Gallagher Bassett (GB) is pleased to announce the appointment of John McNamara to the position of Managing Director – Australia.

John will be working closely with GB’s Australian executive team, including Executive General Manager General Insurance, Damien Gilhooley, General Manager South Australia, Shaun Meehan, and Aidan Brophy (pictured with John above) who was recently appointed to the role of General Manager Victoria.

John joined GB 12 years ago, and has been employed in the insurance industry for 27 years, holding a range of senior national management positions.

Joining GB in 2004 as Victoria’s Claims Operations Manager, John was promoted to Victorian General Manager in 2006. In this position John was responsible for Victoria’s workers’ compensation and general insurance operations.

During this time, the general insurance team were successful in being appointed to manage the Federal Government’s Comcover scheme, which incorporates large and complex personal injury, professional risk and public liability portfolios for the government’s 160 Commonwealth agencies and departments. This contract remains with GB to this day.

Since 2012, John has held the position of Executive General Manager – Statutory Workers’ Compensation, responsible for GB’s Victorian, NSW and South Australian workers’ compensation operations. In July this year John also assumed responsibility for GB’s national Self Insurance operation.

John is excited to take on the new role.

“I’m so proud to have been appointed to lead the Gallagher Bassett team. It’s an honour to work with the amazing team of professionals that we have here at GB.

I’m also looking forward to working with our clients in my new role. As a business, we have built some fantastic relationships with clients over the years, I look forward to maintaining these and developing new relationships over time”, John said.

John replaces Jon Winsbury as Managing Director Australia, with Jon Winsbury moving into the role of Executive Vice President, Gallagher Bassett International.

“John is the perfect fit to take on the Australian Managing Director position. His wealth of experience, both within Gallagher Bassett and the wider insurance industry see him well positioned to lead the business”, said Jon.

This year, John has shared his substantial experience with the industry, presenting on the topic of the increasing rate of mental injury claims, at the PIEF Personal Injury and Disability Conference and the impact of the ageing workforce on workplace health and safety at the National Workers’ Compensation summit.

“I enjoyed presenting at the conferences in 2016, engaging with our colleagues across the industry to discuss the challenges and opportunities that we in the industry face on an ongoing basis. I look forward to expanding this engagement in 2017 and beyond”.

John’s new position takes effect from 1st January 2017.