LinkedIn:

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

Website:

chu.com.au

Email:

info@chu.com.au

Phone:

1300 361 263

Number of employees:

240

Year founded:

1978

Headquarters:

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

“It is a priority for us to continue to tap the unmet needs of our clients and grow with them to understand how to service them properly and give them what they need in this ever-changing landscape”

Vivianne Gauci, HomeEquity Bank

CHU Underwriting Agencies (CHU) is Australia’s first and leading strata underwriting agency, with a commitment to leading the way in the industry and a focus on artificial intelligence and technology, diversity and inclusion and environmental sustainability. CHU is part of the Steadfast Group, a top 200 ASX-listed company with $7bn in total billings. Steadfast is the largest general insurance broker network and group of underwriting agencies in Australasia. CHU’s policies are underwritten by QBE Insurance, one of Australia’s most secure insurance companies. CHU is one of Australia’s largest and most respected insurance underwriting agencies. As the market leader, the company protects over 100,000 residential strata properties across Australia, with over half trillion dollars in insured value. It has received multiple awards, including the Underwriting Agency of the Year Award in 2017, 2018, 2021 and 2022; Insurance Business Underwriting Agency of the Year in 2022 and Gold Award winner 2016–18 and 2022; and the 2019 ANZIIF Award for Excellence in Workplace Diversity and Inclusion.

Brigid Rauwhero

Claims Manager

John Hogan

Head of Claims

Meg Dempsey

Operations Manager

Steve Tchepak

National Underwriting Manager

David Gow

Head of Claims

Anirudh Kakulapati

Chief Customer Officer

Kristy Pownall

Head of People and Communications

James Makin

Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer

Kimberley Jonsson

Chief Executive Officer

Leadership

Micah Ponto serves as senior vice president, head of financial services for Arch Insurance, a position he’s held since 2021. He joined Arch Insurance as an assistant vice president in the large commercial department in 2009. His prior roles at Arch Insurance included senior vice president, national manager of the large commercial department, regional vice president – central region, head of employment practices liability and head of the real estate investment trust group. Ponto previously worked at The Hartford in their financial products division, where he focused on management liability risk in both financial institutions and large commercial D&O. He has a bachelor’s degree in finance, investments and banking from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Senior Vice President, Executive Assurance, Financial Services

Micah Ponto

Chris Christon is a senior vice president at Arch Insurance where he oversees the large commercial group and transactional risk portfolio nationally. Christon has nearly 20 years of experience specializing in directors and officers, employment practices and fiduciary liability. Prior to joining Arch in 2009, Christon held various roles at Hartford Financial Products. He has a BA in English from Emory University and a JD from Brooklyn Law School.

Senior Vice President, Executive Assurance, Large Commercial Group

Chris Christon

Stephen Swartley is the chief underwriting officer and senior vice president of executive assurance at Arch Insurance. He has over 20 years of experience in management liability and product line expertise in directors and officers liability, employment practices liability, fiduciary liability, fidelity, kidnap and ransom and cyber liability. Prior to joining Arch Insurance in June 2009, he served in a variety of underwriting and managerial positions in management liability at The Hartford and as an underwriter at Reliance National. Swartley holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Pittsburgh.

Chief Underwriting Officer and Senior Vice President, Executive Assurance

Stephen Swartley

Steve Tchepak became the national underwriting manager at CHU in June 2019. He has over 13 years of experience in strata management and strata insurance. He has held various positions, including commercial underwriter, team leader and NSW and ACT branch manager.

National Underwriting Manager

Steve Tchepak

David Gow has over 30 years’ 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

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

Kristy Pownall has operated at director level for over 13 years in the position of head of people and culture/HR director. She has experience across multiple regions, covering Australia, APAC, the UK and Europe, across a range of sectors, including professional services, media, technology and insurance. Pownall is a member of the Australian Human Resources Institute.

Head of People and Communications

Kristy Pownall

James Makin is the CFO and COO at CHU. He has been with the company for six 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

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

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Bio

“Our long-term vision is to reimagine our customer and partner journeys to deliver a simple, efficient and highly pleasing experience supported by empowered teams and enabled with leading digital capabilities”

Vivianne Gauci, HomeEquity Bank

Management Liability Arch Insurance’s professional underwriting team specializes in providing management liability insurance to a broad range of industries. Cyber Arch Insurance’s experienced underwriting team takes a forward-looking approach to writing network security, privacy and media liability. Professional Liability Arch Insurance’s professional liability team is positioned to offer liability insurance solutions for lawyers, architects and engineers; design-build professionals, contractors and consultants; franchisors, insurance agents and brokers; real estate agents and brokers; property managers; registered investment advisors; travel agents and tour operators; and a host of other miscellaneous professional classes.

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Overall service level

Strata Cover

Product innovation

Product range

Turnaround time – claims

BDM support

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