Honorary Professors

Prof. Dr. Hartmut Nickel-Waninger

E-Mail: hart08wan@gmail.com

Curriculum Vitae
Prof. Dr. Hartmut Nickel-Waninger (born 1954) studied Business and Management Science at the J.W. Goethe University of Frankfurt and did his doctorate during his activity as Research Assistant at the Chair of Insurance with the focus on Insurance Marketing. 

Since 1986, he has been active in different stages of the insurance industry and insurance associations. Since 2006, he has joined the Management Board of Gothaer Incorporation and been responsible for Sales and Marketing Department. 

Prof. Nickel-Waninger has taught since 1986 at the J.W. Goethe-University of Frankfurt and since 2011 at the International Center for Insurance Regulation (ICIR).

 

Prof. Dr. Christian Thimann

E-Mail: thimann@finance.uni-frankfurt.de

Curriculum Vitae
Prof. Dr. Christian Thimann (born 1966) was appointed Honorary Professor at the University of Frankfurt in December 2020, after teaching here and at the Paris School of Economics over the past 15 years. He studied economics at the University of Bonn, holds a Master’s in economics from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Munich.

He began his professional career at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C. In 1998, he moved to the European Central Bank, where he initially became Head of Division, focusing on international economic and monetary issues. At the beginning of the global financial crisis in October 2008, ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet made him his advisor, a role he retained under ECB President Mario Draghi until the end of 2013.

At the beginning of 2014, he moved to the insurance industry and became a member of the Group Executive Committee of the AXA Group in Paris, with responsibilities for global strategy and public affairs. Since mid-2018, he is CEO and Chairman of the Management Board of the Athora Group in Germany, an insurance group specialising in the efficient and return-yielding management of life insurance contracts.

Prof. Dr. Christian Thimann has published numerous articles in scientific journals on topics of monetary policy, international macroeconomics and insurance, and has been involved in university teaching since 2005.

Prof. emeritus Karel Van Hulle

 

Curriculum Vitae
Prof. Karel Van Hulle is a lawyer by training and was Head of Unit at the European Commission (Directorate-General “Internal Market and Services”), which he joined in 1984 after having served eight years with the Belgian Banking Commission, where one of his main tasks consisted in taking care of the Secretariat of the newly created Belgian Accounting Standards Committee.

At the European Commission, he was subsequently Head of Unit for Accounting Standards, Head of Unit for Financial Reporting and Company Law and Head of Unit for Accounting and Auditing. In that capacity he was closely involved with harmonisation in the fields of accounting, auditing, and company law both at EU level and internationally and served as the Commission's observer with the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC), with the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB), with the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) and with CESRfin. He was Secretary of the High Level Group of Experts on Company Law which prepared the Commission’s 2003 Action Plan on Company Law.

From November 2004 until February 2013 he was Head of the Insurance and Pensions Unit. In this function, his main responsibility was the preparation of a new solvency regime for insurance and reinsurance companies (Solvency II). Other areas of responsibility included life assurance, non-life insurance, reinsurance, motor insurance, insurance guarantee schemes and pension funds. Karel represented the European Commission within the Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors (CEIOPS) and is a member of the Technical Committee of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS).

Prof. Van Hulle is part-time lecturer at the KU Leuven since 1982 where he first taught accounting law at the Law Faculty and now teaches solvency for financial institutions in the Economics Faculty.

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