Barna was previously head of the chief executive office in Europe for Zurich Global Life, when he worked with the European chief executives and Zurich’s corporate center team to develop and implement Zurich’s strategy and business plan for the European region.
He succeeds Thorsten Kocherscheidt, who is “pursuing new opportunities within Zurich”, according to a Zurich spokesman.
From April 1, Barna will report to Mark Hartigan, who is regional chief executive of Zurich’s Global Life business in Asia-Pacific & Middle East.
Hartigan was made Zurich’s chief executive for global life business in Asia Pacific and the Middle East on January 1 this year, after joining Zurich in 2009 from Nexus Group Middle East where he was deputy chief executive.
Barna joined Zurich in 2001 and has held a number of senior roles in sales operations, group audit, change and transformation work within Europe.