Lesley joined MLC Limited in April last year and is currently the Deputy CFO and General Manager Finance.

Lesley has a strong background and experience in the commercial and financial management of life insurance. Prior to joining MLC Limited, Lesley was Acting Chief Executive Officer of Integrity Life from March 2020. Ms Mamelok was also CFO of Integrity, and previously CFO of AMP Bank.

Rodney Cook, Chief Executive Officer, MLC Life Insurance, said: “I am delighted that Lesley will join the leadership team as CFO.  She has extensive finance and life insurance experience, as both a CFO and CEO, as well as bring her commercial leadership to the Insurance Leadership Team.”

Lesley said: “I am looking forward to leading Finance as we focus on delivering growth in our core channels, ensuring sustainable value creation, and delivering a superior experience to our customers and partners.”

Lesley is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales.

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Jane McGovern

MLC Life Insurance has appointed Jane McGovern, currently Group Executive for Risk and Governance at iCare NSW, to the position of Chief Risk Officer.

Jane will officially join MLC Life Insurance on 19 September 2022 and report to Chief Executive Officer, Rodney Cook. She will replace Acting Chief Risk Officer, Edwina Star, a partner in the Risk & Regulation practice at PWC, who joined MLC Life Insurance in a temporary capacity following the departure of Darren Robinson in March.

Jane has over 20 years’ experience in providing risk advice and management to life insurers, general insurers, fund managers, superannuation trustees and dealer groups. In recent years, Jane was the Chief Risk Officer for Zurich Financial Services, responsible for its risk management framework and strategy across the General Insurance, Life Insurance and Investments, Superannuation, and Shared Services businesses.

Rodney Cook, Chief Executive Officer, MLC Life Insurance, said: “I’m delighted to welcome Jane to MLC Life Insurance. She is a seasoned and experienced Chief Risk Officer with a strong track record in driving innovation in risk management and compliance for some of Australia’s largest financial services organisations. Her understanding of the issues impacting our sector, as we continue to embed a strong risk culture in our business, will be important as we executive our business strategy.”

Jane McGovern said: “I’m very much looking forward to joining MLC Life Insurance and making a genuine contribution to the risk and governance culture of the organisation. I am excited to be able to bring innovative ideas and a commercial mindset to support the leadership team on MLC Life Insurance’s exciting journey.”

Jane is a member of the Law Society of NSW and was admitted to the Supreme Court of NSW in 1998. She completed a Post Graduate degree from the Securities Institute of Australia (now known as FINSIA) and has a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance.

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Kent Griffin

The Board of MLC Life Insurance would like to announce that Rodney Cook, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director (CEO), intends to retire at the end of 2022 after two and a half successful years in the role.

Rodney has served in the position since June 2020 and has guided the business through a series of major changes including the completion of its technology transformation program (Sanagi), as well as meeting the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Following his appointment in 2020, Rodney worked closely with the Board to strengthen the leadership team to ensure the company had strong internal candidates to take his place when he was ready to retire. Subsequently, the Board has appointed Kent Griffin, Chief Finance Officer, to succeed Rodney as CEO in late October this year.

To ensure a smooth transition, Rodney will continue to lead the business over the next five months.

MLC Limited Chairman, Peter Grey, said, “I am pleased the Board has chosen Kent to take over from Rodney as our new CEO. He is an outstanding leader and brings a wealth of commercial and strategic experience to the role.

“Since he joined us in early 2020, Kent has helped to strengthen our business and has overseen our return to profitability. He is a strong leader with a clear vision for the future of MLC life Insurance as we face the challenges of a fast-changing life insurance sector and ever evolving customer needs.

“On behalf of the Board, I want to extend our sincere thanks to Rodney for guiding us successfully over the last two years. During his tenure, Rodney commenced an important change to our culture and mindset to one that is relentlessly focussed on the needs of our customers. We are confident this good work will continue after his departure.”

Kent Griffin said, “I am honoured to have the opportunity to lead MLC Life insurance as we seek to achieve our ambition of becoming Australia’s leading and most trusted life insurer. With the continued backing of our shareholders Nippon Life and NAB, I am confident in the bright future for our company and its customers, partners and people.”

Kent has over thirty years’ experience in financial services, both in Australia and internationally. Prior to joining MLC Life Insurance in February 2020, Kent was the Chief Financial Officer of TAL (2012-19). Before that, he was a partner of Ernst & Young (2010-2012) and Regional Chief Financial Officer of AXA Asia Life (2007-2009).

Kent has a Bachelor of Economics, is a Fellow of the Actuaries Institute, a Chartered Enterprise Risk Actuary, and a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He has served on several Boards, both in Australia and internationally, and is currently a Director of Hume Bank and a Board Member of the Country Fire Authority.

