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Vice President
Marsh
Chicago

Annette Nitti isn't satisfied with simply marketing a standardized, off-the-shelf product. She knows that being a good broker demands more than that. She knows that being a good broker means delivering a service. "She has done a real good job of identifying exposures and working with us to obtain coverage that we've never had before," one risk manager says.

When a client found it needed something a little different, Chicago-based Nitti was there to help pull it together. The client, a public bus company, was informed by the state legislature last year that it would be required to take control of the "Taxi Access Program," consisting of a fleet of 7,000 taxis within a major U.S. city.

As a result, the client was facing an unusual, complex risk. As independent contractors, the taxi drivers were responsible for purchasing and maintaining their own insurance, as well as maintaining the vehicle. The solution was to create a contingent-liability program.

After five months of negotiations, Nitti was able to structure a program providing coverage in excess of any individual taxi driver's insurance coverage. She also offered the client alternatives to help with the burden of tracking and maintaining drivers' insurance, a factor critical to the success of the program.

Vice President
Hilb Rogal & Hobbs
Schaumburg, Ill.

Daniel G. Morton is someone who understands the trucking industry and is always looking out for his clients. While other brokers might bring you their "almost best deal" to protect their commission, Morton doesn't play that game, a risk manager says.

"Don't bring me your almost best deal. Come in here and fight for me," the risk manager says. Morton "is looking out for you," he says. "Most are looking out for themselves."

Morton not only fights to get the best deal for his client, he also has come up with innovative solutions to his clients' risk management problems.

On one account, he found a solution that saved his client time and plenty of hassles while providing for a gap in coverage. That gap had resulted in a loss in the past.

Morton should understand the trucking industry. After graduating from the University of Missouri, he spent the next 10 years in the trucking industry, working in risk management functions.

He was eventually hired by Aon to act as a consultant to its trucking clients. He then went on to help found the transportation practice group at Hobbs, which was acquired by Hilb Rogal. In 2003 and 2005, he won the HRH Rainmaker award, bestowed on top brokers at the firm.

He may have less than a decade's experience with brokerage, but if it's one thing Daniel Morton knows like the back of his hand, it's the industry he specializes in brokering for--trucking.

He helped found the transportation group at Hilb Rogal & Hobbs nearly six years ago after spending two years with Aon. Aon had recruited Morton for his 10 years' experience in risk management with trucking companies and had hired him as a consultant for their trucking clients.

"My first job in trucking was, literally, washing trucks," he says. "I had to pay for college, and washing trucks paid better than working in the dorm. I liked the business, and so I stayed with it. It was one of those things that kind of got into your system. I was good at it."

Once he got his feet wet, figuratively, Morton was unstoppable. He won HRH's Rainmaker award twice, in 2003 and 2005. His hallmark, he says, is his creativity.

"I think I do it a little bit differently than most people," he says. "I really try to design a custom product for each client. It takes me a little bit longer, frankly, because it's a little more involved. There are certain prospects that really don't want that--they want an off-the-shelf product. I usually don't compete with that, and if I do, I usually lose."

But sometimes he wins--big. For example, there was one account Morton had been trying to win for years. "It was the kind of thing that when I told people I was going to quote this, they said, 'Why are you going to quote that, you're never going to win.' I won that business in 2006. I was pretty excited," he says.

Managing Director
Global Rail Practice Leader
Marsh
Montreal

The No. 1 asset of Eckart Russell, according to one risk manager, is his knowledge and experience. With 46 years in the insurance industry, Russell has extensive contacts.

"He's certainly highly regarded in his field of work," says one risk manager, who spoke of his knowledge and his professional relationships. In addition, he scores points because "he's always sticking up for the client," this risk manager says. "We like that. He won't mind putting his word on the line when you have serious claims to make and need support."

Russell's major accomplishments include structuring an innovative shared aggregate catastrophe liability program for two railroads. He also placed coverage for the construction of a $1.8 billion rail link between downtown Vancouver and its Richmond airport.

The major challenge on that project was the delay-in-startup cover, which was placed in world markets without the support of major reinsurers who refused to underwrite this class of risk.

In 2006, his ninth year at Marsh, Montreal-based Russell was named the global rail practice leader. He began his insurance career back in 1960 at the Friedrich Homan Insurance Brokerage in Hamburg, Germany.

Managing Director
Aon
Baltimore

James R. Beardsley returns for a second year as a Transportation Power Broker^TM because of his expertise when it comes to railroads and their particular exposures and risks.

"We're a railroad, and his office, in my opinion, is the best railroad casualty practice," one risk manager says. "Most of the other railroads are using him as well." Indeed, Beardsley's practice counts as clients the five U.S. Class 1 railroads, along with more than 100 regional railroads and short lines. In addition, his practice is heavily involved in insurance marketing and consulting for the public transit systems in many of the country's major cities.

In 2006, following several years of discussion regarding the stabilization of the rail liability market, Beardsley and his team, long involved in rail-industry alternative risk programs, helped spearhead an industry effort to establish a new captive.

He was invited to testify before a House panel in June 2006 to give the Congress an overview of the state of the rail market and to outline what he saw as some of its most acute vulnerabilities.

Beardsley, who is based in Baltimore, has more than 20 years of insurance industry experience. Before joining Aon Risk Services in 1996, he was with Willis Corroon of New York and Alexander & Alexander.

Senior Vice President
Marsh
Wilmington, Del.

One of the things that distinguishes Tom Tray is his level of understanding of the trucking industry.

One risk manager, who rates Tray a "10," says that he's flexible and competent and "always met our needs." Tray also wins credit for exploring alternative risk solutions to help keep costs under control as rates skyrocketed following Sept. 11, 2001.

Another risk manager described him as a "good resource," saying that the company goes to Tray with questions and to seek second opinions.

Tray gained his expertise in transportation after spending a significant amount of time at transportation companies, observing all aspects of their operations. Controlling risk does not end with the driver. It only begins with the driver. Based on this belief, Tray recently led an initiative within the Marsh Transportation Practice, directing that every aspect of the practice focus on a client's operations, not merely the driver.

This has resulted in more thorough submissions, a higher level of underwriter confidence and more meaningful loss control. He also led the formation of Marsh's transportation group captive.

Tray, based in Wilmington, Del., has 22 years of insurance brokerage experience. He has been with Marsh since 1984, when he started as a claims manager in the Philadelphia office.