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Managing Director
Global Hospitality & Gaming Practice Leader
Marsh
Portland, Ore.

Janice Schnabel is the national hospitality resource at Marsh, and as such, she performs the stately functions expected of a leader--she's a member of the Client Advisory Board for Cornell University's Center for Hospitality Research, authors publications and speaks frequently at industry events. But the secret to Schnabel's success is that she leads by example.

The chief operating officer at an international resort company could not be stopped from raving about Schnabel's "extraordinary" loss-control expertise. The executive had a loss-control program in place before Marsh took over his account five years ago, but Schnabel "took it to the next level." At this point in their relationship, says the COO, he calls in Schnabel anytime his organization does anything new, from property renovations to ordering window detergents.

This practical knowledge could be from hands-on experience. Schnabel started her career in 1993 as a hospitality risk manager.

A decade later, Marsh can thank her for helping to mold a regional hospitality practice into a global presence--with recent acquisitions of an international hotel client and Africa's largest gaming company, and aims to expand into Australia, Asia and the Middle East.

Managing Director
Aon
Marietta, Ga.

Joe Addison and the entertainment practice that he manages walk in many worlds--entertainment, media, hospitality--and are highly regarded in all. Take hospitality. The director of risk management at a prominent ski resort notes that his group brought in Addison and his team in late 2002 after its brokers at the time were unable to stem substantial premium increases.

"Joe and his team went out and got us an excellent relationship with an insurer that enhanced our coverage while holding down costs," the risk manager says. "We couldn't have been happier with the results."

Addison is known for his seasoned even-handedness and extensive contacts among insurers. Joe leads his large team of brokers and risk experts to solve increasing challenges in the sports and entertainment areas, including mitigating terrorism risks--an acute area of concern for sports and event venues. A media client notes that Addison is particularly adept at "organizing the resources within Aon to address a wide range of challenges. We've made him our quarterback in the risk management area."

Another client adds that Addison is very attentive--"he's an exceptionally good listener"--with a good sense of humor. "We're in a unique industry," this client says, "but I feel like he knows all aspects of our business. I am confident I can call on him to solve a problem in any area of what we do."

Managing Director
Marsh
Louisville, Ky.

John Logan is building himself a clientele base in hospitality while running Marsh's Louisville office. In the process, he's emerging as a leader for the restaurant side of the industry.

As with any Power Broker^TM, Logan has the numbers to back him up. For one restaurant client, he lowered premiums on their overall program by 40 percent over two years. For another client, Logan lowered average general liability claims cost by more than three-quarters.

Numbers don't tell the whole story. Before 15 years in broking, Logan was in claims for 12 years. So he provides claims support that brokers normally can't, according to one restaurant risk manager. "It almost feels like he's full time with us," he says.

Another client says Logan is making a "niche" as a consultant. The attorney explains, Logan designed a TPA audit program for his company, taught the risk management team to use it and established a resolution for leftover files from past TPAs.

"These 'runoff' files have disappeared at a rapid rate thanks to John's insight and leadership," adds the lawyer.

Is this the whole story? Nope. The risk manager recounts how Logan hustled away from his family on Thanksgiving to help a restaurant in a crisis. "John supports the core of our business," says the client. Last year, the broker earned the top vendor service honor from the risk manager's company--the first time a broker has done so.

Executive Vice President
Aon
Chicago

Nancy Green's name is often on the lips of hospitality risk managers when they are asked to name the top brokers for their industry. She is the "senior person to go to to get things done" at Aon, according to a director of risk management at a luxury hotel. The risk professional at another global hospitality chain calls her Aon's "resident expert," the firm's "brilliant" consultant who gets called in when clients need special attention. A vice president of risk at a world-class gaming company sees her as a "tireless worker" for the hospitality industry.

From such accolades, Green's reputation is apparent. Those who don't know her personally have heard of her, or listened to her during her frequent lectures for the Risk Management Committee of the American Hotel & Lodging Association. The deepest appreciation, of course, comes from clients whose accounts she actively places.

For one client, a hotel management company, Green's team revamped a self-funded workers' comp program that was "not fun," says the firm's contract risk manager. His company worried about losses adding up into financial liabilities for individual owners.

Green's team, working with an insurer, created an "innovative" vehicle whereby the individual hotel owners pay up front for their forecasted workers' comp claims, a sort of collateral agreement that has the hotel management company breathing easier.

"It has reduced stress levels," says the risk manager.

Senior Managing Director
Beecher Carlson
Atlanta

Beecher Carlson sleeps soundly at night when it comes to hospitality, thanks in part to Robert Hessel's ability to handle the industry's issues of the day. One huge issue is that no other industry has seen a tougher market than hospitality.

Hessel specializes in casualty, but he also comes to the aid of Beecher's property team for placing business. He helped do a "bang-up job" with an international hotel's property placement despite the "horrible" market, says the company's risk manager. She credits Hessel's knowledge, "leading-edge solutions" and how he "really cultivates that relationship" with underwriters.

Another issue the risk manager faced in the last year is her company altering the mix of its portfolio from owned to managed properties. This switch improved business but also brought new risk headaches. Even actuaries at her insurers were confounded by the new portfolio and believed that exposures were going up when they weren't. Hessel set them straight. "He's been steady," she says, adding that her company has gone through broker selection processes but always ends up back with Hessel.

A hotel vice president offers another reason clients seem to stick with the two-time Power Broker^TM award winner. Some lodging companies are dabbling in residential construction, he says, which comes with high liability risk. Hessel has managed this emerging risk with an innovative use of traditional products.

Area Vice President
Arthur J. Gallagher
Clearwater, Fla.

Wesley Brandt has been a broker for more than 37 years--27 of them with national firms and more than 17 years focused on high-end resorts and hotels. Lately, however, he has seemingly earned his living dealing with catastrophe issues. He is based out of Florida after all.

Thankfully for his clients with catastrophe claims from recent storms, Brandt is unlike most brokers, says a managing partner at a law firm with whom Brandt frequently teams up. Brandt "follows claims from cradle to grave"--instead of just placing risk and disappearing. Nowadays, even just placing the risk can be an adventure.

"Last year has been a very trying time in Florida," says a president of a resort company. "Wes handled the difficult market as best as he could."

"Best" is not just pretty good in Brandt's case, according to this client--it's "pioneering." The client marvels at how Brandt was able to spin off coverage for a condo complex on the resort's property, placing it with Citizens Property Insurance Co.

It wasn't just for this client that Brandt has seemingly created coverage where there was none before. The lawyer notes how Brandt has been able to use the Florida wind pool to build towers for many of his Southeast clients, to transfer risk at lower costs.

Cutting costs--perhaps that is what Brandt's clients appreciate the most. "Wes constantly thinks about saving us money," says a resort CFO, "and has saved us money."