Steadfast succession planning should have been simple. The insurance broker’s co-founder and CEO, Robert Kelly, had said he would not retire before the end of 2026. The board had time to prepare. Instead, by August 2026, the company was being sold, and nobody had been named to replace him.
The easiest way to tell this story is through the seats at the top. One by one, they went empty.
Chair one: the CEO steps aside
In October 2025, Steadfast told the market that Kelly would temporarily step aside on full pay while an external investigation looked into a workplace complaint. When trading resumed, shares fell 9.7% to A$5.60 (Capital Brief, October 2025).
The new chair said the board had acted responsibly and that the business remained excellent. About two weeks later, Kelly returned after the review concluded on a confidential basis.
Chair two: the COO role disappears
Soon after, Steadfast made its chief operating officer role redundant, only five months after Noelene Palmer was appointed to it. A company spokesperson said the role would not be replaced (Insurance Business, November 2025).
The Australian Financial Review, citing unnamed industry sources, reported that Palmer was the person who had lodged the complaint. Palmer declined to comment.
Chair three: Steadfast succession candidates leave
In February 2026, Steadfast confirmed that Kelly would retire, with a successor to be named by August (Capital Brief, February 2026). In June, the board paused that search after a takeover approach, and Kelly stayed on to oversee the deal.
By the time of the FY26 results, both internal contenders for the top job had left the business. No successor had been named (Insurance Business, August 2026).
Chair four: the company itself
On 21 August 2026, Steadfast signed a deal to be bought by a group backed by Dragoneer and KKR at A$6.00 a share. That’s a 51.9% premium to the undisturbed price of A$3.95 in June. Meanwhile, underlying profit rose 8.2% to A$319.5 million for FY26.
In other words, the business kept performing. The leadership bench is what thinned out.
The statistic every board should read
In its 2026 Governance Outlook, the National Association of Corporate Directors surveyed more than 24,000 members. Boards named CEO succession planning as the practice they most need to improve. Yet only a third said they were strongly confident in their board’s own skills.
Succession isn’t just picking a name. It depends on whether talented people want to stay close to the top. When senior people leave quietly, the bench empties long before anyone notices.
Steadfast’s response
Steadfast said the external investigation concluded on a confidential basis and that Kelly resumed his role. It said the COO role was made redundant as part of wider changes. The board has said it paused the CEO search to focus on the takeover, and that it unanimously recommends the deal, absent a better offer.
What MoodyBot could have shown about Steadfast succession
MoodyBot, the AI layer inside Moody At Work, reads anonymous daily mood check-ins across teams. It doesn’t investigate complaints or choose CEOs. Instead, it tracks how people feel at work every day, with no names attached.
In a business like Steadfast, MoodyBot could have tracked how the senior leadership group felt month by month. It could also have shown check-in reasons clustering around uncertainty, fairness or not feeling safe to raise concerns. Finally, it could have flagged when the people closest to the top started feeling ready to leave.
A board can’t keep every successor. But it can know early when the bench is getting nervous.
| Risk | Publicly reported loss | Model assumptions | What MoodyBot could have saved |
|---|---|---|---|
| Share price on the complaint news | Shares fell 9.7% to A$5.60, about A$0.60 per share, in one day | 60% to 80% linked to leadership and governance (the news was the complaint); 20% to 40% chance early signals lead to an orderly response | About A$0.07 to A$0.19 per share |
| Later share price fall | Undisturbed price of A$3.95 by June 2026 | Several causes; not attributed to culture | Not counted |
| Leadership bench | COO role removed; both internal CEO contenders left | Replacement and disruption costs not disclosed | Not quantified |
| Succession plan | No successor named by August 2026 | Not measurable from public data | Not quantified |
| Total quantified | About A$0.07 to A$0.19 per share |
How we built the numbers: A$0.60 x 60% x 20% gives about A$0.07 per share. Likewise, A$0.60 x 80% x 40% gives about A$0.19 per share. We worked per share because our sources don’t report the total market value lost. We also ignored the later fall to A$3.95, because many things drove it.
What every board can learn
Succession plans don’t fail on the day the CEO leaves. They fail in the months before, when good people quietly decide not to wait. Therefore, the health of your bench is a culture question as much as a board question.
Another Australian board found out what it couldn’t see in the ANZ risk culture story.
Steadfast succession FAQs
What happened with Steadfast’s CEO? In October 2025, CEO Robert Kelly stepped aside while an external investigation looked into a workplace complaint. He returned in November after the review concluded on a confidential basis, and later confirmed he would retire.
Has Steadfast named a new CEO? No. The board paused its search in June 2026 after a takeover approach. Both internal contenders have since left, and no successor had been named by August 2026.
Are boards good at CEO succession? According to NACD’s 2026 Governance Outlook, boards rank CEO succession planning as the practice they most need to improve.
Sources: NACD 2026 Governance Outlook (11 December 2025); Capital Brief (October 2025, February 2026); Insurance Business (November 2025, August 2026), citing the Australian Financial Review and Steadfast’s FY26 annual report.
All factual claims are sourced from publicly available reporting. Steadfast’s representatives have stated that the external investigation concluded on a confidential basis, that the COO role was made redundant as part of wider changes, and that the board unanimously recommends the takeover, absent a superior proposal. MoodyBot projections represent an independent illustrative probability model based on publicly reported information and are not guaranteed outcomes.