Boards and Councils

Chief Insurance and Strategy Officer

IAG

Tim is an experienced Director, CEO and Executive, with more than 30 years’ experience in insurance, reinsurance and financial services, including significant international underwriting experience. He has previously been a director of the Insurance Council of Australia in addition to being a director of APRA regulated entities in insurance and banking, insurance underwriting agencies and other financial services.

Tim is currently the Chief Insurance and Strategy Officer at IAG. Previous roles have included CEO of General Insurance, Australia and New Zealand at Zurich Financial Services Australia, Group Executive, Insurance for NSW at icare, CEO of QBE Australia and New Zealand, Managing Director of Elders Financial Services Group and Managing Director of Elders Insurance.

His qualifications include Bachelor of Agricultural Science from LaTrobe University and Master of Business Administration from University of New England. He is also a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and has completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

Chief Broking Officer

Austbrokers (AUB)

Ben Bessell has been a Group Executive of IAG since 2015.

He was the EGM Business Distribution within IAG’s Australia Division from July 2017 – January 2019.

Previously he was the Chief Executive Australian Business Division. Prior to that he was Chief Executive of Commercial Insurance, and the Chief Commercial Officer for Commercial Insurance.

Past roles at IAG included General Manager of Broker & Agency CGU, General Manager of Workers' Compensation and General Manager of CGU Claims.

He has more than 20 years’ experience working in the insurance sector and has lived and worked across many locations. He joined IAG in Tasmania in 1993.

Ben is a Director of NTI Limited (National Transport Insurance), Senior Associate of ANZIIF and an alumnus of the London Business School.

Chief Executive Officer

Resolution Life Australasia, AMP Life

Megan is the CEO of Resolution Life Australasia and CEO of AMP Life, transferring from AMP to Resolution Life on 1 July 2020 after leading AMP Life through the sale from AMP to Resolution Life. Megan is also Managing Director of Resolution Life NOHC, AMP Life and the National Mutual Life Association of Australasia Limited.

Megan joined AMP in February 2014 as Director, Insurance and was appointed Group Executive, Insurance on 1 January 2017 and CEO of AMP Life on 1 January 2019.

Megan has more than 25 years’ experience in the financial services industry in a range of executive, finance, actuarial and consulting roles. Prior to AMP, Megan led NAB’s wealth management and insurance offer through the bank channel as General Manager, Bancassurance and Direct. Megan was also General Manager of Group Insurance and Head of Finance for Insurance, both at MLC. She worked for Tower (now TAL) for six years as Chief Actuary, Chief Risk Officer and Head of Claims, and has been a Director with Tillinghast (Consulting Actuaries).

Megan is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia, a Fellow of the Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance, holds a Master of Economics from Macquarie University, a Master of Business Administration (Executive) from the Australian Graduate School of Management at the University of New South Wales, and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Chief Executive Officer

ANZIIF

Prue attended the Queensland University of Technology, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws. Prior to her appointment as ANZIIF CEO, she was the General Manager, Corporate Operations at State Trustees, a role which included the oversight of Finance, Technology, Legal, Compliance, and Investments in a highly complex, medium size financial services company.

She has over 20 years’ experience in the financial services sector, including management accounting at Macquarie Bank and policy development at Investment Funds and Superannuation Association.

She has also held leadership roles in financial services product development, marketing and operations at Colonial Mutual and National Australia Bank. Prue was the Deputy Chancellor of Victoria University and the Chairman of the Resources Committee and is currently a Board member at Citywide Service Solutions.

Chief Executive Officer

Sedgwick Australia

Diego Ascani is the Chief Executive Officer for Sedgwick, overseeing all insurance, loss adjusting, forensic accounting, TPA, corporate services and building consulting & restoration services across Australia. 

Prior to joining Sedgwick in 2017, Diego was the Managing Director and Head of Insurance and Advisory Services in Australia for Xchanging. In this role, Diego oversaw all Business Processing activities for Xchanging in Australia, as well as overall management of the Victorian and NSW workers compensation business operations. Diego worked for Xchanging between 2009 to 2016 after his role as Director of the Insurance Advisory Services practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers where he consulted broadly to the insurance sector in Australia and Asia Pacific region.  

