Darren Low

TurksLegal and the Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (ANZIIF) are pleased to announce the winner of the 2015 ANZIIF TurksLegal Claims Scholarship as Darren Low of Suncorp.

Darren is a Commercial Insurance Graduate and Underwriter. He submitted his winning entry on the topic of the sharing economy and the challenges it raises for insurers. His win was announced this morning at the ANZIIF Annual General Insurance Breakfast in Sydney.

“Having just set out on my career at the Suncorp Group as a Commercial Insurance Graduate, winning the TurksLegal ANZIIF Claims Scholarship is a fantastic, albeit unexpected welcoming gift. I saw this as a timely opportunity to examine the effects of the sharing economy on the insurance industry as our lives become closely intertwined with companies such as Uber and Airbnb. I’m looking forward to connecting with others in the insurance industry who share my enthusiasm for change and innovation in the business world,” said Darren Low, Scholarship winner.

Paul Angus, General Insurance partner at TurksLegal and member of the Scholarship’s judging panel said: “Both the winner and the runner-up’s entries were high quality, fascinating reads. Darren’s paper tackled an emerging ‘hot topic’ for the insurance industry with a well thought out and practical approach. Michael’s paper showed a detailed and in-depth knowledge of the issues facing the industry around natural disaster insurance. TurksLegal is thrilled to continue to partner with ANZIIF for the 8th year of this important professional development opportunity for those working in the general insurance industry.”

As the winner, Darren receives a package valued at up to AU$8,000 including return travel, accommodation, AU$500 spending money and registration to the 2016 Claims Conference and Insurance Services Expo to be held in San Antonio, Texas, USA. Alternatively he can choose to receive $5,000 cash and registration to attend the 2016 ANZIIF Claims Convention in Australia including return flights and accommodation.

“The TurksLegal Scholarship is a wonderful opportunity for Darren and his contribution to dialogue on the sharing economy is a timely and valuable one for our industry. It is a privilege for ANZIIF to partner with TurksLegal with this scholarship and we look forward to seeing the contribution Darren makes to the industry as his career goes from strength to strength,” said Prue Willsford, CEO, ANZIIF.

The runner-up prize was awarded to Michael Parker, Director at Queenscorp Insurance Services, for his essay on the topic of affordability and effectiveness of natural disaster insurance in Australia. As part of his prize, Michael is awarded registration to the 2016 ANZIIF Claims Convention in Australia including travel and accommodation.

About the Scholarship

In partnership with ANZIIF, TurksLegal has sponsored the scholarship for eight years. The program was established to reward and recognise professionals working in insurance claims to foster the exchange of ideas and insight related to life claims, underwriting, and product development.

The scholarship was determined by a judging panel of industry leaders, including:

• Simone Dossetor, Head of Calliden Insurance Ltd (Munich Re)
• James Flaskett, Assistant Vice President, Regional Claims Manager, Chubb Insurance Company
• Jennifer Mitchell, Executive General Manager, Claims, IAG Commercial Claims
• Chris Rodd, Technical Counsel, CGU
• Prue Willsford, CEO, ANZIIF
• Kevin Nhan, Claims Officer, Arthur J Gallagher & Co (2014 Scholarship winner)
• Paul Angus, Partner, TurksLegal
• Peter Riddell, Partner, TurksLegal

The post 2015 ANZIIF TurksLegal Scholarship winner announced appeared first on AdviserVoice.