HCF Board

Annette King
FAICD, FIAA, BEcon (Actuarial)
Chair, Non-Executive Director

Ms King was elected Chair of the Board of HCF in November 2025, having been a Non-Executive Director since November 2022. Ms King is also Chair of the Nomination Committee.

Ms King is an experienced non-executive director with extensive experience across financial services and technology in Asia-Pacific, serving member organisations, large private companies (ASX100 equivalent), rapidly-growing technology companies and not-for-profit organisations. She has chaired committees for audit, risk and compliance, people and culture, nominations and has been a member of technology & data, investment, insurance and other committees. She has prior experience as a CEO of a Significant Financial Institution. Her passion is serving businesses with sustainable growth through differentiated client and member experience and digital/technology/data enablement. She is a qualified actuary, and formerly served as the President and Chair of the Actuaries Institute.

Ms King has over 30 years’ experience in financial services across Asia-Pacific. Prior to becoming a non-executive director, she had a successful track record as a CEO, CFO and Chief Marketing Officer and VP of Client Centricity of significant financial institutions, as well as being a founder/entrepreneur. Ms King has served large, highly-regulated multi-national companies (Swiss Re, AXA, Manulife, Mercer, MLC Superannuation) and innovative fintech companies (AFG, FNZ, Galileo Platforms). Her focus is on business growth through differentiated client and member experience, organisational culture and innovation via data, digital and technology enablement.

Her career commenced in a mutual, member-owned organisation and she has served on member organisations in the non-for-profit sector in Australia and Singapore, as well as being a (fiduciary) trustee director on superannuation funds with 2 million members and $200 billion in assets. In addition to responsibilities in Australia and New Zealand, Ms King has lived and worked for 14 years in Asia in both executive and non-executive director roles.

She currently serves on the boards of TAL Dai-ichi Life Australia Pty Ltd, TAL Life Limited, TAL Life Insurance Services Limited, Australian Finance Group (ASX:AFG) and U Ethical Investors. Her previous boards include Swiss Re, HCF Life Insurance Company Pty Ltd, MLC Superannuation, FNZ wealth management technology and Chair of Galileo Platforms. She is a member of the AICD’s APRA Forum, a member of the Actuaries Institute Public Policy Council Committee and a member of Chief Executive Women. She was President of the Life Insurance Association of Singapore, served on the Singapore Actuarial Society and the Hong Kong Advisory Committee for the AICD.

She is a Fellow of the Actuaries Institute, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and has a Bachelor of Economics from Macquarie University, majoring in actuarial science.

Terry T. Agnew
MBA, MSc, BE (Hons), FAICD, FAIM, SF Fin
Non-Executive Director

Mr Agnew was appointed to the Board of HCF in October 2019. Mr Agnew is Chair of the People, Culture & Remuneration Committee and a member of the Nomination Committee. Mr Agnew joined the Board of HCF Life in December 2024 and is a member of the Risk and Compliance Committee.

He is an experienced director, chair and CEO with a strong track record and involvement with successful and growing organisations. The strategic differentiation and sustainable success of these organisations is built on a foundation of brand, culture, safety and innovation. He has worked across a range of industries including insurance, financial services, travel and tourism, education, disability and care and membership organisations.

Mr Agnew is a Councillor for the WA Division of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He is also a Director of RAA Insurance, MDA National Insurance, MDA National, Deputy Chair of Infrastructure WA, and was a Founding Member of CEOs for Gender Equity. He is a member of the Curtin University Council and also the Chair of the Kalgoorlie Campus Council which includes the Western Australian School of Mines. Additionally, he Chairs the Expert Advisory Panel of the AAA Road Safety Research Program and is on the Advisory Board of Arvela (formerly Future Green Solutions). He is the former Chair of Flip Insurance Pty Ltd (2021 – 2025) and the former Chair of the Business Council of Cooperatives and Mutuals (2017 – 2023).

Mr Agnew is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management, Senior Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australia (Finsia) and Member of the Australian Institute of Engineers.

Mr Agnew was educated in Adelaide, Perth and Boston and his qualifications include MBA, M.Sc., B.E. (Hons) and the Harvard AMP. He is an Honorary Doctor of Curtin University.

John M. Barrington
BComm, LLB, GDAFI, FAICD
Non-Executive Director

Mr Barrington was appointed to the Board of HCF in November 2014 and as a Director of the Corporate Trustee of the HCF Research Foundation in April 2017. Mr Barrington is Chair of the HCF Risk, Compliance and Sustainability Committee and a member of the Audit & Finance Committee, the Nomination Committee and the Investment Committee. He was Acting Managing Director of HCF between March and July 2017. He was appointed to the Board of HCF Life Insurance Company Pty Limited in February 2019, is Chair of the HCF Life Risk & Compliance Committee and a member of the HCF Life Audit & Finance Committee.

