AICLA/ANZIIF Claims Convention

Chris has had dual, parallel careers for over 25 years in both Loss Adjusting and Emergency Medical Services and has presented numerous lectures to national and international audiences.

His extensive loss adjusting experience throughout the United States and Australia as both a Catastrophe and staff adjuster has lead him to his current Senior Leadership positions with Crawford & Company. Chris’s experience in both fields has allowed him to experience a number of technological advancements and developments first hand as well as their effects on businesses, employees and customers. 

In addition to practical application and implementation of technologies, Chris has presented seminars to Insurance audiences about: Customer Service, Robotics, AI, future technologies, change management and lithium ion batteries.

Emma Curtis has 25 years’ experience in financial services law and governance, including over 10 years as a regulator.

Before joining AFCA as Lead Ombudsman - Insurance Emma was the Senior Executive Leader - Insurers with ASIC, leading the insurance supervision team. Emma led the ASIC Insurers team through the period that included the 2019-20 bushfires and the unfolding of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Emma also has prior experience in senior in-house legal roles with Australian financial services firms.

Richard has worked in the insurance industry for over 17years.12 of those at Australia’s leading Transport Insurer, NTI. Richard oversees NTI’s expansive Supply chain networks, including Towing and Road Side providers to OEM’s and Fleets across Australia. He also oversees NTI Accident Assist which incorporates our In house Incident response Team. This team responds to 24/7 request for assistance with site remediation and event management for Large accidents, Dangerous goods and Livestock.

Richard also works internally and externally within NTI’s ESG team. Leading the supply chain side of response to net zero 2050. Along with these responsibilities Richard also represents NTI on the ICA’s Motor Insurance Working Group and has done for 9 years. He was heavily involved in introducing the framework with Austroads for the Heavy Vehicle WOHVR in NSW and continues to work with all levels of government to keep Australia’s transport sector on the road.

With over 15 years in Marine Insurance, Ben has been involved in both broking and underwriting and brings this unique perspective to the team.

He started his career at CGU, before moving into the broking field and honing his skills and knowledge in the Marine space, working with some of Australia’s largest companies across all lines of Marine insurance. 

Growing up around boats his whole life he has a particular interest in Marine Hull and Builders, along with Marine Liabilities. Ben manages the larger and more complex marine cargo and stock throughput programs in Australia, as well as leading the team in Commercial Marine Hull and Machinery.

Ben is also the Chairperson for the Sydney Marine Discussion Group, an Industry forum that works to promote the Marine Insurance industry, as well as educate and share technical knowledge among brokers, underwriters and all those who participate in the industry.

Chris joined Burgoynes as a forensic investigator in London in 2010 before transferring to the Hong Kong office in 2017, where he specialises in the investigation of fires and explosions.  Chris holds a 1st Class Honours Degree in Chemistry from the University of Greenwich, and is a Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry and an Associate of the Institute of Fire Engineers.

He is also a Member of both the International Association of Fire Investigators, and the International Association of Arson Investigators.  Before joining Burgoynes, Chris spent 8 years as an analytical chemist working in the pharmaceutical industry, and he also has 5 years’ experience working as an industrial firefighter, responding to fires, first aid emergencies and chemical spill incidents. In addition, Chris worked for 3 years as a Retained Firefighter for Kent Fire & Rescue Service in the UK.

During his career with Burgoynes Chris has investigated over 500 incidents - both land-based and marine. The land-based incidents have included fires involving small electrical devices and household appliances; motor vehicles and machinery; commercial premises; warehouses, factories and petrochemical plants; and low and high voltage electrical distribution equipment.

In the marine industry Chris has investigated fires and explosions involving ship engine rooms and machinery spaces; accommodation and storage areas; containerised cargo; bulk and general purpose cargo; oil and chemical tankers, and car carriers.  He has also provided live fire-fighting and fire safety advice to Vessel operators and their crews.  Drawing on his analytical chemistry background, Chris has advised on claims involving alleged marine cargo contamination, and incidents arising from industrial and chemical process control failures. 

Tim commenced his insurance carrier in 2000 with a large national insurer and commenced his loss adjusting career in 2007 with a national loss adjusting firm.

He has attended various catastrophe events within Australia and has successfully managed portfolios of domestic, commercial (ISR/business/regional and rural), strata and liability claims over his career to date.

Robert Leach is the Executive Manager for SME Property & Short Tail Claims at Suncorp, with over 20 years of experience in the insurance industry.

He started his career in construction before transitioning to consulting and then to insurance.

