Born in 1943, a former student of Ecole Polytechnique, Bernard Pottier is president of the French road safety society and has spent his whole professional career in the insurance industry. First at Assurances du Groupe de Paris A.G.P. from 1967 to 1988, of which he became chief executive from 1986 to 1988. Two years later, he was appointed chief executive of Commercial Union France, which acquired Groupe Victoire (Abeille Companies) in 1994. Following different mergers, the new European group took the name of Aviva and Bernard Pottier was chief executive of Aviva France until 2003. He has also served the insurance industry in several important capacities. In 2004, he was appointed a member of Comité des Entreprises d'Assurance within the French Ministry of Economy and Finance. He is a director of Areas Assurance and Groupama Insurances, the subsidiary of Groupama in the United Kingdom.