More than 400 delegates descended on Canberra last week for the annual Insurance Advisernet (IA) conference.

Attendees included authorised representatives (ARs) from Australia, brokers from New Zealand, and insurer and service partners.

This year’s theme was “Never Gonna look Back”, and IA says presentations concentrated on the strong results of the group and its robust compliance culture.

During the conference more than $200,000 was raised for the IA Foundation, and IA Chairman and founder Ian Carr announced more than $400,000 has been donated to many charities over the last year.

The Oscars themed Gala Dinner included the annual Insurance Advisernet awards. This year’s winners are:

• Business Development Manager of the Year - Roger Mizzi, QBE Victoria
• Insurer of the Year - Chubb
• Employee of the Year - Brad Young
• Chairman’s Award - Marni Dittman 
• IA Region of the Year - Northern Region led by Mark Lee
• Southern Region Practice of the Year - Pace Insurance
• Northern Region Practice of the Year - Coverite Insurance & Strata Insurance Services  
• Central Region Practice of the Year - JM Insurance Services
• Overall Practice of the Year - Pace Insurance

Mr Carr told the conference IA’s gross written premium has hit $600 million, up 21% on last year, and client numbers have grown by 1000 new clients per month to 75,000.

“We are not interested in growth for growth’s sake,” he said.

“We have focused on continuing to build on our compliant systems and process and recruit and retain high quality professional insurance advisers.

“We are convinced this will allow us to continue to grow over the next few years.”