Dr. (h.c) Nelson C. Kuria, MBS, OGW, F.IOD (K)
Nelson has a BA – Economics, Masters in Leadership Studies and has attended executive management and leadership training in Eastern and Southern African Management Institute(ESAMI) and Stanford University Business School.
He worked for 36 years in Development finance and Insurance (1979-2015). The crowning of his career in insurance was in The Co-operative Insurance Company of Kenya, now CIC Insurance Group where he worked for 17 years, 14 of them as Group MD/CEO. He led the transformation of CIC from a very small insurer to one of the top five insurers in Kenya and the Region with 3 local subsidiaries and the leading Cooperative Insurer in Africa with another 3 regional subsidiaries in South Sudan, Uganda, and Malawi by the time of his retirement in February 2015.
Nelson has been honoured with two state awards by the president of Kenya for his contribution in co-operative development. In the insurance industry he was honored with the Life Time Achievement Award in 2012 and in 2017, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Leadership. In 2019 he was given the award of Fellow of the Institute of Directors of Kenya in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the development corporate governance in Kenya.
In the past, he has served as Chairman and board member of many organizations in Kenya including the Association of Kenya Insurers, Federation of Kenya Employers, Co-operative University of Kenya, Kenya Reinsurance Corporation, College of Insurance, Kenyatta National Hospital and Africa International university among others. He served as a Member of the Presidential Task Force on Parastatal Reforms in 2013 and Chairman of the National Cooperative Task Force in 2020 – 2022.
At international level, he has served as a Board member of the International Co-operative and Mutual Insurance Federation (ICMIF) and member and facilitator in three United Nations Expert Group Meetings on co-operatives in 2011, 2012 and 2014. In 2012, he was a member of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) Working Group which prepared the Blueprint for a Cooperative Decade 2012 -2020. In 2024, he served as a member of a global leadership team guiding the development of the international co-operative alliance (ICA) strategy for the period 2026-2030. ICA is the apex body of the global cooperative movement.
Currently he is Chairman of CIC Insurance Group (he was invited back to CIC Group as an Independent director in September 2020), Smep Microfinance Bank; Five Talents, Kenya, and Institute of Directors of Kenya (IOD K). He is a board member of Acre Africa (a subsidiary of Zep Re).
Most recently in May 2025, he was appointed by the Government of Kenya to be a member of a Committee of Experts to review the Sacco Societies Act and institutional framework for the establishment of a deposit protection fund, central liquidity facility and shared services platform for SACCOs in Kenya.
Dr. Nelson Kuria is a regular speaker in both local and international conferences and seminars in insurance, cooperatives, leadership and governance.
