Criterion Conferences

Cath Nolan is an Executive Coach with over 15 years’ experience in organisational and professional development. Cath has consulted to over 350 brands globally, including both public and private sector. Cath has coached over 5000 individuals and addressed over 25,000 through workshops and conferences, using the latest research and practical frameworks to inspire action. Cath’s greatest strength is helping people to gain greater leverage from the messages they tell themselves and those they tell others.

Colleen currently serves as Chief Compliance Officer of Australasia for AIG, responsible for the Compliance function across operations in Australia and New Zealand. Colleen has worked in financial services for over 20 years with the last ten years spent in risk and compliance roles. Colleen has a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and is a law graduate. She was admitted as a Solicitor to the Supreme Court of New South Wales in 2006.

Linda is Group Company Secretary & Corporate Counsel, and a member of the Group Executive, at Steadfast Group Limited, an ASX200 company in the insurance industry. She sits on the boards of a number of Steadfast companies, advises on a range of corporate and commercial matters and is responsible for ASX compliance and corporate governance. As part of the Group Executive she is involved in stakeholder liaison, strategic planning and driving growth. Before joining Steadfast in 2013, Linda specialised in mergers and acquisitions and worked in Sydney and London in global law firms. Linda sits on the board of Abbotsleigh School for Girls.

Vivienne joined QBE Insurance Group Limited in January 2017 and is the Group Executive Corporate Affairs and Sustainability.

Before joining QBE, Vivienne was with Lendlease where she held the position as Group Head of Corporate Affairs and Investor Relations. Vivienne has also worked at Westpac and Multiplex Group and began her career with Gavin Anderson & Kortlang.

Vivienne has over 20 years’ experience across the corporate affairs, investor relations and communications spectrums and has worked in the property, banking and professional services industries as well as served in a number of senior consulting and internal roles specialising in investor relations and corporate affairs both in London and Sydney.

Vivienne was a finalist in the 2016 NSW Telstra Business Women’s Awards in the Corporate and Private category. She is a member of the Board for the European Australian Business Council (EABC), the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) and Chief Executive Women.

Vivienne holds a BA in Communications, with a minor in economics, from Charles Sturt University in Bathurst.

 Jennifer Lang is CFO and Chief Actuary of Comminsure. She is the author of the popular actuarial blog www.actuarialeye.com

Jennifer has more than 20 years experience in the financial services industry, including work for life insurance companies, as an asset manager, and as a financial services consultant. 

Jennifer has written a number of papers to the Institute over the years including the choice of risk discount rates for the valuation of life insurance companies, and on asset liability modeling for life and general insurers.

Aimée joined the Senior Management Team as Chief Underwriting Officer in February 2018. She has grown her career within Allianz and Allianz Worldwide Partners both in Austraila and internationally, initially starting at Allianz UK in 2002 as a Roadside Assistance Coordinator.

From here, Aimée built on her understanding of the business by moving into the Sales team where she had accountability for tender writing and account management. These roles in the UK gave Aimée invaluable insight into the fundamental link between operational performance and commercial success.

In 2009, Aimée returned to Australia where she was successful in adapting her knowledge of the business within the unique Australian context. Since returning, Aimée has been heavily involved in the development and evolution of the business’ e-Commerce and B2C Sales Strategy.

Most recently, Aimée held the position of General Manager Travel in the Technical Division. In this role Aimée has applied her extensive experience in the business to manage the delicate balance between financial growth and product profitability by setting the organisation’s pricing and underwriting strategy for a diverse range of products and services. Her extensive experience within Allianz sees her well placed as Chief Underwriting Officer.

Demetra is a senior executive with 30 years’ experience in analysing risks faced by an organisation with particular emphasis on financial, risk management and regulatory exposures. Her experience spans across various industry sectors within financial institutions and commercial organisations, including a non-executive board position of a private company.

Her experience is suited to positions which require senior leadership; strategic planning of product and achieving financial plans; and governance practices. Her career to date has included managing and assessing risks across various jurisdictions within the Asia Pacific region, while building a leading business profile and products within different cultures. Her ability to make recommendations and decisions in a changing regulatory and business environment has resulted in my being a valued member of the global executive management team.

Katherine has been Chief Executive of EMLife since December 2015.

With over 15 years’ experience in personal injury claims management and working with regulatory bodies, Katherine leads a team of life insurance claims specialists who dedicate their services to helping our life insurance partners achieve their operations and return to work goals.

Since 2012, Katherine has held numerous leadership roles with EML, most recently Claim Operations Manager for EML’s Treasury Managed Fund portfolio.

Cath Nolan is an Executive Coach with over 15 years’ experience in organisational and professional development. Cath has consulted to over 350 brands globally, including both public and private sector. Cath has coached over 5000 individuals and addressed over 25,000 through workshops and conferences, using the latest research and practical frameworks to inspire action. Cath’s greatest strength is helping people to gain greater leverage from the messages they tell themselves and those they tell others.

Joann is a senior executive leading corporate development initiatives within IAG Limited. She is passionate about supporting IAG’s growth initiatives and being part of an organisation making a difference.

Joann comes from a corporate advisory background. For 17 years she advised public and private sector, listed and unlisted companies, with strategic financial advice, predominantly in relation to mergers, acquisitions and divestments. Prior to investment banking and corporate finance roles, Joann was an auditor and is a qualified chartered accountant.

