The members of the Roundtable have come together to champion the need for a more sustainable, coordinated national approach to make our communities more resilient and our people safer. It's the only way to reduce the future economic and social costs of the inevitable natural disasters Australians will face.
Chief Executive Officer
Australian Red Cross
Judy joins Red Cross after seven years as global Chief Operating Officer for WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature), which operates in over 100 countries. In this role Judy was responsible for the operations of the Secretariat and field programme offices, for global corporate engagement and partnerships, for WWF performance measurement and for supporting the Director General on developing and implementing strategy for how WWF evolved as a Network given global trends.
Before that Judy was the Chief Executive Officer of Lonely Planet Publications for six years. Lonely Planet is the world's leading travel publisher with around 400 staff and 350 freelance travel writers. In her last year, Judy supported the sale of Lonely Planet to BBC Worldwide.
Before joining Lonely Planet Judy worked with a Silicon Valley start up to launch in Australia. She did this for 18 months while waiting until 'the right job came along' after she left Telstra. At Telstra Judy was the Chief of Consumer Sales responsible for over 6 million customers, over $4 billion in turnover and 5,000 staff. Judy was with Telstra for eight years starting in the International Division and was instrumental in the development of the FOXTEL partnership.
Judy has also worked in the Australian government across a number of portfolios :Industrial Relations, Transport and Communications, Finance, Child Care and Social Security, including advising Ministers. She is also a keen cyclist and took a gap year when she cycled 6,000 kilometres from Greece to Norway.
Judy has an MBA from Sydney University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Canberra. She also attended a six week executive MBA at Stanford University while at Telstra.
Australian Red Cross offers relief in times of crisis, care when it's needed most and commitment when others turn away. Red Cross helps millions of people globally each year and cares for local communities in Australia and Asia Pacific.
Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer
IAG
Peter joined IAG in 2010 and has held a number of senior roles, most recently as Chief Executive of the new IAG Labs division, responsible for driving digital and innovation across IAG and its brands, and creating incubator areas which will specifically explore innovative opportunities across the fintech landscape.
Before this, Peter held the role of Chief Digital Officer with a remit to develop a group-wide digital strategy. He was formerly Chief Executive of the Commercial Insurance division created in July 2014 when IAG implemented its new operating model. He joined IAG as Chief Executive Officer, CGU Insurance.
Peter was previously Chief Executive Officer of Aon Limited UK and a member of Aon’s Global Executive Board, and spent seven years as Chief Executive Officer of Aon’s Australian operations.
He has over 35 years’ experience in the insurance industry, including senior roles in underwriting, reinsurance broking and commercial insurance broking as Managing Director of John C. Lloyd Reinsurance Brokers, Chairman and Chief Executive of Aon Re and Chairman of the London Market Reform Group.
Peter is a graduate of the Harvard Advanced Management Program.
Recent natural disasters have illustrated our vulnerability to natural hazards. In just the last five years, the damage caused to private property and public infrastructure has reached well into the billions of dollars.
We firmly believe we, as a nation, can do much more to adapt our communities to better withstand natural hazards – from stronger codes to ensure buildings are better protected, to more appropriate land use reflecting risk, to more hazard mitigation infrastructure.
Managing Director
Investa Property Group
Jonathan Callaghan is the Managing Director and Finance Director, Investa Property Group. He is responsible for the strategic direction of the Group, across the office, funds and land businesses. He is also responsible for Investa’s financial strategy and provides leadership to treasury, debt and risk management, taxation and internal and external reporting.
Jonathan has been at Investa for over 8 years where he has held a number of roles, including the role of Group General Counsel.
Jonathan holds a Bachelor of Science (Hons), a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and a Masters of Applied Finance.
Investa joined the Roundtable to support the development of cost-effective solutions to mitigate the adverse consequences of disasters for humans, communities and businesses. We will continue to work with our partners and government to develop more prepared and resilient Australian communities.
Managing Director
Munich Holdings of Australasia Pty Limited
Ralph was appointed Managing Director of Munich Holdings of Australasia Pty Limited as of 1 July 2016.
Ralph, who has worked with Munich Re since 1987, held various management roles including Casualty Underwriting, Customised Portfolio Solutions and Risk Management. In his previous position he headed an international department which is responsible for the planning and performance monitoring for the group’s reinsurance business in Europe, Latin America, Africa, Asia and Australasia.
By sharing our extensive global experience, Munich Re hopes to work with all levels of government, along with like-minded organisations in the commercial sector, to ensure that Australian Communities are better positioned to plan for, and respond to the ever present threat of natural catastrophes.
We believe that damage prevention and mitigation are the best and most cost effective means to protect and lift the living standard of the community on a sustainable basis.”
Chairman
Optus
Paul O’Sullivan was appointed Chairman, Optus on 7 October 2014. This role will draw on Paul’s extensive relationships with the Government, media and business community, to advocate for Optus and drive for competition in the Australian Telco Market. Paul was previously CEO of Group Consumer, where he was responsible for SingTel’s Consumer businesses including the wholly owned operations in Singapore and Australia, as well as SingTel's investments in Thailand, India, Africa, Philippines and Indonesia. Over the past several months Paul has been based in Australia, where he juggled the dual responsibilities of CEO, Group Consumer with the extra duties of CEO, Consumer Australia.
Paul was CEO of Optus from September 2004 to March 2012 and has previously held management positions within Optus including Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of Optus Mobile. He has also worked in various international management roles at the Colonial Group and the Royal Dutch Shell Group in Canada, the Middle East, Australia and the United Kingdom.
Paul serves on the Board of Commissioners of Telkomsel.
Paul holds a Bachelor of Arts (Mod) Economics from Trinity College, University of Dublin and is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program of Harvard University, US.
We are strong believers in offering constructive public policy solutions to government in areas where we think there is both social and commercial benefit.
Our services are critical in disaster response, and we deliver them across infrastructure that must be highly resilient against the impact of natural disasters.
This initiative will allow all stakeholders to work better together in both planning for the effects of natural hazards and responding to them.
Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer
Westpac
Brian Hartzer was appointed Managing Director & CEO of Westpac Group in February 2015. Brian joined Westpac as Chief Executive, Australian Financial Services in June 2012 encompassing Westpac Retail & Business Banking, St.George Banking Group and BT Financial Group. He was appointed Chairman of the Australian Bankers' Association in February 2015.
Prior to joining Westpac, Brian spent three years in the UK as CEO for Retail, Wealth and Ulster Bank at the Royal Bank of Scotland Group. Prior to that, he spent ten years with Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) in Australia in a variety of roles, including his final role as CEO, Australia and Global Segment Lead for Retail and Wealth.
Before joining ANZ, Brian spent ten years as a financial services consultant in New York, San Francisco, and Melbourne.
Brian graduated from Princeton University with a degree in European History and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
Our work to support customers and communities after recent natural disasters has really highlighted to me the economic and social challenges they face, in many cases long after the event itself. I am pleased to be involved in this Roundtable to support action from business, community and government to prevent and reduce the impacts of natural disasters and build safer communities
© The Australian Business Roundtable 2019
Selected photography provided by the Australian Red Cross