Maurice Greenberg, 94, joined Starr Companies, a global insurance and investment company, in 1960 as its vice president and later went on to become chairman and CEO. He was formerly chief executive of American International Group (AIG), a former Starr subsidiary and the first fully licensed foreign insurance company in China.

Under his nearly 40 years of leadership, AIG grew from an initial market value of US$300 million to US$180 billion, becoming the largest insurance company in the world.

Greenberg is also the chairman of the Starr Foundation, which is active in grants to academic, medical, cultural and public organizations around the world.

In 1990, Greenberg was appointed by Zhu Rongji, then mayor of Shanghai, as the first chairman of the International Business Leaders’ Advisory Council, a think tank set up under the mayor’s office. Greenberg is the only person to have served in that capacity for two terms.

In 2011, Starr was invited by the Shanghai government to become a shareholder of Dazhong Insurance and participate in reforms of the state-owned company. Greenberg flew to Shanghai several times to monitor the development of the joint venture.

In 2014, the Starr Foundation sponsored a program between the New York Philharmonic and the Shanghai Orchestra Academy, contributing to exchanges of international cultural arts.

The next year, with Greenberg’s support, Starr joined hands with Shanghai Education Commission to launch a “red cap” program to promote safety education in schools and public awareness of traffic safety.

Greenberg was granted Shanghai honorary citizenship in 1997.

He was appointed a senior economic advisor to Beijing in 1994 and awarded the China Reform Friendship Medal in 2018.