Plenary Program
The 2026 plenaries explore the forces reshaping Australia’s economic, insurance and financial landscape, bringing together leading thinkers to share practical insights, new frameworks and evidence-based strategies that will guide actuaries through a period of profound recalibration and opportunity.
Plenary program and speakers
Plenary 1 : Monday 25th May 2026
Multi-Rhythm Leadership for Health and General Insurance in the Great Recalibration
SPEAKERS: SUHIT ANANTULA & JACKI JOHNSON. Explore the tools required to enable leaders to respond to complex challenges in health and general insurance. The sustainability challenge is no longer just financial, it is structural, behavioural and cultural. Suhit Anantula (AI Strategy & Human-Centred Innovation expert) and Jacki Johnson (Non-Executive Director, Community First Bank) explore how leaders can shift between planning, experimentation and sensing to build more resilient, customer-aligned insurance models.
Multi-rhythm leadership is the capability to move deliberately between structured planning, iterative learning and real-time sensing.
Leave with practical tools to lead with confidence amid rising costs, natural disasters, climate volatility and rapidly evolving customer expectations.
Plenary 2 : Monday 25th May 2026
Recalibrating Insurable Risks in GI/Health: Lightning Talks
SPEAKER: ALIX PEARCE. Risk is evolving at an extraordinary pace, well beyond what traditional frameworks can capture. Geopolitical instability, climate volatility, technology and cyber risks and emerging health challenges are redefining what customers need protection against, and what insurers can sustainably cover. Through four focused lightning talks, hear from experts at the forefront of these emerging risk areas. Alix Pearce from the Insurance Council of Australia and other leading voices, will examine the changing nature of insurable risks and what adjustments are needed across products, pricing and risk management. Walk away with concrete strategies for adapting your actuarial practice to meet emerging risk challenges.
Keynote : Tuesday 26th May 2026
Charting Australia's Economic Future: Insights from the Productivity Commission
SPEAKER: DANIELLE WOOD. Australia has the opportunity to reshape its economic trajectory through strategic reform. With productivity growth remaining stubbornly low and impacting living standards, the Government is increasingly turning to its key independent research and advisory body to propose solutions. Danielle Wood, Chair of the Productivity Commission, will present key findings from the Commission's recent inquiries and outline how their recommendations can drive impactful reform. From workforce participation to regulatory efficiency, technology adoption and service delivery, you'll gain insight into the evidence-based strategies needed to lift Australia's productivity and secure our economic future as multiple sectors go through critical transitions. Discover how actuaries can contribute to this reform agenda — whether through better data utilisation, improved risk management or more effective policy design. Leave with a comprehensive understanding of the productivity challenges ahead and the practical pathways for addressing them.
Plenary 3 : Tuesday 26th May 2026
Built to Pivot: Delivering Commercial Value Through Agile Innovation
SPEAKER: KARAN ANAND. Rapidly changing consumer expectations and economic transformation demand actuarial insight that anticipates and then moves ahead of the speed of change — designing solutions rapidly, testing ideas fearlessly and communicating impact clearly to executive teams. How do we bring startup agility into actuarial practice while maintaining rigour? Karan Anand, Chief Strategy Officer & Managing Director at Hnry Australia, shares frameworks from building and scaling innovative businesses. Through real examples of commercial innovation, you'll learn how to run lean experiments, focus resources on what's material and build business cases that resonate with leadership.
Plenary 4 : Tuesday 26th May 2026
Wisdom through change: Lessons from actuaries who've recalibrated
Disruption demands the ability to rethink, reset and act. Hear from accomplished actuaries who have faced defining moments, tough calls, unexpected failures and breakthroughs that reshaped their thinking. They will share the lessons, mindset shifts and practical actions that turned setbacks into stepping stones for their careers. You will leave with stories that can be translated into lessons for today and ways to build resilience and reframe setbacks, to turn challenges into growth.
Plenary 5 : Wednesday 27th May 2026
Recalibrating Insurability: Navigating the Future of Protection
The boundaries of insurability are shifting across life insurance, superannuation and wealth management. Rising claims costs, changing underwriting paradigms and evolving customer expectations are forcing reassessment of what sustainable protection looks like and how it should be delivered to Australians planning for retirement and beyond. Through a series of lightning talks, this solutions-focused session tackles the ongoing question of insurability in both group and retail products. What have we learned from past missteps? How are insurability parameters changing? What adjustments are needed to ensure protection remains viable and valuable for Australians who need it? Industry leaders will deliver focused insights on the forces reshaping insurability and the practical responses required. Leave with actionable strategies to apply in your own practice across life insurance, superannuation and wealth management.
Plenary 6 Wednesday 27th May 2026
Mind, money and meaning: Financial wellbeing through every life stage
Alison Bodinnar
Head of Product and Proposition, Acenda
SPEAKERS: DR FIONA KERR & ALISON BODINNAR. Building true financial wellbeing requires more than strong investment returns. It demands a deeper understanding of human behaviour, mental health and the cognitive factors that influence financial decision-making and retirement confidence.
In this insightful plenary, Dr Fiona Kerr and Alison Bodinnar bring together neuroscience, insurance insights and financial capability frameworks to explore how funds can better support Australians’ financial resilience. The session will highlight evidence-based methods for communicating complex information, improving member confidence and enabling clearer decisions across life stages — ultimately strengthening long-term retirement outcomes.
