Jacqueline Hunt

Hunt, who holds British and New Zealand citizenship,[1] was born in Johannesburg. Her father died when she was very young, and she has described her mother, who brought her up alone, as an inspiring influence.[3]

At school she was a gifted pupil, with particular passions for geology and English literature.[3] Her higher education, at the University of the Witwatersrand,[4] was funded by a bursary from a mining company, for which she worked during vacations;[3] but she was put off the idea of a career in mining by the fact that, as a woman, she would not be allowed into any ore mines but would be restricted to laboratory work.[5][3] After graduating in commerce and accountancy,[1] she bought herself out of her obligations to work for the company that had sponsored her.[3]

Hunt began her career at Deloitte & Touche, qualified as a chartered accountant at the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants, and was sent to New Zealand,[3] where she began to get involved in corporate finance before moving to PricewaterhouseCoopers[3] as senior audit manager.[6] Here she gained experience in financial services, including spells in New York and Zürich, eventually becoming director, global capital markets.[6] She then joined Royal & Sun Alliance, in 1999, as deputy director, capital management.[6]

In 2003 she joined Aviva, the UK life assurance group, where she spent four years, becoming group finance director of Hibernian Group, its Ireland business, in 2005.[3]

In 2007 she returned to the UK to become finance director at Norwich Union, Aviva’s general insurance business.[3] She was then headhunted to become deputy chief finance officer at Standard Life, also in the UK,[3] joining in 2009.[1] In 2010 she was promoted to chief financial officer, after the previous CFO, David Nish, became chief executive.[3] In this capacity she helped transform the life insurer into a diverse savings, pensions and asset management business.[7]

In 2013, she was recruited to be chief executive of Prudential UK and Europe,[7] and a board member of Prudential plc. Some saw her as a potential successor to Prudential’s group chief executive, Tidjane Thiam.[7] Instead, a few months after Thiam was succeeded by Mike Wells, Hunt left suddenly, in October 2015.[7] It was suggested that a clash of personalities might have been involved.[7]

In March 2016, Hunt was appointed to the management board of Allianz SE, the Munich-based multinational financial services company,[8] with responsibility for asset management and US life insurance.[1] Starting in the role that July,[1] she took over a division that includes Allianz Global Investors (which manages €338bn of third-party assets[9]); Allianz’s US life insurance business;[10] and California-based asset management business PIMCO, which was struggling when she joined, but which she was credited with turning around.[11][12] Altogether, the division has around $2.25 trillion under management.[8][9]

Since July 2016, Hunt has been chairman of Allianz Life Insurance Co NA, and of Allianz Asset Management GmbH.[13]

She is also a Member of the Board of Trustees, American Institute of Contemporary German Studies at Johns Hopkins University,[14] and a former Commissioner for the UK's Independent Dormant Assets Commission.[15] She sits on the Executive Committee of the US Council on Competitiveness;[16] and is a member of the Women In Africa Club.[17]

Since joining Allianz, Hunt has spoken about her “personal crusade” to bring more diversity into the companies she manages,[18] and has been described as “passionate about supporting diversity and inclusion initiatives”.[17] She argues that “diverse groups make much better decisions”[19] and believes that, although “some organisations are making real progress on diversity” in financial services, “some others are not making progress or are going backwards”.[20]

She has also spoken about the importance of responsible capitalism and sustainable growth, arguing that companies like Allianz are stewards of our society with a responsibility to help “build a more equal world”[19] and that business leaders should accept “that they have to deal with climate change”.[21]

Hunt, who describes herself as a “pragmatist”,[19] believes that her gender brings her under special scrutiny: “On the one hand, it is an honour to take on a kind of pioneering role for women, but you are also much more closely monitored. It's a big responsibility.”[22] At Allianz, she has been noted for her “calm, reserved manner”, saying at her first official presentation that “I would rather deliver results than be known for big announcements that I can then not fulfil.”[12] She does not believe in “star” fund managers[23] and is reported to use a coffee mug that carries the word “integrity” in six languages.[12]

Manager Magazin has repeatedly named Hunt in its annual list of the most influential woman in German business,[24][25][26] while Bloomberg News described her as “one of the most important people in global finance” and dubbed her “the $2-trillion woman”.[2]

Hunt, who is married with a son and a daughter,[27] lives mainly in Munich but spends about half of each month visiting Allianz’s other operations around the world.[2] She remains interested in geology,[5] enjoys travelling with her family,[22] and also loves opera.[27] She has paid tribute to her husband, with whom she shares housework and cooking, for helping her to maintain a work-life balance.[28][22][21]

• Members of the Board of Management, Allianz
• Jacqueline Hunt, Bloomberg