Joining The Risk Board in February 2021, Leigh Mellor brings to the firm 25 years of achievement in financial services, spanning wholesale and retail banking as well as insurance.
Leigh’s diversified career across business transformation, product development, sales and marketing includes significant contributions to rapidly developing businesses, typified by his most recent role as Chief Sales and Marketing Officer for the pet insurance arm of Hollard Insurance, PetSure. As the Exco member primarily accountable for growth, as well as product development for half of his tenure, Leigh oversaw a doubling in size of the portfolio to half-a-million policies over a six year period, cementing PetSure’s market leadership as Australia’s largest pet insurer and Underwriting Management Agency for over 20 pet insurance brands. Importantly, this strategic commercial performance was delivered with a strong mix of positive customer service outcomes balanced with regulatory risk management.
This role was preceded by a seven-year career at National Australia Bank including a five-year stint in 2007 as Director of Diversified Financial Institutions and Banks, managing relationships and credit risk with regional and mutual banks, credit unions and building societies and assisting several of these clients to navigate the Global Financial Crisis. A further highlight of this role was the origination and negotiation of a 2009 deal to combine NAB’s ATM network with Cuscal’s RediATM network. Leigh also held roles as Head of Communication and Head of Domestic Payments at NAB, reflecting his versatility across leadership of marketing and product management functions.
From 2003 to 2007, Leigh was Head of Integris Pty Ltd, Cuscal’s securitization business. Building the business to a $2.5B portfolio of credit-union-originated home loan assets over this period demanded significant focus on risk appetite settings, oversight of retail mortgage origination, assessment of loan eligibility and management of operational risk related to loan processing and Lender’s Mortgage Insurance. Integris delivered strong asset performance and achieved upgraded risk audit ratings during this period of high growth.
Leigh established his financial services career with management roles in marketing and retail service delivery during a five year career at Queensland Teachers’ Credit Union, including development of 40-seat retail banking contact centre from scratch. His early career included a number of years at advertising and public relations agencies.