PATDAC

People and Talent Development Advisory Council (PATDAC) contributes to the achievement of professional excellence by providing a forum for discussion and debate about current industry trends and training needs for the insurance and finance sectors.

  • Catherine Dixon

    Catherine Dixon

    Catherine Dixon

    Executive General Manager Human Resources
    Vero Insurance 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.

  • Stephen Meyer

    Stephen Meyer_PATDAC Council Members

    Stephen Meyer

    ANZIIF (Snr Assoc) CIP
    National Manager, Compliance and Training
    SURA Pty Ltd

    Stephen’s career and experience spans over 40 years in the financial services and general insurance industry holding roles in all facets of the industry.

    He currently holds the role of National Manager, Compliance and Training at SURA Pty Ltd one of Australia’s leading Underwriting Agencies. Previous job roles include Operations Manager, Personal Lines Underwriting Manager, Commercial and Motor Underwriting Superintendent and L&D Consultant involved in all facets of training at both a national and regional level and in particular the areas of technical and compliance training.

    Stephen’s contributions to the industry have included serving on various industry discussion groups including the Sydney Motor Underwriters Group (SMUG) and the Domestic Underwriters Group. He was a founding member on ANZIIF’s PATDAC Committee having previously served on that committee for 8 continuous years, and has also provided subject matter expert services to ANZIIF as a member for over 35 years.

    Up till recently, Stephen held a part time teaching role for 17 years at TAFE NSW’s Western Sydney Institute focussing on the design and delivery of their Cert III, Cert IV and Diploma of General Insurance (which included ASIC’s Tier 2 and Tier 1 units of competency) programs. He has also provided facilitation and subject matter expert services to Kaplan.

    Stephen currently holds a Diploma of General Insurance, a TAE40110 Cert IV in Training and Assessment, a Cert IV in Celebrancy and is a current Senior Associate and Certified Insurance Professional (CIP) with ANZIIF.

  • John Mills

    John MIllsPATDAC_Grayscale

    John Mills

    Senior Manager, Employee Capability, Organisational Capability, Human Resources
    Allianz

    John commenced as Senior Manager Employee Capability for Allianz Australia in August 2014, following a 21 year career with Qantas Airways in customer service, communications, learning and organisational development, change and front line manager operational roles based in Sydney, Cairns and Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam.

    At present John manages the Learning and Development function for Allianz and is responsible for Sales and Underwriting, Customer Centricity learning and delivery, as well as development and design of compliance and product learning.

    John has been a committee member of PATDAC since 2017 and his qualifications include Diploma of Teaching, Bachelor and Masters in Education and Certificate in Marketing Practice.


  • Glen Phillpotts

    Glen Phillipot_Grayscale

    Glen Phillpotts

    Learning and Development Manager Human Resources
    Crombie Lockwood (NZ) Ltd A Gallagher Company

    Glen joined Crombie Lockwood in 2017, re-kindling his 20+ year corporate career in Learning and Organisational Development, after owning and operating a town favourite restaurant on Waiheke Island, Auckland. 

    Glen has held both senior management and director roles in Sales, HR, Learning and Organisational Development, in industries including Publishing, Media, IT, Telecommunications and Recruitment, in both New Zealand and the United Kingdom.  

    In addition to Crombie Lockwood, Glen has a breadth of insurance experience working for a large UK/South African Insurance company (Prudential UK/Discovery Life), PruHealth, and AMP, both within Organisational Development.  Learning and Development has always been integral to his role and prioritised by the business. 

    Key successes in his career include developing IT sales teams across Europe, co-hosting a PruHealth Broker event on-Safari in South Africa, and the development of on-line learning within Vodafone NZ, (A-NZ keynote speaker and representative to a Vodafone Global initiative in Italy).

    Glen has a passion for enabling others to continuously develop themselves, colleagues and teams.




  • Rod Winders

    Rod Winders 01

    Rod Winders

    ANZIIF (Snr Assoc) CIP
    National Training & Development Manager
    Elders Insurance

    Rod commenced in the general insurance industry as National Training & Development Manager for Elders Insurance in August 2004. He moved into the role of QBE Group Senior Compliance Officer in September 2018, following a 25 year career with Telecom/Telstra initially in the technical ranks. He spent the last 14 years in the training division - Telstra Learning.

    Currently Rod works with QBE’s global Risk and Compliance team supporting the QBE global compliance framework, interacting with all divisional compliance and L&D teams ensuring consistent alignment with all compliance deliverables.

    Rod has been a committee member of PATDAC since its inception in October 2004 as the Corporate Members Advisory Committee, CMAC. Rod serviced on the SA BEC for 3 years and is currently a member of the SA Charity Luncheon Committee.

    Rod’s qualifications include a Bachelor of Vocational Education and Training, Diploma in Adult Education, Diploma in Financial Services and currently studying a Master of Education (Digital Learning).