2026 Speakers

With 7 years experience in the SRC jurisdiction and 15 years personal injury experience, Ally has held a range of roles from Senior Case Manager to Technical Advisor and Team Leader at Suncorp. Ally joined EML in November 2018 as a Team Manager, playing a key role in the transition of claims from Comcare while managing case managers that were accountable for a complex portfolio of claims, including emergency services agencies. As Head of Performance, she is responsible for the performance operations, including monitoring, reporting and direction of portfolio strategies. Ally holds a Cert IV in General Insurance.

Anastasia Coutsouvelis is a Partner and National Insurance Practice Leader at Hall & Wilcox, specialising in personal injury litigation and administrative law. She is widely recognised for her expertise in workers compensation, statutory benefits and common law claims, and is consistently ranked as a leading defendant workers compensation lawyer in Victoria.

Andrew Smith is a Managing Director at Scyne Advisory and the leader of Scynes actuarial and modelling team. Andrew currently serves as the Scheme Actuary to both NT WorkSafe and the NT Motor Accident scheme. Andrew has 35 years of experience in the general insurance industry and has provided both strategic and actuarial advice to nearly all accident compensation schemes and large general insurers across Australia.

Ben Pickles is an experienced injury management and workers’ compensation professional with a clinical background as a Physiotherapist and Occupational Rehabilitation Consultant. After commencing his career in workplace rehabilitation, Ben has spent the past decade working within Workers’ Compensation insurers, developing deep expertise across the Victorian Workers’ Compensation Scheme.

Ben has held a range of leadership roles across multiple insurers, predominantly managing claims teams and operational divisions. In January 2024, he joined CGU in Western Australia as an Injury Management Advisor and was appointed to the role of National Injury Management Lead in September 2024.

Ben is passionate about implementing best‑practice injury management within personal injury insurance schemes and optimising recovery and return‑to‑work outcomes for injured workers. He is strongly focused on balancing the needs of workers and employers, supporting healthy and productive workplaces, and fostering staff cultures that enable people to perform at their best and enjoy their work. Ben also has a keen interest in enhancing business strategy and performance through the intelligent use of analytics, alongside a progressive and reflective approach to leadership.

Chris Kempton is a Corporate Risks partner for Howden in the Northern Territory, with more than a decade of experience across public sector broking, corporate risk management, and claims. He has held roles managing client engagement, operations and oversight for a Territory-based corporate broking businesses, working closely with clients across a wide range of industries. Alongside this, Chris has spent more than ten years in national business development roles, giving him a strong commercial understanding of client acquisition and relationship management that complements his technical insurance knowledge. He is a subject matter expert in NT Workers Compensation legislation, and has also served as an internal loss adjuster, managing residential and commercial claims for a global insurer.

Chris has worked extensively with Indigenous Corporations across a range of sectors, and has represented the industry on panels addressing risk management for bushfire and prescribed burn exposures in northern Australia. Having relocated to Darwin in 2012, he has since become a well-established and active member of the Territory's insurance community, with deep local market knowledge and longstanding client relationships.

Colleen is an Occupational Therapist by trade and has been in the insurance industry as a rehab provider for 20 years.

In her role at Procare as the National Head of CTP she is responsible for day to day account management for all Motor Accident insurers across Australia including TIO in the NT. Innovation, excellence and meaningful relationships are her passions.

Colleen also supports her team internally to provide best practice service delivery for Procare’s customers, to ensure their claimants achieve safe and sustainable return to work and life goals.

Craig Anthony Smyth was appointed as Acting Associate Justice in February 2025. At time of his appointment he was the Executive Director of Legal Services at the Solicitor for the Northern Territory.

Dr Michael Lim graduated from the University of Sydney in 1979. He worked as a GP, medical officer at the Trade Union Medical Centre and a port doctor for the next 9 years. He qualified as an occupational physician in 1988. He worked as a medical specialist in Sydney from 1988 to 2020. He consulted at the Risk Management Office of University of Sydney, medical unit at NSW Fire Brigades, the occupational rehabilitation unit at Sydney Hospital and the OH&S office of the Roads and Traffic Authority. He served as appointed medical examiner for the NSW Motor Accidents Authority and the Workers Compensation Commission. He lived in Darwin from 2021 to 2024 and provided injury management through Northern Occupational Health Services during the period.