Mr Barrington was the Principal of Barrington Legal, a law firm located in Sydney, with more than 40 years in practice specialising in insurance law, superannuation, banking and finance. He was formerly General Counsel for the National Mutual Life Association, Chief Executive of CUNA Mutual Limited and Mutual Community Limited. Mr Barrington served as Chair of Intrinsic Value Investment Limited and Albert Court Aged Care Edgecliff. Until January 2017, he was Chair of Meridian Lawyers and a Director of Guild Group Holdings.

Mr Barrington has extensive experience (both strategically and operationally) in financial services and private health insurance, in particular relating to financial oversight, regulatory requirements, policy frameworks and governance. He has previously served as a Council Member of the Private Health Insurance Administration Council (PHIAC).

Mr Barrington brings a unique perspective given his background of advising clients, working in organisations subject to complex regulatory requirements and providing regulatory oversight in a senior governance role within a regulatory body.

Michael J. Bassingthwaighte
AM,FAICD
Non-Executive Director

Mr Bassingthwaighte was appointed to the Board of HCF in October 2019 and is a member of the Nomination Committee and the People, Culture and Remuneration Committee. He was appointed as Chair of the Investment Committee in September 2023.

Mr Bassingthwaighte spent his entire executive career in private health insurance, having retired in mid 2018 after 36 years as CEO of Peoplecare Health Limited.

Mr Bassingthwaighte co-founded the IT company HAMB Systems Limited (HAMBS) and developed it as a collaborative company to provide technology services for 24 health insurers. He was Chair of HAMBS from inception, for 25 years until 2018.

Mr Bassingthwaighte also co-founded the Australian Health Service Alliance (AHSA) that provides hospital and medical service contracting, data management, and clinical advisory services for 28 health insurers and was also a significant contributor to health policy development through senior voluntary roles with the industry body Members Health Funds Alliance (MHFA).

Mr Bassingthwaighte is currently a Director of the Illawarra Retirement Trust (IRT), a large not for profit retirement village, aged care and home care service provider with centres in Sydney, Canberra, the Sunshine Coast Qld and the Illawarra and South Coast of NSW.

Previous Director appointments include Coordinare; the Primary Health Network for South Eastern NSW, Defence Health, Members Own Health Funds, The Illawarra Business Chamber, Illawarra Health & Medical Research Institute (IHMRI), Australian Health Services Research Institute (AHSRI), NSW Health Funds Association, and was an industry advisor to PHIAC (the PHI regulator prior to the transfer to APRA).

Mr Bassingthwaighte is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, an Honorary Fellow of the University of Wollongong and was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2013 for his ‘significant service to the private health insurance industry and the community of the Illawarra Region’.

Mark Compton AM
BSc, MBA, FAICD, FCHSM, FAIM, FRS (NSW)
Non-Executive Director

Mr Compton was appointed to the Board of HCF in June 2024 and as a Director of the Corporate Trustee of the HCF Research Foundation in July 2024. Mr Compton is a member of the HCF Risk, Compliance and Sustainability Committee and HCF Nomination Committee. 

Mr Compton is an experienced Non-executive Director, Chairman and CEO, predominantly in healthcare and life sciences organisations in both listed and unlisted companies and in the not-for-profit sector. Through his diverse experiences in executive and non-executive roles, Mr Compton has developed a deep and lasting passion for organisations driven by their values and those that have a strong, positive and constructive corporate culture.

He has previously served as Chairman of the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research.  He was a Non-executive Director of; Macquarie University Hospital, Independent Practitioner Network Limited and the Australian Private Hospitals Association.

Mr Compton was appointed as a Non-executive Director (from October 2014) and Chairman (from November 2015) of Sonic Healthcare Limited.  He also chairs the Advisory Board of Communio Limited (NZ) and is Chairman of St Luke’s Care, a not-for-profit health and aged care organisation (from November 2017).

Mr Compton’s main community interest is the Order of St John/St John Ambulance, with which he has had 50 years of voluntary service. In June 2019 he was appointed Lord Prior of the worldwide Order and Chairman of St John International. Before his appointment as Lord Prior, Mr Compton was the national Chairman and Chancellor of the Order of St John in Australia.

Mr Compton is an Adjunct Professor in Healthcare Leadership at Macquarie Business School, Macquarie University, Sydney. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a Fellow of the Australasian College of Health Services Management, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management and a Fellow of the Royal Society.

