Specialist financial services mutual Wesleyan has appointed former chief executive of Zurich's UK Life business, Anne Torry, to its board of directors.
Ms Torry has more than 20 years’ experience of strategic leadership in the life and savings and general insurance sectors.
In July 2016 she was put in charge of Zurich UK's life business after working as managing director of the public sector insurance arm of Zurich’s UK general insurance business for the previous five years.
Ms Torry took over from Jim Sykes, who was interim chief executive after Gary Shaughnessy left in January of that year to become chief executive of Zurich Global Life.
In November 2016 Zurich restructured and named former Prudential executive director Tulsi Naidu as the chief executive officer of the whole of its UK business with Ms Torry overseeing the life side.
She was later made chief transformation officer in charge of shaping the new operating model of the insurer's UK business.
Alongside Wesleyan, Ms Torry is also a non-executive director at Aon UK.
Wesleyan provides specialist financial advice for doctors, dentists, lawyers and teachers.
It was founded in Birmingham in 1841 and now has more than £7.6bn of assets under management.
Wesleyan chairman Nathan Moss said: "Anne’s industry experience brings further depth to the Wesleyan board and will be invaluable to us as we enter into a new strategic planning period.
"She is well versed in developing and challenging strategic direction and this, along with her leadership skills, will be key as we look to ensure Wesleyan has the right business model to meet its growth ambitions.
Ms Torry added: "Since becoming part of the Wesleyan team I’ve been very impressed by the drive to grow the business so that more of our professional customers can benefit from our services and we can really deliver the best outcomes for our members.
"This is an exciting time in the society’s long history and I’m proud to be a part of it."
Ms Torry was previously a member of Wesleyan’s with profits and investment committee and now sits on the risk and remuneration commitees.
carmen.reichman@ft.com
