Insignia appoints new team to spearhead MLC strategy

Effective 11 November, Andrew Howard will lead the new strategy and innovation team as executive director and report directly to Insignia chief executive Scott Hartley.

Prior to joining Insignia as a strategy consultant earlier this year, Howard held a number of positions concurrently with TAL Australia, including chief commercial officer of group life and investments, executive director of TAL Services Limited, and chairman of Lifebroker.

Howard has previously worked at MLC for more than 12 years and held a number of positions, the most recent of which was general manager of distribution and client management for NAB Asset Management. Upon leading MLC in 2015, he worked at Rest as chief operating officer and interim chief executive.

Insignia’s CEO, Scott Hartley, said he was thrilled to welcome Howard to this critical role.

“Given the critical importance of the development and execution of our strategy and innovation as a key enabler to this, I am pleased to have Andrew in this pivotal role,” Hartley said.

“Andrew will lead the design and implementation of initiatives that deliver competitive products and services to our customers.

“A key focus area for this team will be on how we, utilising our MLC brand and Expand platform, deliver innovative retirement solutions that drive outcomes for members leading up to and throughout retirement.”

Howard will be joined on the team by Ashton Jones as director of customer innovation, Scott Manson as head of technical solutions, and Jeffrey Hopson.

Jones brings considerable experience in the life insurance space, having spent more than eight years at TAL, most recently as general manager of growth, retirement and wealth partnerships, and was with Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company’s global leadership council office before that.

Manson also worked at TAL before joining Insignia and most recently held the position of head of pricing and was previously the senior pricing and commercial actuary.

Hopson however has been with Insignia for more than three years, working as the company’s head of strategy, a role he will maintain within the newly formed team. In addition to his work with Insignia, he is also the strategy manager for National Australia Bank, a position he has held for more than a decade.

As announced in July, Renee Howie and Dave Woodall have commenced their roles at Insignia as CEO of superannuation and chief customer officer respectively, effective 1 November.