At Suncorp, Robert has specialized in Commercial Claims, leading teams in Property, Specialty Lines, and Catastrophe response. His deep industry knowledge and leadership skills drive exceptional claims management and client support.

Kylie joined the Insurance Council in September 2020 to support the ICA deliver a strategic plan to guide the organisation and its priorities. Kylie has responsibility for the ICA’s Climate, Strategy and Operations Teams including Climate and Social Policy, and the ICA’s focus on mitigation, resilience and recovery of the built environment – this includes co-ordinating the Insurance industries response to severe weather events.

Kylie has held executive and non-executive positions in financial services through her career and is dedicated to optimising public and private sector responses to rapidly changing environmental contexts with a focus on strategy, governance, innovation and value creation.

Over the past decade she has been at the forefront of Environmental and Social Governance (ESG), setting standards in organisational reporting conventions on climate, and developing multi-stakeholder approaches to social impact investment that are focused on producing shared outcomes and embed social license.

Rita Matulionyte is an Associate Professor at Macquarie University Law School (Australia) and an international expert in intellectual property and technology law, with her most recent research focusing on legal and governance issues surrounding Artificial Intelligence technologies.

Rita has over 60 research papers published by leading international publishers and she has been invited to present her research in conferences in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Australia. She is a recipient of Women in AI Award 2023 APAC, in AI in Law category, and has co-authored commissioned reports for the European Patent Office, the governments of Australia, South Korea and Lithuania.

Rita is serving as an expert at the Australia Government’s Copyright and AI Reference Group (CAIRG), an expert at the International Standards Organization/Standards Australia IT-043 Committee on Artificial Intelligence, is an Executive Member of Macquarie University Ethics and Agency Research Centre, and is an active member of the Australian Alliance for AI in Healthcare, Safety and Ethics Working Group.

Born in Brindisi, Italy, Daniel was a young child when he moved with his family to Australia. He grew up in Canberra and completed his first degrees – arts and law – at the ANU. He then completed a Master of Economics (University of Sydney) and a PhD in economics from Yale. 

He has lectured at Monash University, was an economic adviser in the Gillard government and was a Victorian MP from 2014 to 2018. As Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer of Victoria, Daniel helped deliver major infrastructure projects and developed innovative financing structures for community projects.

In 2018 he was preselected for the new federal seat of Fraser and became its first MP at the 2019 election, re-elected in 2022. Daniel is now chair of the House of Representatives’ Standing Economics Committee. 

In August 2022, Daniel published ‘Safety Net: The Future of Welfare in Australia’, which aims to explore the ways in which an insurance approach can improve the effectiveness of government service delivery.

Ms. Pancott has specialised in forensic accounting since 2007, in both Canada and Australia. She has focused on the quantification of economic damages for insurance and litigation purposes, presenting her findings to industry professionals and in market meetings. 

Her experience deals with the quantification of economic damages for business interruption, professional indemnity as well as general and product liability losses in both insurance claims and recovery proceedings. She has assisted with catastrophe response following the New Zealand earthquakes, Brisbane floods, Sydney ANZAC Day Hailstorm, and cyclones and ex-tropical cyclones in northern New South Wales and Queensland. 

Ms. Pancott was a member of the AILA Young Professionals subcommittee from 2014 to 2018, held the position of NSW Treasurer for AILA in 2018 and since 2020 has served on the AILA National Executive Board as Treasurer. In 2019 she was awarded the Young Insurance Professional of the Year award from ANZIIF at the Australian Insurance Industry Awards.

Katrina has spent much of her career in financial services. A Chartered Accountant by trade, Katrina started her career in Audit, spent time at Newton Fund Management in London and then joined Westpac Trust.

She has owned her own small accountancy business for seven years, after which she was the Financial Controller for the New Zealand National Party. Katrina has a deep understanding of the legislative process and how to influence policy development, drawn from her experience as a two-term Member of Parliament. During that time, she chaired Select Committees and was a member of the Commerce Select Committee during the significant legislative changes in the financial services sector.  

Katrina has considerable experience leading membership bodies, working with regulatory change, creating public awareness, and has developed a learning academy. In addition to this she has managed the significant Funeral Trust Fund.

Katrina has been the CEO of Financial Advice NZ for five years. She was the inaugural CEO which merged three industry bodies into one professional body. In this time the organisation has become the voice of the financial advice sector, influenced significant legislative and regulatory change, and delivered quality professional development. In addition to this she has ensured research has been the basis for promoting the value of advice to consumers, enabling more New Zealanders, to seek quality financial advice to increase their financial health, wealth and wellbeing.

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