Our Management Team

	George Savvides Managing Director Commenced role April 2002 George Savvides was appointed Managing Director of Medibank Private, Australia’s largest health insurer, in early 2002. The organisation has enjoyed record membership growth and strong financial performance and expanded into health services as well as health insurance. Medibank’s revenue has grown to over $5 billion per annum with a customer base of 3.7 million people. George has twenty years experience in the Australian health care industry. He was Managing Director of Sigma Co Ltd, which he listed on the ASX in 1999. George has a degree in Engineering from University of New South Wales and an MBA from UTS and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He represents Australia as the Vice President on the Council of the iFHP (International Federation of Health Plans). He is a member of the AIPAR (Australian Institute for Population Ageing Research) he is Chairman of Arrow Leadership Australia and has recently retired after 12 years from the Board of World Vision International. He still plays veterans hockey for Melbourne University.
	Laz Cotsios Group Executive, Private Health Insurance Commenced Role August 2011 Laz Cotsios was appointed Group Executive of Private Health Insurance Division at Medibank in August 2011. Prior to joining Medibank, Laz held senior executive roles in Financial Services with well-known international and Australian companies, including UBS and Westpac. Laz brings to the role of Group Executive, his extensive experience in driving business strategy, developing new business and improving operational efficiency and customer service for large organisations which are continually evolving to meet the demands of a highly competitive environment. Laz's division oversees Medibank's private health insurance operations, including both the Medibank Private and ahm brands. The division manages all aspects of private health insurance including sales and service, marketing and over $4 billion in member benefit claims.
	Dr Matthew Cullen Group Executive, Medibank Health Solutions Started July 2010 Matthew worked as a psychiatrist before he co-founded and was Co-President of McKesson Asia-Pacific, which was acquired by Medibank Private in July 2010 and became Medibank Health Solutions. Medibank Health Solutions employs over 2000 staff of whom the majority are healthcare professionals including doctors, nurses and allied health professionals. Matthew is Deputy Chairman of the Schizophrenia Research Institute. He is a Fellow of the Royal Australian & New Zealand College of Psychiatrists and Associate Fellow of the Australian College of Health Service Executives and Australian Institute of Company Directors.
	Cindy Shay Group Executive, Provider Relations Commenced Role March 2010 Cindy manages Medibank’s relationships with providers including hospitals and medical professionals, and overseas the claims processing services which are such a vital part of Medibank, ensuring the prompt payment of almost $4 billion in benefits each year. She has broad experience within the healthcare sector encompassing the funding aspects of healthcare with Medibank and the service provision of healthcare in both the private sector (she is a former CEO of Calvary Tasmania), in the public sector, and supply distribution of health services.
	Ilona Charles Group Executive, People & Culture Commenced role February 2010 Ilona has had extensive experience in senior and executive human resources roles. Prior to joining Medibank, Ilona worked with the National Australia Bank for almost 15 years in corporate and business roles. Most recently Ilona was General Manager, Executive Talent working within the Office of the CEO. Her career and expertise includes people strategy, operations management, transformation and change management, policy development and workplace relations. Ilona started her career as an Occupational Therapist during which time she worked for WorkSolutions Group, provider of occupational rehabilitation services and now a key business within Medibank Health Solutions. People & Culture manages the company’s human capital, ensuring Medibank has the right capability and culture to enable strong business performance. This includes leadership development, training, performance and remuneration frameworks, continuous improvement initiatives, knowledge management and internal communications.
	Dr Andrew Wilson Group Executive, Strategy and Innovation Started July 2010 A psychiatrist by background, Andrew founded High Performance Healthcare in 1995 which went on to become Australasia's leading telehealth company, focussing on telephone-based healthcare delivery. The company was subsequently acquired by US health company McKesson Corporation in 2000 and more recently by Medibank in 2010. Andrew has appointments as a visiting specialist at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney and as a Lecturer in the School of Psychiatry at the University of NSW. His professional interests also include primary and ambulatory care service development and quality and safety management systems in health care. Until recently he has been a member of the Australian Government's National Mental Health Standing Committee on Safety and Quality, the National Mental Health Standards Implementation Steering Committee and was Deputy Chair of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists Quality Steering Committee from 2002-2008. He has published more than 50 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals including articles on health management and the development and evaluation of new service delivery models.
	Terry Snyders Chief Information Officer Commenced Role September 2007 Terry, who holds a Bachelor of Applied Science and an MBA, has been working in the Information Technology sector for over 30 years. He has a background in wholesale banking and began developing his IT expertise while working at Shell Australia, before moving into project management at ACI Computer Services. Prior to joining Medibank Private, Terry amassed 18 years experience at ANZ as General Manager, Institutional Technology. In this role he was responsible for some of the bank's largest and most important technology projects. Terry brings to Medibank Private a strong project management background and extensive IT experience. As CIO, Terry leads all elements of IT investment, technology delivery and IT operations. He has two children.
	Mei Ramsay General Counsel Commenced Role March 2011 Mei leads the Medibank Group legal team and is responsible for advising the Managing Director and the Board on legal matters. She has had nearly 20 years experience in the legal profession, working in both private practice and in-house. Before joining Medibank, Mei was the General Counsel and Company Secretary for the Asia Pacific Distribution Operations of Cummins Inc, diesel engine and power generator manufacturer and distributor headquartered in the US. She started her legal career with legal firms Arnold Bloch Leibler and Minter Ellison before moving to senior legal roles in corporations such as the Coles Group and Southcorp.