NSW president is spreading the word

After 20 years participating in AILA events, late last year Angus Kench stepped into an official role with the association.

He has always been passionate about the benefits of joining AILA, and now is highly enthusiastic about building the brand, expanding membership and seminar attendances, and raising AILA’s profile.

“It’s time to spread the word,” the AILA NSW president told Resolve.

Since joining the NSW committee about 18 months ago, and now stepping into the branch presidency, his energy is infectious.

The NSW committee convened a “think tank” that engendered greater enthusiasm for growth and a desire to “stretch out into the wider insurance community”. It identified that “content is king” and acknowledged the twilight seminars’ critical role in the branch’s success.

The think tank was also an opportunity to congratulate the dedicated team of more than 60 volunteers who assist the branch each year.

The branch hosts about 25 events a year - its core education component, which includes the twilight series; feature events on specific topics; and social networking events, including those for Young Professionals and the luminaries dinner.

This year’s feature events have included seminars focusing on drones, terrorism, and expert evidence; and co-branded seminars, for example, a joint event with the Underwriting Agencies Council.

Angus says the luminaries dinner gives YP “rising stars” exposure to high-profile c-suite executives in the industry and the executives can “test the pulse” of the younger insurance generation.

He is a firm believer in the power of mentoring and says his father, Colin, now 82, was his greatest teacher.

Angus graduated from UTS with a Bachelor of Business and joined a food and beverage company. He worked his way up to general manager, but was then seeking a change.

Colin, a lawyer, was consulting to insurers and wanted help with the management side of his business.

Angus joined the business to share his expertise. “We agreed, if we’re still talking to each other after six months, we’ll keep at it,” he told Resolve.

Fifteen years later they were still working together, having grown the Aspeck Group to include loss adjusting, investigations and claims management.

When he started in the insurance industry, Angus sought more industry networking and educational opportunities. That led him to a twilight seminar in 1992, and he’s been attending AILA events ever since.

In 2010, the father-and-son team sold their business to a national loss adjusting firm and Angus worked there for 4 ½ years, first running the liability and investigations section, then as general manager of the specialist side of the business.

Last year he was again seeking a change and in early 2015 joined Liberty International Underwriters as Assistant Vice President, Casualty Claims - Asia Pacific. Angus loves the new role and the LIU ethos, which is “very integrated, a culture of sharing experiences, not classic silos”.

Outside work, Angus spends most weekends driving “dad’s taxi”. He is married to Jane, with four children ranging in ages from 16 to four. It is a constant shuttle between rugby, rowing, netball, soccer, swimming and ballet.

That leaves Angus little time for his own fitness regime, but he says “chasing the kids around” keeps him healthy and he loves watching their sports. He’s also partial to watching the NSW Waratahs rugby team in action.

He is a keen sailor and was game to take on Bass Strait in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in 1994. He hasn’t done it again, but possibly would if the opportunity were presented. The memories are mixed - the joy of the achievement (after a few post-race rums); tempered by the horror of a huge southerly in the Strait.

Family is Angus’s top priority. His most frightening moment ever was when his only son, Jackson, contracted bacterial meningitis, aged only 18 months. Fortunately Jackson pulled through and now pulls on the rugby boots regularly.

So it was an odd quirk that saw Angus contract viral meningitis in 2000 – “my own Y2K bug”. Ten days in hospital was followed by a long, slow recovery.

But today he’s fighting fit and fearless about taking AILA NSW to the next level.

Photo: The Kench family, with their pet dog Oreo