The search is on for a replacement for long-time industry leader and Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) Executive Director Alan Mason, who expects to retire early next year. Although there has been no official announcement by ICA, Mr Mason’s decision to retire has been common knowledge in the industry for some weeks.

Headhunter Egon Zehnder has been retained to find a replacement for Mr Mason, who has guided the local industry through some of its darkest days after the collapse of HIH in 2001 and the public liability “crisis” that followed. Most recently he earned kudos for successfully steering the revised General Insurance Code of Practice into actuality.

Mr Mason told Sunrise Exchange News today that he will retire once a replacement for him is found. “There’s no fixed time, because I want the transition to be an easy one,” he said. “So it’s been a bit hard to talk about. ICA means too much to me to just walk away.”

UK-born Mr Mason, 57, has been with ICA since 1990, first as Deputy CEO and from 1997 as Executive Director.  

He is also a director of the Insurance Ombudsman Service and the Finance Industry Council of Australia.