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DEALING WITH THECOMPLEXITIES OF LIVING

Great salespeople believe in their product. Likewise, great CEOs need tohave faith in their company writes Daniel G Taylor.

Bobby Lehane knows hiscompany, CHU UnderwritingAgencies, provides some-

thing that makes a difference.Appointed CEO in April 2015, Le-hane is a good fit for the role. Theopportunity excites him, he knowshow insurance helps people.

"I am relatively new to insur-ance. What I learned about it andsaw firsthand when I was at myprevious company Zurich is thatinsurance is both a necessary and avery good thing for society.

"Insurers genuinely want to paythe claim. They believe that whenyou buy a policy the guarantee ofthat claim is what you are buying.I have seen people's life's severelyimpacted by catastrophic eventsand put back on track by receiv-ing a claim's payment. I value theindustry and I don't say that in anykind of a marketing way. Insurancehas just resonated with me."

Fonnded in 1978, CHU's missionwas to meet the insurance needsof strata owners. For many people,the insurance industry can be amysterious world. So let's definetwo key terms when we're talkingabout CHU.

"BPS has a valued and ongoing relationship with CHUas panel repairer. This partnership has allowed CHU todeliver widely acknowledged sector leading customerservice using our direct claims response."- Elaine Fin, General Manager, BPS

Firstly, underwriting. Underwrit-ing means taking on the financialrisk in an insurance contract.Underwriters assess the risk, forexample, burst pipes in an apart-ment building. The underwritersreceive an insurance premium. Inexchange, they agree to providecompensation should the pipesburst.

Secondly, strata title. Stratatitle is an Australian contributionto property law that dates back to1961. Property markets around theworld have copied the concept.Strata title allows individual own-ership of part of a property referredto as a lot. This type of ownershipcan be applied to many forms ofbuilding such as units, apartments,mixed use developments and com-munity associations. The ownersshare ownership of the commonareas.

CHU created the first stratainsurance policy in Australia. Theirclients are the strata managementindustry and lot owners. CHUdistributes its products in threeways. Firstly through their net-work of strata managers who act asauthorised representatives of CHU,secondly through insurance bro-kers, and thirdly direct to OwnersCorporations.

Before he accepted the leader-ship of CHU, Lehane was Exec-utive General Manager at ZurichFinancial Services Australia. Heheaded up Zurich's Small to Me-

dium Enterprise (SME) insurancesegment and most recently hewas responsible for their $1 billionCommercial Insurance segment.Switching from general insuranceto strata insurance has not been asignificant leap. "Strata insurancewas part of my portfolio at Zurich.It's a packaged insurance productas is most business insurance"

One key difference is how CHUdistributes its products. Zurichdistributes its products exclusivelythrough brokers. However, distri-bution through strata managers is"completely new to me".

Strata managers are responsiblefor meeting all the needs of sets ofStrata properties and are paid a feeby the owners for this service. Theyrange in size from large corpora-tion's handling thousands of prop-erties, to small family run businessmanaging 100 to 150 buildings.

"Ultimately, the product is thesame, but the way you would relateto a large corporation versus theway you would relate to an individ-ual probably does by necessity dif-fer. However, their businesses areboth valuable to us. From a serviceperspective, it is very importantthat regardless of the distributionchannel, the service we provide isexcellent."

THE BENEFITS OF TECHNICAL ANDLEADERSHIP SKILLS

If you looked at where BobbyLehane's career began, you might

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01 Jan 2016Business First, Sydney

Author: Daniel G Taylor • Section: General News • Article type : News ItemClassification : Magazines Business • Audience : 0 • Page: 24Printed Size: 3281.00cm² • Market: National • Country: Australia • ASR: N/AWords: 1952 • Item ID: 512565579

Copyright Agency licensed copy (www.copyright.com.au)

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not expect him to be CEO of aninsurance company.

In the early 1990s, he wrote trad-ing software for Lehman Broth-ers in Tokyo. When he moved toLondon, he worked for them again.Over time, his career has movedfrom technical roles to project-ori-ented management positions.

Lehane moved from London toAustralia as a regional director for atechnology-based startup. His nextmove was to Commonwealth Bankas head of their financial marketstechnology. "I did a lot of transfor-mation through that period of timeat Commonwealth Bank."

Keen to take on a chief informa-tion officer role, Lehane found oneat the major developer Multiplex.At the time, they had just listed onthe ASX. He stayed with them untilthey sold to Brookfield, the currentowners.

When Lehane left Multiplex, hejoined Zurich as Chief InformationOfficer. He had many successes inthe role, first in Australia. Later hisvictories extended to Asia Pacificand the Middle East.

His accomplishments earnedhim a promotion to Chief Operat-ing Officer. In this role, he gained abroader understanding of the busi-

CHU retains a dominant position in the market for goodreason: it delivers more than just insurance. It recognisesthe complexity of strata and that when a party makesa claim they need help. McCulloch & Buggy has beenworking with CHU for over 15years, upholding CHU'sphilosophy to deliver that extra service while providinglegal expertise. McCulloch & Buggy are specialists instrata matters from building issues to property disputes,understanding the group dynamics of managing sharedproperty. Like CHU, McCulloch & Buggy works hard to stayabreast of the increasingly complex and legislated stratadomain. At the heart of successful strata communities is'ease of living'and we, together with our partner, believeinpeace of mind for those whom we serve.- Duncan Stuart, McCulloch & Buggy Lawyers

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the scotia group

The Scotia Group has a wealth ofknowledge and experience in thestrata insurance industry.

