Definity Financial Corporation – the parent company of brands such as Economical Insurance, Sonnet, and Petline – has appointed Edouard Schmid to its board of directors.

Swiss Re Investments Holding Company designated Schmid as a nominee for Definity’s board, in accordance with its governance agreement with Definity, a release said. Swiss Re Investments Holding Company holds about 9.9% of Definity’s common shares.

Schmid spent 30 years of his insurance career at Swiss Re, where he most recently served as group chief underwriting officer and a member of the company’s group executive committee from 2017 to 2020 and he served as the chairman of the Swiss Re Institute from 2019 to 2020. He also held other roles at Swiss Re, including head of catastrophe perils and retrocession, chief underwriter property and specialty for Asia, head of property and casualty risk and actuarial management, chief risk officer of corporate solutions, and head of property and specialty reinsurance.

A graduate of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Schmid holds a master’s degree in physics. He is a director of Britam Holdings and Britam General Insurance in Kenya, as well as New China Life Insurance Company.

"Edouard brings significant additional industry and operational expertise to the board of Definity," said Definity board chair John Bowey. "He will add to our board's strategic leadership capabilities and his deep insurance knowledge will provide valuable insights as we move forward."

Read more: Economical Insurance marks 150 years of business

Definity subsidiary Economical Insurance celebrated its 150 years of business last year. The insurer memorialized the event by holding an art contest – the winner of which had their art featured on promotional material – and by commissioning a historian to go through the company’s archives to produce a commemorative book.