Partners Life has brought its appointed actuarial (AA) function in-house with the hiring of Kate Dron (pictured above) from Suncorp NZ.
Dron will commence her role on Nov. 9 and join Partners Life’s executive team. This is the first time in 10 years the insurer will have its own appointed actuary, having previously hired the services of an external consulting firm to provide AA services to chief actuary Anton Gardiner, the management team, the board and regulators.
“As Partners Life has grown in scale and become increasingly important to the New Zealand industry, our needs across all disciplines of the business have become deeper and significantly more complex – and none more so than in actuarial, which is the core discipline for all insurers,” said Naomi Ballantyne, the company’s managing director. “The board determined that the company will be best served into the future by bringing the AA function in-house. This will provide us with full-time and real-time access to our AA, which will significantly enhance the service provided to all stakeholders. We are delighted to welcome Kate, who will help shape and drive the future for Partners Life.”
Dron joined Suncorp NZ in 2016 and previously served as consulting actuary in a financial and actuarial services business. Earlier in her career, she was general manager at Sovereign Assurance, head of risk in wealth and private banking at ANZ, and held several key roles at Tower and Asteron, among other firms.
She is a fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (UK), a fellow of the New Zealand Society of Actuaries, a member of the Institute of Directors and, since 2020, a member of the Institute and Faculty of Actuary’s COVID-19 taskforce for national narratives.
“I am thrilled to be joining the Partners Life family and to have the opportunity to focus again on my real passion, life and health insurance,” Dron said. “I am also looking forward to once more working alongside Anton, dating back to an earlier time in our respective banking and insurance careers.”
