Insurance & Care NSW (icare) has appointed former QBE Australia and New Zealand CEO Tim Plant as its Group Executive, Innovation.

As insuranceNEWS.com.au reported in a Breaking News bulletin last week, he will be tasked with implementing new technologies and models in healthtech and fintech.

Mr Plant, who has 25 years’ industry experience, left QBE last August after a year leading its Australian and New Zealand operations. Before that he was the insurer’s EGM corporate partners and direct for four years.

icare CEO and MD Vivek Bhatia says Mr Plant will drive technologies that enhance customer experience “from new healthcare technologies to machine learning and artificial intelligence”.

“Our goal is to bring person-centred and empathetic services to our customers, both businesses and injured people,” Mr Bhatia said. “The only way we can do this is to be at the forefront of new technologies and progressive new models of operating.”

He says the global economy and technology landscape are evolving “at lightning speed”, changing the way people live and work.

“New businesses are being created every day, changing the types of available employment, our workspaces and also the types of injuries people sustain,” he said.

“We need the foresight to build the essential infrastructure and partnerships that deliver the right services for people to return to work and life as soon as possible.

“In Tim we find a wealth of experience as an insurance CEO, senior executive and company director who not only understands innovation but has experience in translating it into reality for the benefit of customers on a global scale.”