Sébastien Bardy hired as Descartes CFO

Descartes Underwriting, world leader in corporate parametric  insurance solutions for climate and emerging risks, has appointed Sébastien Bardy, a 20+  year insurance-market veteran, to the newly created position of Chief Financial Officer. Bardy  joins today. 

The addition of a fully-fledged Chief Financial Officer to Descartes’ executive committee  marks a key milestone for the company. Descartes’ ambitious growth targets, the challenges  of scaling, and its increasing need for financial expertise in areas including corporate  structure, financial analysis, tax, and international platform development demand the  dedicated attention of an experienced specialist.  

Bardy joins from Allianz, where he held senior positions in France and Germany, most  recently as Head of Planning & Controlling in charge of Global Lines, Asia and Anglo  markets. He has also worked for Deloitte, Natixis, and PwC in areas including accounting,  capital management, and M&A. Sébastien Bardy will lead Descartes’ financial scale-up with  a focus on the value creation for the company’s stakeholders.  

Bardy will report to Descartes CEO Tanguy Touffut. He assumes executive responsibility for  financial matters, building on the strong foundations the current team has established over  previous years: 

• Chief Operating Officer Violaine Raybaud, whose scope initially included the Finance  department, will now focus fully on Operations and Descartes Insurance, allowing her  to drive our ambitious growth and operational excellence goals in these key areas. 
• Chloé Duval, who joined Descartes more than four years ago and, as Head of  Finance, was instrumental in building a strong team and robust infrastructure, will  become Deputy CFO, with responsibility for financial projects and corporate finance.  She will be a key partner to Sébastien and the entire Finance team. 

Tanguy Touffut said: “I am delighted to welcome Sébastien to the management team. He  will optimize our investment strategies, but also further strengthen our strong financial  performance and management capabilities overall. He will be instrumental in the  achievement of our long-term objectives.”  

Sébastien Bardy said: “I am excited to join Descartes as they create a major new, global  commercial insurer with a technology-backed approach to underwriting based on the  underlying risk. The founders’ vision of a company which takes maximum advantage of new  approaches to risk transfer puts me at the vanguard of the future of insurance.”