Diego has over 30 years’ experience in the insurance industry, including over 8 years in Workers Compensation/Personal Injury.  He has extensive experience in the auditing and change management of claims practices for both government and general insurers and was seconded to the HIH Royal Commission between 2001 – 2002 to investigate the claims management practices of HIH and FAI. Diego has also been responsible for the significant ramp-up and upscaling of operations, most notably, the onboarding of additional claims volume (46% increase) on behalf of WorkSafe during the 2016 contract renewal. 

Chief Operating officer, Life & Investments

Zurich

Hilary Bates was appointed Chief Operating Officer, Australia & New Zealand, in May 2022 including accountability for Zurich’s Life & Investments business in Australia and Zurich’s General Insurance business in Australia and New Zealand. In this role, Hilary leads a team of professionals that are dedicated to delivering operational excellence, outstanding customer service, technology solutions, operational governance and business resilience.

Previously, Hilary was the Chief Operating Officer for Zurich’s Life & Investments business from June 2021, and prior to this she was Chief Claims & Operations Officer for Zurich’s General Insurance business across Australia and New Zealand. Hilary first joined Zurich in August 2016. Throughout her career, Hilary has held senior management roles with a track record of delivering on customer, people, operational, financial and transformation objectives.

Hilary started her career in private practice working within insurance, risk management and litigation practice groups, before moving to work directly in insurance in 2004. Hilary worked in the USA for seven years gaining valuable and varied experience across complex claims and senior claims management roles, before returning to Australia in 2013.

Hilary holds a Bachelor of Arts (Archaeology), Bachelor of Laws (Honours), and Master of Laws from the University of Sydney and is admitted to practice law in New South Wales. With 20-years working in the insurance industry, Hilary is passionate about business transformation and delivering on the promise to Zurich’s customers.

EGM People & Culture 

Suncorp New Zealand

Catherine has been part of the Suncorp Group for the last 15 years, joining Vero in March 2013 as the Executive General Manager Human Resources. 

Catherine is accountable for the development, implementation and management of the People Strategy which supports the business objectives of Vero New Zealand and aligns to the Group’s overarching People Strategy. 

Previously Catherine was the Executive Manager Human Resources & Communication for Suncorp Life New Zealand. 

In 1999, Catherine joined the Life business of Royal & SunAlliance and supported the significant change to the business during her tenure including the acquisition and divestment of a number of businesses. Prior to joining the Suncorp Group, Catherine worked for IAG in both business and HR roles for 13 years.

Chief Executive Officer 

Insurtech Australia 

Simone is the CEO of Insurtech Australia, a national not-for-profit organisation with a vision to create a world leading insurtech ecosystem which aims to foster a diverse community of insurance innovation and collaboration across the Australian insurance industry.

An experienced leader in the insurance industry, Simone has held senior executive roles in both Australia and the UK and also has management consulting experience. Her previous role was that of Chief Operating Officer for Munich Re in Australasia. Additionally, she has been a Non-Executive Director of ANZIIF since August 2018.

Chief Customer and Operations Officer 
Allianz Australia 

As Allianz Australia’s Chief Customer and Operations Officer, Brendan leads a team of over 2,500 people across General Insurance, IT and IT Security, Business & Technology Transformation, Procurement, Property and Facilities. 

Brendan has been with the Allianz Group for over 15 years, where he has held a number of senior roles across Finance, Risk, Strategy and Transformation, including Chief Customer Services Officer until his appointment as Chief Customer and Operations Officer on 31 April 2021. During his time at Allianz, Brendan spent two and a half years in Munich as part of Allianz SE’s Global Risk function, where he worked with Allianz’s major Operating Entities. 

In 2017, Brendan was invited to join the Board of the B Miles Foundation, a charity which supports women living with a mental illness who are experiencing homelessness or are at risk of homelessness. He is also on the Steering Board for the Bachelor of Accounting program at the University of Technology Sydney. 

