Headquarters:

Level 33, 101 Miller Street, North Sydney, NSW 2060

Year founded:

1978

Number of employees:

320

Phone:

1300 361 263

Email:

info@chu.com.au

Website:

chu.com.au

LinkedIn:

au.linkedin.com/company/corporate-underwriting-agencies-pty-ltd

“As leaders, we inspire our team, valuing collaboration and spearheading change while sharing our knowledge to mentor the upcoming legal minds”

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CHU Underwriting Agencies

Kimberley Jonsson

Chief Executive Officer

James Makin

Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer

Kristy Pownall

Head of People and Communications

Leadership

Kimberley Jonsson was appointed the CEO of CHU in 2020 after a 15-year career with the company. This extensive experience means Jonsson is recognised as one of Australia’s leading strata insurance specialists and is often called upon by both the strata and insurance sectors to present on various topics affecting the industry. She is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and is both a fellow and board member for ANZIIF. Jonsson holds an MBA from AIM Business School.

Chief Executive Officer

Kimberley Jonsson

James Makin is the CFO and COO at CHU. He has been with the company for over eight years and was previously head of commercial portfolio management at Zurich Australia. He has over 25 years of experience in the insurance industry and is a fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia. Makin has extensive experience in actuarial analytics across both life and general insurance in Australia and overseas.

Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer

James Makin

Kristy Pownall is a senior professional who has operated at director level for over 15 years in the position of head of people and culture/HR director. She has multi-regional experience covering Australia, APAC, the UK, and Europe across a range of sectors, including professional services, media, technology and insurance. Pownall has enabled organisations to move through periods of rapid growth and change. Her area of expertise allows her to understand the importance of communication, connection and community in delivering successful business outcomes.

Head of People and Communications

Kristy Pownall

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Anirudh Kakulapati

Chief Customer Officer

Anirudh Kakulapati is the CCO at CHU. He has rapidly progressed in his career since joining the insurance industry in 2008, relocating three times in pursuit of his goal to be an exceptional leader. His previous roles were head of distribution, head of customer service and state manager for QLD and NT for CHU.

Chief Customer Officer

Anirudh Kakulapati

David Gow

Head of Claims

David Gow has over 30 years of experience in handling property, public liability, employers’ liability and motor third party or personal injury claims. Along with his extensive experience, he is a senior associate of ANZIIF and a chartered loss adjuster for AICLA. Gow’s previous role was head of property claims at QBE Insurance.

Head of Claims

David Gow

CHU Underwriting Agencies (CHU) is Australia’s first dedicated strata underwriting agency, with a strong focus on leading innovation in the industry. The company prides itself on embracing the latest advancements in artificial intelligence and technology while also championing diversity, inclusion and environmental sustainability. CHU offers a wide range of comprehensive insurance products tailored to the needs of strata schemes, covering everything from residential apartments, units, villas and townhouses to commercial strata properties and community title schemes. Part of the Steadfast Group, one of Australia’s largest networks of general insurance brokers and underwriting agencies, CHU benefits from the financial strength and backing of Steadfast, an ASX-listed company with $13 billion in total billings. Policies underwritten by CHU are provided by QBE Insurance, one of the world’s top 20 insurance companies, adding an extra layer of security and credibility. As one of the largest and most highly awarded strata insurance agencies in Australia, CHU protects more than 100,000 strata properties across the country, with an insured value exceeding half a trillion dollars. The company’s achievements include multiple prestigious awards, such as the ANZIIF Excellence in Environmental, Social, and Governance Change (ESG) Award in 2024, Underwriting Agency of the Year (2017, 2018, 2021, 2022 and 2023), and Insurance Business Claims Team of the Year in 2024. Additionally, CHU won the ANZIIF Award for Excellence in Workplace Diversity and Inclusion in 2019, further demonstrating its commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace.

“We’re committed to delivering the highest level of service, assuring clients that their welfare is the firm’s utmost priority”

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Steve Tchepak

Head of Underwriting

Gerald Chan

Partner

Nader R. Hasan

Partner

Liane Brown

Partner

Steve Tchepak became the head of underwriting at CHU in June 2019. He has over 20 years of experience in strata management and strata insurance. He has held various positions within CHU, including commercial underwriting manager, team leader and NSW/ACT underwriting manager.

Head of Underwriting

Steve Tchepak

Gerald Chan has been named one of the Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers in Canada (Canadian Lawyer, 2019), one of the Top 50 Trial Lawyers in Canada (Benchmark Litigation, 2023–24), White-Collar Crime/Enforcement Litigator of the Year (Benchmark Litigation, 2023), and Criminal Defence Lawyer of the Year, Toronto (Best Lawyers, 2024). He is a fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and a faculty member with the National Criminal Law Program. Chan is a bencher of the Law Society of Ontario. He serves as vice chair of the Law Society Tribunal, Appeal Division, and a Trustee of the Law Foundation of Ontario.

Partner

Gerald Chan

Nader R. Hasan, a partner at Stockwoods LLP, practises criminal, regulatory, and constitutional law at both the trial and appellate levels. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law, where he has taught courses on the law of evidence and currently teaches a seminar on criminal punishment from a US-Canada comparative perspective. He is a co-author of Search and Seizure (Emond, 2021), Digital Privacy: Criminal, Civil and Regulatory Litigation (LexisNexis, 2018), and Sentencing, ninth edition (LexisNexis, 2017), and an author of numerous articles on criminal and constitutional law.

Partner

Nader R. Hasan

Liane Brown is committed to representing individuals who have suffered serious personal injuries and to families who have suffered the loss of a loved one. Her practice concentrates on personal injury law, including accident benefits, motor vehicle collisions, medical malpractice, occupiers’ liability, product liability and wrongful death cases.

Partner

Liane Brown

Partner

Liane Brown

Ben Irantalab enjoys the complexities of personal injury litigation. His practice is exclusively devoted to representing clients with brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, and severe orthopedic injuries. For him, the cases that require special creativity and thinking outside the box are the most gratifying.

Partner

Ben Irantalab

On a larger scale, HSH handles class action and mass tort lawsuits representing groups of people injured by dangerous products, medications, medical devices, and negligent organizations. The HSH team is known for providing caring and attentive service to clients, and is proud of the firm’s excellent reputation within the legal and medical communities.

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“We will continue to strengthen our service proposition and customer experience as a key differentiator, as we build on the momentum we have achieved to date across multiple business lines and territories,” says McLean. “Our im is to continue to grow our market relevance and strengthen our partnerships with our strategic brokers as we expand our leadership position in key sectors. “We will also continue to invest in talent. We are committed to drawing from the broadest pools of talent, and to creating an environment that attracts and retains stellar employees. We recognise the importance of building teams that are diverse, collaborative, and innovative and are dedicated to cultivating a supportive and inclusive workplace culture in which all our employees can thrive.”

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Partner

Ben Irantalab

Partner

Ben Irantalab

Partner

Liane Brown

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