Eight women working across life insurance have been selected for a new leadership program designed to strengthen the industry’s pipeline of future leaders.
The Council of Australian Life Insurers (CALI) today named the inaugural recipients of its ReCALIbrate Women in Life Insurance Pathway, delivered in partnership with Future Women.
The women work across advice, claims, underwriting, legal services, and product development, bringing firsthand experience of the decisions that matter to customers.
“The future of life insurance depends on the talent we back today,” CALI CEO Christine Cupitt said.
“ReCALIbrate will give these women the support to take the next step in leadership and put their ideas into practice.”
Ms Cupitt said CALI expected the program to reach and teach beyond those on it.
“When we back women to lead, we back the people they mentor, the teams they build, and the customers they serve.”
Among the recipients is TAL Senior Product Manager Viraj Mody, whose application highlighted the challenge of keeping long-term insurance products relevant as customers’ lives, medical treatments, and working patterns change.
Zurich Technical Underwriting Lead Honor Grant-Hennessy emphasised the need to balance innovation with human judgement.
AIA Senior Legal Counsel Madeleine Merriman hopes to turn her legal experience and advocacy into broader leadership influence that will improve outcomes for customers experiencing vulnerability, including those affected by family and domestic violence.
Each recipient will receive Future Women’s Platinum+ Emerging Leaders program plus a 12-month Future Women membership, including career planning tools, expert-led masterclasses, group mentoring, and networking.
The program also includes a virtual ticket to Future Women’s Leadership Summit in March 2027 and a ticket to CALI’s next conference.
Future Women founder and Managing Director Helen McCabe said the partnership would help experienced women translate expertise into influence.
“These women have already shown what they can do. We want to help them take that further and create opportunities for themselves and others to follow,” Ms McCabe said.
“Having people who challenge your thinking, share their experience, and back your ambition can change the direction of your career.”
The eight recipients are:
- Amity McCarthy, Head of Claims, NobleOak, Sydney.
- Cass Reifenstein, Senior Product Manager, ClearView, Sydney.
- Charlotte Gee, Technical and Capability Manager, TAL, Melbourne.
- Honor Grant-Hennessy, Technical Underwriting Lead, Zurich, Sydney.
- Madeleine Merriman, Senior Legal Counsel, AIA, Brisbane.
- Nga Vu, Financial Adviser, Lautum Life, Melbourne.
- Touk Phanthana, Head of Retention and Customer Experience, Acenda Life, Melbourne.
- Viraj Mody, Senior Product Manager, TAL, Sydney.
CALI doubled ReCALIbrate to ten opportunities in 2026, extending its support from women in financial risk advice to women across life insurance.
The eight leadership program recipients join Aisha Elnour and Kristen Agius, who were previously awarded ReCALIbrate adviser grants to attend the 2026 FAAA Congress.
For more information visit: https://cali.org.au/recalibrate/