Our Leaders

Board Members

Nicola Wakefield Evans AM (Chair)

Apart from her position as Chair of MetLife Australia, Nicola is a highly respected and experienced Non-Executive Director of significant ASX listed, government and private companies. Nicola is an M&A and equity capital markets lawyer and spent nearly 30 years at King & Wood Mallesons (20 years as a partner) practising law and in several senior management roles. She has extensive experience in Asia where she advised a number of Asian and Australian companies in her legal career and where she has experience across Asia in her non-executive director career.

She has held directorships and chairmanships across banking, energy, real estate, logistics and health insurance businesses as well as not-for-profit organisations. In 2023, Nicola was awarded as a member of the Order of Australia for services to business, law and diversity.

Nicola is passionate about diversity and is the Chairman of the 30% Club (Australia). Nicola was selected in 2009 as a member of Advance Asia 50 – a group of the most influential Australians living & working in Asia and was selected in 2011 as a member of Advance Global 50 – a group of leading Australian women working outside Australia.  The Australian Financial Review named Nicola in 2013 as one of the inaugural 100 Women of Influence.

Nicola joined the Board of MetLife Australia as a Non Executive Director of MetLife Australia in August 2019 and was recently appointed as Chair in February 2024.

Richard Nunn

See profile above.

Brian Bissaker

Brian has over 30 years of experience in financial services having held senior positions as the CEO of Colonial First State and Virgin Money Australia and a Group Executive of the Bank of Queensland. He chairs Monte Sant Angelo Mercy College and Year 13 Pty Ltd and is currently also a Director of Citigroup Pty Limited. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Brian was appointed as a non-executive director of MetLife Australia in August 2016 and currently chairs the MetLife Insurance Limited Board Audit Committee.

Des Thomas

Des Thomas is Senior Vice-President and Chief Actuary, Asia with MetLife, responsible for leading the firm’s Asian actuarial functions. He has previously held senior actuarial, finance, and risk leadership positions with MetLife, including Vice-President and Treasurer, Asia and Vice-President and Chief Risk Officer, MetLife Japan. He has also held senior Asian finance leadership roles with AIG, Swiss Re, Towers Perrin, and Eagle Star Insurance. He holds a B.Sc. (Hons.) degree in mathematics from Bristol University and is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries (UK). He was appointed a board member of MetLife Australia in September 2018.

Warren Lee

Warren has extensive experience in the international financial services industry.  Warren's two most recent executive positions were Chief Executive Officer of the Victorian Funds Management Corporation and Chief Executive Officer, Australia and New Zealand for AXA Asia Pacific Holdings Limited.  Warren is currently a non-executive director of Tower Limited, MyState Limited and Avenue Hold Limited.  He is a member of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand. He was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of MetLife Australia in August 2019 and currently chairs the MetLife Insurance Limited Board Risk Committee.

Susan Roberts

Susan is an experienced Non-Executive Director and CEO with over 30 years in leadership, strategy development and implementation in the financial services sector, including insurance, investment management, superannuation; and the health sector. Susan has a highly technical actuarial and investment background, with experience in risk management, business transformation and stakeholder management. She is a fellow of the Actuaries Institute of Australia and holds a bachelor’s degree in economics (actuarial science) from Macquarie University. Susan was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of MetLife Australia in February 2022.

Siew Choo Soh 

Siew Choo is the Chief Information Officer for Asia at MetLife and was appointed as a Board member of MetLife Australia in May 2022. She is responsible for the end-to-end technology delivery partnering with the business to build leading digital experiences for customers. Prior to MetLife, Siew Choo was the Head of Technology for Consumer Banking & Big Data/AI at DBS Bank. She was responsible for driving the digital transformation and AI-driven agenda adopting truly agile ways of working and cloud native architecture.

Siew Choo has over two decades of experience in senior technology leadership roles in the Corporate & Investment Bank, working for JPMorgan across Singapore, Tokyo and Hong Kong prior to joining DBS.

She is also an avid advocate of Women in Technology, driving many innovative initiatives in the areas of mentorship, allyship, recruitment and retention amongst others. She was named as an honoree in the Women Leaders in AI award by IBM in 2019 and 2021. She was also recognised as an awardee in the inaugural Singapore 100 Women in Tech in 2020, organised by IMDA/Singapore Computer Society of Singapore. In addition, Siew Choo was conferred with the Distinguished Computing Alumni Service Award, from her alma mater, National University of Singapore (NUS) School of Computing, for bringing honour to NUS in her chosen endeavours in her career.

Julie Lander

Julie has over 40 years of experience in superannuation, manufacturing and professional services industries. Most recently she held the position of Chief Executive Officer at CareSuper for over 20 years and concurrently held directorships at the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees, Fund Executives Association Limited and the Business Council of Co-operatives & Mutuals.

She holds a Graduate Diploma in Organisational Leadership from the Melbourne Business School and a Bachelor of Business from Deakin University (with a Dean’s Award); she gained fellowship of the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees, was a 40 year member of the Australian Human Resources Institute and is also a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She was appointed as an Independent Non Executive Director of MetLife Australia in February 2024.