Fidelity Life has made three appointments as it seeks to bolster its partner proposition and transform its distribution strategy.
Melanie Beattie (pictured above) has been appointed to the newly created role of head of strategic alliances, Soon to be reporting to her are Sean Craigen, strategic alliance manager – bank and brands, and Mike Whitehead, strategic alliance manager – advice and corporate.
Beattie spent the formative years of her career in the UK in the energy start-up sector, before making a switch to corporate – initially with IBM, then with EY as head of market development. She became head of strategic partnerships at ASB, overseeing the bank’s partnerships across corporate, commercial, SME, and rural/primary sectors. In 2020, she took up new role at tech start-up Trade Window as head of global ecosystems.
Craigen (pictured above), who will join the firm soon, currently heads the general insurance product portfolio at BNZ. He also oversees compliance rollout with third parties. Prior to this, Craigen held a number of roles at AIG, including leadership of its future partnerships, ventures and innovation team.
Whitehead (pictured above) is currently a business manager with Fidelity Life in the Auckland region. Prior to joining the insurer, he held a number of roles at BNZ in commercialisation, area management, franchise management and asset financing. Earlier in his career, he was a Ray White auctioneer and salesperson, and had a 14-year stint as a stock agent and auctioneer with Wrightson’s.
“These appointments show we’re lifting our value proposition to our partners,” said Bronwyn Kirwan, chief sales and service officer of Fidelity Life. “Our transformation includes broadening our channel mix to help us protect even more New Zealanders, and we see so much opportunity to collaborate with like-minded organisations in delivering modern financial services to New Zealanders.”
Fidelity Life’s strategic partners include Farmers Mutual Group (FMG) and New Zealand Home Loans (NZHL). It also recently announced a new 15-year partnership with Westpac NZ as part of the acquisition of Westpac Life.
