Sub Group Updates – Summer 2020

ALUCA VICTORIA

2019 has just disappeared and here we are towards the end of Q1 of 2020.

Last year ended with a bang.  After a sold out miniLUCA in October 2019 we quickly followed this up 6 weeks later with our end of year event at the fabulous Metropolis Events at Southgate.  The venue was beautiful and we were very lucky to host the MLC Monash ALUCA student award winner, Charles Chu, who set the pace for our keynote speaker Dr Jack Cygler.  Dr Cygler didn’t come empty handed and had some props for his talk – I think this is likely a first.  Always the trend setter!

There will be a couple of changes to the ALUCA VIC Committee for 2020.  I will be stepping off as Chair after 4 years on the Committee, two of which as Chair.  The Group will now be in the very capable hands of Stephanie Catalucci from REST who joined the sub-group early this year as Events Co-Ordinator.  Stephanie has done a tremendous job sourcing and arranging venues and with her strong insurance background that has spanned over various leadership roles she will be perfect for leading the ALUCA VIC sub group into 2020 and beyond.

As I reflect on what ALUCA has achieved in the past year, I am very proud to have had the privilege to be involved with and work with such passionate and driven people.  It has been a tough year for the industry and I am sure there are more challenges to come but what a credit to everyone for taking the time out their busy schedules to support our industry events and catch up with friends and colleagues.  With the change in the Committee will come opportunity so please look out for any upcoming vacancies and don’t be afraid to put your hand up.  It is a very rewarding experience and you will get to meet so many people while giving back to this industry we are all working so hard to transform for the better.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for your support during the year and attending the quarterly events that have been arranged by the sub-group.  It has meant a lot to us all.  We look forward to inviting you to our events – although I will no longer be on the Committee, I will be sitting up the back enjoying the session!

Editor Note – you have done a fantastic job over the 4 years Suzanne!

Suzanne Whyte
Chair – VIC ALUCA


 

CMG ALUCA

The ALUCA CMG co-hosted two events to finish off 2019.

The CMG committee teamed up with the ALUCA QLD committee to deliver the Triple Treat event at the Hilton in Brisbane on 12th September 2019. This event had close to 100 members spend the afternoon listening to 3 fantastic speakers. Following the presentations we had an opportunity to spend some time networking with our colleagues. This event was particularly exciting as it was the first time the CMG had taken part in an event in Brisbane having previously only held events in Sydney and Melbourne. Going forward we hope to continue co-hosting events with our friends in QLD especially now that there is a greater claims professional presence in QLD.

The final event for 2019 was the Professional Development day co-hosted with ALUCA NSW on 16th October 2019. This event is traditionally held in the non-conference year and tries to feature some of the speakers from the previous ALUCA conference. The day featured 2 keynote speakers, panel discussions and breakout sessions covering underwriting, product and claims topics. This event wouldn’t have been possible without the hard working committee that coordinated 18 speakers for this day. I would also like to thank Mark Smith who was the MC for the day.

Looking back on 2019 the ALUCA CMG committee delivered 7 events across 3 states teaming up with 3 committees throughout the year.

  • Victoria: Legal Session, Financial Session and ALUCA Excellence Awards Night
  • NSW: Legal Session, Financial Session and NSW Professional Development day
  • QLD: Triple Treat

Overall we had over 600 people attend these events throughout the year.

We look forward to seeing you at some of our events in 2020.

Myles Kennedy
Chair – ALUCA CMG


On behalf of the ALUCA Rehabilitation Subgroup we would like to thank you all for your support and participation throughout the events of 2019.  Looking forward to seeing a much stronger and growing presence of rehabilitation professionals in 2020.

Our new committee came into effect 1 January 2020. Congratulations to the ALUCA Rehab Subgroup of 2020 which will be represented by our

  • Chair Josh Agar (MLC),
  • Vice Chair Hussein El-Khansa (Asteron),
  • Treasurer Amlan Sharma (AMP Life),
  • Communications Lead Swetha Purba (TAL),
  • NSW Committee Members Ben Crawley (BT), Karen Robertson (AIA), Dr Newman Harris (RGA)
  • Lucy Hartley (Swiss Re) will join alongside our VIC Committee members Stephen Cooney (MLC), Rachael Wiseman (AIA) & Tom Notley (Superfriend).

