The Board of PIEF includes:
 

 

David Krawitz - Chief General Manager, Workers Compensation
Allianz Australia

David joined Allianz Australia in June 2004 as the General Manager Strategic Planning, where he was responsible for leading the development and execution of group-wide growth and operations improvement strategies.  In January 2006, David was appointed the Chief General Manager, Workers Compensation for Allianz Australia.  His responsibilities include managing all facets of Allianz Australia’s Workers’ Compensation business.

Prior to joining Allianz, David was employed by McKinsey and Company and held senior roles as a finance and insurance specialist.

David holds a Master of Business Administration; New York University and a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology); State University of New York.

 

Ben Bessell - General Manager, Workers Compensation
CGU

Ben Bessell has over 15 years experience in the general insurance and workers compensation industries. As the General Manager of Workers Compensation, he is responsible for CGU Insurance’s fee-based and underwritten workers compensation across Australia, self insurance services and safety and risk services.

For the last 3 years Ben has been the General Manager of Claims. In this role he was responsible for 770 staff across Australia who manage approximately 350,000 new claims per year for commercial, liability and personal insurance claims for CGU's sourced business.

He has played a key role in working with Government Departments and the Insurance Council of Australia on Catastrophe responses. Prior to this he was the Head of CGU's Workers Compensation business in New South Wales. He began employment with the Insurance Australia Group (IAG) in Tasmania in 1993 and since then has worked in a range of claims and management roles across Australia.

Ben has experience working across underwritten insurance markets and with government funded workers compensation schemes and has had the opportunity to review international insurance operations to look at best practice models. He is an ANZIIF member and is an Alumni of the London Business School.

 

Anthony Fleetwood - Chief Operations Officer
Employers Mutual Limited

Anthony Fleetwood holds the position of Chief Operating Officer within Employers Mutual Limited. Anthony has 10 years experience in personal injury and claims management and over 15 years experience in outsourced contract management and financial management.

Anthony Fleetwood has recently (February 2010) taken on the role of Chief Operations Officer for Employers Mutual overseeing claims operations across NSW and South Australia.

Prior to this Anthony was the Chief Executive of South Australia between January 2006 when Employers Mutual was appointed the sole agent for WorkCover in that state, and October 2009 when he left for a short career break.

Prior to his transfer, Anthony was the Chief Operations Officer in the Sydney office for five years and worked in partnership with the Chief Executive to manage the rapid expansion of the NSW business.

Prior to joining Employers Mutual, Anthony was responsible for the internal auditing for British American Tobacco, was the Financial controller at Technology Leasing Limited and spent five years as an accountant with White Iliffe Chartered Accountants.

 

Jon Winsbury - Managing Director
Gallagher Bassett Services

Jon began his career in Claims Management with Suncorp General Insurance. Between 1984 and 1996, Jon enjoyed various roles and responsibilities including Claims Management, Retail Financial Services, Underwriting and Portfolio Management.

These diverse positions enriched Jon’s experience within the Insurance Industry and his dedication to ensuring quality processes and procedures for client claims and consulting.

Jon also worked as a Contract Management Consultant in large organisations. He assisted teams from front line operations to an executive level, maximising workflow, improving communications and enhancing productivity. Jon joined Gallagher Bassett in November 1998 and until 2001 worked as the operations manager on several key Greenfield start up operations.

In July 2001 Jon was appointed the Executive General Manager of GB and as a key member of the Executive team was instrumental in delivering strategic process redesign and continuous improvement across the organisation.

In April 2002 Jon was appointed as the General Manager of GB’s Victorian Workers Compensation start up operation and concentrated on the delivery of value-added services to employers and injured workers throughout the Victorian scheme. The success of this Greenfield site led to Jon being appointed in July 2004 as the General Manager of GB Workers Compensation Operations nationally and he is currently responsible for the strategic market entry of GB into other workers compensation jurisdictions throughout Australia as well as ensuring that that the Victorian operations stay at the forefront of best practice service delivery.