She has 6 years experience as a Non-Executive Director with the Heart Research Institute (HRI), a medical research institute and was appointed to the Board of Lifestart, an industry leader in supporting children and young people living with disability or delay, in February 2016.

Cath Nolan is an Executive Coach with over 15 years’ experience in organisational and professional development. Cath has consulted to over 350 brands globally, including both public and private sector. Cath has coached over 5000 individuals and addressed over 25,000 through workshops and conferences, using the latest research and practical frameworks to inspire action. Cath’s greatest strength is helping people to gain greater leverage from the messages they tell themselves and those they tell others.

Cindy has more than 20 years of experience across the health care sector, including Group Executive of Provider Relations at Medibank, Chief Benefits officer HCF, CEO of a group of Private hospitals, adviser to public hospitals and managing a large hospital supply provider. She now leads Bupa’s Health Partnerships and Innovation division. Bupa is the largest privately-owned health insurance provider in Australia, supporting more than 4.7m customers in their health and wellbeing. Globally Bupa are an international health and care group, supporting more than 27 million customers and employing 78,000 people. In Australia and New Zealand, they employ close to 22,000 people.

Gary Dransfield is Suncorp’s Chief Executive Officer Insurance. He joined Suncorp in 2009 and has held various positions on the Senior Leadership Team including Chief Executive Officer Customer Platforms, Chief Executive Officer Personal Insurance and Chief Executive Officer Vero New Zealand.

Before joining Suncorp, Gary worked for 25 years in the retail financial services industry. He played a key role in the successful conversion of St George from a building society to a bank and led the IT team at IAG during the demutualisation of NRMA and was Acting CEO of IAG Direct Insurance before joining Suncorp.

Gary has been heavily involved in natural disaster responses for 20 years – from the 1999 Sydney hail storm through the 2011 Queensland floods and Christchurch earthquakes to the 2019 Townsville floods.

He is the Deputy President of the Insurance Council of Australia and is a past President of the Insurance Council of New Zealand.

Gary has a keen interest in improving the resilience of communities to natural catastrophes and in the societal importance of insurance.

Debra considers herself a behavioural strategist. For over 25 years she has been studying and applying neuroscience, positive psychology, design thinking and behavioural frameworks to coach and develop others, drive award winning customer and employee centric cultures, and lead transformational change. In recent years she has become increasingly passionate about helping leaders navigate through ambiguity.

She commenced her career in California in technical sales in the chemical industry and soon moved into roles of increased leadership and geographic reach. She held executive positions in Strategy, CX, Sales & Marketing, Finance, Human Resources and Operations. In her most recent role, Chief Customer Experience Officer at HCF (Australia’s largest not for profit health fund), she was accountable for the end to end customer experience and led a team of circa 500 across CX, Retention & Loyalty, Marketing, Digital, Call Centres, Branches, Claims and Operations.

She had an amazing set of experiences and a highly successful track record across multiple disciplines and industries. Her work has taken her across 4 continents, she has worked with tech start-ups in Silicon Valley and held executive roles at flagship corporates such as BF Goodrich, General Electric, Westpac, and the Suncorp Group. Her 10 years at GE were a highlight; she held several senior roles and took part in the Global Leadership Facilitation Network. From facilitating at the world famous Crotonville to personally delivering leadership development, sales training, WorkOut, and CAP (GE’s Change Acceleration Process) to over 1000 leaders at GE and GE customers across the globe, her passion for unlocking the potential in others was ignited.

Since 2010, Robert Whelan has guided Australia’s insurance industry through some of the most challenging issues of the past few decades. These include the Financial Services Royal Commission, the 2010-11 season of natural disasters, the National Disaster Insurance Review, the Northern Australia Insurance Premiums Taskforce, Financial System Inquiry and five changes In Prime Minister.

Prior to his appointment Rob had an extensive career in the financial services sector at leading companies including AAMI/Suncorp, Colonial Mutual, Legal & General and AMP. He held senior roles in corporate affairs and policy, strategy, consumer marketing, operations and distribution.

Kate is the Chief Human Resources Officer at Genworth, a leading provider of lenders mortgage insurance and capital and risk management solutions in Australia . Kate has more than 20 years professional experience working in human resources, the majority of which has been in financial services.

Kate is responsible for leading organisational design and effectiveness, culture and engagement, employee relations, workforce planning, recruitment, learning and talent development, diversity and remuneration and benefits.

Kate has led a cultural transformation at Genworth over the past 3 years which has involved a significant investment in personal leadership development across different levels of the organisation. She is a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion and the value it brings for business, its shareholders and its people.

Kate has a Masters of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Speech Pathology.

Jo Wise is a Leadership Coach, Keynote Speaker and Executive Performance & Behavioural Adviser to female leaders, executives and high-level entrepreneurs at JoWiseLeadership.com. Jo is very passionate about working with women who want to effect lasting influence and growth within their business and organisational structures and help them reach new heights in a sustainable way, by being true to their personal strengths and values.

Lisa is CEO of Business in Heels an organisation that enables business & professional success through & for women. We help them gain clarity, become focused & to achieve success through our key services of mentoring, education, connection and marketing. Creating an unlimited future for women with a history of 25 years in senior corporate roles within retail, she & her business partner decided to go boldly & create a business with purpose. Today she connects over 160,000 so she is well suited to present Cultivating professional networks to underpin your career.