We recently had a fitting AGM, farewelling outgoing Board Chair, Tony Cleland from FMG in his hometown of Cromwell. It was also a chance for the Board and Senior Management to show our appreciation to Tony for his unwavering dedication and support of the Mutual.
Succession for an incoming Chair is not always seamless, but for me it has been as this is a step the Board decided on nine months prior; and as a result, I have been provided with a great runway into the role.
I feel very privileged to be leading FMG, we have a strong Board in place with good experience and future leadership in the mix, with different backgrounds enabling a variety of views to be brought to the table. The Executive Leadership Team has evolved under the stewardship of our CEO Adam Heath. We have an impressive team in place, with good depth throughout the organisation, highlighted by both internal promotions and external recruitment.
The Board is committed to keeping FMG relevant for our Members. We are focused on our core Purpose to create ‘a better deal for rural New Zealand’ and we are embedding new ways of working to ensure that happens, along with responding to increasing regulatory requirements. It is the reason the Mutual was formed and is one of the key reasons why I wanted to be involved, to ensure we continue to do what is right for all Members and clients. To enable this takes a strong team and our culture is one to be very proud of. Our people go to work every day wanting to do the right thing. It is a great organisation, and one which I intend to ensure remains that way as it grows and strengthens.
FMG remains in great shape, in part thanks to the strong relationships our team have with our reinsurers which were highlighted with the recent adverse weather events. We are unique in terms of both our strong support of and presence within provincial and rural New Zealand. This is a key strength of FMG. It is a hard one not to like along with our obvious geographical spread. I look forward to exciting times ahead and to working with our wonderful FMG team.
Ngā mihi,
Sarah von Dadelszen
FMG Board Chair
