The Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (ANZIIF) has confirmed the first speakers for its inaugural 2027 International Summit – and its decision to source all headline talent from outside the insurance industry reflects pressures the sector is contending with now.
US futurists Jerry Michalski and April Rinne will headline the two-day program at the International Convention Centre Sydney on February 11 to 12, 2027, with leadership strategist Holly Ransom confirmed as master of ceremonies. The Summit is expected to draw more than 900 delegates across keynote sessions and breakout streams structured around macro, technology, and innovation themes.
ANZIIF CEO Katrina Shanks said the selection was deliberate. “This is an international summit, so we looked beyond our own market. Jerry and April are among the sharpest thinkers in the world on technology and change, and they bring thinking our profession does not hear often enough. Ours is an industry powered by people and accelerated by innovation, and this first line-up speaks to both. We want delegates to leave with fresh perspective and ideas they can act on,” Shanks said.
Michalski, founder of Open Global Mind, spent years as managing editor of the technology newsletter Release 1.0 – interviewing more than 4,000 start-ups – and has since advised corporations on AI deployment. Rinne, ranked by Forbes among the world’s 50 leading female futurists and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, advises organisations including Airbnb, Nike, and the World Bank on workforce and demographic change. She is the author of Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change. Ransom, chief executive of Emergent Global, a Fulbright Scholar, and author of The Leading Edge, has hosted events across more than 25 countries.
The Summit’s technology focus arrives at a critical regulatory moment. In April 2026, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) called for a step-change in how banks, insurers, and superannuation trustees manage AI-related risks, warning that governance, risk management, assurance, and operational resilience practices are not keeping pace with the scale, speed, and complexity of AI adoption. APRA’s targeted review found an increasing lag between the adoption of emerging AI technologies and the implementation of appropriate risk management strategies.
The commercial context reinforces that regulatory signal. A joint CSIRO and the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) report released in August 2025 outlined how AI can help insurers manage rising operational costs, natural disaster risks, and changing customer expectations, identifying five priority use cases: automated claims processing, fraud detection, enhanced underwriting, natural disaster impact prediction, and operational control and compliance. The same report found that 57% of Australians believe AI creates more problems than it solves, with job losses cited as the primary concern – a trust deficit that adds complexity to any deployment strategy.
Rinne’s focus on demographic and workforce change maps directly onto one of the industry’s most acute structural problems. The ICA’s September 2025 submission to the Productivity Commission noted that the insurance sector ranked seventh among industries most affected by skills shortages in Australia, with 90% of insurance employers experiencing a shortage of skilled staff – particularly in high-demand roles such as liability claims consultants, workers’ compensation specialists, and underwriters – and that nearly 30% of the current insurance workforce is expected to reach retirement age by 2030.
Gallagher Bassett’s Carrier Perspective: 2026 Claims Insights, drawing on 250 industry leaders across Australia, North America, and the UK, found that for Australian respondents, talent attraction and retention had risen to the third-ranked challenge for 2026. Over three-quarters of Australian insurers experienced difficulties finding qualified candidates over the prior 12 months, and 68% said they planned to increase investment in training and development – a significant rise from 48% in 2025.
The intersection of AI and workforce disruption is sharpening that challenge. Deloitte Access Economics’ June 2026 employment forecasts found that AI-disrupted occupations are concentrated in white-collar, knowledge-intensive industries such as financial and insurance services, with tasks requiring less human judgement, empathy, or interpersonal skill at the highest risk of displacement. Deloitte’s organisation design, workforce strategy, and planning lead partner Sarah Rogers cautioned in the same report that “executives should not be complacent in their existing business models, work design and workforce strategies,” noting that organisations that prioritise work redesign are twice as likely to exceed their return on investment expectations for AI. The ICA’s Insurance Industry Talent Roadmap, a six-year strategy to address workforce challenges, estimated that 30% of the current insurance workforce is set to reach or exceed retirement age by 2030.
The Summit program will feature more than 20 international and local speakers. Early bird registration closes August 28, after which standard rates apply.
