Zurich Australia general insurance appointments

Zurich Financial Services Australia (Zurich) today announced changes to its local general insurance leadership team.

Giles Crowley has been appointed to the newly created position of Head of Customer & Distribution Management, Asia Pacific (APAC) and will work closely with in-country teams, including Australia, to further enhance underwriting capability and local market strategies in line with Zurich's regional priorities.

Mr Crowley has worked with the Zurich Group for more than 30 years, including more than a decade across Australia & New Zealand. Most recently, he held the role of Head of Commercial Markets for Zurich's local general insurance business.

As a result of this change, Sarah Powell has been appointed to the newly created role of Head of International Broker & Customer Engagement, with responsibility for leading customer and broker initiatives through innovation, partnership and operational excellence.

Ms Powell has worked at Zurich for more than a decade, holding several broker-relationship roles including most recently as State Manager New South Wales (NSW) & the Australian Capital Territory. Prior to Zurich, Ms Powell was employed at Marsh and Brit Insurance.

Sebastian Francis-Gash will move into the role of State Manager NSW, Commercial Markets, from his current position as State Manager South Australia & Northern Territory. Prior to Zurich, Mr Francis-Gash spent close to a decade in senior claims roles at Suncorp.

Alex Morgan, Head of General Insurance at Zurich said: "As Zurich continues to invest in scaling and innovating its operations in Australia and the APAC region, customer centricity will be increasingly important. These appointments represent a key opportunity to evolve the deep relationships we have in market and keep decisions close to our customers."

"Sarah and Sebastian bring exceptional market presence, trusted broker relationships and a track-record for building high-performance teams to their new roles and I look forward to welcoming them to the team."

"I also want to congratulate and thank Giles for his exceptional leadership of our general insurance distribution team for close to eight years. Giles' appointment represents an excellent professional opportunity and an important strategic step as we continue to expand across the region," Mr Morgan said.

Mr Crowley said: "Zurich's general insurance businesses in Australia and APAC are underpinned by a high quality customer and broker network. As we execute on our regional strategic priorities, we will be focusing on evolving our go to market proposition and trading capability, bringing our teams closer together, and developing strong relationships across our markets."

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