Youi CMO takes back the CEO role

Australian insurance player, Youi Insurance, has promoted its group chief marketing officer and founding local chief back to the top job following the departure of its CEO last week.

Hugo Schrueder takes over the role from Frank Costigan, who had been with Youi since 2016 and assumed the helm in July 2017. Costigan is joining QBE as its executive general manager of retail and partnerships in November, a role that reflects a series of executive changes at the insurance giant.

Schrueder has been group marketing chief since January 2013, but was in fact the inaugural CEO for Youi upon its launch locally in 2008 and held the role until 2012.

“As Youi’s founding CEO, Hugo has been instrumental in establishing Youi as a successful challenger insurance brand in Australia,” a spokesperson told CMO.

Schreuder said he was looking forward to leading the business once more in a next phase of growth.

“It has been a privilege to be part of Youi’s progression over the past 10 years, and to see the business grow from a small start up to over 1400 employees, one million customer policies, and the hundreds of partners and suppliers we have today,” he said. “I’m extremely grateful and humbled to once again lead this exciting business into a new phase of growth.”

Youi is now actively looking for a new CMO and posted an advertisement on its website based out of Brisbane. On the to-do is managing the marketing team, leading development, delivery and implementation of strategic marketing programs, customer and martech platforms and data reporting ownership and being a “champion for change”.

QBE, meanwhile, has made a number of executive changes this year following the appointment of Vivek Bhatia as its CEO in January.

Others include the permanent appointment of Chris Killourhy as CFO; interim EGM of retail and partnerships, Eleanor Debelle, as chief HR officer; Renee Roberts as chief operating officer; and Fiona Hayes-St Clair as chief strategy officer.

Check out more of the recent CMO appointments in Australia:

• The Coffee Club owner appoints its first chief brand officer
• Mondelez gets new chocolate marketing chief
• Google appoints new A/NZ managing director
• Avis Budget Group appoints new head of marketing
• FlexCareers appoints inaugural head of growth and marketing
• ADMA brings on former Jurlique brand chief as new CEO
• Carlton and United Breweries marketer Richard Oppy takes global role

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