With Michael Palm, he founded Centre Re, now known as Centre, which is part of the Zurich Re group, which Mr. Gluckstern served as chief executive officer.

Mr. Gluckstern, 48, is a partner and founder of Capital Z Partners, a private equity fund investing in financial services companies.

Mr. Gluckstern has now been appointed to the board of directors of ChannelPoint Inc., the world's first Internet exchange provider for insurance.

Prior to co-founding Capital Z, Mr. Gluckstern was a member of the corporate executive board of Zurich Financial Services (ZFS) and served as chairman and chief executive officer of Zurich Re, the global reinsurance network of ZFS.

Mr. Gluckstern also acted as chairman and chief executive officer of Zurich Centre Group (ZCG), the holding company for Zurich's `Strategic Financial' businesses, including entities such as Centre Solutions and Zurich Capital Markets. Gluckstern continues to serve as non-executive Chairman of ZCG and Zurich Re.

In addition to investments in traditional finance areas, Capital Z has invested in many of today's leading e-finance companies, including ChannelPoint, Wit Capital, Lending Tree, Enba (the first pan-European Internet bank), Emergent Advisors (online investment advise), and Brodia.com (a new advanced technology shopping portal and e-wallet provider). ChannelPoint describes itself as the world's leading e-commerce technology provider for insurance and benefits companies. The company's e-commerce solutions are used by world-class insurance organisations to conduct business electronically with their distribution partners and customers.

New internet venture: Centre Re founder Stephen Gluckstern