SPOTLIGHT / Meet the state finalists of the 2026 Young Broker of the Year Awards
Justin Micale, Marsh NSW/ACT State Finalist
Laith Parissi, AON NSW/ACT State Finalist
How did you get started in the insurance broking profession? After nine years as a Financial Lines underwriter, I decided it was time for a change — though at the time I had no idea what that change would look like. I joined a boutique insurance recruitment firm to help expand their Melbourne footprint. It was one of the hardest career pivots I've ever made, and one that fundamentally reshaped how I thought about my path — for the better. Unfortunately, we launched in January 2020, and with COVID arriving, I made the hard decision after eight months to move back into the industry. That's when I realised everything I love about work was pulling me towards broking, and the rest is history. Tech and AI is reshaping how brokers work. Where do you see it adding value and what do you think will always need the human touch? It's hard to say "always" or "never" in the current environment. We're already seeing global AI adopters walk back their claims — Microsoft has recalibrated its data centre investments, OpenAI and Anthropic are now telling us AI will support rather than replace humans, and businesses like Klarna and Duolingo have had to rehire teams after betting on an AI workforce. Tech and AI will definitely reshape how we work as brokers, allowing us to deliver stronger insights and lead with a consulting mindset around client risk. But it isn't anywhere near replacing one of the fundamental pillars of this industry: relationships.
Young brokers are inheriting the profession at a pivotal moment. What kind of broker do you want to be in ten years, and what are you doing now to get there? In ten years, I want to be a broker who remains relevant — someone who adapts to their audience as the world shifts, who embraces the inevitable changes in our industry, and who continues to give back to younger cohorts. That last part is something I never want to stop doing. How I'll get there? I don't know for certain, but I've learnt that as long as you embrace change and keep challenging your own thinking, you will always grow. What does becoming a finalist of the 2026 Young Broker of the Year mean to you? I knew it would mean a great deal to me — it's recognition I've long admired and worked towards. But after going through the process and seeing just how rigorous it was, I felt an overwhelming sense of achievement and pride. Seeking references from insurance partners and direct clients was surprisingly daunting, but once they came through, I felt more accomplished than I had before. Then the interview itself — for something that isn't my day job — brought another level of appreciation for the whole process. I'm beyond stoked to be named a finalist.
How did you get started in the insurance broking profession? Much like many of my peers, it was by accident. I studied Engineering and
genuinely loved the analytical side of it, but felt isolated in practice. A friend working at Aon introduced me to insurance and I haven't looked back. Broking gave me a way to combine the analytical thinking I loved with the human connection I was craving. What hooked me immediately was the complexity — it's an incredibly data-rich profession, and once you understand how to use the tools and insights at your disposal, you can achieve extraordinary outcomes for clients. But what's kept me here is the relationships. The stakes are high, the work is meaningful, and every day I get to work alongside clients, insurers and colleagues to solve real problems. I genuinely make a difference, and I take immense pride in that. Tech and AI is reshaping how brokers work. Where do you see it adding value and what do you think will always need the human touch? AI is brilliant at the things that used to consume our time — interrogating data, modelling scenarios, drafting first cuts of documents. I take full advantage of these tools because they let me spend more time where it actually counts. Where AI adds the most value is in sharpening our analysis and building a more complete picture of a client's risk faster than we ever could manually. But broking at its core is a trust business. No model can sit across from a client and understand what keeps them up at night, or read the room in high-pressure situations. It can't earn loyalty or pick up on what people don't say out loud. The technical work will keep getting faster and smarter — but the relationships, the judgement and the advocacy will always be human. That's the part of the job I love most anyway.
“I want to be a broker that remains relevant — someone who can adapt to my audience as the world continues to shift, someone who embraces the inevitable changes that will occur in our industry, and someone who continues to give back to the younger cohort.”
16 / INSURANCE ADVISER JUNE/JULY 2026
Made with FlippingBook Digital Publishing Software