Melissa Cantell has been appointed chief executive at Fidelity Life, replacing Nadine Tereora who left in May 2020

Cantell has strong executive leadership experience running commercial operations across a range of industries. She joins Fidelity from IAG NZ where she held the role of Chief Operating Officer, and prior to that was the Executive General Manager Transformation.

She has accumulated a broad range of experiences over her career, from mergers and acquisitions strategy and business transformations to senior general management roles with Fonterra and Coca-Cola Amatil. "She loves building great customer, adviser and people experiences, especially in times of change, and is passionate about the role insurance plays in the New Zealand community," Fidelity chief distribution officer and joint acting CEO Adrian Riminton says in an email to advisers.

"We’re making great progress with our customer-focused transformation and remain firmly focused on achieving our 2025 goals and delivering sustainable growth. Melissa will look to build on that momentum, even as we continue to deal with Covid-19 and the economic uncertainty ahead," he says.

"The year ahead is really important for you and us: evolving our customer and adviser experiences, helping you transition to the new licensing regime, successfully completing our digital transformation project and moving to brand new offices are just some of the challenges awaiting us in 2021."

Until Melissa joins Fidelity CFO Simon Pennington and Adrian Riminton  will continue as joint acting CEOs.

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