2023-06-09 18:14:41
Denis Kessler, emblematic president of the reinsurer Scor since 2002, died this Friday at the age of 71, announced the group. Genius for some, tyrant for others, this former professor of social sciences had become in 1990 president of the French Federation of insurance companies. Mulhousien passed by HEC, he chaired from 1998 to 2002 the economic commission of the National Council of French Employers (CNPF), which became Medef, before becoming number 2 from 1998 to 2002.
Portrayed by the press as ultra-liberal, Denis Kessler – who preferred to define himself as “ultra-free” – notably fought against the 35 hours. Calling himself “deeply European”, he was close to the CFDT, and in particular to Nicole Notat, whom he rubbed shoulders with when he was number 2 of the Medef.
“Brilliant, sometimes unbearable”
Bruno the Mayor hailed “one of the great figures of insurance and one of the pillars of the French employers’ movement” and a business manager “passionate about French society and its developments”.
The former president of Medef Laurence Parisot praised for his part on Twitter “a genius, thundering, brilliant, sometimes unbearable, creative like no other, and who brought so many ideas to businesses and the economy of our country”.
The reinsurer Scor was on the verge of bankruptcy, after the attacks of September 11, 2001 and the bursting of the Internet bubble, when he was urgently offered to become CEO on a Sunday in 2002. Under his leadership, the company recovered and rose from 12th to 4th place in the world in terms of turnover.
“We have straightened out this group, with an exceptional team, which I am extremely proud of,” he said before handing over the general management in June 2021 (while keeping his presidency).
His management and his salary were then contested by minority shareholders, in a turbulent context for Scor, which had just made peace with the insurance group Covéa, after several years of a legal and media showdown after the attempt redemption of the first by the second.
“Someone who does not let go of his bone”
“He is someone who does not let go of his bone”, and with an “absolutely volcanic temperament”, told several collaborators, describing him as “blood”. “I’ve never had lukewarm water in my life,” defended Denis Kessler, for whom “success in business is the ability to decide.” “I am loyal in friendship, as in enmity,” he assumed.
“During the past two decades, Denis Kessler has been the architect of Scor’s success and reputation around the world,” reacted the group’s current managing director, Thierry Léger. “He leaves us an extraordinary legacy. »
“He will have left his mark on the world of insurance and reinsurance and greatly contributed to the dissemination of economic science in our country as well as to the modernization of relations between business and society”, declared Bernard Spitz, former president of the French Insurance Federation.
“A gifted always excessive”
Philippe Maniere, entrepreneur and president of the firm Vae Solis Communications, remembers “a gifted man who was always excessive (“bigger than life”) but immensely endearing, with a rare culture and finesse of mind, a freedom of tremendous spirit. Like all those who knew him, I had admiration and affection for him.
“He was a personality of incredible energy and vast culture who understood economics better than anyone. He will be sorely missed, ”said for his part Olivier Babeaueconomist and president of the Institut Sapiens.
Denis Kessler was a member of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council from 1993 to 2010. He was also, among others, a director of Dexia, Bolloré, BNP Paribas and Dassault Aviation.
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