How Pat Regan set QBE on the road to redemption

The CEO has based the insurer's turnaround on the skills he uses on the football pitch: visibility, communication and just the right amount of ruthlessness.

Since Pat Regan became CEO at the start of 2018, QBE’s shares have risen 18 per cent and its run of profit downgrades has ceased. Louise Kennerley

James ThomsonColumnist

Dec 6, 2019 – 12.00am

Email LinkedIn Twitter Facebook

Subscribe to gift this article

Gift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.

Subscribe now

Already a subscriber?

There’s not much QBE chief executive Pat Regan won’t do to make his weekend soccer match. On a Sunday morning in late October, after getting off a gruelling flight from New York at Sydney Airport at 6.45am, Regan jumped straight in the car, drove for 45 minutes and started warming up for the over-35 team at Seaforth Football Club, on Sydney’s northern beaches.

It’s no surprise to hear that Regan plays as a defender. The affable Englishman has a dry, self-deprecating sense of humour, but observers describe him as competitive, driven and a bit ruthless – a perfect combination for a centre back and, arguably, a CEO. “You’ve got the whole field in front of you,” he says of playing in defence. “I’m a good communicator – that makes a tonne of difference in football.”