Old Mutual CEO going back to school

The head of Old Mutual is going back to business school as he looks to change gears after spending his entire adult life working for Africa’s biggest insurer by assets.

“I’ve literally been at Old Mutual since I was 18 years old,” outgoing CEO Iain Williamson said in an interview on Tuesday. “I’ve got 10 to 15 years of productivity left in me, and I want to do something different.” 

Williamson, 54, joined the company in 1993 and took the helm as CEO in 2020. He will take early retirement by the end of August and focus on passion projects for the remainder of his working life.

His plans include studying non-executive directorship at France’s INSEAD business school from November to March before returning to drive innovation in some areas of interest. 

“The things that I really care about from a South African-need perspective are education, health care, and financial services,” Williamson said. “So something in those sorts of arenas is likely to be a space that I go looking in.”

He plans to work with Old Mutual’s board and his successor — whom the company has yet to appoint — to ensure a smooth handover.

His departure comes after Williamson guided the insurer through the Covid-19 pandemic years and successfully navigated the rebuilding of the insurer’s short-term insurance and life business, as well as the launch of savings and income solutions. 

The insurer has also restructured its rest-of-Africa unit, which culminated in its departure from Nigeria and Tanzania, and launched its much-awaited bank.