Geoff Cutting

As GM Operations of this newly established business, my responsibilities involve leading and maturing operational capabilities within the business, with a focus on operational effectiveness, frameworks and operational governance, and risk and compliance.

As Chief Operating Officer my responsibilities involve leading and maturing operational capabilities within the business, with a focus on operational effectiveness, frameworks and operational governance, and risk and compliance.

I led the creation of a strategic change roadmap and a team of Business Process Management and Business Insights specialists for end to end process governance and data-based decision making. Leading cross-functionally, I coordinated and aligned the division's program of work with its strategy, worked collaboratively to drive continuous improvement capability and culture, led data governance for the business, and influenced services delivered by 200+ people in shared services, for the commercial lines business. I reported to the Chief Customer Officer and led 9 direct reports. A key highlight was receiving Executive endorsement of the strategic change roadmap with approval for year 1 funding. Working with Finance and the Leadership Team I developed a high-level cost benefit to validate the strategy and strategic initiatives, coordinated key enabling functions to cost and prioritise initiatives and pitched the program to Executives. Delivering BI dashboards, ˜82 million rows of data, and > 270 trained users, within 12 months was another highlight. Co-leading a cross functional team of 27 specialists and contributors responsible for developing business insights to support data-based decision making, I engaged the team and champions, guided requirements, priorities, and timeframes. Garnering > 260 submissions on the new continuous improvement app and a completion rate of > 20% achieved was a highlight after creating a new centralised team from inherited decentralised specialists to manage business processes and insights on an ongoing basis for multiple business units. I led redesign and implementation of a continuous improvement framework and supporting toolsets across business units to drive an improvement culture. I valued the opportunity to lead and influence across the organisation to align the division’s change roadmap, operations transformation, process management, business insights and improvement culture with its strategy.

As Head of Operations Services and Interim General Manager Operations I led non-insurance operational functions for Australia, comprising Business Continuity, Credit, Facilities and Property, Key Supplier Management, and Indirect Procurement. Reporting to the Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer I led 6 direct reports and a team of > 60 supporting the Australian business. In this role I was proud of gaining funding approval, Executive Management Board endorsement, and CEO approval for the introduction of a process governance framework. I wrote the process governance framework for adoption across the AUSPAC division, handing over to an implementation team for broad adoption across the division. With the onset of Covid, I mobilised and led a working group to assess in excess of 150 suppliers for business continuity impacts and Covid plans, coordinated key stakeholders, initiated review of and updates to contingency plans, and provided assurance to the Crisis Management Team via weekly updates. Delivering NZ ownership of Pacific businesses within planned timing addressing all key transition success criteria was another highlight. I coordinated the transition of Pacific operation, repointed from the APAC to ANZ division, to New Zealand on behalf of the receiving division for all functions, including Finance, Actuarial, Underwriting, Claims, Risk, and Company Secretariat.

As National Operations Manager I led a team of 5 to deliver the operations functions for underwriting and associated support teams nationally to deliver planned service levels and efficiencies, and coordinated 1st Line of Defence risk management, for all commercial lines regions and business units nationally. I reported to the Executive General Manager. A key highlight for me in this role was delivering a consistent, documented process and related controls for managing the lifecycle of intermediaries that complied with internal global. Having led a project to create intermediary management standards, I documented key processes, created an intranet site for knowledge management, trained 165 employees pre-launch and launched across the division. I exceeded the SLA target for the offshore shared services delivered to the Intermediary division by a team of ˜340 FTE in 2018, having managed the relationship, reviewed and approved SLAs, capacity plans, peak season capacity mitigation plan, QA framework and outcomes, and thematic incident reporting as Process Owner for the division. An important achievement for me in this role, was accomplishing the 90% target for on-time risk issues closure and increased self-reported risk issues from ˜40% - ˜60%, having expanded my remit to include risk coordination for the division. I established a network of Risk Leads, implemented monthly reviews, connected 1st Line Risk Leads with 2nd Line Risk team monthly for upskilling and challenge of 1st Line. The overall success was raising the risk maturity of the organisation. Finally, I coordinated working groups to deliver implementation plans for QBE Australia’s 4 key strategic priorities, having been seconded to the strategic working group for 6 months. I led cross-functional working groups and consultant collaboration with those working groups, resulting in Executive approval of strategic implementation plans.

As Operations Manager I led a team of 150 across the underwriting team and associated support teams in the Vic/Tas region to deliver planned new business and retention outcomes and service levels. I coordinated the 1st Line of Defence risk management and compliance for the region and managed end to end Process Ownership for the region. I led the development of a 5-year strategy to reposition the regional segment, resulting in that business doubling over 5 years with a reduction in FTE. I coached and collaborated with two leaders of that segment to articulate the strategy and begin execution of it, after they inherited the static business segment with a rising cost to serve. Having been seconded as Regional Underwriting Manager for 6 months, I managed a team of Product Specialists and delivered improved cultural alignment and portfolio underwriting reporting while leading the team through annual budgeting. As part of operations transformation I transitioned > 200 FTEs back-office processes nationally to our offshore service centre, having accepted appointment as the sole Process Owner for intermediated underwriting processes for all regions. I supported the transition program by way of providing subject matter expertise, coordinated stakeholders, acted as change champion, provided input to functional solution designs, and tracked key metrics. Winning a tender and receiving endorsement from the CEO for IT spend required to develop the B2B2C solution was another highlight. I managed the tender analysis and service offering design across sales, underwriting, product, marketing and IT, and led the pitch to the broker, customer and IT development to meet solution needs. Over my time in this role, I contributed significantly to Vic/Tas region becoming the benchmark region within QBE’s Australian Intermediaries business units with respect to operational effectiveness.