 

Grant Speight – Manager Human Resources
Insurance Commission of Western Australia    

Grant has over 30 years experience in the insurance industry commencing his career in personal injury claims management before being appointed to a number of senior human resource management roles. Responsible for developing and implementing human resource strategies that contribute to the achievement of the Insurance Commission’s corporate objectives, Grant also has lectured in human resource management in the Murdoch University graduate program.

He holds a Masters of Human Resource Management, is a Fellow of the Australian Human Resources Institute and an Associate Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management.

 

Andrew Nicholls - Acting General Manager
Motor Accidents Authority

Andrew has more than 25 years experience in a number of policy, strategy and planning roles in the NSW Government,including in transport,ports, natural resources,land management and information technology.  Most recently, he was the Director of Policy and Reform at the Ministry of Transport prior to joining the MAA early in 2010 as Deputy General Manager, leading the Policy, Performance and Community Assistance Division. Andrew is currently Vice President of the Institute of Public Administration Australia (NSW). He is a graduate of the Australia and New Zealand School of Government’s Executive Master of Public Administration program and in addition holds an Honours degree in political science and a Master’s degree in public management.

Jason Hammond - National Manager, Workers Compensation
QBE Australia

Jason has 17 years experience in Workers’ Compensation, the last 6 with QBE.  Jason has been the General Manager of QBE’s Workers Compensation division for the last 3.5 years. Prior to that he managed the NSW Workers Compensation business for QBE. Before joining QBE, Jason held senior Workers Compensation roles in both Victoria and NSW, dealing extensively with Regulators, Brokers, Clients and other key stakeholders. Jason has a keen interest in continuously pushing the boundaries of workers compensation business units to achieve greater results in customer satisfaction, operational performance and staff engagement.  He holds a Bachelor of Business (Acc) and is a CPA.

 

Gary Jeffrey - Manager, MAC Operations
Territory Insurance Office

Gary is currently the Operations Manager in the Northern Territory Motor Accidents Compensation scheme of which is administered by the Territory Insurance Office. Gary has been in the Northern Territory since late 2009.  Gary has a extensive background in the insurance industry, predominately in the personal accident schemes of workers compensation and compulsory third party motor vehicle insurance.  Gary has been involved in both claims management and strategic management of statutory liability schemes throughout his career.  Prior to his role with TIO, Gary was performing strategic management roles within the Commercial Insurance sector of Suncorp in Sydney.

 

Andrew Fronsko - Head, Business Risk and Intelligence
Transport Accident Commission

Andrew is the Head of Business Risk and Intelligence for the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) Victoria (from March 2010), having relocated from the Northern Territory where he was the General Manager Motor Accidents Compensation for the Territory Insurance Office.  Andrew has previously worked for Suncorp in various senior roles including leading the integration of the commercial insurance operations of Suncorp/GIO and Vero following Suncorp's acquisition of Promina (2007-08), and CTP product manager in NSW and Qld (2000-2004).

From 2004-07 Andrew supervised Victoria's Public Financial Corporations as a Director with the Department of Treasury and Finance.  Pre 2000, Andrew held various roles with the TAC (Vic) in the areas of accident prevention, planning and government relations, also fulfilling the Secretariat role for the Heads of Australian CTP Insurance Schemes.

Andrew has a MBA from Monash University, and Doctorate from RMIT University in the field of Insurance.  Andrew is currently a Director of the Personal Injury Education Foundation (PIEF), member of the Comcover Advisory Council, and guest lecturer at Deakin University for various PIEF modules.

 

Greg Tweedly - Chief Executive
WorkSafe Victoria

Greg was appointed the Chief Executive in February 2003, after acting as CEO from September 2002 for a 3 month period, followed by a short time in the role of deputy CEO. Greg previously worked at the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) where he commenced in 1996 as the Chief Operating Officer responsible for all operational activities of the TAC relating to claims management and managed the substantial claims management restructure within the TAC. He was most recently Executive General Manager, Service Delivery responsible for claims, customer service and investigations.

