The Speakers in Profile
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General Peter Cosgrove (Ret.) - Former Chief of the Defence Force The son of a soldier, Peter Cosgrove graduated from the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in 1968. He was sent to Malaysia as a lieutenant in the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (RAR). In Vietnam he commanded an infantry platoon and was awarded the Military Cross for his performance during an assault on enemy positions. Highly trained in modern warfare, General Cosgrove attended the United States Marine Corps Staff College in 1978, and was the Australian exchange instructor at the British Army Staff College from 1984-1986. He has also attended the Australian Joint Services Staff College and the Indian National Defence College, and played a leading role in the training of Australian soldiers. In 1999 Peter Cosgrove became a national figure following his appointment as Commander of the International Forces East Timor (Interfet). He was responsible for overseeing East Timor’s transition to independence during what was to become a tense and uncertain period. He shone as both a soldier and diplomat. Always in his slouch hat, Peter Cosgrove was a strong and reassuring figure, appearing regularly in all forms of the media. He went on to be appointed Chief of the Defence Force and retired from the Army in 2005. |
| David Smith, Chief Executive - Zurich Financial Services Australia David Smith has nearly 30 years’ experience in the financial services industry. He joined Zurich in May 2006 as Chief Operating Officer and was appointed Chief Executive six months later. Previously David was the Chief Executive of IAG New Zealand for nearly six years and during his tenure the business grew to become the number one insurer in New Zealand. He was also President of the Insurance Council of New Zealand for two years. Prior to joining IAG David had an extensive career with Westpac. His last role with Westpac was as Regional General Manager – Queensland Retail Banking, and prior to this he had spent a number of years in various roles in the HR function of the bank. |
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Robert Scott, Managing Director - Wesfarmers Insurance Division Rob Scott is the Managing Director of the Wesfarmers Insurance Division, which comprises the Lumley businesses in Australia and New Zealand, Wesfarmers Federation Insurance, OAMPS and Crombie Lockwood. Rob joined Wesfarmers Insurance Division in May 2006 in the role of Executive General Manager – Strategic Development. Prior to this, he held the position of General Manager, Projects in the Business Development team of Wesfarmers Limited. Rob worked for Wesfarmers in 1993/94. Before rejoining the company in 2004, he held senior positions in the investment banking division of Deutsche Bank AG in Hong Kong and Sydney including Co-Head of the Corporate Advisory group with coverage of the transportation and infrastructure sector in Asia. These roles involved cross border mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt cpital markets, fi nancing and restructuring. Rob holds a Master of Applied Finance degree from Macquarie University and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the Australian National University. He is a Chartered Accountant and has a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investments. He is on the board of the WA Olympic Council. |
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Anthony Day, Executive General Manager, Intermediated Distribution, Suncorp |
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Steve Nevett, Chief Executive - Aon Steve has worked in the insurance industry for more than 35 years, with extensive international experience with companies such as Commercial Union, Factory Mutual, and Marsh. He joined Aon in 2002 and was appointed Chief Executive in January 2007, having previously been responsible for Aon’s Australian corporate client portfolio. |
| David Duffield, Director - Marsh David Duffield is a director of Marsh as well as NIBA. He has recently completed 35 years in the insurance industry, all of which have been with Marsh or its predecessor companies. He has held a number of management positions, including Chief Executive of Marsh in Australia and Chief Operating Officer for Marsh in the Pacific Region. Last year he was appointed as the Head of Marsh’s Asia Pacific Construction, Power & Utilities Practice. David’s industry experience has included business interruption specialist, placement services director, captive insurance company specialist, business development director, oil, gas and mining director and major claims negotiator. He acts as the Marsh account chairman for a number of Australia’s largest companies. |
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Jeff Howells, General Manager - AIMS Jeff Howells is the General Manager of A & I Member Services Pty Ltd (AIMS), a joint venture of Austbrokers and IBNA representing 120 member brokers placing $2 billion gross written premium into the market each year. He has worked in the industry for 37 years, and his experience includes working as an underwriter, risk manager and insurance broker. Jeff worked for JLT for 20 years, most recently holding a number of senior management roles in the company. |
| Peter Baines Peter is an expert at creating successful results, starting from nothing – no time, no money, and no staff – but that’s not going to worry him. Throughout almost two decades Peter has experienced and led people through some of life’s most challenging events. He has come up against some of the most confronting natural disasters, accidents and acts of terrorism in recent times, making him one of Australia’s most experienced disaster management specialists. In recent years, he has led both national and international teams following the Bali bombings, the Waterfall train disaster in New South Wales and the Boxing Day tsunami. He has first-hand experience of what it takes to achieve results in the midst of human devastation, when outcomes can only be reached through building powerful teams quickly, and how to focus on getting the job done in the face of intense environmental, political and media pressures. Peter demonstrates that within disaster management there are many valuable lessons for business and individuals alike. |
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| Besa Deda, Senior Market Strategist & Economist, St George Bank Besa is a senior Market Strategist & Economist for St George Bank. She holds an Honours degree in Economics from the University of Sydney, is a Senior Associate of FINSIA and is completing her Masters of Applied Finance from Macquarie University. She is also a lecturer for FINSIA and an executive committee member of the Australian Business Economists' Association. Her role primarily involves forecasting, presenting views, and analysing economies and financial markets. Before coming to St George Besa was a Senior Strategist in Fixed Income and Foreign Exchange for a major financial institution. |
