The manager will be promoted to the Talanx Board of Management on 1 May.
Frankfurt Caroline Schlienkamp is a manager who motivates and encourages her colleagues, but also challenges them. She enjoys empowering people to do their best work, says the business lawyer, who is currently a member of the HDI Service board. But it is a two-way deal: the employees also have to take responsibility.
With this attitude, Schlienkamp has apparently also convinced the supervisory board of the parent company Talanx, which has now appointed her to the board of the insurance group. From May 1, she will be the first woman in the top management of the MDax-listed company to take over the newly created department for compliance, law, data protection, purchasing and internal services.
From July 1, she will also be responsible for human resources as Group Labor Director. The Talanx Board of Management now consists of seven members instead of the previous six.
Schlienkamp’s future tasks will be bundled in a central function for the first time. Board member Edgar Puls, who is also responsible for industrial insurance, is currently still responsible for purchasing and internal services. So far, Christopher Lohmann has been responsible for data protection, in addition to the private and corporate insurance division. The responsibility for law and compliance as well as human resources currently lies with CEO Torsten Leue.
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“By creating this new department on the Talanx Board of Management, we are taking account of the fact that the tasks bundled there are of central importance for international, fast-growing companies,” explains Herbert Haas, Chairman of the Talanx Supervisory Board. The group, which reported in detail on the past financial year on Monday, is one of the largest European insurance groups with premium income of 45.5 billion euros and around 24,000 employees worldwide.
The appointment is also an important milestone in the diversity strategy, Haas continued. The insurer had set itself the goal of appointing a board member by June 30, 2022 at the latest.
Spent my entire professional life in the group
Schlienkamp will probably not need a long training period. She has spent her entire professional life in the Group and already has plenty of management experience. As a board member of the group subsidiary HDI Service, she has been responsible for internal services and purchasing since 2020.
At the same time, she heads the legal, compliance and data protection functions at Talanx – but not yet at Management Board level. Among other things, she is responsible for the legal handling of takeovers worth millions or long-term cooperation agreements with banking partners. She is also Managing Director of Talanx Reinsurance Broker and Hannover Digital Investments as well as a member of the Board of Talanx Treuhand.
In addition to studying law, Schlienkamp, who lives in a small village near Hanover, completed an apprenticeship as an insurance clerk at Hannover Re, the group’s reinsurer, and also worked for the industrial insurer HDI Global.
>> Read also: Hannover Re raises dividend to record level
In addition to her duties on the Talanx Board of Management, Schlienkamp will also assume the role of Spokesperson of the Board of Management of HDI AG on 1 July. She succeeds Jens Warkentin, who will have additional responsibilities in his capacity as CFO of HDI Germany.
Schlienkamp says that she appreciates the great scope for decision-making in the group: “In my position I can actively help shape it.” That is very valuable for her personally.
More: MDax group Talanx makes billions in profit for the first time
