Stuart Blake
Executive Chair
Stuart has over 30 years’ experience in Financial Services. As the Co-Founder and Managing Director of the The Bridge International, he leads the Strategy and Corporate Development practice working with Boards, CEOs and executive teams across numerous industries as a trusted advisor and transformational leader.
He Chairs CXO2 and is a director for The Bridge to Good. Prior to The Bridge he was a Chief Executive at Wesfarmers and IAG, At Wesfarmers, Stuart was Chief Executive of Coles Insurance - the fastest international insurance start-up from 200,000 to 400,000 customers at the time. At IAG Australia’s largest insurer, he was accountable for brands including NRMA and RACV.
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Stuart has led start-ups and large mature businesses with revenue in excess of $4b, market shares of over 40%, and delivered significant growth and profit outcomes through market leading products, pricing, customer and staff advocacy.
Growing Businesses
At Wesfarmers, Australia's largest conglomerate with 200,000 employees, Stuart was Chief Executive of Coles Insurance - the fastest international insurance start-up from 200,000 to 400,000 customers. This Insurtech disruptor was ground-breaking and is the most successful non-traditional insurance brand in Australia
Boards and Chairs
Stuart has also completed an Executive Leadership program at Harvard Business school and has been a board member on numerous Financial Services businesses. He Chairs an Australian owned fintech operating in North America.
Leading business and cultural transformation
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Stuart has transformed large scale operations with over 2,000 employees, been accountable for 4 start-ups totalling $1b in revenue and has extensive P&L, pricing and underwriting, distribution, strategy, risk and compliance, and distribution experience including calls centres, BPO, digital, and branches and agencies.
Stuart specialises in cultural and business transformation, turnarounds, start-ups and low-cost value-based disruptive business models, as well as evolving large incumbent organisations by driving purpose-driven cultures that ned to compete harder in an increasingly competitive environment.