Highly skilled in all areas of 24/7insurance restoration and repairs.

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CHU has a number of respectedsupporters including BP StrataMaintenance, Scotia PropertyMaintenance, McCullough andBuggy and Cunningham Lindsaywho are integral to the success-ful operations of the company.Many of these partners havebeen heavily involved with CHUfor 15 to 20 years and beyondand have been influential inCHU's past, present and future.

These partners are attractedto CHU's integrity and vice versaand Lehane hopes that they re-main with the company well intothe future. In fact he has made itpart of his mandate as the rela-tively new CEO to do this.

It is just another way that CHUlooks after all who are involvedwith the company - from cus-tomers to business partners.

ness. "I was reviewing businessesacross eight or nine countries on aregular basis. I decided that I hadsome kind of aptitude for that, andthen I went into running the SMEbusiness in Australia.

"Over a period of time, I havemade a number of other steps thathave moved me from being a tech-nologist into an insurance leader.Leadership isn't necessarily aboutyour technical skills as opposed toyour other skills."

In July 2014, he left Zurich. "Iwanted to spend some time athome. I've got two boys, who arenine and six, and a wife. We liveon the Northern Beaches here inSydney."

TURNING VISION INTO REALITYLehane's background has givenhim technical skills as well asleadership know-how. "I have, fora long time, rated my interperson-al skills higher than my technicalskills. What the technical back-

Jfv 1 ***-1 1

ground gave me was a structure adiscipline and an execution focusthat probably, had I come from adifferent discipline, might not havebeen so developed.

"Having that kind of execu-tion focus, and then having good,strong interpersonal skills meantthat I was able to articulate avision, communicate that visionto people, and then bring them onthe journey and actually deliver it.The secret to getting things done isactually doing them, as opposed totalking about doing them."

In his leadership role at CHU,he faces some new challenges."The CHU team had been througha few pretty tough years before Iarrived." The factors that contrib-uted to these "tough years" includeuncertainty about the sale of CHU(from QBE to Steadfast) and thenumber of new competitors in themarketplace.

"It is a strong, positive team. Wehave people who have been here

We have been working with CHU for nearly 20 years and their strength in themarketplace has enabled us to grow our business in the strata community.Our mutual clients, the strata companies, provide us with a constant streamof work due to the fact that we process the claim direct with CHU. Their easeof claims process and their stature within the strata community is an excellentselling point for us and our clients like to know that clients' properties are beinglooked after when something unforeseen happens such as storm events, burstpipes or accidental building damage.- Billy Mclaughlin, The Scotia Group

I've had the pleasure of knowing and working withBobby since his appointment as CEO of CHU and haveobserved first hand his positive influence over the business,employees and clients alike. Bobby inspires a striving forthe extraordinary within each employee and he is a leaderwho will be a definitive player in the future innovation ofstrata insurance. We take great pride in supporting CHU toprovide first class strata insurance services.- Christopher Frazer, Manager - Strata at insuranceclaims provider Cunningham Lindsey

for 30 years, and we have peoplethat have just recently joined.There is a common sense of pur-pose. There is a very good energywithin the business at this point."

Lehane defines that purposeas having two parts. Firstly, it isabout recapturing and harnessingthe essence of CHU from the past.Secondly, it is about making thecompany a force into the future.

Part of his vision involves restor-ing the pride employees feel aboutworking for CHU. "I want peopleto come to work, and want to cometo work. To leave work feeling likethey have achieved, and they haveenjoyed. In an environment whereyou don't meet your objectives, itbecomes quite difficult to have thatfeeling."

Moreover, he needs to handle themajor unexpected events. Theseinclude things like the New SouthWales storms or the Queenslandfloods. It is at times like those that

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"I think the expectation is that wecontinue to run the business successfully.That we grow the business and prepareto take full advantage of the growingstrata landscape in Australia."

thousands of calls are placed, andcustomers need attention.

To succeed with his vision,Lehane needs good relationshipswith key suppliers and partners."Ultimately, when someone buysfrom CHU, they are trusting thatwe are going to deliver the service.Our key partners are on the frontline delivering that service."

Bobby Lehane thinks the expec-tations Steadfast have of him areclear. "I think the expectation isthat we continue to run the busi-ness successfully. That we grow thebusiness and prepare to take fulladvantage of the growing stratalandscape in Australia."

And what does that landscapelook like? Research from Strata

Communities Australia estimatesthat 3.2 million people live inattached properties. These includeflats and apartments. That numberlooks set to rise by lM by 2025.

Lehane concludes, "Strata andStrata Insurance is becoming morecomplex as more people moveinto this style of living, in additionthere in an increasing complexityof schemes and that is the chal-lenge and opportunity for us. Webelieve, that working with a spe-cialist in this area is very importantto securing the best cover."

Just as he has faith in what hiscompany offers, Lehane is con-fident he can grow the business.With his track record of results, youcan expect he will succeed. BFM

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