HDI Deutschland AG: Thomas Lüer to become new Chief Sales Officer
Thomas Lüer will take over as the head of sales at the Talanx Group’s Retail Germany division with effect from 1 October 2022. He succeeds Stefanie Schlick, who will leave the company at the end of the year on the best of terms and by mutual agreement to pursue new professional opportunities. Stefanie Schlick had proposed that HDI Deutschland AG’s Supervisory Board and she should terminate her contract by mutual agreement. The Supervisory Board agreed to her leaving the company.
Torsten Leue, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of HDI Deutschland AG and Chairman of the Board of Management of Talanx AG, said: “Both the Supervisory Board and I personally would like to thank Stefanie Schlick in particular for the changes that she has implemented at our sales operations, and respect her decision. She is leaving our company on the best of terms and by mutual agreement. I wish her all the best for her professional and personal goals. I am also delighted that we have been able to appoint a new head of sales from within our own ranks in the form of Thomas Lüer. He has consistently achieved extremely good results in his area of responsibility and is a successful graduate of our Talanx Excellence Programme, as part of which he helped to develop our Talanx Purpose: ‘Together we take care of the unexpected and foster entrepreneurship’. I would like to wish him every success in his new role.”
Thomas Lüer joined the HDI Group in October 2016, where he was initially Head of Regional Broker Sales until 2019. In January 2020, he became a member of the Board of Management of HDI Vertriebs AG, where he was responsible for all broker and partner sales activities. He has been a member of the Board of Management of HDI Lebensversicherung AG since 2022. Prior to joining the company, the law graduate held a number of sales management positions and was head of life insurance at LVM, AXA Germany and the Baloise Group, among other companies. “I would like to thank Stefanie Schlick for her client- and partner-driven expertise and her strong sales skills, which she used to enhance our sales operations.
I would like to wish her all the best for the future, both personally and professionally. I am also really looking forward to working with Thomas Lüer in his new role. He will systematically implement our Go25 strategy.” said Dr Christopher Lohmann, CEO of HDI Deutschland AG and the member of Talanx AG’s Board of Management responsible for the Retail Germany Division.
With effect from October 2022, HDI Deutschland AG’s Board of Management will consist of the following members: Dr Christopher Lohmann (Chairman), Holm Diez (Bancassurance), Sven Lixenfeld (Life & Investments), Herbert Rogenhofer (Property/Third-party Liability/ Accident/Motor), Thomas Lüer (Sales & Marketing) and Jens Warkentin (Finance).
HDI Deutschland AG aligns sales management with new strategy
– Stefanie Schlick to join Board of Management of HDI Germany as Chief Sales Officer
– Wolfgang Hanssmann to remain with the company as Senior Advisor until 2025
– Malte Dittmann appointed to the Board of Management of HDI’s property insurance arm with responsibility for intermediaries
Talanx’s Retail Germany Division is aligning its sales operations with its new strategy, significantly strengthening its intermediary and SME businesses. Stefanie Schlick (49), an experienced intermediary management expert, will become Chief Sales Officer and a member of HDI Germany’s Board of Management with effect from 1 January 2022. Long-term Chief Sales Officer and HDI Germany Board member Wolfgang Hanssmann (58) will continue to work for the company as a Senior Advisor until 2025. In addition, Malte Dittmann (45) has been appointed as Chief Sales Officer and Board of Management member at property insurer HDI Versicherung AG, where he will be responsible for its insurance intermediaries. Thomas Lüer will focus on the life insurance intermediary business as a member of HDI Lebensversicherung AG’s Board of Management. Norbert Eickermann will remain responsible for tied agents and direct sales. HDI Deutschland AG Board of Management member Iris Kremers will continue to head up the company’s bancassurance activities.
“Our new strategy aims to build on our passion for SMEs to become the best intermediary-based insurer in Germany, to achieve strong growth in our SME business and to expand our bancassurance activities. Stefanie Schlick and Malte Dittmann bring a wide range of experience with them, making them ideally suited to helping our sales team achieve these objectives”, said Dr. Christopher Lohmann, the Talanx Board of Management member responsible for the Retail Germany Division who also chairs the Board of Management at HDI Deutschland AG. “Stefanie Schlick’s customer service experience and Malte Dittmann’s underwriting expertise will hone our customer focus even further.”
Stefanie Schlick is joining HDI Germany from the Generali Group. A member of the boards of management at Dialog Lebensversicherung AG and Dialog Versicherung AG, she is also Head of Brokers at Generali Deutschland AG and hence responsible for independent sales channels in Germany. She knows the intermediary business extremely well and also brings considerable expertise of direct sales and the digitalisation process thanks to her successful work for CosmosDirekt. The 49-year-old’s time there also included successful management positions in marketing and customer service.
Malte Dittmann is joining HDI from Gothaer Allgemeine Versicherung AG, where he is currently Head of Underwriting North. As such, he is responsible for all composite classes of the industrial lines business in Germany, Austria and other European markets. The 45-year-old previously gained broad-based sales experience in a range of management positions at AIG Europe, Chubb Insurance and CNA, for example. He has extensive knowledge of the property insurance intermediary business.
Wolfgang Hanssmann will continue to contribute his extensive sales experience to HDI until 2025. He will advise the company’s Supervisory Board and Board of Management and will focus on relationships with selected intermediaries. “My deepest thanks go to Wolfgang Hanssmann for his successful work over the past years. He has both boosted and digitalised our sales organisation, for example through our #Handschlag initiative. I am delighted that we will still be able to draw on his wide range of expertise and excellent contacts”, said Christopher Lohmann. “This means we can not only develop strong momentum in line with our strategy but also leverage his many years of expertise and networking capabilities.”
Torsten Leue, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of HDI Deutschland AG and Chairman of the Board of Management of Talanx AG, added: “Wolfgang Hanssmann has done outstanding work for us over the past years. I would like to thank him sincerely for this and am also delighted that he will continue to put his skills and experience at our disposal going forward. I wish the new Board of Management members every success in their future roles.”
With effect from January 2022, HDI Deutschland AG’s Board of Management will consist of the following members: Dr. Christopher Lohmann (Chairman), Iris Kremers (Bancassurance), Sven Lixenfeld (Life & Investments), Herbert Rogenhofer (Property/ Third-party Liability/ Accident/Motor), Stefanie Schlick (Sales & Marketing) and Jens Warkentin (Finance).