Speakers

Speakers in Profile...

 Highlights     Program Outline

Vivek Bhatia - Australia

CEO, Wesfarmers General Insurance Vivek was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of Lumley Insurance in January 2009. He joined Wesfarmers Insurance in January 2008 as the Chief Operating Offi cer across the Lumley & Wesfarmers Federated Insurance (WFI) businesses. In March 2010, he was appointed as the Chief Executive Offi cer of Wesfarmers General Insurance Limited which encompasses the businesses of Lumley Insurance and WFI. Spending his early career working for KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers, in 2003 Vivek joined QBE Mercantile Mutual to lead their Financial Services Reform program. He was then responsible for integration of the QBEMM and QBE Australia operations. Since then, he has held various senior management roles in QBE’s Australian and Asia Pacifi c operations. Vivek has completed a Bachelor of Engineering degree followed by a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) and is also qualified as a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). In 2008, Vivek was selected by the Australian Financial Review’s BOSS magazine as a finalist in their Young Executive of the Year Awards.

Mark Bouris - Australia

Mark Bouris is one of Australia’s most successful businessmen. He founded Wizard Home Loans and took on the big banks by offering consumers access to better value loans. He grew the business from just 4 people to a team of 400 in 250 branches in just 8 years. Wizard was sold to GE, in 2004, for in excess of $400M. Mark passionately believes that all Australians should have access to quality financial advice. Mark’s expertise has been sought for a number of federal government expert panels and in 2004 he was appointed adjunct professor of banking and finance, business law and tax at the University of NSW. Most recently, Mark took on the role as boss on the Australian equivalent of The Apprentice.

Director, Essence Penny Burke is an accomplished public speaker who has worked in the fi eld of marketing and advertising for over 20 years. She has such famous advertising campaigns as the ‘Pro Hart Stainmaster Carpet’, ‘Uncle Tobys’ and ‘Milk. Legendary Stuff’ to her credit. She holds a Bachelor of Business (Marketing), is a full member of the Australian Social and Market Research Society and sits on the Board of Kennards Hire, a privately owned tool hire company.
Penny’s marketing experience crosses a range of sectors from traditional packaged goods to social marketing, services to retail. Her experience has led her to be a true thought leader and an expert in commitment. Penny can now add ‘author’ to her list of achievements, having just published her first book on gaining greater commitment in the workplace, Forced Focus – the essence of attracting and retaining the best people.

Sam Cawthorn - Australia

The 2009 Young Australian of the Year for Tasmania Sam Cawthorn has an incredible story to share with you. His story is simple, yet his message demonstrates the awesome power and strength found within the human spirit when faced with the choice to continue living as a victim or to make a choice to seize the opportunity of ‘life’. He provides the skills to be resilient, overcome fears, and to achieve goals and dreams that we that we may think are unachievable.

Pacific Region Head and CEO, Australia Marsh Pty Ltd John Clayton was appointed to the role of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Marsh in Australia and the Head of the Pacific Region on 1 July 2009. In his capacity as CEO, John chairs the Australian Executive Committee and is the Chairman of the Marsh Pty Ltd Board. He has over 37 years experience in the insurance industry; the last 21 years with Marsh, and previously with Sedgwick, before it was acquired by Marsh. During his tenure at Sedgwick, John occupied senior management positions in South Australia and Western Australia. Prior to his current role, John was General Manager of the business segment of Marsh responsible for servicing small and medium sized businesses. He played an instrumental role in developing the industry’s fi rst online placement vehicle in Australia, entitled Marsh Commercial Insurance Agencies Pty Ltd (MCIA), which was launched in 2000. John holds a Diploma of Financial Services (Insurance Broking) and is a Fellow of the National Insurance Brokers Association of Australia (NIBA).

Andrew Daddo - Australia

Back by popular demand, Andrew Daddo joins the NIBA Convention once more as your MC. Andrew took on the role as MC of the NIBA Convention for the first time in Sydney last year and was extremely well received by our delegates. We look forward to welcoming Andrew back to the NIBA Convention this year.

Elizabeth Francy Demaret - USA

Elizabeth is the Managing Director of Gallagher’s International Services Group Niche in the US. She oversees Gallagher’s International retail operations and assists clients with the development of international and global insurance programs. The International Services Group also manages Gallagher’s Optimus network. Elizabeth has more than twenty years of experience in global insurance placements. Before joining AJ Gallagher, she worked at a national brokerage firm as Vice President of the Global Operations Department. Prior to becoming a broker, Elizabeth spent several years at major International carriers as a business development manager and in various underwriting positions. She was named one of Business Insurance’s Women to Watch in 2005 and is former Chair of the World Federation of Insurance Intermediaries.

