St Andrew’s Insurance Group, DWF, and RSPCA Pet Insurance have each named new figures to lead across board governance, legal services, and marketing functions in Australia.
St Andrew’s Insurance Group has confirmed Andrew Mead (pictured) as a board director, with his tenure beginning May 1, 2026. Mead’s professional background spans more than three decades in insurance, reinsurance, and wealth management. His most recent position was at EY, where he worked as a senior partner for over 15 years. There, he ran the Financial Services Business Consulting practice across Oceania and Asia-Pacific. His consulting work covered areas including strategy, risk and capital management, regulatory reviews, and mergers and acquisitions. He also served in appointed actuary roles in Australia and New Zealand during this period. Before moving into consulting, Mead spent 10 years at Zurich Financial Services. That chapter of his career centred on life insurance financial reporting, capital management, and regulatory matters.
Board chairman Allan Griffiths connected the appointment to the company’s current priorities. “His insight across life insurance, capital management, and transformation will be invaluable as we continue to scale the business. His appointment further strengthens the depth and capability of our board and positions St Andrew’s well to execute on our growth strategy and deliver sustainable value for our policyholders and partners,” Griffiths said.
Mead, for his part, said he saw the timing of the appointment as relevant. “St Andrew’s has built a compelling platform in the Australian and New Zealand life insurance markets, with a clear focus on delivering simple, reliable protection products for customers. I’m pleased to be joining the board at an important stage in the company’s growth, and I look forward to working with the team to support its strategic ambitions, enhance risk and capital management, and continue delivering strong outcomes for customers and stakeholders,” Mead said.
Legal and business services firm DWF has confirmed that two of its Dubai-based partners will move to Australia later in 2026 as part of an effort to grow its Asia-Pacific client base. Victoria Clucas and Bill Evans both work within DWF’s Global Risks team, where their work has focused on property, energy, and construction claims and coverage disputes across international markets. Clucas holds the title of commercial director for the Middle East and North Africa. She will now take on the same designation for the Asia-Pacific region, with Singapore identified as a development focus. Her existing Middle East responsibilities remain in place. Adam Pryor and Brian Boahene will take over leadership of the Dubai-based team in her absence. Evans, who originally qualified as a solicitor in Australia, will step into the head of property role for the Australian business. He also retains his position as global head of recoveries.
Country managing partner Matt Curll said the additions would serve clients on both a domestic and international level. “Their appointments add real strength and depth and will help us to further build our profile and client relationships nationally and internationally,” Curll said. Insurance services managing partner David Abbott situated the moves within DWF’s wider network strategy. “These appointments further emphasise the strong global connectivity that we are building across our insurance business. From London to Canada, the Middle East to Australia and now looking beyond to APAC, we will continue to strengthen wherever our clients need us to be,” Abbott said. DWF’s Insurance Services division has a headcount of around 2,000 globally.
RSPCA Pet Insurance has brought in Alex Taljaard to serve as head of marketing & communications. He has worked in marketing for close to 20 years, with experience across car, home, commercial, life, and medical malpractice insurance in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. The company’s own figures indicate that fewer than one in five Australian pet owners currently hold a pet insurance policy – a statistic that frames much of what Taljaard has been tasked with addressing. His remit covers brand positioning, category education, and customer engagement.
Taljaard outlined his view of the role. “This is an incredible opportunity to work on a purpose-driven brand in an insurance category that is deeply personal and emotive for so many Australians. Pet insurance is ultimately about helping people protect the animals they love and that gives the work a level of meaning that goes far beyond traditional insurance marketing,” Taljaard said. He said a significant part of the work involves shifting how consumers understand the product itself. “Many pet owners don’t fully understand the role pet insurance can play in their pet’s care – from helping owners make faster, more informed treatment decisions, to ensuring their pet gets the best care possible when it matters most. Our job is to help close that education gap and improve accessibility,” he said.
Taljaard also pointed to how insurance coverage affects the nature of veterinary consultations. “When a pet is insured, it changes what a vet can do. They can offer the best care immediately, without having to navigate what an owner can afford. That’s better for the pet, and it’s better for everyone,” he said. On the question of how normalized pet insurance should become, he drew a comparison to motor insurance. “Just as getting car insurance is one of the first things people do when they buy a vehicle, we want pet insurance to be one of the first things Australians get in place when they bring a pet into their home. That cultural shift is exactly what we’re working towards,” he said.
Since joining, Taljaard has directed attention toward how the brand presents itself in a cluttered market, including efforts to make its messaging more consistent and its voice more distinct. His appointment follows the brand’s April rollout of an updated market position, built around a campaign called “We Know Animals,” which draws on the RSPCA’s track record in animal welfare dating back more than 150 years. RSPCA Pet Insurance has also brought in three new agency partners to support its marketing program: Evolab for public relations work, Saatchi & Saatchi for creative output, and Atomic 212° for media – with the latter two sitting under the Publicis Groupe umbrella.
