Joanna Chardon | Age: 47 Chief strategy and product officer

Akur8

Paris

It was the opportunity to work in a field that made a difference in peoples’ lives that drew Joanna Chardon to the insurance profession.

“I was fascinated by insurance because I wanted to have a meaningful job,” she said. “I’m not a doctor, I can’t help people directly, but I felt that I needed to do something I would be satisfied with.” Insurance was a good compromise because it helps people and offers opportunities that align with her values, she added.

“It was kind of a no-brainer for me when I finished my studies to go for insurance,” Ms. Chardon said. That was 22 years ago, when she started her career at Axa Corporate Solutions as an actuary in Paris.

A native of Poland, Ms. Chardon was excited in 2007 to return there from France to help launch an Axa unit as head actuary. “I was back to my origins and working on very exciting projects,” she said.

Ms. Chardon returned to France as Axa Global Direct’s head of competitive intelligence analytics, leading its Center of Pricing Excellence, and as head of commercial pricing and the Pricing Lab. She left in 2020 to join Wakam, an insurer in France, as chief product and pricing officer.

Ms. Chardon was familiar with Akur8 from her experience as a client of the insurance pricing technology company while at Axa and later Wakam.

“I really valued what they were doing, helping people work in a more collaborative way to automate processes,” she said. “I wanted to be a part of this company and spoke to the CEO,” who hired her a year ago.

André Weilert, head of P&C analytics at Axa Konzern AG in Cologne, Germany, worked closely with Ms. Chardon for more than five years. He was impressed by her curiosity that led her to explore new territories in insurance pricing and her ability to nurture her teams.

“She is always thinking about what is best for the business,” Mr. Weilert said. “I consider her level of commitment to be outstanding.”

Michael Bradford