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The aggregator has bumped up two general managers to the executive ranks, for the newly formed roles of chief customer officer and chief information officer.
Gingkai Tan, former Connective general manager for marketing, sales and distribution has been named as the group’s new chief customer officer, while Jonathan Meadows, an ex-general manager for technology, has been crowned chief information officer.
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The pair hold a combined 11-year tenure with Connective.
The company expects the new executives will enable greater engagement with its brokers and introduce a feedback loop for its technology solutions.
Mr Tan has reported his new role will allow him more opportunities to collect input and feedback from brokers.
“We’ve always had a member-first approach to everything we do. We’re now sharpening our ability to listen even more which will enable us to deliver innovation based on member feedback,” he said.
The company is working on a platform that gathers broker sentiment in real time, alongside its closed online forum for members and a recruitment drive to add more broker support managers on the ground.
“We’ve also worked hard to understand the broker life cycle and delivering services, insights and support at every stage of a broker’s business to help them succeed,” Mr Tan said.
“I’m very excited about continuing to evolve what we deliver to our members and working closely with Jon to innovate.”
Previously, Mr Tan held senior roles with groups such as insurance provider TAL Life, marketing agency CPM Australia and media giant News Corp.
Mr Meadows meanwhile will work with his team towards a frictionless broker-client experience.
“We’re looking at technology in an even more strategic way than we ever have before. This will involve investing in more resources for brokers to achieve even greater outcomes for their clients,” he said.
Connective will work on its broker software platform, Mercury Nexus, as well as developing its client centre platform to reduce friction in broker processes, Mr Meadows added.
“Increasing efficiency for brokers is paramount to allow them to focus on what’s most important to their business,” he explained.
“Smart use of technology, through artificial intelligence and machine learning being embedded into process will enable brokers to reduce the amount of admin and manual inputting.”
Connective has also prioritised information security, having implemented a broker security training platform.
Prior to working with Connective, Mr Meadows was manager for technology with Maurice Blackburn Lawyers.
Recently, the Supreme Court of Victoria ruled on the long-running lawsuit against Connective from former director Sofianos Tsialtas, outlining that it will order the group to undo its sale of shares to Macquarie, among a suite of other orders.
Mr Tsialtas, who had been a 33.3 per cent shareholder in the aggregator, had claimed he was left in the dark about matters relating to a restructure of the group and $5 million sale of shares to Macquarie. His case also alleged that he was subject to conduct designed to remove him as a shareholder.
Judge Ross Robson found in favour of Mr Tsialtas, noting he believed the company and the directors had been “oppressive to, unfairly prejudicial to, and unfairly discriminatory” against the minority shareholder.
Further, he ruled the Connective directors had breached their duties in carrying out the restructure and sale.
[Related: Judgement released in Connective shareholder court case]
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