Finsura Insurance Broking veteran Barry Sonter has won the Frank Earl Award, re-established this year in memory of the Austbrokers’ director who passed away in 2010 aged 63.

The 2022 award winners were announced at a gala dinner last week as more than 250 insurance professionals congregated at the Austbrokers conference at NSW’s Kingscliff.

Sydney-based Senior Account Manager Mr Sonter has been at Finsura 29 years.

“Barry has been a fantastic contributor to the Austbrokers network for many years and is highly regarded by clients and peers across Australia. He has also played an important role in mentoring young brokers within the industry,” Austbrokers said.

Bendigo-based Adroit Insurance & Risk Managing Principal Jesse Thorp won the Austbrokers Young Professional Award, while the Austbrokers Life Adviser Award went to Sydney-based Austbrokers Financial Solutions (ABFS) Principal Ben Donald.

“The conference was a great success and reinforced the benefit of engagement with all of our partners and experiencing (the conference theme) ‘stronger together’ in action,” Austbrokers Chief Broking Officer Ben Bessell said.

Over three days, brokers and partners listened to inspiring keynote speaker Alex Noble, a former NSW Rugby Sevens trainee who in 2018 became a quadriplegic at age 16, and mindset coach Ben Crowe, and participated in educational breakout sessions hosted by their insurer partners.

The Frank Earl award recognises outstanding performance in client service, business retention and growth, professional development and engagement with the insurance industry. Mr Earl played a key role in the development of professional indemnity cover and was well known in the local and Lloyd’s markets.