Hans-Peter Gerhardt, President and Chief Executive Officer, joined Paris Re (formerly AXA RE) in 2003 as Chief Executive Officer. His career in reinsurance began in 1981 with Hannover Re, upon his return from the United States where he had worked in management administration for the Astronautics Corporation of America. From 1988 to 2003, he assumed both underwriting and management functions for the Cologne Re Group which merged into General Cologne Re where he finished as a member of the group Executive Committee and as CEO of various underwriting divisions. Mr. Gerhardt received an undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of Hannover.