatel. Patrick is a graduate from Ecole Polytechnique, University de Paris V and University de Paris VI.

Patrick Dixneuf said "I am excited about the contribution I can make to develop a successful, innovative and efficient operations function that will be central to meeting the needs of our customers and distribution partners. My aim is to ensure that Aviva's focus and commitment to its customers continues to be realised through first class sales operations support'

Both Helen and Patrick will be based in Paris and will report to Andrea Moneta, chief executive who said "I am delighted that Helen and Patrick are joining my team - they are two high calibre appointments for Aviva Europe as we intensify our focus on the region. Their considerable experience and business acumen will lead Aviva Europe through the next stages of its development and I am convinced that both will make a strong contribution to our Quantum Leap transformation programme."