L-R: Jim Welsh, Chair, ALUCA; Amanda McKernan, CEO, ALUCA; 2nd Runner-up Honor Grant-Hennessy, OnePath; 2019 Scholarship Winner, Cy Lindeberg, BT Financial Group; 1st Runner-up, Celeste McFadyen, CommInsure; Alph Edwards, Partner TurksLegal and Scholarship Judge; Darryl Pereira, Partner TurksLegal and Scholarship Judge.
(2nd Runner-up Torrent Woodard, BT Financial Group not pictured above accepted his award at the VIC ALUCA PD Day on 17 October 2019).
We are delighted to share the winner and runners up of the ALUCA Turks Legal scholarship award now in its 13th year. The winners were announced by Turks Legal at the NSW Professional Development Day at Darling Harbour with 3 of the finalists being present. Many thanks to Turks Legal and to everyone involved, including all of the industry judges and entrants. Congratulations to all who submitted a paper. There was a great cross selection of entries and the judges commented on the high quality of papers submitted.
2019 Winner of the 2019
Cy Lindeberg, Health Support Consultant, BT Financial Group
For her paper on ‘The Role of Rehab Advisors in Improving Customer Outcomes’.
Prize: An overseas conference package valued up to AU$8,000 including return travel, accommodation, $1,000 cash and registration to an industry overseas conference of Cy’s choice
1st place runner-up
Celeste McFadyen, Case Manager, CommInsure
For her paper on ‘‘Developing Empathy Skills’.
Prize: AU$1,000 Visa pre-paid gift card
Two x 2nd place runners-up
Honor Grant-Hennessy, Senior Underwriter, OnePath and
Torrent Woodard, Senior Research and Development Underwriter, BT Financial Group
Honor’s paper was on ‘Will we really miss the duty of disclosure when it is gone?’ and Torrent’s paper on ‘The origins of Protecting Your Superannuation’.
Prize: AU$250 restaurant voucher
Well done to Cy, Celeste, Honor and Torrent – they should all be very proud of what they have achieved. You can read the winning paper from Cy in the Spring edition of RiskeBusiness and the runners up papers in the ReB Summer edition.
Alph Edwards, Partner of TurksLegal’s Life Insurance, Superannuation & Advice practice and member of the scholarship’s judging panel for the last thirteen years mentioned that all the papers were of an extremely high standard (it was a vintage year) so the competition was tight but Cy’s paper ultimately stood out in the judges’ eyes for its balance of empowering optimism and innovative thinking but with a solid and empathetic understanding of the great challenges facing injured and ill customers.
ALUCA Deputy Chairperson, Devi Uka who was also a member of the scholarship’s judging panel said how the high standard of submissions had made the judging challenging. She was also pleased to see the ALUCA TurksLegal Scholarship highlighting the talent that is in the Life Insurance industry.
The 2020 ALUCA TurksLegal Scholarship will open in July 2020.
About The Scholarship
The ALUCA TurksLegal Scholarship, now in its 13th year, offers life insurance professionals a unique educational opportunity to attend one of three major international life insurance conferences of their choice, while contributing to the ongoing debate on cutting-edge issues affecting the future of risk insurance in Australia.
The scholarship is open to financial members of the Australasian Life Underwriting and Claims Association Inc. (ALUCA) working in the life insurance industry including superannuation trustees and administrators. It was developed through a partnership between ALUCA and specialist insurance law firm TurksLegal.
This year’s cutting edge questions were derived by the judges from a list of suggestions made by lawyers in the Life Insurance, Superannuation & Advice team at TurksLegal who threw their ideas in the pot to get everyone thinking.
The successful applicant is selected on a range of criteria including understanding and insight of the topic, sound evidence, research, and presentation skills.
The judging panel is drawn from the ranks of the industry’s senior leadership and includes:
- Brett Clark, Chief Executive Officer, TAL
- Gavin Pearce, Chief Operating Officer, Life & Investments, Zurich
- David Campbell, Chief Operating Officer, MetLife
- Malcolm Weir, General Manager, Life Customer Services, CommInsure
- Jeremy Houghton, Head of Strategy and Corporate Affairs, AIA
- Linda Winterbottom, Claims Rehabilitation Consultant, RGA Reinsurance
- Evgeney Schkola, Case Manager Income Protection Claims, CommInsure (2018 Scholarship winner)
- John Myatt, Partner and Practice Head of Life Insurance, Superannuation & Advice, TurksLegal
- Alph Edwards, Partner, TurksLegal
- Darryl Pereira, Partner, TurksLegal
- Devi Uka, ALUCA Vice-Chair
2020 ALUCA Life Insurance Excellence Awards…Opening in November
In the meantime, don’t forget ALUCA will be opening up later next month for nominations for the 3rd annual ALUCA Life Insurance Excellence awards. So stay tuned.