Delta Insurance Group has kicked off a major leadership reshuffle, appointing an interim Group CEO and a new New Zealand managing director as long‑serving chief executive Kent Chaplin exits to pursue governance and advisory roles. Teresa Pollard (pictured) is the interim CEO, taking the reins from Chaplin, who stepped down earlier this month.
In a statement, the board has credited Chaplin with overseeing a period of “significant growth and success across the Asia Pacific” and helping build Delta into what it described as an “award‑winning, leading independent MGA Group”.
Pollard now steps into the hot seat at a pivotal moment for the rapidly expanding underwriting agency, with her mandate framed around transformation, scalability and making the insurer “even easier to trade with”.
“We have a great opportunity ahead to improve our platforms, simplify workflows and enhance the broker experience, which will help Delta scale confidently for the future,” she said.
Chaplin’s departure marks the end of a high‑growth chapter. Under his leadership, Delta deepened its foothold in New Zealand, Australia and Singapore, expanded specialty offerings for SMEs and secured fresh investment to fuel regional expansion. In recent years the group attracted new capital, broadened its accident and health and specialty offerings in Australia and repeatedly secured “Excellent” performance assessments from AM Best – milestones that helped cement its reputation with both capacity providers and brokers.
Running in parallel with the Group‑level reshuffle is a significant leadership move in Delta’s home market.
Dinesh Murali, currently chief underwriting officer for Delta Insurance New Zealand, has been named the country’s new managing director, succeeding Andrew Beaton. Murali will report directly to Pollard in her interim Group CEO role.
Pollard said Murali’s elevation as a “natural progression” and framed it as a continuity play for the firm’s partners and insureds.
“Murali’s appointment was a natural progression for the business and a strong outcome for Delta’s broker partners and customers,” she said. “Dinesh brings a powerful combination of product expertise, underwriting knowledge, industry profile, and strong broker relationships.”
Murali said he was focused on building on the existing platform.
Beaton, who hands over the New Zealand MD role to Murali, is shifting into a newly created APAC role as head of property for the Group.
His move is a direct nod to the success of Delta’s New Zealand property book and its perceived exportability across the wider region.
“Andrew has been instrumental in developing Delta’s property portfolio in New Zealand, which now has NZ$7.5b in property protected,” Pollard said.
