Dame Amanda Blanc was appointed to the Aviva plc Board as a Non-Executive Director on 2 January 2020 and as Group Chief Executive Officer on 6 July 2020.
Amanda started her career as a graduate at one of Aviva’s ancestor companies, Commercial Union. Following success in senior executive roles across the insurance industry, she came back to Aviva as CEO in July 2020.
Amanda has greatly simplified Aviva, successfully divesting eight non-core businesses. Aviva is now focused on its core markets in the UK, Ireland and Canada. Amanda has also overseen a significant strengthening of Aviva’s financial position.
Amanda is now focused on accelerating Aviva’s performance: capitalising on the structural growth opportunities in its core markets; providing customers with a simpler, more personalised offering; transforming our cost base and delivering our market-leading sustainability commitments. Aviva is the first major insurer in the world to target becoming net zero by 2040.
Amanda was formerly Group CEO at AXA UK, PPP & Ireland and CEO Europe, Middle East, Africa & Global Banking at Zurich Insurance Group. She also held executive leadership positions at Towergate Insurance Brokers, Groupama Insurance Company and Commercial Union.
She has previously served as Chair of the Association of British Insurers, Chair of the Insurance Fraud Bureau and President of the Chartered Insurance Institute.
In 2022, Amanda was included in the Financial Times 25 most influential women of 2022 and in January 2023 named as The Sunday Times business person of the year.
Amanda was awarded a Damehood in the King’s New Year Honours in January 2024.
Amanda at The King’s Seeing is Believing Blackpool visit in 2023
Some of the UK’s leading businesses visited Blackpool on a Seeing is Believing visit led by Dame Amanda Blanc from Aviva. At the visit, they looked at the incredible work being done to tackle issues relating to housing, health and education.
Delegates from Trafford Housing Trust Ltd, QuestGates Ltd, Victrex, ARCO (Associated Retirement Community Operators), Morgan Sindall Group plc, Lloyds Banking Group, GroupM, Atos, United Utilities, BAE Systems, and Hydrock met with individuals working on community projects that support recovery, provide access to better quality housing, and help young people reach their full potential.
Founding Partner of our Pride of Place Programme
The Pride of Place programme helps Places across the UK take ownership of their futures and tackle their most pressing challenges. In this programme, we bring businesses, the voluntary sector and the local community together and work with them to build and deliver a vision for their future that serves everyone, with input from everyone. Off the back of The King’s Seeing is Believing visit in Blackpool, Aviva, led by Dame Amanda Blanc, became BITC’s Founding Place Partner, helping expand BITC’s long-term national place strategy to support communities across the UK.
Aviva and BITC are working together to build thriving communities by breaking down barriers that impact access to education and employment, improving housing and local facilities, and tackling wider inequalities facing individuals throughout the UK. Together, we are building on BITC’s 40 years of experience in transforming communities and enabling their ambition to support 50 communities across every region and nation in the UK by 2032.
Dame Amanda Blanc