Crawford promotes Stephen Stafford to Head of Forensic Accounting Services, Australia

Crawford & Company today announced Stephen Stafford’s appointment as the new Head of Crawford Forensic Accounting Services in Australia. 

Stafford brings over 30 years of industry experience, including at Crawford for the last three. He served as Executive General Adjuster and Senior Forensic Accountant until February when he took on the Interim Head of Forensic Accounting Services role. 

In his newly confirmed position, he will lead a team of 17, focusing on delivering financial loss adjusting services across various lines, including business interruption, cyber, and liability claims, Crawford said in an announcement.

Jonathan Hubbard, President of Crawford Australia, praised Stafford’s approach to leadership and his contribution to the team’s dynamics, saying he was a strong advocate of building trust within a team to maximise service levels for clients.

“Stephen has a way of motivating everyone to be the best version of whatever they want to be, or becoming a high-level technical expert, or simply being the most productive and efficient loss adjuster,” Hubbard said.

Stafford said that the forensic team had a diverse background and experiences, which makes for a very strong unit. He also provided insight into how will approach the new role. 

“We frequently come across stakeholders unaware of how business interruption policies work in the event of a loss, and this results in confusion and frustration for many. We are ramping up our work with different parties, such as insurers, brokers, and insureds to share our technical expertise through education sessions and technical papers to try and reduce that knowledge gap,” Stafford said.

Hubbard added that the promotion of Stafford from within the company underscores Crawford’s commitment to nurturing careers, which he said was a key part of Crawford’s value proposition. “Where we have vacancies and we also have people with the right skills internally, it just makes good business sense to appoint from within because it brings a level of continuity to our teams and our clients.”

Graham Peters, the previous Head of Forensic Accounting, will continue with Crawford as National Executive Adjuster and Head of Class Actions.