Garance Wattez-Richard heads AXA's Emerging Customers business since January 2016, business whose objective is to protect tomorrow's middle class and close the insurance gap across emerging markets. She started her career at the European Commission in Brussels, went on to work within the Office of the Chief Economist of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London, to then spend several years working as a strategy consultant, for London Economics and Arthur D. Little. In February 2005, she joined AXA Investment Managers as Executive Assistant to the CEO. In 2007, she was appointed Head of Corporate, Brand & Research Marketing of AXA IM, before becoming Head of External Communications for the AXA Group in 2012. Garance Wattez-Richard is a graduate of the London School of Economics, the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po.) and holds an MBA from INSEAD.