General Insurance Faculty Advisory Board

A trailblazing leader with 30 years in insurance, Jenny Bax is the inaugural Chief Executive Officer of the Underwriting Agencies Council and passionate about shaping the future of UAC and delivering its members a road map for success. Jenny is a founding member and current past Chair of ANZIIF’s General Insurance Faculty Board. She has worked for several leading insurers in a variety of operational & management roles both in Australia & overseas. Jenny has a Graduate Diploma in Insurance and a Master of Business Administration from Deakin University and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. 

Andy Doran is the General Manager - Underwriting, Commercial. He has been with Allianz since March 2022 and is based in Melbourne. With 38 years of experience in the insurance industry, he has held key leadership roles at prominent organisations, specialising in driving underwriting excellence and operational efficiency. Andy served as Executive Manager at IAG and has also held significant roles at Wesfarmers Insurance, where he managed portfolios and led distribution efforts.

He holds a Fellowship of Insurance (Deakin).

Andrew is Principal and Strategy & Innovation Leader for Australia / New Zealand in Oliver Wyman's Property and Casualty Actuarial Practice, based in Sydney.

His career spans 20 years, working in both consulting and senior corporate roles. Prior to joining Oliver Wyman, he held senior positions at leading insurance and reinsurance companies, gaining diverse experience across underwriting, reinsurance, pricing, portfolio management, product development, and actuarial functions.

His extensive experience across the insurance value chain has given him understanding of various stakeholder perspectives, which he uses to support clients in making balanced decisions.

Andrew is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in actuarial studies, and a Bachelor of Applied Finance from Macquarie University.

Dale has more than 20 years’ experience in the Australian insurance industry, having held senior positions in underwriting, product, and management primarily in the Heavy Industries sector.

Dale joined QBE in 2016 as National Product Manager for Construction and Engineering and progressed to the Head of Construction and Engineering in 2019. He was appointed General Manager for Speciality in early 2022 and now is the General Manager for Elders Insurance as of August 2023.

Dale is recognised as a collaborative leader who is highly engaged and focused on developing talent. He is committed to staff engagement with an emphasis on creating profitable high performing teams through a culture of individual and team-based growth.

An expert professional in business development, planning and executing business strategies. Jessica has a proven track record in aiding business growth by developing new market channels, and strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders. 

Jessica was recently named Insurance Business Mag Elite Woman 2022, 2023 & 2024, underwriting Agencies BDM of the year 2022 & 5 Star BDM 2021 & 2022. 

A born philanthropist at age 19, Jessica held a seat in her local electorate to become Victoria’s youngest-ever deputy mayor and government representative at the time also triumphing as young Australian citizen of the year.

In addition to her National role at Solution Underwriting, Jessica Co Founded the “Women’s Wellness Hour of Power" a concept borne from a collective of women in the Insurance and Finance industry who are juggling many roles and responsibilities in addition to their professional endeavors working mothers. The aim is to create a community that shares, supports, advocates, and normalises all the emotions and challenges women face, and to spread the word that ‘it’s okay not to be okay’. 

Continuing to give back, Jessica also takes time out of her busy schedule to mentor several young women, working to enable mentees to feel clarity, become focused & to achieve success.

Andrew Kidd is NTI’s Chief Customer Officer, leading a cross-functional portfolio encompassing Underwriting, Marketing, Product Management, Actuarial, Strategy, Insurance Risk, Reinsurance, and Data & Insights. Andrew brings with him more than 35 years’ experience in the Australian insurance industry, with specialist expertise in underwriting, marine insurance, reinsurance, and risk management.

He joined NTI in 2017 as the company’s first Head of Marine, where he was responsible for the integration and strategic development of NTI’s marine insurance offering.

In 2022, Andrew was appointed Head of Insurance Risk and Reinsurance, where he managed NTI’s risk exposure through strategic reinsurance arrangements and strengthened insurance risk governance, aligned to NTI’s risk appetite.

In addition to his role at NTI, Andrew is passionate about contributing to the broader industry. He has served as Chair of the Insurance Council of Australia’s Marine Working Group and member of the International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI) Cargo Technical Committee.

Peter Klemt is the CEO of PassportCard Australia a full-service underwriting agency specialising in travel insurance. He is currently leading PassportCard’s re-entry into the Australian market after a short hibernation period due to COVID.  Peter has been with PassportCard for just over 3 years in total.

PassportCard is different. It is revolutionising travel insurance in every market it enters, introducing instant claim payments for the most common type of claims, utilising a pre-paid debit card offered to each customer when they purchase travel insurance from PassportCard.  

Prior to re-joining PassportCard, Peter enjoyed a short stint at Unimutual and was with QBE for nearly 20 years prior to that, enjoying various executive management positions, culminating in his role as General Manager Business Development. This included P & L accountability for the Multinational Business Unit he helped establish globally and in Australia.  

He is a strategic customer focused leader with proven capacity in driving sustainable profitable growth. A builder of businesses, developing high performance teams with winning cultures that consistently deliver outstanding results. 

Peter is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors has a Bachelor of Business and is both a Fellow and a Continuing Insurance Professional of the Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance. 

Benjamin joined the TurksLegal Sydney office in April 2007 before moving to the Melbourne office in April 2012 to take up a senior position in the General Insurance practice group. He acts exclusively for insurers and SME providing advice on liability and indemnity across the spectrum of insurance products, policies and claims.

His commercial and insightful approach to litigation provides insurers with efficient and timely resolution of claims where possible and strong representation where required in disputes that cannot be resolved.

Prior to joining TurksLegal, Benjamin built a reputation as a skilled litigation lawyer across a range of jurisdictions and areas of law including insurance litigation, personal and corporate insolvency, commercial debt recovery, building and construction disputes, criminal defence, family and taxation law. 

Benjamin was admitted to practice as a solicitor and barrister in 2005 to the Supreme Court of New South Wales and to the High Court Of Australia. He is a member of both ANZIIF and AILA and in 2014 was appointed to the ANZIIF Generation I Council. Specialties: Insurance advice, dispute resolution and litigation

Kara joined the insurance industry in 2011 and is the National Claims Service Manager at CHU Underwriting Agencies. She is a leader who is passionate about the growth and development of professionals within the industry and is currently completing her MBA with the Australian Institute of Business.

In 2020 Kara was named by Insurance Business as a young gun and in 2021 Kara participated in the NIBA mentoring program as a mentor. She enjoys giving back to the industry serving on ANZIIF boards and committees

Darren O'Connell is Executive General Manager, Commercial Portfolio & Underwriting Management. He has been with the Group for over 26 years and has spent over 18 years within Corporate Portfolio. 

Darren has held a number of roles during his time with Suncorp, including Business Development Manager, National Operations Manager, National Development Manager – Corporate and Executive Manager, Corporate Property and Liability.

Darren was instrumental in the growth and success of the Vero Corporate Property and Liability portfolios, and has extensive experience dealing with brokers and clients. 

He holds a Certificate of Business Studies and a Fellowship of Insurance (Deakin).