Tom White Insuring Success
As companies continue to experience churn at the top, surely the biggest test for today’s CEO is his ability to steer his company through these bad times, as well as the good. Without a doubt, the last nine months has been a trying time for many companies, especially those in the financial sector. In the second of Tana Akson’s ‘Leadership Series’ of CEO interviews, she turns her attention to this industry and more specifically, what life is like as the leader of Thailand’s largest life insurer.
AIA has operated in Thailand for 70 years and has more than five million life insurance policies and 1.5 million personal accident policies in force. Despite the global economic crisis and events leading up to the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 and a series of Federal Reserve rescue packages for floundering companies, the company is in good financial shape, with total assets of THB 383.06 billion, insurance reserves of THB 286.67 billion and capital of THB 69.24 billion, over 1000% of the statutory capital requirement.
Competitive Edge
Tom White is the regional senior executive and chief executive officer of American International Assurance (Thailand). Despite current events affecting their former parent, AIA Thailand was recently voted ‘Thailand's Most Admired Brand for 2009’ (Brand Age) in the life insurance category for the seventh consecutive year.
Tom is a good example of what Steve Tappin, in his book The Secrets of CEOs, calls a commercial executor.