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Steven Milch, Chief Economist - St George Bank Steven is the Chief Economist of St George Bank. He has Honours and Masters degrees in economics and more than 15 years’ experience as an economist and strategist with several leading economic research and financial institutions, including the Reserve Bank of Australia, BIS Shrapnel and Rothschild Australia. He joined the St George group in 2002. Steven’s role involves analysing global economic and financial market developments. He undertakes regular speaking and media engagements and is the author of numerous St George Bank economic publications. |
| Dr Allan Manning Allan Manning has managed large and complex losses involving major property, business interruption, fidelity, construction and liability throughout Australia, Asia Pacific, Europe and North America for nearly 40 years. In 1999 he founded the LMI Group, which is dedicated to providing highlevel technical expertise in pre and post-loss insurance services such as policycomparison.com and the online business continuity management system, ContinuityCoach.com. Allan has lectured at RMIT University in Melbourne on claims management, delivered more than 350 seminars on insurance topics, holds the post of Research Fellow with Victoria University’s Business & Law Graduate School of Corporate Governance, and is the author of five books on insurance, including Business Interruption Insurance & Claims and Understanding the ISR Policy. |
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Alice Cahill, Corporate Responsibility Manager - Zurich Financial Services Australia |
| Bridget Beattie, Regional General Manager - Right Management Bridget Beattie is the Regional General Manager for Right Management in Australia and New Zealand. Her mix of experience and commercial knowledge helps clients develop and implement strategy. With a strong commercial and legal background spanning 25 years, Bridget’s expertise allows her to implement pragmatic solutions that support her clients’ strategic goals. Bridget works with private and public sector organisations facing signifi cant exposure during mergers, acquisitions, eorganisations and startups. She provides comprehensive and pragmatic advice in all aspects of organisational performance, from high level strategy to detailed implementation. As most of Bridget’s work has been in the high-exposure/high-risk phase of her clients’ business, she draws on the ability to focus on people, their reactions and their sense of place within the larger organisation. Much of Bridget’s work has also involved culture shifts within organisations. |
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Madeleine Mattera, Partner - KPMG Madeleine is a partner in one of the largest and most successful professional services firms in the world, and has more than 22 years’ experience in audit and financial reporting, serving SMEs in various industries. As a Partner at KPMG’s Middle Market Advisory, Madeleine is passionate about service and professionalism, having been responsible for several client service innovations in her field. One recent project she led investigated how to achieve market leadership by “delighting the client”. Her day-to-day work involves providing services to many different clients in a variety of industries. |
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Mike Goodwin, Chief Executive – Asia Pacific - QBE Insurance (International) Limited |
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Bill Zammit Bill is a dynamic presenter dealing with stress management through the use of laughter. He has extensive experience making presentations throughout the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and Australia. He has owned and operated a successful remote area safari operation for 20 years and is skilled in helping people achieve their potential. He enjoys showing audiences how laughter can be used as a “survival skill” to relieve tension and keep people flexible in the face of relentless stress or change. He shares with audiences his real life experiences as a safari operatorand businessman in the Top End. |
| Lee Kernaghan Born in Victoria in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains, Lee grew up in the Riverina region of southern New South Wales. He started singing professionally at the age of five, and his experiences on the road with his truck driver/singer father led to his first album in 1992. His first hit song, “Boys from the Bush”, became the country music anthem. That led to many more albums, and through the 1990s he achieved more number one hits than any other artist. He has sold more than a million albums, won 27 Golden Guitars, three Aria Awards, had 26 number one hits and nine hit albums. To many country people he represents the very essence of the spirit and values of contemporary rural Australia. In the past 10 years his “Pass the Hat Around” tours have raised more than $1 million dollars for communities in need and his participation in the “Spirit of the Bush” tours raise money for farming families in need. The day after being named the 2008 Australian of the Year by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in Canberra in January, he travelled to Tamworth for the Australian Country Music Awards, where he won three more Golden Guitars for his hit song “Spirit Of The Bush”. |
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Charlie King Charlie has been a sport broadcaster with the ABC since 1990. Based in Darwin, he commentates local Australian Rules, Rugby Union, Rugby League, Netball, Hockey and Cricket. He presents 'Territory Sport' on ABC televison in the Northern Territory and each Saturday he hosts, as a part of Grandstand, Sporttalk on ABC Darwin and Territory Radio. Territorians are renowned for their love of sport; both as players and spectators. Football, Sepak Takraw, netball, you name it, they play it. Charlie King is in the thick of it all, Northern Territory style. Charlie's name has been synonymous with sport in the Northern Territory. Charlie was born in Alice Springs and moved to Darwin in 1966. He ahs tried his hand at most sports. He currently coaches Australian Rules in Darwin and is the coach of the NT Women's Australian Rules team. He is also a football umpire, plays tennis, cricket, golf and is an avid runner. Charlie was recognised for his contribution to sport in the Northern Territory, winning the ABC Outstanding Contribution to Local Radio Award in 2004. Other community awards include the 2001 Northern Territory Indigenous Person, 2003 Darwin Citizen of the Year, and the inaugural Children's Champion in 2005 for his work in the field of child abuse and domestic violence. |