Nib chief executive and managing director of more than two decades, Mark Fitzgibbon, will retire by the end of August, the company has announced.

The well-known face of the Newcastle-headquartered health insurer, Fitzgibbon has been a fixture of the Australia’s insurance industry since his appointment in 2002 as nib’s managing director and CEO. In this time, he led the firm’s demutualisation and eventual listing on the ASX in 2007, as well as several key partnerships and acquisitions, notably in the emerging NDIS space.

Today, nib, a $3 billion business, is Australia’s fifth biggest health insurer and third biggest travel insurer by market share.

“For the last 22 years, Mark has been at the helm of a company that has undergone a remarkable transformation, and that transformation is a great credit to his leadership,” said nib group chair, David Gordon.

He added: “Mark has been a tremendous leader at nib and has had an enormous impact on the Australian health sector, making an extraordinary contribution over more than two decades.”

Fitzgibbon’s resignation comes as the health insurer faces a difficult negotiation with hospitals group St Vincent’s, which has threatened to walk away from contract negotiations unless an acceptable funding agreement can be reached (with St Vincent’s citing rising private hospital care costs and nib failing to put “a fair offer on the table”). Without an agreement, which must be settled by early October, nib’s 1.3 million members would be left without access to the St Vincent’s network of private hospitals across NSW, Queensland and Victoria.

Ed Close, currently chief executive of nib’s Australian Residents Health Insurance (arhi) business, has been announced as Fitzgibbon’s successor. Close is expected to formally step into the CEO and MD role by years’ end.

As arhi chief executive, Close has overseen product development, claims, customer services, as well as leading the group’s overall strategic partnerships with brokers and white-label partners.

Close also leads nib’s partnership with Brisbane-based healthtech company and remote health service, Midnight Health, as well as serving on the board of Honeysuckle Health, a data science and machine learning systems developer for healthcare providers.

He joined nib Group in 2017 as arhi’s head of marketing and products, and three years later was appointed chief executive of the division. In 2023, his role grew to include member experience, claims and customer services.

Prior to joining nib, Close held senior roles at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia across a more than eight year tenure, covering product, strategy and customer experience.

Gordon said he was “delighted” by Close’s appointment, whom he said would “bring nib’s strategy to life and deliver continued strong growth”.

Fitzgibbon likewise welcomed Close’s, praising him as an “outstanding leader [who] will continue to be supported by nib’s world-class executive team”.