Meet the team: Jenny Vaitsas

The superannuation industry has seen a huge amount of merger activity over the past couple of years, and it’s likely there will be more to come. We sat down with Jenny Vaitsas, TAL’s newly appointed Head of Major Accounts, to understand how her team supports her superannuation fund partners through these transition periods. We also find out what her team will be focusing on over the next 12 months. 

How long have you worked at TAL?

Throughout my career, I’ve always worked in operational roles across underwriting, admin and life insurance, and actually started my life insurance career at Prudential, which through merger became CommInsure. From there I held several operational and product positions with a number of large insurers before joining the TAL family.

I joined TAL in 2015 in the role of Client Relationship Manager and have worked in an evolving partnerships team for almost 10 years. I became a Senior Client Manager in 2018. And after acting in the role since December last year, my new role is Head of Major Accounts, effective this month. 

What do you enjoy most about your role? 

Relationships are at the core of my role, and it’s something I am passionate about. Working together, building trust, advocating for and supporting my partners to develop and implement their insurance roadmaps.  My team and I are unique in that we work with several superannuation funds instead of just one. This makes our roles varied, fast paced and often complex, which I thrive on. Working with a number of trustees gives us exposure to what different organisations are doing and the different ways in which people approach challenges. I find this helps me add value to my partners because I’m able to draw on diverse ways of thinking about an issue or solution. I also love that my team members are as passionate about group insurance as I am.

During my time at TAL, I’ve been given the opportunity to work on a lot of large-scale projects including tenders, onboarding partners, mergers and acquisitions. This experience, combined with the opportunity to learn from experts across the business, enables me to provide guidance to my partners and help them address their challenges. It has also given me the knowledge and capability to step up into my new role as Head of Major Accounts.

How do you assist your superannuation fund partners?

A significant aspect of my team's work involves supporting and working closely with trustees to address their questions and assist them in developing solutions. We don’t always know the answers to everything straight away, but we’re able to work with the experts across the business so we can deliver the right response. We partner with our funds and leverage TAL’s core sustainability principles to help deliver the best outcomes for their members and their employer partners. I love being able to assist my funds in this way and also advocating for them within TAL.

What makes TAL stand out from other insurers?

TAL is Australia’s largest life insurer, and our scale means we’re able to offer our superannuation fund partners so much more. Our experience enables us to operate as true strategic partners, sharing the learnings and insights from the experiences across our portfolio and support them through challenges they are facing.

For example, we have a lot of experience dealing with mergers, which has been a big source of activity over the past few years. We’re also quicker at onboarding and we’re a lot more efficient when it comes to digesting and implementing regulatory changes. Our new digital platform TAL Connect is setting the standard for the rest of the industry.

What will you and your team be focusing on for the next 12 months?

We’re looking forward to rolling out some exciting projects over the next 12-18 months, working with partners to uplift their experience and supporting them through ongoing regulatory change and mergers.

My team and I will be working closely with our fund partners to help them understand the impacts of prudential standard CPS 230 (Operational Risk Management) and implement it within their business before it takes effect on 1 July 2025.

Assistance is being provided to funds as they transition to the TAL Connect digital platform and evaluate whether their current insurance design is suitable for their members. On top of that we have our health and wellbeing offering, Health for Life and Health Scout, continued support for mergers and acquisitions, and also delivering continued education and training for fund teams through our Insurance Academy to uplift their understanding of insurance and challenges facing their members.