Mark Knipfer

Mark Knipfer is Chief Operations Officer for Zurich North America, a leading provider of insurance products and services, including workers’ compensation, liability, property, specialty and F&I (finance and insurance) for a number of major industries, such as Construction, Auto Dealers and Technology. It offers life insurance and disability coverage in the United States. Zurich employs approximately 9,000 people in North America. It’s a top-four commercial insurer in the U.S. and has been insuring U.S. businesses for more than 100 years.

In his role as Chief Operations Officer, Mr. Knipfer is responsible for operational functions including information technology, underwriting support, premium audit, lean management, real estate and sourcing. In previous roles, he led Zurich North America’s underwriting support and service team and served as head of strategy.

Before joining Zurich in 2007, Mr. Knipfer was an associate principal at McKinsey & Company in Chicago and an associate in the fixed income division of Salomon Brothers Inc. in New York.

He serves on the board of the Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development (ACORD), a global, nonprofit organization serving the insurance and related industries.

Mr. Knipfer received a master’s degree in business administration from Stanford University and a bachelor’s degree in accountancy from the University of Illinois, where he graduated with University Honors. He has also received the Illinois CPA Society’s Bronze Medal Award for achievement on the CPA examination.