The inaugural Rising Stars Insurance Ball – organised by Curium, Insurtech Australia and the Underwriting Agencies Council – has been hailed a success.

More than 180 people attended the event on Friday at Fullerton Sydney’s Heritage Ballroom, and about half were young professionals building their careers in insurance.

“The purpose of the evening was to create a more meaningful way for emerging talent to connect with senior leaders across the industry,” organisers said.

Rising stars were invited to complete a quiz designed to encourage conversations with senior industry figures. Rather than technical questions, the quiz focused on people in the room, with prompts such as “Who in this room climbed Everest?” and “Who used to have a man bun?”

Participants had three hours to speak with as many senior leaders as possible, learn their stories and uncover the answers. At the end of the night, three lucky draw winners each took home a painting.

Attendees also took part in a light-hearted pitch competition for the funniest new insurance product. Ideas included alien abduction insurance, bad hair day cover and name misspelling insurance.

Rural Affinity’s Luke Wicking won the contest, with pitches from Flynn Loader (Remingtons Insurance Brokers) and Jaycob Zivkovic (CHU) also recognised.

“Curium is a technology company, but we are also deep experts in risk, compliance and claims. Sometimes it is hard to convince senior leaders that these ‘old-school’ areas can be seriously enhanced and simplified through technology,” Curium CEO Tetiana George said.

“We hope events like this make it easier for people to believe that these topics do not have to be boring.

“They can be practical, human and even fun. At the end of the day, people make all the difference.”

UAC CEO Jenny Bax says the partnership between the organisers "demonstrated what's possible when different parts of our industry come together with a shared purpose".

"If we want the next generation to see insurance as a career worth building, we need to celebrate them while they're building it, not just when they've already arrived," she said.

"That's exactly what the Rising Stars Insurance Ball 2026 set out to do.
 
"Events like this remind us that leadership isn't just about today's CEOs and executives. It’s about encouraging the people who will be sitting in those roles tomorrow. If we continue creating opportunities to connect emerging professionals with industry leaders, the future of insurance is in very good hands."

The ball – sponsored by McLardy McShane, Rural Affinity and Fuse Recruitment – may become an annual event.