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Canada strong: a global reach with local expertise
Nearly three decades into his career, Paul Jackson has seen the industry from multiple vantage points – mature markets, emerging economies, legacy systems, and greenfield builds. Now, as the newly appointed CEO of Zurich Canada, he’s bringing all of that perspective to bear at what he describes as a “pivotal moment” for the organization.
“I’m approaching 30 years now in insurance,” he told IB. “Originally from the UK, I spent the first 10 years of my career with Aviva there – and that was a fantastic time for me. I had the good fortune to join on the graduate program, where I rotated through all sorts of elements of the business in life and pensions, and also general insurance, across product development and marketing, distribution, and claims.”
That early exposure to multiple disciplines didn’t just help Jackson build technical knowledge; it shaped how he viewed insurance as a system rather than a set of silos.
“I was privileged to move to Canada with the same company when I was 28, where I took on a number of formative roles early in my career. One of them was the strategic assistant to the CEO – a great development opportunity because it allowed me to see the business much more broadly at quite a young age.”
A career shaped by growth, diversification, and capability From there, his career took another international turn, this time into a region that was rapidly redefining what insurance could look like.
“I was lucky to get an opportunity to move to Asia for a couple of years,” Jackson said. “I lived in Singapore and worked across markets where businesses were being built from the ground up, with the customer at the centre.”
That experience stuck with him, reinforcing the belief that businesses can be deliberately designed rather than simply inherited from legacy systems.
After returning to Canada, Jackson stepped into a leadership role at a domestic insurer undergoing significant change.
“The business had been on a strong trajectory, with real focus and discipline behind its growth,” he said. “It felt like the right place to bring together the experiences I’d built over my career and apply them in a new context.”
He joined Zurich Canada as head of customer and market management and was appointed CEO effective January 1, 2026.
Canada strong: a global reach with local expertise At its core, Zurich Canada is already a formidable player, with strength concentrated in a relatively focused segment of the market. For Jackson and his team, their goal is to grow the Canadian business to become a major player in the space while retaining that global backing. Through Zurich’s alignment with Commercial Insurance International, they now bring Canadian customers the full strength of Zurich’s global specialists, insights, and products – delivered through deep local expertise and market knowledge.
“Fundamentally, we are a very strong corporate commercial insurer,” added Jackson. “We have leading positions in most large corporate and multinational lines, and we’re very strong with global distribution. This is the foundation of who we are as a business. We have world-class risk engineering, underwriting, and claims capabilities at the larger end of the market.
“Where we haven’t been so visible is in the mid-market and small business segments, which are the core of the Canadian market. Ninety-seven percent of businesses in Canada are categorized as small to medium enterprises, and that’s where we see a clear opportunity to grow.
“All the capabilities that Zurich naturally has across our global portfolios give us the opportunity to expand into those segments. This brings two things to our business in Canada that I’m very excited about leading. The first is growth, with the ambition to position Zurich Canada among the largest Canadian composite insurers and firmly within the top five in commercial. And the second is diversification, where we have more meaningful positions in new segments, distribution, and geographies.”
Crucially, Zurich Canada is entering some of these segments without the constraints that often slow down incumbents, such as channel conflict or legacy branch network and IT issues.
“We can come into those markets in a way that’s new and fresh and built for purpose,” added Jackson.
‘Canada is in a really exciting position right now’ And while growth is central to Jackson’s mandate, it’s not growth at any cost. Instead, it’s about combining local relevance with global strength – a balance he believes puts Zurich Canada in a uniquely strong position. An ability to combine deep local expertise with Zurich’s impressive global capabilities.
“Canada is in an unprecedented position right now,” Jackson told IB. “As a country, we have some interesting options in front of us around global trade, diversification, and major long-term investments in generational infrastructure and energy. That’s where Zurich is naturally positioned to support Canada’s next phase of growth.”
At the same time, Zurich Canada is becoming more integrated into the group’s broader international footprint.
