Southern Cross Travel Insurance has appointed Anita Samu as Chief Underwriting Officer following an executive search conducted by SEQEL Partners.

Established in 1982, Southern Cross Travel Insurance is a leading New Zealand owned trans-Tasman travel insurance provider and a subsidiary of Southern Cross Health Insurance.

Qualified as an actuary, Anita has spent the last twenty years in the insurance and financial services sectors and brings senior leadership experience in product and proposition management, pricing, strategy, and management of risk and analytics. Anita has joined Southern Cross Travel Insurance from IAG where she held the position of Executive Manager Product, leading a team responsible for the end-to-end product lifecycle management across all personal and commercial brands and lines of business. She also acted as the Executive Manager for Marketing for a period.

Starting out her career as an Actuarial Analyst with Vero Insurance, Anita was promoted to the position of Actuarial Manager Regulatory and Capital before taking on a role with Finity Consulting, specialising in actuarial and insurance consulting. Anita then spent three years with Southern Cross Medical Care Society leading Pricing and Analytics and then Planning and Decision Support. Anita later moved to the Bank of New Zealand in a Head of Data Insights role.

Anita holds a Bachelor of Science and Commerce and qualified as a Fellow of the New Zealand Society of Actuaries and the Institute of Actuaries of Australia. She commenced her role on Monday 12 February 2024.