Allianz Life Appoints New CIO | Chief Investment Officer

Todd Hedke 1 Todd HedkeAllianz Life Insurance Company of North America has named Todd Hedtke the new CIO of Allianz Investment Management (AIM) in the US.

Hedtke is replacing Carsten Quitter, who will become CIO at Allianz’s Italian branch.

As CIO, Hedtke will lead the AIM investment leadership team. He will be responsible for investment management, liquidity planning, hedging, and trading of more than $100 billion of insurance assets for Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, Allianz Global Corporate & Speciality, and San Francisco Reinsurance.

Hedtke will also serve on the global Allianz investment management board and join the company’s executive leadership group.

Hedtke’s promotion comes after more than 15 years with Allianz Life. Prior to becoming CIO, Hedtke led the general account investment management function within the AIM division and participated in its global expert teams and strategic projects.

“Todd has been an excellent leader and strategic thinker throughout his tenure at Allianz Life,” said President and CEO Walter White in a release. “I’m confident his financial expertise and understanding of global markets will continue to provide valuable investment leadership, and ensure the strong reliable performance necessary to deliver on our long-term promises.”

This move is among several staffing changes at insurance companies in the recent months. Insurer Farmers Group last month named Kathryn Williams its new CIO, while AIG appointed Douglas Dachille as CIO in July.

PIMCO, another branch of Allianz Life’s parent company Allianz, was also forced to find a new CIO last year following the resignations of first CEO and Co-CIO Mohamed El-Erian in January 2014 and then founder and CIO Bill Gross in September.

This upheaval sparked net outflows of €221 billion ($250 billion) at Allianz in 2014, driven primarily by the performance of PIMCO in the US. Despite these losses, Allianz remained one of the world’s four largest asset managers in 2014.