Southern Cross Travel Insurance (SCTI) and Fidelity Life have announced changes to their executive teams, with SCTI appointing a chief people officer and Fidelity Life promoting an internal candidate to a combined chief people and strategy officer role.
SCTI has named Anne-Lise Blackburn (pictured left) as chief people officer, effective March 16. In the role, she will oversee people, culture, and capability across the organisation, including leadership development, employee engagement, and the alignment of people initiatives with SCTI’s strategic and commercial objectives. Blackburn has worked with SCTI over the past year, during which she has been involved in shaping the insurer’s people and capability strategy and supporting the business through change and growth. Her appointment moves that work into a permanent executive position with responsibility for the company’s broader workforce settings.
Blackburn will work with SCTI’s executive team and people leaders on workforce planning, capability development, and employee experience across the travel insurance business. The role links people-related programmes with operational and strategic priorities, including how SCTI organises and develops its staff to meet business needs. SCTI chief executive officer Carole Tokody said the appointment underlines the importance of the people function to the organisation. “Anne-Lise brings deep experience, strong commercial insight, and a people-first approach that aligns closely with our values and ambitions. We’re delighted to confirm her appointment and the leadership she will bring to our people and culture agenda,” Tokody said. Blackburn’s experience includes senior people roles across insurance, technology, and professional services. SCTI is positioning the role to support its ongoing focus on organisational capability and workforce planning in the travel insurance segment.
Fidelity Life has promoted James Fleet (pictured right) to chief people and strategy officer (CPSO), an internal appointment that brings together people, culture, communications, and strategy within a single executive portfolio. Fleet joins the executive leadership team from his previous role as head of strategy and performance. In that role, Fleet has been responsible for shaping and delivering Fidelity Life’s strategy, including performance frameworks and long-term priorities.
The CPSO position extends those responsibilities by combining strategy with the insurer’s people and culture functions. “Bringing strategy, people, and performance together is critical to how we deliver our next phase of growth. James brings a strong and rare combination of people capability, leadership experience, and strategic, analytical thinking. He has already been leading the work to shape our strategy and performance frameworks, and has a proven ability to turn complex data into clear insights for executive and board decision making. I’m delighted to formally welcome him to the executive team,” Fidelity Life chief executive officer Campbell Mitchell said
Fleet joined Fidelity Life in 2022 as a programme manager, later serving as executive manager – Office of the CEO and then head of strategy and performance. Before joining the life insurer, he held people and change roles at organisations including Auckland Transport and IAG, where his positions included people and culture consultant, senior business partner, and programme manager. In 2025, Fleet was named ANZIIF New Zealand Young Insurance Professional of the Year. The CPSO role replaces the former chief people and communities officer position, following the departure of Carly Orr in February 2026. Fidelity Life describes the change as part of its succession planning and its approach to developing internal talent for senior roles.
