The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) board has appointed IAG MD and CEO Nick Hawkins to the position of President, effective New Year’s Day.

Mr Hawkins takes over from QBE Australia Pacific CEO Sue Houghton, who will complete her term as president at the end of the year and remain on the ICA board. Hollard Holdings MD Richard Enthoven continues as Deputy President.

Extreme weather and natural disasters will be a “key focus of the ICA board as we head into 2022,” says Mr Hawkins, who has spent two decades at IAG, holding the CFO role for 12 years and also heading IAG New Zealand.

“Insurers have a unique role to play in this country to help reduce the risks many communities and businesses face,” he said.

Mr Hawkins thanked Ms Houghton for an outstanding job as ICA president.

“We’re grateful for her leadership,” he said.

Ms Houghton says she very much enjoyed her term and is handing the role on to “very experienced hands”.

Insurers and the ICA have grappled with many significant issues in the past two years, she says, including the implementation of Hayne royal commission reforms, a hardening insurance market and the business interruption test case process.

“I’m proud of the way in which the industry, both individually and collectively through the ICA, has responded to these challenges, which has always been constructive and collaborative,” she said.