Dr Naresh Verma is a dual-qualified practising Occupational Physician and Psychiatrist who provides weekly clinics for the Australian Specialist Hub (ASH). Dr Verma is accredited as a Permanent Impairment Assessor in AMA 4th and 5th edition impairment guidelines and provides psychiatric whole-person impairment ratings.

Grace Cairns is a commercially minded personal injury leader with over 20 years' experience at Allianz. She holds a Masters of Management (Personal Injury), specialising in scheme design, injury and claims management, and strategic management. Grace's extensive corporate and public sector experience across senior claims roles, account management, and strategic leadership affords her a holistic, customer-centric approach to personal injury programs. She brings deep expertise across both workers' compensation and CTP schemes, ensuring effective support and outcomes for clients and injured people.

With a natural ability to balance big-picture thinking with attention to detail, Grace ensures initiatives are both innovative and executable. She has built a reputation for driving better outcomes for clients and stakeholders alike, working closely across industries to implement strategies that not only support recovery but emphasise proactive measures for prevention.

Jaimi-Lee is an experienced litigation solicitor with a strong focus on insurance-related litigation, specifically workers compensation. Jaimi-Lee has practiced extensively in this area in the Northern Territory for over a decade, priding herself on being able to approach matters with a collaborative and solutions focused mindset.

Jaimi-Lees strong foundation in insurance litigation naturally complements her practice in employment and industrial relations law. Her understanding of risk management, liability, and employer obligations across both areas enables her to provide integrated advice that addresses both the legal and operational complexities faced by employers and insurers alike.

Julie Mitchell is the Chief General Manager Personal Injury and Commercial for Allianz Australia and is responsible for leading the distribution and delivery of exceptional insurance products and services to our commercial and personal injury customers, brokers, underwriting agencies and personal injury schemes and claimants. With 30 years of insurance industry experience, Julie has held a number of executive positions including Chief General Manager Personal Injury, Chief General Manager Workers Compensation, General Manager of Victoria Workers Compensation and the NSW Treasury Managed Fund.

Julie is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Directors (GAICD) and is a director on the Corporate Mental Health Alliance (CMHAA). She holds a Bachelor of Health Science (Rehabilitation Counselling) from the University of Sydney and a Graduate Diploma of Safety Science from the University of New South Wales.

Khar Mun KM Tang is a Director at Scyne Advisory and an experienced actuary who has worked with workers compensation and motor injury schemes across Australia, including in the Northern Territory. With expertise spanning reserving, pricing, legislative reform, scheme analytics, and financial reporting, he supports government insurers and regulators to make informed decisions in complex and evolving environments. KM has a particular interest in identifying emerging trends and sharing lessons from across jurisdictions to help schemes enhance performance, sustainability, and claimant outcomes.

With over 30 years of experience in the NT Workers Compensation jurisdiction, Leonora is a distinguished claims management professional known for identifying and implementing strategies that drive optimal outcomes. She has extensive legislative expertise that enables her to navigate complex litigated matters with confidence from disputation and mediation to negotiation and resolution.

Megan Scott is an accredited exercise physiologist and national account manager with Guardian Exercise Rehabilitation. In addition to supporting clients with compensable injury recovery and return to work and life, she has a strong drive to ensure all stakeholders; injured workers, GPs, insurers and employers are provided with optimal RTW outcomes.

Reinis is a senior practitioner in the area of workers compensation providing claims advice to self-insured employers and insurers. With over 20 years of experience in workers compensation in WA, SA and the NT, he provides both strategic advice and representation at the Mediations before NT WorkSafe, in proceedings before the Work Health Court, the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory and the Court of Appeal of the Northern Territory, and training and advice to clients on the implementation and application of legislative change in the Northern Territory.

Shanes areas of practice are workers compensation, work health and safety and allied employment issues. Shane has been listed in Doyles Guide as a leading ReturnToWork and Workers Compensation Lawyer (Defendant) in South Australia.

Shanes experience includes: strategic advice to and representation of employers, insurers, claims agents and self-insurers on the management of their workers compensation portfolios in South Australia and the Northern Territory; training and advice on the implementation and application of legislative changes in South Australia and the Northern Territory.