Tower Insurance has elevated a two-year company leader to its first-ever chief operations officer position, pulling the appointment from within its own ranks rather than looking externally to fill the newly created role. Michael Skeens (pictured), who has held the head of customer contact centre role since joining Tower in 2024, will now sit on the insurer’s executive leadership team. Tower chief executive Paul Johnston made the announcement on May 25, 2026. In his new capacity, Skeens takes ownership of Tower’s operational hubs, teams, systems, and processes.
Skeens did not come up through financial services. He spent 11 years as a long-haul flight attendant before shifting into operational leadership, accumulating experience across Qantas, Air New Zealand, and One New Zealand – the telecommunications company formerly known as Vodafone – before entering the insurance sector. Of Cook Island Māori, Tahitian French, and Scottish heritage, Skeens was raised in Henderson and Mangakino and completed his secondary schooling at Kelston Boys College in West Auckland. He later studied travel and tourism at the International Travel College of New Zealand and took business management papers at Auckland University of Technology. Skeens acknowledged the timing of the appointment in a statement: “There’s a strong legacy, an exciting period of growth, and lots of runway as we continue to deliver on our strategy.”
During his two years leading Tower’s customer contact centre, Skeens oversaw a period of activity that the company says produced measurable shifts in service performance. Tower expanded its Suva, Fiji service hub under his watch and rolled out an AI-enabled contact centre built on Amazon Connect, a cloud-based platform. The insurer reported on May 19, 2026, that the system had cut average handling time by two minutes and 38 seconds per interaction over seven months – a reduction the company calculated at roughly 15%, totalling more than 796,000 minutes saved across customer calls.
The platform uses real-time transcription during sales, service, and claims calls, which removes the need for representatives to pause conversations to type notes manually. Tower said this reduces the likelihood of missed information during calls. Johnston tied those results directly to the promotion decision. “Under Mike’s leadership, we’ve strengthened our customer experience, expanded our service hub in Suva, and invested in a new AI-enabled contact centre – helping reduce call times by more than two and a half minutes on average over seven months. During his tenure, Tower’s key customer service metrics have improved, with Net Promoter Score up 32 points, supporting growth and excellent customer experiences,” Johnston said.
Johnston framed the decision as consistent with how Tower approaches leadership development. “Mike has a strong track record of leading change in complex, customer-focused environments, and I'm delighted to welcome him to the Tower executive. He is a values-led leader who creates a culture where people can do their best work for our customers,” Johnston said. Tower was also the only organisation from Australia and New Zealand to participate in an inaugural Amazon Web Services PartnerLed Customer Success pilot for Amazon Connect, one of seven participants selected globally. Deloitte New Zealand, which delivered the implementation, put Tower forward for inclusion based on the insurer's operational readiness to work with the platform. Johnston has indicated that spending on technology and AI will continue into FY26, with Skeens now positioned to oversee the operational side of that work in his COO capacity.