1990-1996 Greg held numerous senior executive positions with most time devoted to the regulation of the insurance industry delivering services to employers and claimants for the Workers Compensations Scheme in Victoria, after originally joining the organisation as the General Manager Finance and Corporate Services.

Before 1990 Greg spent time in senior financial positions at V/Line and the Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works (MMBW).

Greg is also Director of the Institute for Safety, Compensation and Recovery Research. Greg holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree

 

Wayne Potter - Executive Director, RTW Directorate
WorkCover Corporation of South Australia

Wayne Potter is currently the Executive Director of the Return to Work Directorate in WorkCover SA and sits on the executive management team. He was previously a General Manager at WorkCover and has been with the organization since early 2005. In the current role he has responsibilities for the strategic thinking and developmental work around improving return to work outcomes, SA's overarching return to work strategy with focus on case management model development, and up skilling key stakeholders in the industry. He also has strategic responsibilities covering retraining of injured workers.  He has implemented recent legislative changes as they pertain to case management, and also has responsibility for vocational rehabilitation and the newly introduced employer rehabilitation and return to work co-ordinators. In his time at WorkCover he has been responsible for overseeing the operations of the Claims Management Agent, the injury management model, managing claims agent contracts, health care and rehabilitation provider arrangements and incentives.  Wayne was a member of the agent tender and selection steering committee in 2005 and managed the transition of exiting agents and the commencement of the new agent in 2006.  Previously, Wayne was Divisional Manager Self-Insurance Services with Jardine Lloyd Thompson Australia in South Australia for 12 years and then National Safety Manager – Workers Compensation and Public Liability, with Franklins Supermarkets in Sydney. He has arts degrees in Psychology and Social Work and a Graduate Diploma in OHS.   Wayne has been in senior management roles in Workers Compensation, OHS&W and Public liability over the last 20 years.

 

Sharon Stratford - General Manager, Customer Services
WorkCover QLD

Sharon Stratford has over ten years senior management experience with WorkCover Queensland and has worked in the workers' compensation industry for over twenty years starting as a physiotherapist involved with providing rehabilitation services. She also has management and business systems qualifications. Her background and experience support her ability, as General Manager of Customer Services at WorkCover Queensland, to achieve optimal return to work outcomes for injured workers at the lowest cost for employers and to deliver quality injury and relationship management services to customers statewide.

Michelle Reynolds - Chief Executive Officer
WorkCover WA 

Ms Michelle Reynolds was appointed as Chief Executive Officer on 22 September 2009 after acting in the role since 25 December 2008. Prior to WorkCover WA, Michelle spent 12 years in senior management with the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, reaching the level of Assistant Director General of the Public Sector Management Division.

She has over 25 years’ experience in the Western Australian public sector and has played a key role in shaping public sector management policy across the public sector. Ms Reynolds has a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters of Business Administration (University of Western Australia).

Diego Ascani - Head of Workers Compensation: Australia
Xchanging

Diego Ascani is the Head of Workers Compensation - Australia. In this role Diego oversees all Workers Compensation activities for Xchanging in both NSW and Victoria, as well as overall management of the Victorian and NSW business operations. Diego has been working for Xchanging since April 2009.  

Prior to this Diego was a Director in the Insurance Advisory Services practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers where he consulted broadly to the Insurance sector in Australia and the Asia Pac region. For the past 18 years Diego has assisted clients with the assessment, quantification, preparation and negotiation of personal injury, property damage, business interruption and professional liability claims as well as other associated aspects of insurance.

Diego has also been assisting clients manage their insurance arrangements particularly the claims management function. Diego has specialised in radical claims transformation as well as on claims operational effectiveness, claims outsourcing and reserving practices.  Diego has had extensive experience in the auditing of claims management practices for both Government and General Insurers and was seconded to the HIH Royal Commission between 2001 - 2002 to investigate the claims management practices of HIH and FAI.  Diego is a qualified Solicitor .

He has a Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Law and a MBA. He is also an Associate of the Insurance Institute of SA.