Alice Vaidyan becomes 1st woman to head GIC Re

Alice Vaidyan has been appointed as chairperson and managing director of General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC Re), the national reinsurer. Vaidyan is the first woman to be appointed chairman in the history of the country's insurance industry.

Confirming her appointment, Vaidyan told PTI that she will assume charge on 25 January. GIC Re is the 14th largest reinsurer globally and is the only reinsurance company in the country.

Vaidyan is from the 1983 batch of direct recruit officers of the general insurance industry and has been general manager and chief financial officer of GIC Re since October 2012. As CMD of GIC Re, Vaidyan would be the chairperson of GIC South Africa Re, Kenindia Insurance Company, Kenya, and GIC Housing Finance Company. She will hold office until 31 July 2019.

GIC Re would have to play a responsible and mature role in developing the reinsurance market in the country with collaboration and cooperation of the new entities, a company statement said.

A post-graduate in English literature and a fellow of the Insurance Institute of India, Vaidyan has won several national and international awards.

She moved to GIC Re in 2008 as a deputy general manager (reinsurance). Vaidyan is also a director on the board of GIC Bhutan Re, a joint venture reinsurance company established by GIC Re in Bhutan.