Congratulations on your new role! You’re stepping into the CEO position at a pivotal time for Southern Cross Travel Insurance (SCTI). What attracted you most to the role and the business?

Thank you, I’m genuinely excited to be joining SCTI at a time when travel insurance is more relevant than ever. The convergence of changing customer expectations, rapid advances in technology, and an increasingly complex global travel environment creates an opportunity to reimagine how value is delivered to travellers.

SCTI has built an enviable market position through a strong customer ethos, underpinned by leading solutions and a deep history as one of Australasia’s oldest travel insurers. What attracted me most to the role is the opportunity to build on that foundation. Together with the SCTI team, I’m excited to leverage this moment in time, responding to evolving customer needs and growing alongside these powerful market forces.

You bring deep global experience across insurance, health, and financial services. How will that background shape your leadership approach at SCTI?

My leadership approach at SCTI is grounded in a global-to-local perspective. While my career has been shaped by protecting millions of travellers globally, I believe the true value of insurance lies in the local customer relationship. At SCTI, I am using my global expertise to drive growth through our high-performing teams, meaningful partnerships, and digital innovation, ensuring we remain the trusted and authentically Australasian choice by maintaining a primary local focus on the customer.

Australia has been highlighted as a key growth opportunity for SCTI. What do you see as the biggest opportunities and challenges in building scale across the Tasman?

Australia presents a compelling opportunity for SCTI to extend its strong customer-led proposition across a larger and fast-evolving market. We have already started on partnering opportunities that will enable us to expand our footprint across the Tasman. The disruption of Covid-19 also gave the organisation the opportunity to rebuild on a more contemporary footing. Our latest technology platform, AWA, positions SCTI for scalable growth, with AI underpinning a model that is human led and digitally enabled, supporting more efficient, consistent, and optimised service delivery as we grow.

A key challenge in scaling across the Tasman is the accelerating rate of change in ‎environmental and geopolitical factors

A key challenge in scaling across the Tasman is the accelerating rate of change in environmental and geopolitical factors, increasingly shaping how travel insurance products are designed and delivered. The opportunity for SCTI is to respond to this complexity with speed and discipline, ensuring our products and services remain relevant, compliant, and customer-focused in a rapidly evolving environment.

SCTI is known for being customer-centred and innovative. How do you plan to strengthen that differentiation as competition intensifies in the travel insurance market?

We focus on optimising internal efficiencies by leveraging digital transformation and user experience to simplify our processes behind the scenes. This operational focus allows us more room to prioritise personalised customer engagement and ensures our team remains empowered to deliver the expert care that sets us apart in the market.

As a specialist travel insurer, customer dedication is at the heart of everything we do. We are committed to an authentically Australasian approach to service delivery, staying agile and deeply connected to the needs of our travellers. We share this same focus with our partner organisations, who share our values, ensuring we provide a seamless and supportive journey.

You’ve led major transformations across operations, funding, and service delivery in previous roles. Where do you see the greatest potential for transformation within SCTI?

I am fortunate that a significant portion of this foundational work is already complete. The successful launch of the AWA platform mid-2025 was a major milestone, as it covers the entire delivery value chain from claims, policy management, and risk management to data and distribution. Having this agile platform in place is where I see the greatest potential for further transformation. It allows us to seamlessly attract and onboard new customers and clients using best-practice applications. My focus will be on leveraging this technology to enhance our speed to market and ensure that our digital capabilities are always working to support a more intuitive and responsive experience for our travellers.

Your recent role with the Royal Flying Doctor Service placed strong emphasis on purpose and service. How will that experience influence how SCTI delivers care and support to customers?

My experience at the Royal Flying Doctor Service reinforced the need for the service to be uncompromisingly patient-led. I saw firsthand that when you solve for the individual in a vulnerable moment, confidence and trust follow. This background fosters a mindset that transforms insurance from a financial transaction into a social contract of care. By bringing this same mindset to SCTI, every interaction, whether for a medical emergency, a trip cancellation, or lost baggage, is treated as a vital opportunity to provide support. This approach shifts the focus from simple claims processing to empathy and proactive service, ensuring we safeguard the peace of mind of every SCTI traveller.

We anticipate market shifts and are preparing aligned services for our partners and ‎customers ‎

Partnerships and product development are key pillars of SCTI’s strategy. What role will collaboration play in accelerating growth and delivering better customer outcomes?

Partnerships and product development are central to one of our strategic pillars of Sustainable Revenue, which focuses on thoughtful diversification and long-term resilience. We are in the unique position to leverage our core health and wellness pedigree to stretch into new and meaningful adjacent areas. We anticipate market shifts and are preparing aligned services for our partners and customers to ensure SCTI can grow steadily and sustainably while continuing to reinvest in the core services our customers and partners rely on through a primary focus on the customer.

Looking ahead three to five years, what would success look like for you as CEO of Southern Cross Travel Insurance, and what do you hope SCTI will be known for in Australia and New Zealand?

We have a clear plan, a strong foundation, and an evolving market. SCTI is best placed to capitalise on these forces through aligned partnerships and engaged customers. In three to five years, success looks like achieving the same brand prominence in Australia that we currently enjoy in New Zealand. I hope SCTI will be recognised as the premier, trusted travel insurer across both markets, known for making travel protection simple and reliable, with a dedicated focus on the customer. Our teams will be proud of the care we provide and the impact they have for travellers.