Edwin Meyer, General Manager, Risk and Insurance Management at steel giant ArcelorMittal, passed away on Saturday, February 7 following a heart attack. Mr Meyer, who was an active member of the Federation of European Risk Management Associations (Ferma) as well as several national European risk management associations, including Germany’s DVS, will be sorely missed.

Mr Meyer died aged 59. He was a manager of true vision who thought about the future of his company above and beyond the narrow limits of buying insurance.

Mr Meyer was Ferma’s secretary general and a board member, having joined the Federation in 2013. He also served as a board member of the German risk management association DVS and was a member of the Dutch risk management association Narim, and Luxembourg’s ALRiM.

Ferma said his death causes “great sadness”. Its president, Julia Graham, said: “Edwin will be a great loss to Ferma and to our profession. He had already made a great contribution to Ferma as a member of the board and had recently taken over the important role as secretary general. He was also chair of the programme committee for the Ferma Forum 2015, as well as the leader of a number of other Ferma special projects.”

“When Edwin joined the Ferma board he gave three reasons for doing so: to bring to bear his accumulated work experience in the interests of Ferma; to represent the interests of the German associations DVS and bfv in support of Ferma; and to share with the board of Ferma the responsibility for achieving the association’s goals and objectives. Edwin achieved all of these objectives and much more,” she added.

“Our thoughts are with Edwin’s family and his friends and colleagues at this difficult time. We will all miss his professionalism, experience and wisdom, his sense of humour and his smile,” added Ms Graham.

Mr Meyer was always a very interesting man to speak to on risk management and broader topics. Even in the middle of a roundtable discussion about new risks, he could ask thought-provoking questions, such as whether or not the capitalist system could be maintained. Mr Meyer was a true intellectual – well read, informed and extremely thought provoking. Debating with him was fun. His perspective was always international-focused and forward-looking.

Only recently, on January 13, he gave a talk at the new year reception of Mapfre’s German office in Cologne. In a conversation after his speech it was once again clear just how much he loved to debate.

Mr Meyer had many interests, including the study of other cultures. He enjoyed life tremendously.

Throughout his career he worked internationally, with a focus on risk management and insurance, servicing the needs of global clients.

As general manager, risk and insurance management at ArcelorMittal, based in Luxembourg, Mr Meyer had global responsibility for setting the firm’s insurable risk strategy, standards and procedures, as well as their worldwide implementation. He was a director of various captive insurance companies in many territories and handled ArcelorMittal’s captive.

An engineer by education, Mr Meyer started his career with Industrial Risk Insurers (IRI) in Milwaukee, US. He subsequently became IRI’s manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Thereafter he joined the insurance broker Sedgwick in the Netherlands, with responsibility for its European risk management services strategy. He later moved to Cologne, Germany, with responsibility for the Sedgwick Global Client segment.

Returning to the insurer side of the business, Mr Meyer became country manager for St Paul International Insurance Company in the Netherlands. A move to global insurance broker Marsh followed, where he was responsible for the firm’s global client risk management practice in the Netherlands. He joined ArcelorMittal in 2005.

Mr Meyer was chairman of the Insurance Committee of the Wirtschaftsvereinigung Stahl in Germany, as was well as a board member of the German Industry Association’s (BDIs) Insurance Committee.

His multiple roles and experience gave him a clear view of the risk and transfer industry. We at Commercial Risk Europe are very sad about the far too early passing of Mr Meyer. We extend our deepest sympathy to his wife Suzanne, who works in the internet business. Mr Meyer was always a dedicated supporter of her plans and projects.

© Copyright February 2015, www.commercialriskeurope.com. All rights reserved.

Name*

Company

Email

Message

Send my message Reset

1. FERMA announces with great sadness the death of Secretary General Edwin V. Meyer
2. Tributes to Edwin V Meyer
3. Interview with Edwin Meyer
4. Interview with Edwin Meyer