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Justin Delaney

Australia’s largest life insurers – AIA Australia, ClearView, MetLife, MLC Life Insurance, Resolution Life, TAL and Zurich – have announced they are joining forces in support of Australia’s COVID-19 vaccination program.

As Australia pursues high rates of vaccination on the road out of COVID-19 restrictions, the life insurers have created “We Have You Covered”, a joint national initiative designed to reassure and give confidence to Australians that once vaccinated, their life insurance products will continue to protect and cover them as they have always done.

Between them, the seven insurers provide life insurance cover to more than 14 million Australians. Through this initiative, they are cooperating to provide confidence to customers and the community around approved COVID-19 vaccines and their life insurance products.

A website, ‘www.wehaveyoucovered.com.au,’ has been launched as an educational resource to help provide confidence and peace of mind to the community, with a focus on three key areas:

• receiving an approved COVID-19 vaccination does not affect customers’ ability to claim on existing life insurance policies
• receiving an approved COVID-19 vaccination does not affect people’s ability to access life insurance in the future
• while serious side effects are rare, life insurance covers any serious side effects from approved COVID19 vaccines that meet the terms and benefits provided under a customer’s policy.

The initiative will also be supported by a multi-channel media campaign, co-funded by the seven life insurers participating, to reach as many Australians as possible with the campaign messages.

Speaking about the launch, the CEOs of the key campaign drivers said the time was right to come together to address any community uncertainty on this important topic.

Damien Mu, CEO and Managing Director of AIA Australia and New Zealand said: “The health and wellbeing of our customers and the community is always our primary concern, and we felt it was important and the right thing to do at this time, to play our part in removing any barriers to remaining parts of the population being vaccinated.”

Rodney Cook, CEO of MLC Life Insurance said: “Where customers have questions about the impact COVID vaccinations could have on their policy, we feel now is an important time to set the record straight, particularly as we want to encourage as many Australians to get vaccinated as possible.”

Brett Clark, Group CEO and Managing Director of TAL said: “While several Australian states are tracking towards higher vaccination levels, collectively we felt it was important to provide anyone who was unsure about the impact of being vaccinated on their life insurance cover or ability to access cover in the future, confidence that – as an industry – we have them covered.”

Justin Delaney, CEO of Zurich Australian and New Zealand said: “Customer confidence in the ability to claim on and access life insurance is paramount, and never more so than when it may impact decisions something as important as the COVID-19 vaccination.”

Visit the website.

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Andrew Beevors

MLC Life Insurance has appointed Andrew Beevors as its new Chief Claims Officer commencing on 16 August. He will report directly to CEO, Rodney Cook, as a member of his leadership team.

Andrew will be responsible for all aspects of claims handling and management and lead a team of more than 300 claims professionals.

He will replace Jane Dorter, who has been on secondment since April 2020 from her leadership role of KPMG’s Insurance Claims Solutions and Workplace Health division.

In 2020, MLC Life Insurance paid over $1.1 billion in claims to customers to support them in their time of need. The life insurer also has the shortest claims processing times in the sector across a range of categories, including claims for death (super), TPD (retail), Income Protection (retail), and CCI[1].

Andrew is an experienced financial services executive, having been employed in various roles within the insurance industry over the past 20 years. Prior to joining MLC Life Insurance, Andrew played a key role in modernising QBE’s Workers Compensation Claims model. More recently, he oversaw the re-imagining of QBE’s general insurance claims offering, delivering market leading customer experiences.

CEO, Rodney Cook, says Andrew’s appointment will be important to help fulfil the insurer’s ambition to build the industry’s leading claims function.

“I’m delighted that Andrew is joining MLC Life Insurance. Our ambition is to be Australia’s leading and most trusted life insurer.  What underpins that is delivering for our customers with speed, fairness, and empathy when they need it most – at claim time. He joins a team of experienced and empowered claims professionals and I look forward to him joining my leadership team.”

Speaking about his appointment, Andrew Beevors said: “I’m thrilled to be joining the MLC Life Insurance team as we continue our journey to improve customer and partner experience.  It’s a great honour to work for such an iconic Australian life insurer and I look forward to working with our great Claims team as we continue to protect Australians when they need it most.”

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MLC Life Insurance has appointed Rick Wingfield as its new Chief Innovation and Transformation Officer (CITO), overseeing the company’s innovation and transformation program.

Rick will replace the current Acting CITO, Tahir Tanveer, who will ensure a smooth transition for Rick into the role over the next few months.