“We’re now part of our international portfolio, which includes markets across Europe, the UK, and Australia. It’s a fantastic opportunity for us to build businesses and capabilities that are designed for Canada in Canada, while drawing on Zurich’s global expertise.”
“[With that], I’m encouraging our teams to work more closely with colleagues all over the world on initiatives that will help accelerate the growth that we’re targeting.”
Developing talent for the long term This focus on growth goes beyond the business itself. It also shapes how Zurich Canada approaches hiring and development.
“When I was starting out, we did a lot of training,” said Jackson. “There were strong technical and leadership programs, and it played a big role in shaping my career. I moved through different roles early on, was trusted quickly, and had leaders who invested in my development. That experience still influences how I think about building businesses today.”
That perspective now guides how Jackson leads as CEO. He sees developing people as essential to Zurich Canada’s growth, not a nice‑to‑have.
“If we want to grow faster and remain competitive, we need people who are continuously expanding their skills,” he said. “That means being deliberate about how we develop talent, giving people exposure beyond their immediate roles, and creating clear pathways into leadership.”
That focus shows up in how Zurich Canada is building its talent pipeline. The company is creating more entry points into the insurance industry through internships developed with community and non‑profit partners, early‑career programs, seasonal roles, and the Zurich Canada Apprenticeship Program with Seneca Polytechnic. Together, these programs offer a practical pathway into insurance that combines classroom learning with hands‑on experience.
Improving clarity and speed Delivering on this holistic strategy, however, requires more than ambition for Jackson – it requires structural change too. One of Jackson’s first moves as CEO was to reorganize the business into two distinct segments, commercial and retail, designed to improve clarity and speed for brokers.
The impact is already being felt, Jackson told IB.
“What brokers will see is that we are faster to respond, we’re more organized and able to react to opportunities much more quickly. And most importantly, we have more underwriting empowerment than ever before now in Canada. That allows us to be more agile and respond more effectively to opportunities.”
Partnerships, particularly with MGAs, are playing a critical role in accelerating Zurich Canada’s expansion into new segments too.
“Access to MGA partnerships gives us a real opportunity to tap into segments where we don’t have the capabilities ourselves, but we trust and value the expertise that exists in the market. I would describe it as a relatively small handful of very impressive MGAs that have a long-term commitment to the Canadian market. We’re building a portfolio of very capable MGA partnerships, and we’re seeing some very strong growth there. We’ve also built some great capabilities in-house to manage relationships like that – the operations, the finance elements, the portfolio oversight – so it’s a core capability for us now.”
AI: brokers already feeling the impact Of course, no conversation about the future of insurance is complete without AI. According to data from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s Business Data Lab (BDL), Canadian insurers were among the country’s fastest adopters of AI in the past year. In the Canadian insurance sector, reported AI use centred on data analytics (41 percent of firms), speech or voice recognition (35 percent), and machine learning (31 percent) – with the most common changes being redesigning workflows (40 percent), training existing staff to use AI (39 percent), and purchasing cloud services or storage (26 percent). At Zurich Canada, they’re seeing this trend unfurl too.
“We have AI embedded across a number of areas of our business now,” added Jackson. “We’re accelerating our time to quote in mid-market with tools that enable us to triage submissions much faster. We’re also using AI to develop proposals and pitches and tender packages much faster and more accurately, and in claims as well, for example, in fraud detection. For us, I would characterize this process as being faster, more agile, and more accurate. But I also think there’s much, much more we can do in the future.”
What’s particularly interesting is how Zurich Canada is beginning to rethink transformation itself. As Jackson told IB, historically the business would have categorized these changes as replacements or a technology transformation – now they’re looking at things a little differently.
“AI might be in the driving seat as opposed to simply playing a supporting role as we look at the evolution of our technology estate at Zurich Canada,” added Jackson.
A local approach with global capabilities Looking ahead, Jackson returns to the same themes that have defined his career – growth, diversification, and capability.
