Our People

As CEO New Zealand, Nick is proud to lead a passionate team of 900 people with the goal of making New Zealand one of the healthiest and most protected nations in the world.

With 28 years of experience in the financial services sector, Nick has held a diverse range of senior leadership roles in New Zealand. Nick was most recently CEO of Sovereign for two years. Prior to this, Nick was the Executive General Manager of Wealth & Insurance at ASB Bank Limited.  He has 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.

Kristy is responsible for leading AIA and Sovereign’s key Legal, Corporate Governance and Regulatory Affairs functions.

Over the past 16 years Kristy has successfully held a number of senior executive and corporate legal roles across Australasia, United Kingdom and the Middle East, the last 10 of which have been in the insurance industry.

She is dual-qualified to practice law both in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

As a former international hockey player, Kristy is passionate about making a difference and helping Kiwis live healthy, active lives.

Kristy is a strong governance leader and sits on a number of boards, including the New Zealand Hockey Board and the Financial Services Council.

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 Customer Officer, Sharron provides vision and leadership to enable AIA and Sovereign 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.

As Chief Product and Vitality Officer, Len is responsible for the design and pricing of AIA and Sovereign'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 and Sovereign 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.

Shane leads the technology function for AIA and Sovereign.

Shane has over 30 years of experience in technology and senior management roles in New Zealand and Australia, and has been accountable for some of the largest technology projects undertaken in New Zealand.  Shane was previously Chief Information Officer - Paymark, Chief Information Officer – Xtra Limited, Chief Information Officer – Retail Division, Telecom NZ, Transformation Director with Melbourne IT in Melbourne and Programme Director for a $120+m Data Centre transformation programme.

In his spare time, Shane enjoys spending time with this wife and two kids and is training for a marathon mountain bike adventure.  He is also the founder of www.driverlessplanet.com and an advocate for the benefits of rapidly adopting this world-changing technology

As Chief Financial Officer, Linda and her team are responsible for financial and management oversight, which covers many things that allow AIA and Sovereign 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.