Rick is a highly-credentialed financial services executive with a proven track record of delivering innovation and digital transformation for businesses in Australia, Europe, and Asia. Most recently, Rick was the Global CITO of Catapult, a listed sports performance technology company where he led a team of 130 people to deliver technology solutions to elite teams such as Richmond, Chelsea, Real Madrid and the New England Patriots.

Prior to this, Rick was the General Manager, Innovation at Australia Post, where he provided information, digital and technology leadership for the Communication Management Services business. He has also held the positions of Chief Information Officer at AIA Australia and was a Head of Technology at NAB, where he previously worked with MLC Life Insurance during its earlier integration with Aviva.

Rodney Cook, Chief Executive Officer, MLC Life Insurance, says Rick’s appointment is an important step forward in delivering the company’s technology transformation and business strategy.

“Rick joins us at a critical time in our journey as we deliver on our current business plans and beyond. In leading the Innovation and Transformation Division at MLC Life Insurance, he will be responsible for creating superior experiences for our customers, partners, and people, supported by technology. I look forward to him joining our senior leadership team.

Rick Wingfield, Chief Innovation and Transformation Officer, said: “I’m excited to be joining MLC Life Insurance and re-joining the life insurance industry, which I know well. We have much work to do to improve the experience of customers and our partners when they engage with our products, services, and systems. I look forward to working with Rodney and the MLC Life Insurance leadership team.”

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Reporting directly to Chief Executive Officer Rodney Cook, Sean will lead the Life Insurance Team, responsible for the company’s group and retail distribution channels, underwriting, operations, pricing, product, brand and marketing units. In addition, Sean will be responsible for finalising the company’s technology transition program, which includes a new policy administration system as well as new adviser and customer digital portals.

The restructure is designed to support the company’s ambition to deliver superior experiences for customers and business partners, underpinned by better digital and automated capabilities, enhanced data and analytics and more sustainable products that better meet community expectations and regulatory obligations.

Sean McCormack, Chief Life Insurance Officer, said: “In response to the fast-changing operating environment for the life insurance industry, exacerbated by the impacts of COVID-19, I will be spearheading changes to our business operations to ensure that we deliver a better partner, customer and member experience. I am also focussed on ensuring our sustainability.

“As a member of the Nippon Life Group of Companies, we benefit from its long-term view which has enabled us to invest in the sustainability of our business and services, including our technology upgrade. Frankly speaking, I recognise that the current service experience we are delivering is not acceptable to our retail partners and customers as we are transitioning to new, legacy-free technology platforms.  These changes are a response to those challenges and I am confident that, once overcome, we will provide a superior service experience over time.

“Our ambition is to make it more efficient for advisers to protect their customers by reducing their cost to serve, make it easier for superannuation funds to manage their members’ insurance needs through real time reporting, and to provide customers with the information they need about their life insurance, all at the touch of a button.

“We have adapted and evolved to support the needs of our partners and customers for over 130 years. The rate of change over the last few years has been intense and challenging for all industry participants who believe in the importance of life insurance. We refuse to stand still. Our belief is that by making these decisions now, such as changing our structure, investing in product innovation and technology, we can be confident in our ability to support the needs of our partners and customers in the future.”

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Rodney Cook

The Board has completed its global search and is pleased to appoint Mr Rodney Cook as CEO and Managing Director of MLC Life Insurance, with effect from Monday 15 June 2020.

Rodney is a highly experienced CEO and financial services executive with strong actuarial insight and deep first-hand knowledge of UK, Australian and NZ financial services.

His first CEO role was as Managing Director of AMP New Zealand in 1996. He later became MD of Pearl Assurance and CEO of London Life and then held a number of senior roles at Zurich Financial Services, Prudential UK and was Managing Director of Life and Pensions at LV=UK. In 2010, he became CEO of the company that grew to be Just Group plc (UK). Under Rodney’s leadership the company became one of the fastest growing and most customer focused insurers in the UK. It also won the ‘Customer Focus Award – Large Enterprise’ at the 2019 Institute of Customer Service, UK Customer Satisfaction Awards.

MLC Limited Chairman, Peter Grey, said, “We are delighted that a person of the calibre and experience of Rodney Cook will lead MLC Life Insurance.”

Mr Cook said, “I am thrilled with the opportunity to lead an iconic company, which MLC Life insurance is. These are challenging times for all Australians and their life insurers. With the continued support of Nippon Life and NAB, and significant ongoing investment in our technology and processes, I aim to deliver outstanding service to our 1.3 million customers through our business partners and people.”

The Board also extends its thanks to Sean McCormack for his strong leadership as acting CEO and Managing Director during the last 5 months. Mr Grey said, “We are grateful to Sean for his leadership in very difficult circumstances. He has led with purpose and made a positive impact. We look forward to him taking on an expanded role within MLC Life Insurance in due course.”

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