Sympany appoints new CEO
Basel, 7 April 2011 – The Foundation Board of Sympany is delighted to announce it has appointed a new CEO: Ruedi Bodenmann, 43, who is a well-known insurance expert with many years of management and project experience. Since 2001 he has hold a number of different posts at Swiss Life. In 2001 he became a member of the senior management team in Switzerland with responsibility for risk management and finance. He assumed responsibility for sales in Switzerland in 2003 and went on, in 2008, to take over responsibility for product management in the Swiss Life Group as a member of the Group's senior management team.
Ruedi Bodenmann began his career in 1996 in management consulting, overseeing projects concerned with insurance companies and banks in Switzerland and Australia. Prior to that he studied mathematics at ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) and graduated with a doctorate in applied mathematics. He is married and has two sons.
"Sympany is a fresh new force in the Swiss insurance industry, and I am looking forward to the exciting job of leading the company to continued success in the future," said Bodenmann. "I am in no doubt about the challenges presented by the Swiss healthcare system, but I will rise to meet them with great commitment and will be able to rely on the broad-based expertise and experience of all Sympany's employees."
Dr Ralph Lewin, Chairman of the Foundation Board, said: "Ruedi Bodenmann boasts an impressive, comprehensive and wide-ranging record of achievement. He has experience of both sales and product management, and thus of market-related activities, as well as of finance and risk management in the insurance industry. We see this as an ideal combination and look forward to working with him."
A big thank you to Beat Ochsner
Dr Beat Ochsner is leaving his post as CEO of Sympany with effect from 1 May 2011. He will continue to be available to the company in an advisory capacity over the coming months. "I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Beat Ochsner for the many years of dedicated service he has given to our company," said Ralph Lewin. "He put his stamp on the company for many years and was instrumental, in particular, in transforming ÖKK Basel into Sympany. I wish him all the best for the next chapter in his life."
The company's development under Beat Ochsner
Under the leadership of Beat Ochsner the company developed strongly and successfully. During his 14 years in the job, he oversaw the development of the regional health insurance fund Öffentliche Krankenkasse Basel, which was heavily dependent on subsidies when he took up his post, into Sympany, a market-oriented insurance company with operations throughout Switzerland. After changing its legal form and name with effect from 1 January 2008, Sympany succeeded in successfully positioning its new brand within a short period of time. Image studies confirm that the brand is perceived in the industry as dynamic and refreshing. The number of policyholders increased from 120,000 to around 200,000 during Beat Ochsner's time as CEO. Sympany's wide range of products now includes property and liability insurance products as well as health and accident insurance products for individuals and companies.