He was awarded the Centenary Medal of the Commonwealth of Australia for services to the community and was appointed a Member in the Order of Australia (AM) in January 2010 for services to health, hospitals, medical research and St John Ambulance. He was appointed as Knight in the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem (Order of St John) in 2004 and promoted to Bailiff Grand Cross of the Order of St John in 2017. He has also been awarded the Queens Platinum Jubilee Medal and the Coronation Medal at the coronation of His Majesty King Charles III.

Amanda Hagan
GAICD, SIA, BSc (Business Information Technology)
Non-Executive Director

Ms Hagan was appointed to the Board of HCF in February 2026. Ms Hagan is a member of the Risk, Compliance & Sustainability Committee and Nomination Committee.

Ms Hagan has over 30 years’ experience across financial services, healthcare, energy and technology, with CEO and executive level experience leading consumer businesses across private health insurance and retail energy. Half of her experience has been in mutual organisations, with the other half across privately owned and ASX listed companies.

Ms Hagan has deep experience in Private Health Insurance, having served as CEO of Healthcare at Australian Unity for over 11 years where she was responsible for both the retail and corporate private health insurance businesses, along with the dental, optical, allied health and hospital in the home businesses.

Ms Hagan has also served as a Group Executive of Technology/Chief Technology Officer at two APRA regulated organisations, responsible for cyber security, architecture, technology operations, digital and data.

Ms Hagan has previously served on the boards of the Australian Health Service Alliance, Ramsay Home Health, Members Own Health Funds, Private Healthcare Australia and 1st Group (ASX: 1ST).

Ms Hagan has over 30 years of experience working for highly regulated companies, particularly focused in businesses that operate in highly competitive retail markets, developing deep experience in brand, marketing, customer experience, channel optimisation, innovation and the use of technology and data to provide competitive edge.

Having run large, complex, consumer-facing organisations for over 20 years, Ms Hagan also has deep experience in call centre and back-office operations, as well as organisational risk management and consumer regulation.

In the energy sector, as the executive responsible for the Retail Energy business, Ms Hagan oversaw the development of a customer information system, customer portal and app, as well as data layer and call centre technology for the fourth largest energy retailer in the Australian market, leading the business through a period of significant transformation across its technology, people and processes.

Throughout her career, Amanda has led multiple transformation programs—leveraging technology and data—to underpin growth strategies for consumer facing businesses in highly contested and regulated markets.

Ms Hagan has a Bachelor of Science in Business Information Technology from University of NSW where she was a Co-op Scholar.

Catherine M. Hallinan
BA (Hons), MBA, SF Fin, FAICD
Non-Executive Director

Ms Hallinan joined the Board of HCF Life in June 2011, was appointed Chair in October 2019 and is also a member of the Audit & Finance Committee and the Risk & Compliance Committee. She was appointed to the Board of HCF in February 2019 and is a member of the Audit & Finance Committee, the Risk, Compliance & Sustainability Committee, the Nomination Committee and the Investment Committee.

Ms Hallinan has extensive expertise across the financial services industry, spanning insurance, investments, banking, strategy and planning and mergers and acquisitions.

She is currently a director of Insurance Manufacturers Australia and SCOR Global Life Australia. She has previously served as a non-executive director for Flip Insurance Pty Ltd (2021 – 2025), St.Catherine’s Aged Care Services, Lawcover Insurance Pty Limited and as Chair of Gateway Bank. Her former executive roles included General Manager, Wealth Strategy at St.George Bank and General Manager, Investment Management & Life at Zurich Australia.

Robin Low
FCA, FAICD, BCom
Non-Executive Director

Ms Low was appointed to the Board of HCF in February 2026. Ms Low is Chair of the HCF Audit & Finance Committee and a member of the HCF Risk, Compliance & Sustainability Committee and HCF Nomination Committee. Ms Low was appointed to the Board of HCF Life Insurance Company Pty Ltd in February 2026. Ms Low is Chair of the Audit & Finance Committee and a member of the Risk & Compliance Committee.

Ms Low is an experienced non-executive director with extensive experience on the boards of ASX listed companies, Federal government entities and not-for-profit companies. Ms Low was with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) for over 27 years where she was a partner in audit and risk, specialising in financial services, in particular audit, risk and mergers & acquisitions of insurance companies. In her career with PwC, Ms Low worked with leading financial institutions in Australia and the UK.

Since leaving PwC over twelve years ago, she has served on six ASX listed boards, two Federal government entities and a number of not-for-profit organisations. Ms Low is drawn to organisations where she has a strong alignment to their purpose and also believes in their sustainable growth prospects.

