Experienced hand to take the reins at Queensland Country Credit Union

17 January 2019

A smooth succession will take place at the helm of Queensland Country Credit Union in March when Aaron Newman, the current Chief Executive Officer of subsidiary business Queensland Country Health Fund, replaces Aileen Cull in the financial services group’s top job. 

Mr Newman’s appointment, which was announced in late December, follows an extensive recruitment process. Ms Cull, who retires in March after 25 years of service, ten of which have been in the CEO role, was one of the first to congratulate Mr Newman on his appointment. 

“Aaron’s breadth of knowledge across the entire organisation makes him the ideal person to lead Queensland Country into the future,” Ms Cull said. 

Newman has been employed with the Queensland Country group for 18 years in a variety of roles. While his current position has focussed on leading the Health Fund to become one of the fastest growing private health insurers in Queensland, he has also had responsibility for the Credit Union’s Strategic Planning and Human Resources functions for a number of years. 

According to Chair, Bruno Cullen, Mr Newman’s success in his previous roles, and his detailed understanding of the organisation’s unique customer-owned culture, made him a standout applicant for the role. 

“We had some strong external applicants, but Aaron ticked all the boxes – he’s proved himself as the CEO of the Health Fund and, importantly, he’s passionate about how our customer-owned structure can help our Members and their communities lead better lives. We are in a fortunate position to have an experienced CEO that we can promote internally – someone who already knows the organisation, our Members and communities,” Mr Cullen said. 

Mr Newman said he was honoured to assume the CEO role. “Queensland Country continues to grow from strength to strength and I’m excited about leading the organisation into our next phase”. 

“I think the Royal Commission into banking this year gave many people an insight into the poor behaviours of the shareholder-driven big banks and there has never been a better time for people to consider an organisation like Queensland Country. Our customer-owned structure means we always consider the impact our decisions will have on our Members and their communities rather than solely focussing on shareholder returns,” he added. 

Following two recent mergers and strong organic growth, Queensland Country now has 29 branches, almost 100,000 Members and assets in excess of $2 billion.