From demutualisation to Midnight Health, Honeysuckle Health and the ASX100, Mark Fitzgibbon has ridden the waves with the private health insurer.
After almost 22 years in the job Mark Fitzgibbon is standing down as CEO and managing director of the nib Group, one of three big C-suite announcements this week (here and here).
Mr Fitzgibbon joined nib in October 2002 and took the health fund through demutualisation to its listing as an ASX100 company. He is also currently a director of Private Healthcare Australia, the peak body for private health insurers.
Nib is currently in disagreement with private hospital operator St Vincent’s, which is set to cut ties with the insurer by 3 October after contract negotiations broke down.
Ed Close, currently CEO of nib’s core Australian Residents Health Insurance business, has been named as Mr Fitzgibbon’s successor and will take up the position before the end of the year. Mr Close has been CEO of ARHI since 2020, after joining the company in 2017 as head of marketing and products.
He is currently director of Midnight Health – a health tech nib has a controlling interest in – and Honeysuckle Health, nib’s joint venture with global healthcare company Cigna.
“Mark has been a tremendous leader at nib and has had an enormous impact on the Australian health sector, making an extraordinary contribution over more than two decades,” said nib Group chair, David Gordon.
“For the last 22 years, Mark has been at the helm of a company that has undergone a remarkable transformation, and that transformation is a great credit to his leadership.”
That transformation took nib from “modest beginnings” in 1952, to providing private health insurance to more than 1.6 million Australian and New Zealand residents, including more than 200,000 international students and workers.
It is now Australia’s third-largest travel insurer and helps around 40,000 participants in the country’s disability sector.
Mr Gordon said Mr Close’s appointment was “a testament to Mark’s leadership, and team development”.
“Ed has deep insights into the way nib can continue to help shape the future of healthcare in Australia and he has the support of nib’s senior executive team and the board to achieve that. We look forward to working with him,” he said.
Mr Fitzgibbon welcomed Mr Close’s appointment.
“I am very pleased for Ed. He is an outstanding leader and will continue to be supported by nib’s world-class Executive team. I look forward to working with him during the transition period,” said Mr Fitzgibbon.
nib Group will announce its FY24 profit result on 26 August.