Australian insurer IAG has announced several key appointments within its leadership team, including the appointment of Julie Batch as Group Executive Direct Insurance Australia.
Batch has acted as IAG’s Group Executive Intermediated Insurance Australia since November, in addition to leading IAG’s Strategy & Innovation division. She was previously the company’s Chief Customer Officer.
She joined IAG in 2005 with previous roles including Chief Analytics Officer, responsible for Group Reinsurance and Analytics, and Chief Risk Officer in IAG’s then Direct Insurance business.
“Julie is an insurance expert with more than 15 years’ experience at IAG leading reinsurance, underwriting, strategy and innovation. For the past five years, Julie has helped to simplify and improve the experiences we can provide to our customers, and I’m excited to see that potential deployed within our Direct Insurance business,” IAG CEO and Managing Director Nick Hawkins.
Next, Jarrod Hill will join IAG in September as Group Executive Intermediated Insurance Australia from Chubb Insurance where he was Country President Australia & New Zealand.
Hill has more than 30 years’ industry experience, including a background in technical underwriting, combined with distribution and regional management roles.
“Jarrod is a seasoned commercial insurance executive with a strong background in technical underwriting and brings with him more than 30 years’ industry experience. We have an opportunity to build a strong intermediated business and I look forward to welcoming Jarrod to the team to drive that work,” Hawkins commented.
Additionally, Neil Morgan has been appointed Chief Operating Officer,, and will retain his accountability for technology and digital from his previous role as Group Executive Technology and Operations.
Morgan joined IAG in February 2018, before which he led the Technology Strategy business for PwC in Australia. He also spent over 10 years at Accenture, leading a team across the Asia Pacific region.
“Neil has helped drive a step change in technology for IAG since he joined three years ago and has more recently been accountable for enhancing operational efficiency and alignment across Australia and New Zealand,” Hawkins continued.
“Neil’s combination of technology, digital, operational and execution skills will be critical to progressing our strategic priorities and enhancing our customers’ experiences with our brands.”
And finally, Amanda Whiting has been appointed CEO IAG New Zealand after acting in the IAG Direct Insurance Australia role since November and will take over from Craig Olsen in August.
She joined IAG from iiNet in 2008 and has more than 20 years’ experience in the insurance industry in both general and health insurance, having held senior roles in these industries as well as telecommunications.
“I’m pleased to announce Amanda’s appointment as CEO New Zealand,” Hawkins added. “Since joining IAG in 2008, Amanda has shown a deep passion for our customers and our people, successfully driving improvements across our direct and commercial insurance businesses.”
“I’d also like to thank Craig for his significant contribution to the success of our New Zealand business over the past nine years, five of those as CEO.”
The appointments follow changes to IAG’s operating model and executive team announced in November last year to better align to IAG’s brands and customer proposition.
This included the split of the company’s Australia Division into Direct Insurance Australia and Intermediated Insurance Australia.
“I’m pleased to announce several key executive appointments today as we move to quickly embed our organisational structure led by a strong, experienced and disciplined leadership team,” Hawkins concluded. “The appointments are testament to the capability we have within our company and our ability to attract new leaders to the business.”