Brendan has a Bachelor of Accounting from the University of Technology Sydney and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia. 

Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer

QBE

Fiona is a leader and strategist with over 20 years of experience and a passion for transforming organisations to deliver customer-centric strategies. Fiona is passionate about coaching and developing teams and leaders and enjoys spending time working through tricky problems with her team.

With industry experience across the globe, Fiona joined QBE in 2018 and has had a range of roles at QBE across strategy, operations and transformation functions. Currently Fiona is responsible for setting the strategy for the Auspac division, leading the functions that help design the future organisation (incl. business architecture, human-centred design), equip the business to transform (process optimisation and data & analytics) and enable strategic transformation (change delivery and portfolio governance.

Prior to QBE, Fiona was General Manager Consumer & Wealth Strategy at National Australia Bank where she helped develop strategies to innovate customer experience, distribution and growth strategies for consumer banking and wealth management products and services. Fiona began her career as a strategy consultant at Booz & Company (now Strategy&) whereas a Partner she led the Insurance practice in Australia and NZ.

Fiona has an acute interest in the revolution in customer experience and business models brought about by digitisation and has authored intellectual capital and a number of whitepapers on this topic.

CEO

CHU Underwriting Agencies

As one of Australia’s leading strata insurance specialists, Kimberley Jonsson is CEO of CHU Underwriting Agencies. Kimberley joined the insurance industry in South Australia in 2005. She has worked across multiple jurisdictions and held various underwriting sales and management roles. Kimberley has a wealth of experience and knowledge of the strata insurance industry and the strata community. 

In 2017 Kimberley was named Young Insurance Professional of the Year at the Australian Insurance Industry Awards. In addition to being a Fellow of ANZIIF, she is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and holds an MBA from AIM Business School. 

Kimberley is one of the youngest CEOs in the Australian Financial Services sector. 

Head of Risk Management, Asia & Pacific and Country Corporate Officer, Australia

Marsh & McLennan Companies

Scott Leney oversees Marsh’s regional Risk Management teams in Asia and the Pacific to build on existing capabilities and develop strategic solutions that will enable Marsh’s largest clients to navigate an increasingly complex global risk landscape.

Scott also serves as Country Corporate Officer (CCO) for Marsh McLennan in Australia, working closely with executives across Marsh, Guy Carpenter, Mercer, and Oliver Wyman to profile Marsh McLennan’s capabilities in the market, foster colleague collaboration and develop key client and corporate initiatives.

Between January 2015 and August 2020, Scott was the Marsh Pacific Region head and then Marsh Australia CEO leading the expanded Australian business during the integration of JLT. Scott holds a Bachelor of Commerce, is a Qualified Practising Insurance Broker (NIBA) and is a Fellow of the Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (ANZIIF).

Chief Executive Officer

Ando Insurance

John has led Ando’s growth from its start-up roots to now being a well-established presence in New Zealand’s insurance market. As a highly respected leader in the industry, he has been pivotal in building the team of over 300 talented staff in just 7 years. 

John is passionate about creating an inclusive, vibrant and forward-thinking workplace, which allows the Ando team to drive positive changes in the insurance industry. John is a highly active member in the insurance community, frequently sharing his experience at conferences, as well as exploring the future of insurance.

Chief Executive Officer

AIA Australia

Damien Mu is the CEO and Managing Director of AIA Australia and New Zealand. Damien’s career at AIA Australia began in 2007, and he was appointed to the role of CEO in 2014. Damien has more than 20 years’ experience in the Australian financial services industry, with management experience spanning life and health insurance, superannuation and investments.

AIA Australia is a founding member of the Shared Value Project. In 2019, AIA entered into a Joint Cooperation Agreement with CBA for the purchase of CommInsure Life.
In 2018, Damien was awarded the Shared Value Champion and the AB+F Australian Insurance Executive of the Year. He holds a number of directorships including the Financial Services Council (FSC), co-Chair of the FSC Life Board Committee and an Advisory Board member of the Shared Value Project.