QBE Insurance Group Limited (QBE) has appointed Amanda Hughes, who has been with the group since June 2020, as its new group executive for people and culture.
Hughes joined QBE last year as a group head of culture, performance and reward, responsible for not only the three but also diversity and inclusion activities across the group. In the role, she led the evolution of the group's culture program and eventually added HR accountability for QBE's corporate function to her responsibilities.
The new group executive for people and culture has 17 years of human resources experience, having held executive roles in Lendlease, Macquarie Group, and most recently AMP, where she was a director of people and culture.
QBE Group CEO Andrew Horton described Hughes as a respected leader with significant HR experience and strong business acumen.
“We are delighted to appoint her to this important role, and I look forward to working with her as we continue to evolve our culture at QBE,” Horton said. “We are fortunate to have such high calibre leaders within our organisation, and Amanda's appointment is a great example of how we are accelerating our talent and leadership strategy and building deep bench strength across our business.”
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The appointment follows Margaret Murphy's decision to return to the UK late last year. Despite the move, she will work closely with Hughes to support her transition before finishing up with QBE in late March 2022.
Meanwhile, Hughes will commence on her role on December 01, 2021, subject to regulatory approval. She will be based in QBE Sydney and form part of the group executive committee, reporting to Horton.
Hughes's appointment as the new group executive for people and culture reflects QBE's commitment to taking care of its people – with its recent employee initiative including a partnership with miscarriage and pregnancy loss charity The Pink Elephants Support Network.
As part of the partnership, the group launched a peer support companion program, where three team members across Australia and New Zealand volunteer to receive professional training from the charity and share their experiences with pregnancy loss to support other employees.
