Wendy Finianos has launched Sydney-based brokerage ATKA Insurance Brokers.

Part of Steadfast and a corporate authorised representative of the Network Insurance Group, ATKA promises “trusted advice, peace of mind, and compassionate support through the claims process”.

Ms Finianos, who opened for business on Monday, began at Suncorp in 2011 as a bank branch manager, and was later GIO Commercial Insurance business development manager for NSW/ACT before taking the same role at Resilium from 2016-22. She was most recently PassportCard Australia regional manager.

“I’ve been in the game for almost 20 years now so I do ... have a huge network I could actually assist,” Ms Finianos told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“I’m launching in a different way, which is basically a wolf pack concept – respect, family, love, care, support, loyalty. This is what I'm trying to achieve with my brokerage business.”

Ms Finianos last year founded charity The Lone Wolf Pack, which addresses loneliness and isolation. The new brokerage is named after an Arctic wolf that was a US conservation ambassador. Atka is also an Inuit word meaning guardian spirit, and Ms Finianos says the wolf was “famous for instilling compassion, understanding and awareness in the thousands of people he met”.

“ATKA Insurance Brokers embodies these fundamental qualities of wolf packs worldwide, in its role of insurance guardian.”

Ms Finianos expects to build a client base among small businesses, the non-profit sector and women in business.

“There’s so many talented people who start business, they’ve got those huge ideas but they don’t know the essentials they need to have, and one is insurance – you’ve been working all your life to get to this point, so how are you protecting it? If I can help people with this, that would be amazing.”

Ms Finianos, a Lebanese migrant, is fluent in Arabic and French and says she is “dedicated to helping and growing my network with vision and values in civic service, for a better place to live. I have always been an active agent for positive change and difference, a voice for the vulnerable, for those who have none or those forced to remain silent.

“I stand for the right of individuals and fairness in the world and believe in social justice, diversity and effective government.”

The brokerage can also help speakers of Portuguese and Spanish.