New Zealand’s earthquake Commission (EQC) has promoted Kate Tod to the role of Chief Readiness Officer after the departure of Josh Lindsay after 11 years.

Ms Tod has been Head of EQC’s Canterbury Claims teams for the past 18 months. She spent eight years as part of IAG’s Canterbury and Kaikoura earthquake response teams and more recently oversaw Crawford’s project management company Mode.

“Kate has more than 20 years of insurance experience and brings a depth of expertise and passion to the role that puts her in a great position to build on our work in establishing the natural disaster response model,” EQC CEO Tina Mitchell said.

She also wished Mr Lindsay all the best in his new ventures and said EQC was “incredibly grateful” for his achievements, most notably his work in setting up a new natural disaster response model.