Avril Henry - Australia

Avril’s career has spanned senior roles in Finance, IT, Project Management, Change Management and HR. She was responsible for the “The Henry Report” – a Ministerial Review into Recruitment and Retention in the Army, Air Force and Navy and is a Strategic Advisor to the Chief of Navy. Avril is highly awarded; one of 5 finalists in the Australian HR Awards for Best HR Director, she won the prestigious Lifetime Achievement in HR Award at the Australian Human Resources Awards, a finalist in the Sydney Business Review Business Woman of the Year; and honoured in the 2009 Australian Who’s Who of Women, as one of the most inspiring businesswomen and female leaders.

Attracta Lagan - Australia

An organisational sociologist, Attracta has 20 years experience working with the Boards and senior management of many of Australia’s government enterprises. Her work involves designing and facilitating large scale values and ethics training programs with the goal of nurturing high performance workplace cultures. She is the author of over 80 published articles in the broad area of workplace values, ethics and sustainability and is a recognised advocate and opinion leader in the applied ethics field.

Director, Broking Operations, Aon Risk Services Australia Since joining Aon in 1990 Steve has served a number of roles including National General Manager of Retail Risk Services, State Director for New South Wales and National Manager of Aon Insurance Services. Steve is a member of Aon Australia’s National Operating Committee, a Director of Aon’s Asia Pacifi c Board and a member of its Affi nity Worldwide Leadership Group. A longstanding advocate of the insurance broking industry, Steve was elected President of the National Insurance Brokers Association in December 2008.

John Lees - Australia

John Lees was a senior international marketing and sales executive for Schwarzkopf. He has also written five books on business development. His special qualities as a trainer and motivator are evident – many progressive product and service companies have asked him to remain as consultant after hearing his addresses. Telstra, IBM, McDonalds, AMP, and leading accounting firms are among those vying for his input on sales development. As a sales and marketing specialist, John knows the proven strategies for successful results.

Stephen Lundin - USA

Stephen is the creator of The FISH! Philosophy. It’s is a set of simple, practical tools to help you create the work culture you’ve been looking for. It’s a way to build stronger relationships that equip you to face your challenges more effectively. The FISH! Philosophy fulfi lls the most basic needs of human beings who, in turn, fulfi ll the needs of the organization—more connected teams, better communication, extraordinary service and higher retention. The enormous infl uence of the FISH! series of books to date has been staggering. With more than 2.5 million copies in print worldwide The FISH! Philosophy of work and life has touched and changed innumerable employees and businesses around the world.

Development Director, Australasian Institute of Chartered Loss Adjusters Philip Maguire has more than 30 years experience in the general insurance industry including key roles in professional associations. He has worked for US and British insurance companies in a number of different roles and worked on behalf of victims of failed insurance company HIH as Managing Director of the HIH Claims Support Scheme. Currently Development Director of the Australasian Institute of Chartered Loss Adjusters, Philip has also served as Deputy Chief Executive of the Insurance Council of Australia and participated in several state and federal government committees.

Chief Executive Officer, OAMPS Insurance Brokers With over 23 years experience in the insurance industry, Keith McIvor is the Chief Executive Offi cer of OAMPS Insurance Brokers, a Wesfarmers company with over 800 employees in 33 offi ces around Australia. Keith knows the broking business inside out. After developing his insurance grounding at Sun Alliance he joined New Zealand’s largest independent broker, Crombie Lockwood. He spent almost 20 years at the leading brokerage, progressing through the ranks to become general manager. Two years ago Keith moved across the Tasman to join OAMPS Insurance Brokers as Head of Operations, and was quickly promoted to Chief Executive Offi cer. He now leads OAMPS, the largest Australian-owned insurance brokerage, driving a culture of empowerment and a strong client aspiration. 

Group Chief Operating Officer, FANZIIF, QBE Group Vince was appointed Chief Operating Officer of QBE Group in 2006. During his 32-year insurance career, Vince has been involved in underwriting, sales and marketing and the strategic leadership of QBE’s international businesses. Vince completed business studies at Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania) and the Harvard Business School. During his 26 years with QBE, he has served in a number of management roles including managing director of our Australian and Asia-Pacific operations. QBE now has over 13,500 employees in 47 countries and is ranked in the top 25 global general insurance groups. Vince has been active in the broader insurance industry and is a former Deputy President of the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA); Chairman of the International Committee of the ICA; and a Past President of the Insurance Institute of NSW Australia. Effective from April he has assumed the day to day responsibilities of the Chief Executive Officer of QBE Australia inaddition to his QBE Group responsibilities.

Principal, Managing Values Brian Moran is an industrial ecologist and part-time university lecturer. He works inside organisations in the areas of business ethics, leadership, culture and values. Brian has developed a number of innovative experiential learning programs in ethics training. An experienced facilitator, Brian has applied these skills to strategic planning programs for a number of government departments and agencies, not-for-profi t and large corporations. Brian holds a Masters in Social Ecology and is a regular speaker on business ethics, leadership and sustainability at industry conferences. He has written several articles on leadership and culture and is co-author of 3D Ethics – Implementing Workplace Values, selected as one of the top 101 business books by Australian Financial Review Boss Magazine.

