Meet the Team

Ralph Stewart was CEO of AXA Insurance New Zealand for 9 years and more recently the CEO of ACC. He has thirty years of experience in New Zealand's financial services sector, including 8 years as General Manager of Marketing & Strategy at TOWER Insurance. Ralph holds a Masters in Business Administration from Manchester University in England.

Dame Diana Crossan is the former Retirement Commissioner of New Zealand, a position she held for ten years. Prior to this, she was a Senior Executive with AMP and Wellington Free Ambulance. Her past directorships include Mighty River Power, and NZ Post.

Martin Hawes is one of New Zealand’s leading financial commentators and advisers. He has authored multiple books on personal financial planning including best-selling titles "Twenty Good Summers" and "Family Trusts". He is also a financial columnist.

Cameron has been an economist for 20 years. For over 11 years he was the Chief Economist at ANZ. He has also worked as an economist at the National Bank, Treasury and Statistics New Zealand.

Kevin has recently retired from Forsyth Barr after 15 years leading Investment Strategy and Funds Management. Previously Kevin spent 11 years with Deutsche Bank in the Global markets team. He holds a BCA degree in Accounting and Commercial Law from Victoria University In Wellington.

John Strahl is a former Partner at international law firm, DLA Phillips Fox and was the principal legal adviser to Tower Insurance for over 20 years, specialising in demutualisation and capital raising.

James is CEO of Oriens Capital and has worked in the financial services industry for more than 20 years. Central to James’ career was 14 years with leading investment advisory business, Craigs Investment Partners Limited from 2001 to 2015.

Chelsea, with the support of her team, oversees marketing, sales and product development and is deeply passionate about providing kiwi retirees with a worry-free retirement income.

Ellen oversees the Finance team, her detailed orientated attitude and high ethical standards is exactly what you want in a CFO.

Paul Wharakura has over 20 years’ experience in the Financial Services industry across the UK and New Zealand. Paul has joined Lifetime from BNP Paribas Securities Services where he spent 16 years working in various operational roles including spending the last five years as Operations Manager. Paul is responsible for the management of the operations team.

Casey and her team are all about ensuring our customers get paid their regular income and have exceptional experiences whenever they ring or email with a query.

Paul spent 10 years running a large New Zealand equities portfolio for ACC. He has 25 years of experience in the fund management industry, managing wholesale client portfolios. Paul holds a BBS degree in Finance and Accounting from Massey University of Palmerston North, and is a member of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.

A Fellow of the New Zealand Society of Actuaries and a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia. Charles has provided advice in NZ, UK and Asia on long-term insurance business products and liabilities alongside business risk and value. He has acted as statutory Appointed Actuary for a number of NZ insurers. Corporate roles include AMP, CIGNA International and TOWER.