icare has named Group Executive Don Ferguson as interim CEO and MD while the NSW state insurer begins the hunt for someone to fill the role following the departure of John Nagle.

An icare spokesman told insuranceNEWS.com.au today the board has initiated an independent executive search and recruitment process for the permanent role of CEO and MD.

Mr Nagle resigned early this month, immediately after a grilling from a NSW parliamentary committee over his approach to conflicts of interest and the performance of icare’s workers’ compensation scheme.

The scheme is being reviewed by a team led by retired Supreme Court judge Robert McDougall. The NSW Government brought the scheduled five-year review forward and expanded its scope to include a “root and branch” examination of the insurer.

Mr McDougall will review, among other things, the operations, structure, finances, management and culture of the workers’ compensation scheme and report back to the Government.

In a message today, Mr Ferguson acknowledges the “turbulent time icare is going through” and “the associated concerns with the performance of the NSW workers’ compensation scheme”.

He says icare’s management is committed to finding solutions to improve the organisation.

“While intentions have been in the right place, icare hasn’t always got things right from a process, delivery and transparency perspective,” Mr Ferguson says.

“I am focused on ensuring our organisation uses this challenging period as an opportunity to learn and provide better outcomes for our customers.

“We’re making improvements in areas where we clearly aren't doing well enough and we will engage and take our customers with us as we develop a clear plan to deliver on this, including navigating through this difficult COVID-19 period.”

Mr Ferguson says that since taking on the role last week he has been holding daily question and answer sessions with staff, as he sets out to steer the business through the difficult period until a permanent CEO is found.

Before his appointment as interim CEO, Mr Ferguson was Group Executive leading various functions including human resources, enterprise strategy, legal, risk, audit and communication and stakeholder engagement.

He joined icare in 2013 as EGM Lifetime Care and Support Authority NSW.