More than 350 insurance professionals attended the NT Insurance Conference Awards Dinner on Friday, where seven winners were crowned at an ‘Old Hollywood’ themed gala.

The Stewart Cox Memorial Award was presented to North Australia Insurance Brokers Director Karl Tester.

Broker Professional of the Year was won by MGA Insurance Group Darwin Assistant Branch Manager Alana Brown.

Customer Service Professional of the Year was presented to TIO Motor Accident Claims NT’s Ashleigh Taylor, while colleague Sophie Mirkhan Ariffin won Young Insurance Professional of the Year.

BDM/Underwriting professional of the Year was won this year by GT Insurance Underwriter John Carey.

Claims Professional of the Year went to Allianz Australia Injury Management Consultant Gemma Kearney and Service Provider of the Year was awarded to Rehab Services by Altius Group Rehabilitation Consultant Jenny Jubb.

“Our event this year was the biggest ever,” YIPs NT President Travis Saxby tells insuranceNEWS.com.au. “This was the first year of our revitalised structure and sponsorship packages, and we hope that this is the first of many years of growth and excellence.”

The lineup of speakers for this year’s conference featured LMI Group Founder and complex claims adviser Allan Manning, experts from CGU and CHU, and more. 

Held from October 18-20 at the Darwin Convention Centre, the conference theme was People, Purpose & Passion. Young Insurance Professionals (YIPs) NT manages and runs the conference, which is free of charge to attend and was first held in 2012.

YIPs NT is the largest branch in Australia and in recent years has had the largest contingent on the Australasian committee as well. The conference intends to provide “learning, development and motivation for the younger people that are coming through the industry,” Mr Saxby says. 

“We are feeling the pinch up here on attracting and retaining young people in the NT in particular. The conference is a way that we can hopefully keep the people that we already have by giving them a pathway to advance and learn.”  

Mr Saxby is Manager of Personal Injury Claims at TIO MAC and part of the Allianz Australia Personal Injury team. He was formerly a rehabilitation consultant in Sydney.