CEO Corner – Summer 2020

2020 has been a year marked by devastating events. We have witnessed the unfolding growth and reach of coronavirus and the devasting impact this is having on the world. During these unprecedented times ALUCA is committed to providing highly relevant educational events to our members. ALUCA’s Board have postponed or moved many ALUCA face to face events to our webinar platform. We have now held 3 live complimentary webinars which 880 members registered for! These have been recorded and are available in the members area of ALUCA’s website. Please note ALUCA’s Award night has been postponed to Oct 22nd and nominations extended to July 31st.

ALUCA’s VIC and Rehab groups held a pandemic risk event on Thursday March 5th with Dr Goran Lazic from AIA who touched on air pollution and provided insights on Coronavirus. Two webinars were held on March 23rd with ALUCA Queensland and nationally on March 27th with Mark Raberger, ALUCA’s Deputy Chair who looked at the impact of COVID 19 on the life insurance industry and what this means to us all.

Australia’s 2019/2020 bushfires caused catastrophic and heartbreaking damage with more than 11,000 hectares of land ravaged, 5,900 buildings destroyed, and 34 lives were lost including those of firefighters. Entire communities lost their homes and more than 1 billion animals also lost their lives.

In the face of this devastation, ALUCA was proud to partner with Platinum sponsors SCOR and Pacific Life Re and gold sponsor AIA to deliver events this month (March 2020) in Sydney and Melbourne to provide insights into the impact of air pollution and what that does to us all with a specific focus on Australia’s bushfires and their impact on our health. A donation from these events ($2,600) will be split between GIVIT’s Bushfire fund and WIRES. We will be running this session again live by Webinar with Dr John Cummins from SCOR on Monday April 27th.

I was proud to be part of ALUCA’s first national Women’s Forum event on March 6th celebrating International Women’s day, hosted by SwissRe. It was a sell-out event. We heard from three highly regarded senior leaders, Jenny Oliver from TAL, Mark Senkevics from SwissRe and Rhonda Brighton-Hall from MWAH who provided their perspectives and insights on what flexibility and equality meant to each of them. We received excellent feedback and will look to hold a similar event next year. Thanks to all involved. $2,500 was raised and will be donated to the charity – Dress for Success.

Our education working party have been hard at work and we were proud to launch ALUCA’s refreshed CPD (continuous professional development) program for all ALUCA accredited members as a pilot program on January 1st this year. There are 5 key CPD categories across 20 CPD activities that are aligned to our competency framework. Every ALUCA event will now be categorized under one of the 5 Key CPD categories: Technical & specialist, Customer focused, Regulatory Compliance & Consumer Protection, Professionalism & Ethics and General. You can read more about this program in this edition of RiskeBusiness and a webinar on this and our CPLI program will be held in April.

We are encouraging all members to develop their annual training plans and utilize ALUCA’s tools to help you with this. You can access the varied online events and content to help fill in any competency gaps that you have identified. Our Education working group led by Devi Uka, will also be ALUCA Education Ambassadors and will be able to help members in their companies with this.

Finally, I want to assure you that minimising disruption to our members and partners is a high priority for us, including the ongoing health and well-being of all. We know this is a disruptive time, and we are here to help and support you. We enjoyed a highly insightful and practical webinar today with psychiatrist Dr Katie Dimarco on the mental health impacts of the COVID19 pandemic with some helpful tips, insights and resources. You can access the recording in a  few days’ time in the members part of our website. If you have any concerns or questions, please don’t hesitate to call on 02 9431 8654 or email me ceo@aluca.com. Stay safe and take care.

Amanda McKernan
ALUCA CEO
ceo@aluca.com.au
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