James Bracken

Skills and experience

James Bracken is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for Zurich North America. In this role, he has responsibility for Actuarial, Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR), Corporate Tax, Treasury, Planning and Performance Management, and Finance Operations. Bracken is a member of the Zurich North America Executive Committee, the Zurich Group Leadership Team, the Zurich North America Leadership Team and the Zurich Group Finance Executive Team.

Bracken has over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry. Before joining Zurich in 2024, he was Chief Executive Officer at Fortitude Re, where he built a Bermuda-based runoff reinsurance company with $75 billion in total assets. During his four years in that role, Bracken led merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions and a full carve-out from AIG that culminated in the sale of Fortitude Re to an investor consortium. Prior to Fortitude Re, Bracken served as CFO of AIG General Insurance, playing a key role in the re-IPO of AIG shares, the restructuring of international operations and execution of a large legacy reinsurance transaction. Before his tenure at AIG, Bracken worked in global finance and audit at GE Insurance, GE Capital and Arthur Andersen & Co.

Educational background

Bracken holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Durham University in England. He is a UK Chartered Accountant.