Our People

As CEO for AIA New Zealand, Nick is proud to lead a passionate team with the dream of making New Zealand one of the healthiest and best protected nations in the world.

With 30 years of experience in the financial services sector, Nick has held a diverse range of senior leadership roles in New Zealand, including CEO at Sovereign prior to the acquisition by AIA and Executive General Manager of Wealth & Insurance at ASB Bank Limited. Earlier in his career Nick held a variety of key leadership roles within ASB including General Manager Corporate Banking and Working Capital Services, General Manager Business Banking and General Manager of Business Banking and Retail Specialist Services.

Born and raised in Auckland, New Zealand, Nick is married with two daughters. Outside of work, he enjoys keeping active, is a keen cyclist and gym goer and has competed in triathlons and Ironman events.

As Chief Strategy Officer, Angela oversees all the functions of the CEO Office; strategy, communications, brand, and sponsorship (including corporate social responsibility).

Angela has more than 25 years' financial markets experience leading teams and developing strategies. Before taking on the role as Chief Strategy Officer, Angela held roles as Chief People & Culture Officer at Sovereign, Managing Principal of ASB Securities (where she played an active role in developing and establishing Whakaterehia, ASB's Maori Leadership programme), and General Manager of Aegis.

Of Máori descent, Angela is Te Rarawa and Ngati Tūwharetoa.

As Chief Customer Officer, Sharron provides vision and leadership to enable AIA to continue to improve its customer service, from partnership and online marketing to underwriting and the management of existing customers, including Claims and Rehabilitation.

With more than 20 years' experience in New Zealand's life insurance industry, Sharron has held a number of senior leadership roles across HR, operations and customer experience functions. Before taking on the role as Chief Customer Officer at Sovereign, Sharron held roles as Chief Officer People & Community, GM Customer Experience, GM HR and Head of Customer Services.

Sharron is a senior associate of the Australia & New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance. Of Máori-pakeha descent, Sharron's iwi is Maniapoto and Te Āti Awa.

Jackie leads our award-winning Legal, Corporate Governance and Regulatory Affairs teams, who are passionate about AIA’s operating philosophy of ‘doing the right thing, in the right way’.

Jackie joined AIA NZ in 2017 and was instrumental in the acquisition and integration of the Sovereign business and the portfolio transfer of the ex-AIA International Ltd NZ Branch business into AIA NZ.

Prior to joining AIA, Jackie spent over ten years as Principal Legal Counsel at Barclays Bank / Absa Bank in South Africa and the UAE, and held a number of legal roles in London with a dual-qualification to practice law both in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Jackie is married with three children, and spends much of her spare time on the side-lines of sports fields, including as coach of her daughter’s hockey team.

As Chief Partnership Insurance Officer, Sam’s main focus is to deepen AIA’s relationships with our distribution partners and improve our service delivery, so we can provide faster, quality outcomes for our customers.

Sam has extensive experience in the financial services sector.  Prior to joining AIA New Zealand in May 2019, Sam was the Regional Head of IFA and High Net Worth at AIA Group Office in Hong Kong where he was responsible for leading AIA Group’s overall High Net Worth, Brokerage and IFA growth strategy across 18 markets throughout Asia Pacific.  Prior to this role, Sam worked out of the AIA Australia Office as Head of Retail Distribution and National Manager Strategic Partnerships. Before joining AIA, Sam worked with Aviva/MLC where he held a number of senior roles in corporate strategy, merger and acquisition, distribution and licensee development.

Sam holds a Bachelor of Business and a Masters of Business Administration both from RMIT University in Melbourne

As Chief Product and Vitality Officer, Len is responsible for the design and pricing of AIA’s risk and health products, as well as AIA Vitality. 

As a qualified actuary and former consultant, Len's experience spans across the financial services industry. Prior to joining Sovereign, Len worked as an actuary at MLC, managing the company's asset-liability risk. He also worked as a consulting actuary at Deloitte, where he led numerous Australian and international engagements, business development campaigns, and research projects.

Len is passionate about the role that insurance plays in securing people’s futures and helping to restore people's health.

As Chief Risk Officer, Doune leads her team to develop and maintain the governance frameworks that allow AIA to effectively manage risks.

Doune has over 30 years' industry experience working in a variety of actuarial roles including product pricing, product rationalisation and financial reporting.

Doune is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries Australia, Fellow of the NZ Society of Actuaries and has a BA (Hons) from Massey University.

As Chief Financial Officer, Linda and her team are responsible for financial and management oversight, which covers many things that allows AIA to do what we do for our customers.

Linda joined Sovereign in 2004 and has over 30 years' industry experience working in the UK and New Zealand in a variety of roles including pricing, financial reporting, project management and investments.

Linda is a Fellow of Institute of Actuaries of UK (FIA), Fellow of NZ Society of Actuaries (FNZSA), Fellow of Finsia (F Fin) and has a BSc from Auckland University.

As Chief Technology Officer, Marc’s role is to lead our technology teams and grow a culture of technical innovation and creativity, while delivering a stable platform to ensure AIA NZ can deliver our products and services and enable our strategic objectives.

Originally from the UK, Marc brings extensive experience in IT operations, software, and infrastructure delivery across organisations in London, New York, Auckland, and Singapore, most recently from Standard Chartered Bank Singapore, where he held the role of Global Head of Technology Operations.

Marc is married to a Kiwi and has four kids, and in his spare time he enjoys golfing, mountain biking, and tinkering with small software development projects at home. So far, he’s managed to get two of his daughters interested in coding. 

As part of the AIA team, Marc is pleased to be able to connect his love for technology and health and wellbeing.