Australian life insurer TAL has appointed Alexis Denby (pictured) as its first chief customer and health officer, a newly created executive position that will bring the company's customer advocacy and health strategy under one leader from 1 October 2026.
The move places Denby, a 12-year TAL veteran, at the head of a combined portfolio spanning customer advocacy, health engagement, customer experience, brand and community engagement. She will also join TAL's executive leadership team and represent the insurer in discussions with government, regulators and community groups, including the Council of Australian Life Insurers (CALI).
A central part of the brief will be TAL's response to rising mental health-related claims, an issue that has become one of the defining pressures on Australia's life insurance sector. According to CALI's 2024 Cause of Claims data, mental ill health is now the leading cause of total and permanent disability claims nationally, accounting for close to one in three claims paid, while insurers paid out more than $2.2 billion in mental health-related claims that year, roughly double the figure from five years earlier.
TAL Group CEO and managing director Fiona Macgregor said the appointment reflected the depth of leadership within the business.
"Lexie's appointment reflects both the depth of leadership talent within our business and the importance of customer and health outcomes to TAL's future," Macgregor said. "Lexie is a highly respected leader who combines deep customer insight, commercial acumen and a genuine passion for improving outcomes for customers and their families."
Macgregor added that Denby had a track record of pushing the business to rethink how it supports customers.
Denby, who joined TAL in 2014 and most recently served as general manager, Consumer and Growth, said the appointment carried personal significance. She noted the new role would let her focus on service and innovation at a pivotal moment for the industry. "This is an exciting time for our business and for the life insurance industry, and I look forward to contributing to our future growth," Denby said.
Before joining TAL, Denby held senior sales, marketing and digital roles at GE Capital and Telstra, where she worked on digital customer experience transformation and large-scale acquisition campaigns across multiple markets.
Denby's appointment lands as insurers across the market grapple with the scale of mental health-related claims. TAL itself has already moved to expand support in this area, including a multi-year mental health partnership announced late last year and a digital platform trial aimed at streamlining mental health-related income protection claims.
Other insurers have taken parallel steps. Analysis of claims data discussed at a recent industry roundtable found mental health was cited in almost half of all total and permanent disability claims for some insurers, prompting responses ranging from peer-support pilot programs to AI-assisted screening tools. Separately, the Life Insurance Code Compliance Committee has flagged inconsistency in how insurers assess applicants who disclose mental health conditions, with some still defaulting to broad exclusions rather than individual risk assessment.
TAL has framed Denby's remit as extending beyond claims handling toward prevention and recovery, a shift that mirrors broader calls from CALI and the Insurance Council of Australia for the sector to address mental health earlier in the customer relationship rather than only at the point of claim.
