The National Insurance Brokers Association (NIBA) named Shannan Gardner of Guardian Insurance Brokers the 2026 SA/NT Broker of the Year on July 24, with Thomas Lawrie of Astute Insurance Services taking the Young Broker of the Year title at the same ceremony – results that land weeks after the profession’s own data shows the youngest cohort of brokers matching the near-retirement cohort in size, while the Young Broker award itself drew a record nomination count. Both awards were announced at a ceremony at Adelaide Oval attended by more than 400 industry professionals. Gardner and Lawrie now advance to compete for national titles at the 2026 NIBA Convention at RACV Royal Pines on the Gold Coast from October 18 to 20.
Gardner won the CGU-partnered Broker of the Year category ahead of finalists Paula Eggers of Aviso Specialty and Daniela Zaccone of Knightcorp Insurance Brokers. The award is open to senior brokers holding NIBA’s Qualified Practising Insurance Broker (QPIB) or Fellow designation and is assessed on client outcomes, professional conduct, and contribution to the profession. The win adds an individual state title to a period of firm-wide recognition for Guardian. Adelaide-based Guardian Insurance Brokers secured Insurance Business Australia’s Large Brokerage of the Year award for the second consecutive year in May 2026.
NIBA CEO Richard Klipin said: “Congratulations to all the finalists for the highest standards of professionalism they've demonstrated, and best of luck to Shannan heading into the national awards in October.” Giselle Walther, executive manager, broker strategic growth at CGU, said: “On behalf of CGU, congratulations to Shannan on winning this year’s SA/NT Broker of the Year award. Her dedication to client advocacy and technical excellence sets her apart, and we’re proud to recognise her achievement.”
In the Vero-partnered Young Broker of the Year category – open to brokers under 35 – Lawrie of Astute Insurance Services, an authorised representative of Insurance Advisernet, placed ahead of finalists Allysa Richards of Gallagher and Irene Zhu of KeyInsure. Karen Thomas, Vero’s executive manager of commercial insurance for SA/NT, said: “Thomas has shown a real focus on client advocacy and his own professional growth. It’s brokers like him who are the reason why Vero has proudly backed NIBA’s Young Broker of the Year award for well over three decades.” NIBA president Nick Cook said: “Through our awards program, NIBA is proud to spotlight the depth of talent coming through the ranks in our profession.”
NIBA received a record 96 nominations nationally for the Vero-partnered 2026 Young Broker of the Year award, marking a milestone for the program in its 37th year. The SA/NT region produced three of the 15 state finalists selected from that national pool. That figure sits in direct tension with NIBA’s own workforce research. The association’s June 2026 report, Data to Direction: Insights from the General Insurance Broking Profession – produced with Allianz Australia using CoreData research from 418 brokers alongside Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) data – found that brokers aged 18 to 29 represent the same share of the profession as those aged 60 and over, both at 11%, with the two largest cohorts being brokers aged 40 to 49 at 31% and 30 to 39 at 28%, and a workforce median age of 44. South Australia accounts for 8% of the national broking workforce by location, according to the same report, placing the SA/NT region among the smaller of the five award groupings by broker headcount.
The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has warned that nearly 30% of the current workforce will be at retirement age by 2030 – a projection that gives the Young Broker category weight beyond its competitive format. The channel these brokers serve is expanding: brokers handled $35.6 billion of the $77.9 billion in general insurance written in Australia in the year to June 30, 2025, with the intermediated segment growing at a compound annual rate of 6.1% over the prior decade, ahead of the wider market’s 5.7% rate. A record nomination count for a young broker award set against the profession’s smallest entry-level cohort on record may reflect growing firm-level awareness of succession risk as much as actual growth in the early-career pipeline.
In direct response to the pipeline data, NIBA will introduce a young professionals program at its annual convention in October – the first time in the event’s history that a dedicated track has been built for early-career brokers, including a masterclass facilitated by past Young Broker of the Year award winners and a networking event pairing early-career brokers with more senior industry figures.
The national Young Broker of the Year winner will receive a $10,000 learning and development experience funded by Vero. The national Broker of the Year winner will attend an executive education program at NYU Stern School of Business, or a comparable London business school program selected by CGU. Both national titles will be announced at the convention gala dinner on October 20, where Gardner and Lawrie will compete against state winners from NSW/ACT, Victoria/Tasmania, Western Australia, and Queensland.
