Natasha Gale takes the reins at ARAG Services as local team set firmly in place to reach huge growth potential

Sydney, NSW/ Dusseldorf, Germany: ARAG Services Australia today announced that Natasha Gale will take on the role of Chief Executive Officer of ARAG Services Australia, effective 1st July, 2021. This comes as the local startup, but one of the leading legal insurers worldwide, puts in place its global strategy of building local teams.

“I’m excited for the challenge of growing a relatively unknown product in Australia. In Europe Legal Expense Insurance (LEI) is purchased like we buy health insurance here, that makes the local growth potential for us huge. I look forward to continuing our work with our broker partners and local stakeholders. These relationships, along with the continued commitment to this market by head office in Germany and the hiring of strong talent into the team, will be key to driving our local growth.” – Natasha Gale

“Natasha has done an excellent job in the last 12 months and I am excited to have her lead our Australian team,” comments Renko Dirksen, Speaker of the Management Board of ARAG SE. “We pursue a long-term strategy for our international entities where we believe in setting up local leadership teams in each country. Launching in Australia in 2019, under the stewardship of Antoinette, the business has now established itself to the point where we are scaled up to appoint an Australian CEO”, he adds.

Current CEO Antoinette von Wendt will move into the role of Chief Operating Officer.

“Natasha has quickly built momentum in the business. Her 20+ years’ experience in finance and insurance as well as being a specialist in transformational change has set her up as the perfect leader to take ARAG the next step in Australia.” – said Antoinette von Wendt, COO

With Australia being the 2nd most litigious country behind the US*, ARAG’s expansion here was an obvious move for the German based family-owned enterprise, already operating in 19 countries. Its strategy has always been to set up totally local based teams. Launching in Australia in 2019 under the stewardship of Antoinette von Wendt, the business has now established itself to the point where the global strategy of employing local leadership teams now makes sense for the business.

Both Natasha Gale and Antoinette von Wendt are available for interview.

About ARAG

ARAG is the largest family-owned enterprise in the German insurance industry and has positioned itself as a versatile quality insurer. Besides legal insurance, it offers its customers in Germany its unique needs-based products and services covering casualty and property insurance and health insurance. Active in 19 countries – including the US, Canada and Australia – ARAG is also represented by international branches, subsidiaries and shareholdings in numerous international markets in which it holds a leading position as a provider of legal insurance and legal services. With more than 4,400 employees, the Group generates revenue and premium income totaling around 1.9 billion EUR.

ARAG Services Australia Pty Ltd launched in 2019 as an underwriting agency and part of the ARAG Group, a global leader in legal expense insurance. Our Legal Expense Insurances are underwritten by HDI Global Specialty SE – Australia.
Our goal is to expand in Before-the-Event legal expense insurance portfolios. We provide an innovative and comprehensive range of legal expense insurance for businesses and private individuals and families.

More at: www.arag.com

*Insurance World 07/09/2016