“We’re really focused on growth, particularly in our mid-market commercial business, our small business, and our personal lines segments,” he told IB. “The more that we grow in those segments, the more familiar we become to brokers. At the same time, we’re focused on strengthening our leading position in large corporate, a core part of who we are.”
“[What’s more], regionalization is a really important point for us. We already have a strong presence across Canada, including Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Waterloo, and Halifax, and the next stage of our mid-market growth will be to continue building out our presence in these key trading markets.”
And for Jackson, proximity, personalization, and people power matter most here.
“To be effective at supporting brokers and customers in the mid-market, you need to be right there in the communities in which they are doing business,” he told IB. “You want underwriters and risk engineers and claims adjusters and business development people working together in regions where they know the brokers and they know the customers.”
That local presence, Jackson told IB, creates something that technology alone cannot replicate.
“There’s nothing quite as powerful as trading insurance with deep local market knowledge. Even for our people, as they drive to work in the morning, they’re driving past the manufacturing facilities and the retail stores and the construction sites where our customers are. And that matters.”
Spotlight
“It was an organization operating in a rapidly evolving market, with new technology and rising customer expectations,” he said. “Over time, we strengthened the business, building its capabilities and ambition.” For Jackson, it was a defining chapter.
“As COO, I had oversight across much of the business during a period of real change. That experience gave me the confidence that I was ready for something broader.”
That “next role” needed to be bigger for Jackson, more complex, more global, and with a different set of challenges – and only one company truly fit the bill here.
“I wanted to get back into a multinational business where there are complementary operations all over the world, where our business is more complex and some of the challenges are on the global stage rather than the local stage. And Zurich Canada was very exciting to me for [that reason].”
Jackson was also drawn to the momentum already underway.
Founded 150 years ago, Zurich Insurance Group is a leading multi-line insurer serving about 60 million customers – both people and businesses – in more than 200 countries and territories. Zurich Canada has been a leader in the Canadian commercial insurance market for 100 years. With over 500 employees in offices across the country, we combine global reach with local service and knowledge. Through a thoughtful and transparent approach, our dedicated regional teams help mitigate and manage risks and build resilience to better protect businesses.
Company Profile
Top 5
commercial insurer standing in Canada
Bio
Spotlight
Milestones
Media
Accolades
Company Profile
Years in the industry
27
Tenure IN current position
2017 - Present
Fast Facts
Gaining international experience and learning about different people and cultures
Paul Jackson
CEO at Zurich Canada
Zurich Canada is already a formidable player, with strength concentrated in a relatively focused segment of the market
Read on
“To be effective at supporting brokers and customers in the mid-market, you need to be right there in the communities in which they are doing business”
Paul Jackson,
Zurich Canada
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IN Partnership with
1999
2006
2009
2020
2023
2026
Graduate program, United Kingdom Started his career through a UK graduate program, gaining early exposure across different parts of the insurance business and how they connect
1999
Move to Canada Relocated to Canada early in his career, where he took on formative leadership roles that shaped his understanding of the market and its complexities
2006
Head of general insurance, Singapore Moved to Asia to lead general insurance operations, helping shape customer‑focused businesses in fast‑growing international markets
2009
Chief operating officer, Canada As COO, led the business through a period of significant change, strengthening operations and preparing the organization for future growth
2020
Advanced management program, Harvard Business School Completed Harvard’s advanced management program, deepening his global leadership perspective ahead of broader enterprise responsibility
2023
Chief executive officer, Zurich Canada Appointed CEO of Zurich Canada, bringing nearly three decades of international experience to guide the company’s next phase of growth
2026
Milestones
Published May 4, 2026
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800+
employees, across 5 canadian offices
100+
years serving canadian businesses and families
45%
managers-and-above roles held by women
7+
“There’s nothing quite as powerful as trading insurance with deep local market knowledge”
Paul Jackson,
Zurich Canada
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