Geoff Summerhayes is chair of Zurich Australia and New Zealand, chair of Heartland Bank Australia, senior advisor at Pollination Group, chair of Beyond Zero Emissions and chairs AICD’s Climate Governance Initiative.
Summerhayes is renowned for his leadership in raising awareness of climate change financial risk in Australia and globally. He was formerly an executive board member of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), and one of his most influential roles was inaugural chair of the Council of Financial Regulators working group on climate change, whose members include APRA, ASIC, RBA and Treasury.
Internationally, Summerhayes was a member of the executive committee of the global standard setting body for insurance, the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) and chaired its audit and risk committee. He chaired the UN environment program’s Sustainable Insurance Forum (SIF), and represented IAIS and SIF at the Central Banks and Supervisors Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS).
Prior to his appointment at APRA, Summerhayes was chief executive of Suncorp Life. He has held a number of senior executive roles at National Australia Bank, was chief executive of retail investment at MLC and started his career in commercial property development at Lend Lease.