Ms Low’s current ASX listed company boards roles are with Appen Limited and Articore Limited. She has previously served on the boards of ASX listed companies: AUB Group Limited, IPH Limited, Marley Spoon SE and CSG Limited. She has chaired the audit and risk committee for all these organisations. She has also been a member of a number of listed company people and culture committees and currently chairs a listed company people and culture committee.

Ms Low’s other board appointments have included Australian Reinsurance Pool Corporation and Auditing and Assurance Standards Board, where she was deputy chair. In the not-for-profit sector her current appointments are to Guide Dogs NSW/ACT, the Sax Institute and Yalari. Her past not-for-profit appointments include Sydney Medical School Foundation, Public Education Foundation, Primary Ethics and YWCA. She currently serves on the University of New South Wales audit committee. She is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) Reporting Committee and is an AICD mentor.

Ms Low is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand and a Fellow of the AICD. She has a Bachelor of Commerce from University of New South Wales. She is a former registered company auditor and was approved to audit life and general insurance companies.

Karen Price
MBBS, PhD, FRACGP
Non-Executive Director

Adj Professor Price was appointed to the Board of HCF in November 2023 and is a member of the Nomination Committee and the People, Culture & Remuneration Committee. She was appointed Chair of the Corporate Trustee of the HCF Research Foundation in November 2025, having been a Director since November 2023.

Professor Price, PhD Monash, is the past President of the RACGP (2020-2022). A clinician of thirty years including successful small business ownership, medical director of a corporate practice and now working in a multi doctor practice with team based allied health, and non GP medical specialists.

She sat on the national board of the RACGP during 2020-2022 which is a 540,000+ member led not for profit organisation. This included serving the national finance and risk committee, the people culture and remunerations committee and the federal elections and advocacy committee.

Prior to this Professor Price was the deputy Chair of the Victorian Council and RACGP Victorian Chair of the Women in General Practice. These roles involved high level strategic decision making, while managing risk and effective delivery of member focused outcomes. There was also a considerable role in National media including public and private meetings with the Prime Minister, federal and state health Ministers, and federal and state health department staff to deliver health system outcomes for the Australian people. She participated in the ten-year primary health care plan, the Medicare task force and the inaugural ten-year cancer roundtable for improving patient focused outcomes.

In addition to this Professor Price is involved in teaching and research at Monash University and has a PhD on GP collaborative practices. She will be serving in a voluntary capacity on the inaugural Innovation and Enterprise advisory board at the Faculty of Medicine at Melbourne University.

Professor Price has international experience in medical education and will have an ongoing interest in developing strategic educational outputs for the World Organisation of Family Doctors. She won the inaugural leadership and health advocacy award from the Australian Federation of Medical Women in 2021, a Family Medicine research award in 2016 and a medical student teaching award in 2011. Her abiding interest remains the power of human collaboration and potential, her family and values-based living.

She has recently been elected as a non-executive director of the World Organisation of Family Doctors, which is a Global Family Doctors and not for profit organisation, promoting equitable health care around the world and is serving as Chair on the AMA Victorian GP policy advisory committee.

Lorraine Thomas
University of Portsmouth (UK)
H.N.D
Geography, 01/1998
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer

Ms Thomas was appointed as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of HCF in July 2025, bringing with her more than a decade of deep experience within the organisation. Having joined HCF in early 2015, she has held various roles, including Chief Officer, Product & Innovation, Chief Officer, Product & Diversified Business and Chief Operating Officer.

Ms Thomas serves as a Director of HCF Life, Flip Insurance Pty Ltd (a wholly owned subsidiary of HCF life Insurance Company Ptd Ltd), and the Corporate Trustee of The HCF Research Foundation.

Ms Thomas has over 20 years of experience in innovative, customer-centric product delivery and business strategy.  She has played a key role in driving organisational transformation, leading high-performing teams to achieve outstanding results, and improving member outcomes through innovation and service excellence. Responsible for Product Innovation, HCF Life and HCF’s International Business she has also led key Strategic initiatives supporting HCF’s 2025 Strategy.

Known for her inclusive leadership style and long-term vision, Lorraine remains committed to putting members at the heart of everything HCF does and building a healthier future for Australians by expanding access to affordable, high-quality care.

Ms Thomas’ appointment reflects HCF’s ongoing commitment to leadership continuity, member-first values, and long-term sustainability.

As CEO & MD, Ms Thomas will focus on delivering HCF’s 2030 strategy, investing in digital capability, strengthening partnerships across the health system, and continuing to advocate for fairness in private health insurance.

Ms Thomas is also a Director of Private Healthcare Australia.