Insurance Council of Australia executive director and chief executive officer Kerrie Kelly is leaving the organisation to taken up a new role as director general of the Association of British Insurers.
Insurance Council chairmen Terry Towell announced the move, saying Kelly would be leaving the Australian organisation on 22 January, 2010. She will take up her British appointment ion February.
Towell said Kelly had made a substantial contributition to the general insurance industry in Australia.
"In particular, Kelly has refocused the organisation ensuring it is an effective and well respected contributor to good public policy in Australia," Towell said.
He said the Insurance council had initiated a search for a successor to Kelly.
She is a lawyer who has held senior executive positions in the private and public sectors with considerable experience working in the fields of banking and finance and transport.
She has led the Insurance Council of Australia since 2006 and was previously chief executive of the Financial Planning Association in Australia.
She currently holds several non-executive directorships in Australia including HSBC Bank Australia the Financial Literacy Advisory Board the Financial Ombudsman Service and the Finance Industry Council of Australia.
Association of British Insurers chairman Archie Kane said Kelly is a proven and energetic leader whose success across the commercial legal and public sectors will ensure the ABI has a strong and powerful voice at its helm at a crucial time for the insurance industry.
"Along with her leadership experience Kelly will bring a unique perspective to the public policy debate in the UK and EU and her lobbying expertise will ensure the insurance voice is heard in Westminster and Brussels," Kane said.
"Kelly has a proven record of representing the insurance industry at the very highest levels and brings a strong network of international contacts which will prove particularly valuable as we navigate major areas of global regulation and supervision.
Kelly replaces Stephen Haddrill who represented ABI for the past four and a half .