28 Nov HUMBLE BEGINNINGS & THE ROAD TO SUCCESS BY GT INSURANCE CEO, TONY DODD
In 2021, GT Insurance (GT) celebrated its 25th anniversary. To mark this momentous occasion, CEO Tony Dodd shared his incredible journey with the company and the reasons why he believes GT became the success story it is today.
I’ll never forget my first day at GT in 2006. Nick Zissis had recruited Chris Kindred and I to set up the Queensland office. We’d both come from major corporate environments, and we walked into a room that contained a desk and two phones – that’s it.
From that moment we knew what was expected of us in a make-or-break scenario. We needed to leverage our knowledge of the customer base and the market to build awareness of GT as a brand and a trusted business in Queensland.
Essentially, we were following in Nick’s footsteps when he set up GT – working hard in our sphere of influence to develop the strong relationships and rapport that is the foundation of insurance.
I was in my late 20’s and Chris not much older; with the exuberance of youth, we launched into winning client trust for GT. For the first 12 months, it took over our lives – long hours, weekend work – but we thoroughly enjoyed it and, day by day, we saw the results.
Queensland was just one part of GT’s expansion. Nick had the uncanny ability of putting the right people in the right places and opened offices all over the country. He took us all on a journey – to not necessarily be the biggest, but the best and that still resonates through the company today. GT’s goal remains to be regarded as the best in the intermediated insurance market, delivering great solutions to our clients and financial returns to our stakeholders.
I followed Glenn Lambert into the CEO role in early 2020. During this time, none of us had any real idea how our business and our clients would be impacted by the pandemic but, certainly, transport links have never been more important for supply chain stability and to serve communities. I am exceptionally proud of the way our team has responded to the changing working environment due to the pandemic. We’ve all just got on with what we need to do, which speaks to our customer-centric focus.
“Insurance is all about trust. The market may change, along with the industry, but even as our company has evolved, we have retained fairness as our core value.”
In the last 10 years we’ve seen huge progression of professionalism within the transport industry, as well as an increase in regulation, government requirements and the media spotlight. We’ve been there to work through all of that and reward customers working harder to create a better brand for the industry and a safer workplace. I’d like to particularly call out the many mental health initiatives I’ve seen come to the fore; transport is a dangerous profession both on and off the road, a lonely and isolated environment with long hours away from home. Rightly, there has always been a focus on the way a business managed and controlled their risks, but also how they looked after their people. As a result, insurance pricing models have changed to reflect the risk.
The people side of business is very important to me, and I’ve enjoyed watching the GT team evolve. GT’s growth over the last 25 years is because our people have embraced and are supported by a strong culture – one that is customer-centric.
GT has an excellent team and I’m proud of them every day. Their hard work has been recognised by several awards but that wouldn’t have been possible without our market-facing people supported by a strong back office. Everyone is an important cog in the wheel.
We want to remain the best in the intermediated market, not just in transport, but to be the go-to company for commercial motor. To do that, our people must continue to grow and develop, and we look to every opportunity to help them professionally and personally.
If I could sum up GT in one word, I’d say ‘energetic’. Since day one I’ve been struck with the energy of this business and its people. My heartiest congratulations and thanks to everyone who has been part of the first 25 years and we are all looking forward to many, many more.
TONY DODD