Peter Zaffino, executive chair and former CEO of AIG, will leave the insurer's board on September 15 to join Palantir Technologies as global head of financial services. The move comes just over three months after Zaffino stepped down as CEO on June 1, handing the role to Eric Anderson in a succession plan AIG announced in January.
Zaffino will also serve as a senior advisor to AIG, maintaining a connection to the company he led since March 2021. John Rice, AIG's lead independent director since early 2023, will take over as board chair upon Zaffino's departure.
"On behalf of the AIG Board of Directors, we are grateful that AIG will continue to benefit from Peter's guidance and advice," Rice said in a statement. He added that AIG under Zaffino's leadership "strengthened its competitive position and created significant long-term value for shareholders."
The Palantir connection
Zaffino's move to Palantir isn't a cold start. During his tenure as CEO, AIG built a partnership with the data analytics firm to develop an AI for Insurance ecosystem aimed at improving underwriting. The collaboration produced results that exceeded early expectations. Zaffino had set initial benchmarks for what AI agents could deliver, but later said the capabilities proved far greater than anticipated.
That partnership recently bore fruit in a concrete deal. AIG launched Lloyd's Syndicate 2479 with Amwins and Blackstone, marking the first time the insurer deployed generative AI for a special purpose vehicle. Large language models, working with Palantir's technology, assessed whether Amwins' program portfolio fit the syndicate's risk appetite. Zaffino said AIG has a "strong pipeline of SPV opportunities."
What Palantir expects
Palantir said Zaffino will start on January 15, 2027, tasked with driving growth across its financial services business. That spans insurance companies, banks, asset managers, private equity firms, and other financial institutions.
Alex Karp, co-founder and CEO of Palantir, framed the hire around Zaffino's track record inside large organizations. "Peter has spent his career challenging inertia and rejecting incrementalism within large enterprises. We partnered to deploy our products to create actual alpha within one of the most interesting and complex institutions in the world. We are fortunate that he is joining us," Karp said.
Zaffino's AIG legacy
Zaffino took over as AIG CEO in March 2021, succeeding Brian Duperreault. Before that, he held senior roles at Marsh & McLennan, including CEO of Marsh. His transition to executive chair in June 2026 was part of a planned succession that brought Eric Anderson, formerly of Aon's executive committee, into the CEO role.
Rice, the incoming chair, brings his own depth of operational experience. Before joining AIG's board, he was president and CEO of GE's Global Growth Organization for seven years and later served as non-executive chairman of GE Gas Power.
Why this matters for insurance professionals
Zaffino's move signals where the insurance technology conversation is heading. His hands-on experience deploying AI agents for underwriting at AIG - and his blunt assessment that the technology outperformed expectations - gives him a practitioner's credibility that most financial services hires at tech firms lack. For insurers watching Palantir's next moves, a former carrier CEO who already pushed AI into live underwriting and SPV deals is now shaping product strategy from the inside. That combination of carrier-side experience and vendor-side influence will likely accelerate the types of AI tools that reach the market.
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