Zurich Financial Services Australia has appointed Deepak Budhiraja as chief information officer, following the departure of Michael McKeown in August.
Zurich began the hunt for McKeown’s replacement in August, stating it was seeking someone to lead the “design and effective implementation of IT strategies and transformation of IT delivery model across [the] Zurich business in Australia and New Zealand.”
McKeown has since moved to Macquarie Group as COO for equity derivatives and trading this past October.
Budhiraja is expected to make the move from Hong Kong to Sydney where he’ll commence in the role in mid-January 2023.
Chief operating officer Zurich Australia and New Zealand Hilary Bates said Budhiraja brings considerable “international experience to this role, including a strong capability in formulating digital roadmaps and a passion for innovation and customers.”
“We very much look forward to Deepak joining in the new year and welcoming him as a key member of the local Zurich team,” Bates said.
Budhiraja joins Zurich Australia from financial services organisation Sun Life where he was the chief information and technology officer for Hong Kong and Singapore for close to two years.
Budhiraja was with Sun Life for ten years, taking on roles that included CIO and chief client officer for Sun Life Vietnam, and director of technology for Sun Life’s Asia Service Centre supporting the Canadian and Asian business units.
Prior to this Budhiraja was with global IT services and consulting company DXC Technology for a decade, working across its Indian and US offices.
