Our Council

Our Council

Elected annually by voting members, the 7-person Council is the NZSA’s executive body, as outlined in the Rules. 

The Council is primarily responsible for:

Leadership – Setting and implementing strategic plans and operational policies.

Governance – Ensuring compliance with legislation and regulations and that the Society meets high standards of probity and transparency; is well managed and has an effective risk management policy.

Stewardship – Protecting the reputation of the Society and the actuarial profession by maintaining and enforcing strict professional and ethical standards.

 

Meet our current Council members:

President
Scott Lewis

Scott has more than 30 years of experience in the life and general insurance industries, the public sector and more recently in governance roles.

He has worked in New Zealand, UK, USA and Latin America in a variety of roles including pricing, valuation, financial reporting, risk, capital, reinsurance and earthquake claims. He has also managed the start-up of an insurance business in New Zealand. In the public sector he worked on modelling Children’s wellbeing for Oranga Tamariki. Scott currently runs a consultancy and sits on the Board of Toka Tu Ake EQC.

He has been on Council since 2018, was secretary in 2019 and Vice President in 2020-2021. He has previously served on the Enterprise Risk Committee (2016-18) and the 2006 Conference Committee.

Scott is a Fellow of the NZ Society of Actuaries, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Actuaries and a Chartered Member of the Institute of Directors.

View LinkedIn profile here 

Vice President
Lee-Ann Du Toit

Lee-Ann is a Deloitte Partner, the National Lead for Actuarial as well as the Insurance Sector lead for Deloitte New Zealand. She became a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries (London) in 2002 and is currently a Fellow of both the Actuarial Society of South Africa and NZSA.

She has more than twenty five years of diversified experience in the financial services industry mainly in South Africa and New Zealand. Lee-Ann has served on numerous Executive Committees and Boards, recognized for innovation, leading change and customer-centric initiatives, starting new businesses and is a Harvard Business School Alumni.

She has been on Council since 2020 and has previously served on the Professional Development Committee of NZSA from 2019 to 2022. Lee-Ann actively leads the delivery of the NZSA Communication strategy including LinkedIn, the website and other channels

View LinkedIn profile here 

Secretary & Privacy Officer
Mat Jensen

Mat started his career in 2007 working for Life Insurer Sovereign. He has since held positions at General Insurance Companies Vero and Suncorp holding a variety of roles across pricing, valuation, capital, finance and reinsurance. He is currently the Company Actuary for Ando Insurance based in Auckland.

Mat has been a member of Council since 2018 and previously served on the General Insurance, Conference and Experience Committees. He is currently the Secretary of the Society.

Mat is a Fellow of the NZ Society of Actuaries and the Australian Institute of Actuaries.

Member
Alison O’Connell

Alison began her career in the financial services industry 30 years ago working at a life reinsurer in the United Kingdom.

After spells in actuarial and management consulting, Alison became the founding Director of the Pensions Policy Institute.  Since making Christchurch her home in 2006, Alison has continued her retirement income research, advising government agencies on policy aspects of pensions, retirement, and longevity. She is a member of the Retirement Income Interest Group of the New Zealand Society of Actuaries.

Alison has also developed a governance career and is a Chartered Member of the New Zealand Institute of Directors.  She is currently a Non-Executive Director of a life insurer, a pension fund, and a not-for-profit foundation.

View LinkedIn profile here 

Member
Nathan Thomas

Nathan has over 20 years’ global experience in the financial services industry and is a qualified fellow of the UK and NZ actuarial professional bodies. Nathan holds a number of different actuarial consulting and governance roles through his company Actuary & Governance Ltd and he has completed an Executive MBA, BSc (Hons) and BCA at Victoria University of Wellington.

Nathan enjoys spending time with his family, exercising and volunteering in the community.

Treasurer
Cordelia Shamy

Cordelia started her career at PwC in 2007 as an actuarial analyst working on a wide range of assignments for insurance and Government clients.

In 2015, Cordelia joined Cigna as Valuation Manager before moving to the Pricing team in 2018. She is currently seconded to the IFRS17 team, working closely with other experts to design and implement the solutions required to begin reporting under the new standard.

Cordelia was previously on the NZSA’s Member Engagement Committee for several years before joining Council. She is also a member of the Actuarial Sciences Advisory Board at the Victoria University of Wellington, working with others to bridge the gap between tertiary actuarial education and the industry.

Immediate Past President
Ross Simmonds

Ross is an actuary with over fifteen years’ experience in the financial services sector.

He has worked in New Zealand and United Kingdom for consultants and insurers across a variety of fields in general insurance, the public sector and banking.

He currently heads the New Zealand office for Taylor Fry in Wellington. Ross was Vice President since 2018 until the 2020 AGM.