I would like to acknowledge and extend my thanks to those members who are stepping away in 2020, our Chair Kim Phan (Gen Re) Treasurer Trent McCormick (AMP Life) & Joanna Else (MLC). Kim, Trent & Joanna have made invaluable contributions to the ALUCA Rehabilitation Subgroup over the last few years and their expertise will be greatly missed.

The TPD working group has collated a survey which was sent to all ALUCA members and key stakeholders regarding employability assessments. The TPD working group will share results, insights and feedback received from the survey in the new year.

Amlan Sharma
Communications Lead – ALUCA REHAB


ALUCA NEW SOUTH WALES

Greetings from the NSW Committee.

Since the last edition, we have held 2 events. Firstly, the MiniALUCA /PDD on 16th October where we had a record breaking attendance of 200 members across the industry.  The theme of the day was “Innovation” and the highlights from the day were:

An awesome presentation on “Disruption by design” by Gihan Perera. Gihan kindly gave every attendee a copy of his e-book of the same name.

Alph Edwards and Darryl Pereira, both of TurksLegal  facilitated a though provoking discussion on three  key areas facing the industry a year on from the Royal commission followed by the winner of the TurksLegal scholarship.

The day continued with 4 breakout sessions with great speakers from the industry continuing on the theme of Innovation. The day concluded with Shelley Laslett talking on Neuroscience of change.

The final event for the year was the End of year Masquerade party on 10th Dec at L’Aqua Darling Harbour.  The event was attended by 85 members. Stephen Connolly -NSW committee Treasurer- opened the event recapping on the year and setting the scene for the speaker – Brian Hay. Tonja Nachman- NSW Committee- Event Coordinator introduced Brian. Within minutes, Brian took over the audience with his impressive presentation and sense of humour. Brian spoke on cyber security and shared some scary stats on how this is impacting everyone.  He also shared some great tips on how we need to work together to make it harder for cybercriminals to gather our data and increase protection. There were lucky door prizes and best dressed prize which were well received by the lucky attendees.

Attached are few snaps from the PDD and End of year event

We thank all the members , sponsors and industry speakers for their ongoing support.

Welcome 2020

After a successful and busy 2019, our committee has already started preparing for 2020 events.

We bid farewell to our very own Erin Touzell as she decided to step into the motherhood journey and welcome her little bundle of joy. The rest of the members continue to remain on the committee and are looking forward to a great year.

Our First event is a Masterclass session on 19th March 2020. Dr Paul Davis- Chief medical officer , RGA. will be presenting on a very popular topic “Underwriting cardiovascular disease”. The talk will explore areas which are critical for modern underwriters, including the role of calcium scoring which can be a challenge for underwriters.

We look forward to see you all there.

Best Wishes

Ami Barua
Marketing/Comms – ALUCA NSW


 

ALUCA QUEENSLAND

ALUCA QLD wrapped up a bumper 2019 with its end of year function at the iconic Normanby Hotel.

The festivities included a particularly robust trivia competition which pitted colleague against colleague in the quest for trivial domination.

The most memorable part of the evening however was centred around our two guest speakers from The Board Meeting Surf Charity which was started in 2005 by a group of surfers looking to help Sunshine Coast kids with disabilities, through a variety of surf-related events. Run completely by a dedicated group of volunteers and supported by the local business and surfing communities, the charity raises much-needed funds for families who have fallen through the cracks of Government support, are doing it extremely tough financially and have children with needs those of us with healthy kids could hardly fathom.

To date, The Board Meeting has raised in excess of $1,000,000 and every single dollar has gone to the local families on the Sunshine Coast. ALUCA QLD was proud to donate to a charity that provides such direct assistance to the local community.

Jody O’Sullivan
Secretary – ALUCA QLD