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Zurich Australia announces leadership appointments to Life & Investments’ Group Insurance team

29 September 2021


Zurich’s Life & Investments is pleased to announce three senior leadership appointments to its Group Insurance team. Zurich is the largest retail life insurer in Australia and these appointments show the seriousness of its determination to bring Zurich’s scale, resources and capabilities for the benefit of our Group Insurance partners and their members.

Francis Burgess will join Zurich Life & Investments in the newly created role of Head of Pricing, Group Insurance. Francis will join Zurich from TAL where he was most recently Head of Pricing. Prior to TAL, he spent time at Pacific Life Re as the Head of Pricing. During his career, Francis has played a key role in winning some of the industry’s largest tenders.

Francis is appointed alongside Jennifer Faglioni and John Mirotsos, who respectively have taken up the roles of Head of Product and Head of Partnerships. Jennifer and John were internal appointments, in line with Zurich’s commitment to career development.  They took on their new responsibilities in September and June respectively.

A Head of Member Engagement and Innovation is also being recruited to the Group Insurance leadership team and we expect to fill the role in October.

These roles report to Darren Wickham, Head of Group Insurance.

On the appointments, Mr Wickham, said, “We are delighted to have the deep expertise and diverse capabilities of Jennifer, John and Francis coming together to reinforce our group insurance capabilities and in boost our partner and member service approach.

“Francis brings with him deep technical expertise and professional leadership. His appointment will help boost Zurich’s actuarial strength, whilst delivering new insights and innovation to our partners. His skillset will be complemented ably by John’s relationship experience and Jennifer’s deep knowledge of member needs and future product imperatives.

“Zurich is the largest retail insurer in Australia and is investing in its group insurance business.  These appointments demonstrate our determination to be successful in the market.”

Jennifer was previously the Head of Group Claims at Zurich and has 14 years of industry experience. Prior to her time at Zurich, Jennifer spent time at both ANZ and MLC Australia.

John was previously the National Sales Manager of Group Insurance at Zurich Australia and has over 30 years of industry experience at institutions such as ANZ Wealth and ING.

ENDS

Zurich Financial Services Australia is a life insurance, commercial insurance and investments specialist that has been participating in the Australian market since 1920. Since its acquisition of OnePath Life from ANZ in 2019, the company provides life insurance to more than 1.5 million Australian customers under both the Zurich and OnePath Life brands.  Further information about Zurich Financial Services Australia is available at www.zurich.com.au.
 

 

Zurich Insurance Group (Zurich) is a leading multi-line insurer serving people and businesses in more than 200 countries and territories. Founded 150 years ago, Zurich is transforming insurance. In addition to providing insurance protection, Zurich is increasingly offering prevention services such as those that promote wellbeing and enhance climate resilience.

Reflecting its purpose to ‘create a brighter future together’, Zurich aspires to be one of the most responsible and impactful businesses in the world. It is targeting net-zero emissions by 2050 and has the highest-possible ESG rating from MSCI. In 2020, Zurich launched the Zurich Forest project to support reforestation and biodiversity restoration in Brazil.

The Group has about 60,000 employees and is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd (ZURN), is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and has a level I American Depositary Receipt (ZURVY) program, which is traded over-the-counter on OTCQX. Further information is available at www.zurich.com.