Her resignation is effective immediately. In an announcement, APRA said Beverley‑Smith “has resigned to take up an opportunity in a senior position at a regulated entity and therefore leaves APRA with immediate effect.” LPHIS general manager Peter Kohlhagen has been appointed acting executive director while APRA searches for a permanent successor. The regulator said it intends to fill the role “as soon as possible.”
The LPHIS division is responsible for prudential supervision of life insurers, private health insurers, and superannuation entities. With Beverley‑Smith’s departure, Kohlhagen assumes responsibility for day‑to‑day supervision and policy implementation across those sectors. As acting executive director, Kohlhagen will lead supervisory engagement with boards and senior management in life and health insurance and superannuation, including ongoing thematic work and entity‑specific reviews. The interim appointment maintains continuity in APRA’s supervisory approach while recruitment for a permanent executive director is under way. For life and private health insurers, the change in leadership occurs while APRA continues its work on operational resilience, data, and reporting capabilities, and cross‑industry risk, alongside its participation in regional and global standard‑setting forums.
Beverley‑Smith joined APRA in 2023 as executive director with responsibility for superannuation. In 2024, her role was expanded to include life insurance and private health insurance, bringing those sectors under a single executive position. Before joining APRA, she spent more than two decades in financial services and consulting roles in Australia and the UK. At Westpac Group, she served as general manager for the Risk Management Business Division and Risk Transformation Delivery Integration from 2020 to 2023, focusing on risk management and associated change programs.
Prior to that, at Commonwealth Bank, Beverley‑Smith held managing director roles across transformation and delivery, the Better Risk Outcomes Program, and related Royal Commission and post‑Royal Commission reform work, as well as industry solutions for institutional and business banking. Earlier roles at Westpac covered technology optimisation, retail banking capability and performance, transformation and delivery, distribution, and sales and service effectiveness, including responsibility for retail distribution transformation programs. She began her career in professional services and corporate finance roles at Accenture, Capgemini, Johnson & Johnson, and EY in Australia and the UK.
Kohlhagen joined APRA in 2005 and currently serves as executive director (acting) for the LPHIS division. He has previously held senior leadership roles in APRA’s Superannuation, Insurance, and Policy and Advice divisions, providing familiarity with prudential frameworks across multiple regulated sectors. His international regulatory work includes representing APRA at the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) on the Policy Development Committee and the Audit and Risk Committee (ARC), and serving as immediate past chair of the Asian Forum of Insurance Regulators. These positions have involved engagement on international standards, supervisory cooperation, and regional regulatory issues.
Kohlhagen holds bachelor’s degrees in law and economics from the Australian National University and a master’s degree in applied finance from Macquarie University. He is a graduate of the Harvard Business School General Management Program, a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and a Fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia. For insurers and superannuation trustees, his appointment as acting executive director indicates that APRA’s existing supervisory priorities in areas such as governance, risk management, data quality, and member and policyholder outcomes are expected to continue during the transition period.
The leadership change in the LPHIS division sits within APRA’s broader executive and governance framework, which continues to be led by chair John Lonsdale. Lonsdale, appointed chair in October 2022 after serving as deputy chair since 2018, oversees APRA’s overall operations and represents the regulator on the Payments System Board, the Council of Financial Regulators, the Trans‑Tasman Council on Banking Supervision, and the Financial Stability Board’s Standing Committee on Supervisory and Regulatory Cooperation. Deputy chair Margaret Cole has responsibility for the superannuation sector and represents APRA at the International Organisation of Pension Supervisors. Her career includes more than 20 years in private legal practice in financial services litigation, senior roles at the former UK Financial Services Authority, and risk and regulatory positions at PwC.
APRA member Therese McCarthy Hockey is responsible for the banking sector and represents APRA on the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. She joined APRA in 2018 as executive general manager: strategy and chief risk officer and later became executive director of the Banking Division. APRA member Suzanne Smith is responsible for life insurance, general insurance, and private health insurance and represents APRA at the IAIS as chair of its ARC and as a member of its Executive Committee. She joined APRA in 2019 from senior roles across superannuation, life insurance, funds management, asset servicing, and wholesale banking.
APRA’s governance model, set out in its legislation, is based on a full‑time executive group of between three and five members that is responsible and accountable for the authority’s operations and performance. The executive group meets formally each month, and more often when required, to consider policy, supervisory, and strategic matters. It also meets at least weekly with senior management to set and oversee supervisory priorities and organisational issues.
A set of governance committees supports this structure. Among them, the ARC oversees APRA’s risk management operations, financial and performance reporting, internal control systems, and compliance with laws and regulations. The ARC is composed of three external independent members and is attended by APRA’s chief internal auditor, chief risk officer, and a representative of the Australian National Audit Office. The APRA chair and other senior executives may attend by invitation.
For life insurers, private health insurers, and superannuation trustees, Beverley‑Smith’s departure and Kohlhagen’s interim appointment occur within this governance framework. Regulated entities can expect ongoing engagement with APRA on current supervisory work while the regulator progresses recruitment of a permanent executive director for the LPHIS division.
