About insurtech australia
Our Mission
To make Australia a world leader in Insurtech and insurance innovation by fostering a diverse ecosystem of insurtechs, insurance professionals, entrepreneurs, and technologists who are striving to improve the insurance industry.
Who we are
Insurtech Australia is a national, not-for-profit organisation, run for the benefit of our members and partners across all corners of Australia. We are all about supporting and growing the Australian Insurtech community including Insurtech startups, Insurers, Hubs, Accelerators, and Investors, and advocating on behalf of our members and partners.
Insurtech Australia exists to support its Insurtech members and partners. We do that by providing networking opportunities, education and access to services and experts. We seek to facilitate connections with underwriters, distributors, customers and investors and advocate on your behalf with regulators, industry stakeholders and the government.
The Team
Insurtech Australia is led by a highly focused and enthusiastic team who strive to foster and grow the Insurtech Australia ecosystems
Board of Directors
James Orchard
Chairperson and Director, Insurtech Australia
Chief Executive Officer, QBE Ventures
Bio
James Orchard is the CEO of QBE Ventures, the venture investment and development arm of QBE.
James is passionate about reinventing business models and improving customer experiences. He has over ten years of experience in the insurance industry, specialising in corporate venturing, strategy and M&A. Prior to his current role at QBE, James was the Executive General Manager, Innovation at IAG and has worked for Wesfarmers, Leighton Holdings and SISU Capital. He holds a Bachelor of Economics (BEc) from the University of Western Australia and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment (GDipAppFinInv) from the Securities Institute of Australia.
James currently lives in Sydney with his wife, Jen and two small children. Outside of work, he enjoys a good coffee and spending time together with the family.
Daniel Fogarty
Director, Insurtech Australia
CEO & Founder, Evari
Bio
Daniel is the CEO and Founder of Evari (www.evari.tech), the fully flexible, easy to use, end to end insurance SaaS platform for insurers, MGAs and distributors, making insurance easy to buy, easy to manage and flexible to changing needs. Evari is based in the UK and Australia, and with customers in the USA, Australia and globally.
Daniel was the CEO of Zurich General Insurance, Australia & New Zealand, and understands the complexities and challenges of insurance.
Daniel received his Masters from Stanford University, and he is a Fellow and Former Board member of ANZIIF and a member of the Advisory Committee of Insurtech Australia.
Tetiana George
Director, Insurtech Australia
CEO & Founder, Curium
Bio
Tetiana has been working in insurance for over 15 years. As part of Boston Consulting Group and Oliver Wyman she has consulted large global insurers, and headed up Claims & Operations for Australian insurtech Blue Zebra. She has worked on designing operating models, new products to distribution and technology in more than 20 countries across Europe, Asia and the Pacific. She currently runs an insurtech specialising in compliance and claims technology (Software as a Service) for insurers, underwriting agencies and brokers.
Tetiana speaks six languages, loves to travel and in her free time paints abstracts and portraits. She runs an online art gallery and dreams of winning the Archibald prize one day.
Jamie Smith
Director, Insurtech Australia
CIO Technology & Transformation, Hollard
Bio
Jamie is a Business Strategist and Technology Solutions Specialist with more than 20 years of experience in
organisational design, best practice delivery and general consulting within the Financial Services Industry. He has a verifiable history of success ranging from leading and growing a business from start-up to scale-up and sale, running programs of work to align operational efficiencies with corporate goals and managing complex functional projects. In addition, he possesses an ability to transform strategic plans
into tactical initiatives to deliver maximum benefits to customers and shareholders.
Jamie is currently the CIO of The Hollard Insurance Company and has previously held roles as Partner
within EYs Technology Advisory Practice along with founding and running his own consultancy. He is
the co-author of the inaugural InsurTech Ecosystem Report: InsurTech: Enabler of Disrupter? He is an active member within the InsurTech community, also serving on their Advisory Board.
Skye Theodorou
Director, Insurtech Australia
Co-Founder & CEO, upcover
Bio
Skye is Co-Founder and CEO of upcover, award winning insurtech platform that serves up simplified, jargon-free insurance for SMBs and sole traders. The platform democratises the SMB insurance industry by allowing any one, including any trusted brand, to be a distributor of insurance products. Skye is a lawyer admitted in the NSW Supreme Court, and has been fortunate enough to work with many talented teams and executives at Zurich in Australia, and spent some time assisting in policy and regulatory reform for the NSW Government, always with small businesses in Australia in mind. Building upcover is a dream come true and contributing to the insurtech and insurance industry is something that Skye is extremely proud to enthusiastically participate in, particularly now in her role as a Board member of Insurtech Australia.