Asteron Leadership Team
Grant Willis
Chief Executive Officer – Asteron Life
Grant Willis has over 30 years experience in the insurance industry, both Life and General Insurance. Grant’s previous role was the Executive General Manager/Head of Life for Asteron Life, having been employed by Suncorp in New Zealand since June 2011, in a range of leadership positions, including CFO of Asteron Life.
Prior to this, Grant held a range of leadership roles within finance, at AIG, ASB Bank, Sovereign and Colonial Fiji. Grant is a Director of the New Zealand Financial Services Council (FSC) and is member of the FSC Life Chief Executives Forum.
Grant holds a Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) from the University of Auckland, was admitted as a Chartered Accountant (New Zealand) in 1988 and has been a member of the NZ Institute of Directors since 2015.
Catherine Henshall
Appointed Actuary
Catherine has been a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries since 2005 and possesses extensive experience as a senior lead Actuary with over 20 years in the life insurance industry. This includes more than 15 years of leadership in team management. She has held the technical lead role for a global Solvency II implementation and an Australasian implementation of IFRS17. Catherine served as the People and Technical Actuarial lead at Resolution Life Australasia and held the position of Appointed Actuary for Resolution Life New Zealand.
Claire Sutton
Executive Manager – Life Portfolio & New Business
Claire has extensive leadership and governance experience across New Zealand General Insurance, Life Insurance, Wealth Management and Not for Profit and has a deep passion for listening to customers and improving their experiences.
Currently the Executive Manager – Life Portfolio and New Business, Claire is accountable for the overall Asteron Life portfolio performance, including product, pricing, underwriting and customer onboarding across Asteron Life distribution channels. Prior to this role, Claire held executive roles overseas and within New Zealand including Customer Insights and Culture, Sales & Service Operations, Customer Advocacy, Organisational Change and Human Resources and Communications.
Kathie Tutty
Chief Underwriter
Kathie Tutty was appointed Chief Underwriter at Asteron Life, in May 2024. Kathie has nearly 30 years of experience in the life insurance industry, in senior underwriting and management roles at AIA and Partners Life, bringing extensive leadership and technical expertise, and a passion and commitment to deliver the best outcomes for customers.
As Chief Underwriter, Kathie is accountable for Asteron Life’s underwriting performance and strategy, underwriting rules engine and design, and Q,A.
Kristy Redfern
Chief Risk Officer & Executive Manager Legal
Kristy Redfern has over 20 years of experience in a variety of leadership, law, executive and governance roles. Kristy has worked within the financial services sector, sport, insurance and energy sectors across Australasia, United Kingdom and the Middle East. Kristy most recently led AIA’s Legal team. She is qualified to practice law in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom and is a Chartered member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the New Zealand Institute of Directors.
Kristy has also served as a Director on the Boards of Hockey New Zealand and the Financial Services Council New Zealand.
Scott Jensen
Acting Executive Manager, Claims and Customer Solutions
Scott has over 17 years experience in claims and customer services within the financial service sector both in Australia and New Zealand, having held various customer service roles as well as senior claims management and leadership roles at Suncorp Insurance Australia, Zurich Financial Services Australia and Asteron Life New Zealand. Scott was most recently the Asteron Life Claims Team Manager- Northern Region.
Stefan Azzopardi
Chief Financial Officer (Commencing March 2025)
Stefan is an accomplished senior executive spanning CEO, CFO and CRO roles, with deep domestic and international experience in the financial services, health and insurance sectors. Prior to joining Asteron Life, Stefan held various senior executive roles, including Chief Executive Officer of Donaldson Brown Insurance Brokers, Chief Finance and Risk Officer of Southern Cross Health Society, Head of Finance for Westpac New Zealand and Group Finance Officer at Southern Cross Group and a range of senior leadership roles at American Express across markets in the Asia Pacific region which included Japan and Australia.
Tony Arthur
Executive Manager – Life Distribution
Tony has over 20 years’ experience in executive leadership within the New Zealand financial services sector in both the banking and insurance markets, joining Asteron Life in March 2024. In his current role as Executive Manager – Life Distribution, Tony leads the teams responsible for distribution of insurance products through Asteron Life’s Financial Adviser, Affinity and Group risk channels.
Prior to Asteron Life, Tony was Chief Commercial Officer at Partners Life where he was responsible for the distribution, marketing, and product functions and before this, National Sales Director – Retail Banking with the Bank of New Zealand.