Clive Palmer - Australia

Professor Clive Frederick Palmer is a self-made Australian billionaire. At fi fty-six years of age, he is listed on BRW’s Rich List as Queensland’s wealthiest person and owns through his privately owned company Mineralogy Pty Ltd one of the world’s largest magnetite iron ore deposit (160 billion tonnes) located at Cape Preston in Western Australia. Professor Palmer is a much sought after public speaker and in the past twelve months has been adviser and had meetings with President Putin of Russia, the late Senator Ted Kennedy and Senator Joe Leiberman of the United States Senate, the Prime Minister of the Solomon islands and former Australian Prime Minister John Howard as well as numerous ministers from Asia Pacific region.

Chief General Manager, Broker & Agency, Allianz Australia Jonathan joined Allianz in 2000, prior to which he held senior management roles at Westpac in the Business and Retail Banking areas. Over the last 9 years at Allianz Jonathan has held various senior management positions and was responsible for the Retail Distribution Division from December 2006 to August 2009. Since August 2009 he has assumed responsibility for the Broker & Agency (B&A) distribution. Jonathan is responsible for the management and profitability of Allianz Australia’s largest distribution channel whose customers include commercial, corporate, international brokers and intermediary buyer groups throughout Australia and New Zealand. As such, Jonathan and his team deliver sales, account management, distribution and underwriting services for their intermediary customers. As part of the company’s +One Best Practice/Sustainability initiative, Jonathan and his team are heavily involved in projects delivering sustainable competitive advantage across all segments of the commercial market. 

Leo Sayer - UK

Leo Sayer is a music legend whose outstanding career spans four decades. The Seventies singing sensation has wowed the world with hits such as “You Make Me Feel like Dancing” and “When I Need You”. A distinctive singer-songwriter, he is the consummate entertainer, and in high demand as a corporate speaker where he mixes his own philosophy with some of his classic hits. Don’t miss the opening session!

Partner, DLA Phillips Fox Andrew Sharpe specialises in insurance law, commercial litigation, dispute resolution and risk management. He has extensive experience in acting in major commercial disputes for leading Australian and international insurers and corporates. Andrew is a trusted adviser to the insurance industry on all aspects of insurance law including insurance coverage disputes and policy drafting and has particular expertise in professional indemnity claims and risk management for the broking profession.

David Smith - Australia

Chief Executive, Zurich Financial Services Australia David Smith has 30 years experience in the financial services industry. He joined Zurich in May 2006 as Chief Operating Offi cer 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.

Chief Executive Officer, Suncorp Group Patrick Snowball has led major fi nancial services businesses in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada and Asia. He was a member of the executive team at Aviva plc – the world’s fi fth largest insurance group and the largest insurance services provider in the United Kingdom. From 2005 to 2007, Patrick was Group Executive Director, Aviva United Kingdom and responsible for general insurance, life risk and life risk investment sales businesses. Patrick has served as chairman of the Towergate Group and director of Jardine Lloyd Thompson. Before his business career, Patrick served with the British Army including periods as Squadron Leader in the United Kingdom and West Germany. Following a global search – Patrick was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Suncorp Group in 2009. Patrick has an MA from Oxford and is a graduate of the British Army Staff College. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in  Civil Law from the University of East Anglia in 2005.

Mike Walsh - Hong Kong

Mike Walsh, author of Futuretainment and CEO of innovation research agency Tomorrow, is a leading authority on the digital future. A dynamic speaker and experienced trends analyst, Mike helps prepare business leaders for what’s next. With a combination of high impact visuals, unique consumer case studies and high definition video – Mike’s presentations are a powerful catalyst for leadership transformation, strategic planning and brand inspiration. Mike’s unique approach is to scan the near horizon for what’s happening right now and on its way to you.

Head of Application Service Provision (Information Services) Zurich Financial Services A senior manager in Zurich’s IT division, Scott leads strategic development initiatives for Zurich’s core lines of business of Life Risk, Investments and General Insurance, heading up a diverse team of application, support and development specialists. He is responsible for smooth operations as well as for an Information Services strategy that is aligned to the strategies of all business units. Scott previously held the position of Head of Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities Technology at Citi. Prior to this, he was Software Development Manager at CBA Global Markets. He holds a B.Sc in Artifi cial Intelligence and Computer Science from the University of Edinburgh. Scott joined Zurich in 2008. 

Duncan West - Australia

Chief Executive Officer, CGU Insurance Duncan was appointed as CEO of CGU Insurance in January 2008. With over 20 years experience, Duncan is currently responsible for IAG’s intermediary based Australian commercial insurance operations, including commercial property, commercial motor and rural insurance, workers’ compensation, public liability and professional insurance. Prior to joining CGU, Duncan was the Chief Executive of Vero, the intermediated insurance business of Promina. He has also held several senior positions within Royal & SunAlliance, including establishing the Indian liaison office for the Royal & SunAlliance Asia-Pacific Group in Delhi, running Royal Insurance Direct in the UK and working within the Royal & SunAlliance UK commercial operations.