Austbrokers Chief Broking Officer Ben Bessell has been appointed Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (ANZIIF) President, replacing IAG Chief Insurance and Strategy Officer Tim Plant who steps down after a two-year term. 

Marsh & McLennan Companies Head of Risk Management Asia & Pacific and Country Corporate Officer Australia Scott Leney was appointed Deputy President. 

Outgoing ANZIIF CEO Prue Willsford, who departs at the end of 2023 after a decade in the role, thanked Mr Plant for his outstanding support and expertise and said he "has been a gracious and insightful strategic leader” and seen ANZIIF through significant transition periods. 

Mr Bessell has 25 years’ industry experience, including several senior positions at IAG, and was ANZIIF Deputy President for two years. Last month he joined the board of the National Insurance Brokers Association (NIBA). 

"It is a privilege to be elected President of ANZIIF, an organisation that has a critical role to play across the Asia Pacific region. I look forward to working with the board and management to ensure strategic objectives are achieved and to contribute toward the ongoing professionalism of the industry,” he said. 

ANZIIF awarded Timothy Considine Honorary Life Membership. Mr Considine has been a member of ANZIIF since 2006 and later became Chair. In 2017 he became Chair of Chairs. 

Service Awards were presented to ANZIIF Fellows Tony Smith – a member of ANZIIF since 1982 and former was Chair of the Reinsurance Rendezvous Committee, and Michael Cooke – a member of ANZIIF’s Claims Faculty Advisory Board before retiring last year, and formerly President of the Australasian Institute of Chartered Loss Adjusters (AICLA).   

The current ANZIIF board makeup is as follows:  

Prue Willsford, CEO 

Ben Bessell, President 

Scott Leney, Deputy President 

Tim Plant, Immediate Past President 

Sedgwick Australia CEO Diego Ascani 

Zurich COO Life & Investments Hilary Bates 

Suncorp Group New Zealand EGM People Experience Catherine Dixon 

Insurtech Australia CEO Simone Dossetor 

Allianz Australia Chief Customer & Operations Officer Brendan Dunne     

QBE Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer Fiona Hayes-St Clair 

CHU Underwriting Agencies CEO Kimberley Jonsson 

Ando Insurance CEO John Lyon