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Managing Director
Marsh
Chicago

Bruce Fine is a master presenter--to insurers, chief financial officers, risk managers and other top executives at client companies.

"When he comes to our headquarters for a visit," says the general counsel at a major client, "our CEO wants to be in the meeting." That CEO was present for the very first presentation Fine made at the company, during which the broker suggested a number of stratagems for turning around significant insurance problems at the company--suggestions that became solutions.

"His analysis is very good," says this client. "He is very careful never to overstate our case with insurers. Also, he has the ingenuity to cleverly package things together for our meetings with insurers, coming up with ideas people have never thought of before."

The bottom line, then, is that Fine is a tremendous advocate for his clients. "I've never had anybody who is a better advocate," says another client. "He puts things together in a convincing way that invariably leads to lower premiums."

In the past year, Fine's group created a program for a giant company in which a reduction was achieved eight months prior to renewal. They studied how overall excess-of-loss reinsurance capacity was flowing for January 1 treaty renewals and how the reinsurance layers were being approximately priced at various levels of risk attachment.

Managing Director
Marsh
New York

"Robust knowledge" of all aspects of the aerospace and airline industries is a description invariably applied to Corrado E. Mezzina.

"He's trained some of the very best brokers at some of Marsh's competitors," says one admiring client. "His wealth of knowledge covers all areas, from policy language to creating broad new areas of coverage."
In the past couple of years, Mezzina has structured several unique programs that have allowed his largest clients to lower total cost of risk in a hard and intransigent market.

Also, one and all in the industry laud Mezzina for formulating a post-Sept. 11, 2001, plan that created an offshore aerospace manufacturing industry captive. The plan would have provided needed additional capacity to assist aerospace companies to control product-liability costs. The captive was licensed to begin writing business with some very large sponsors, but the aviation market recovery made the investment unnecessary. However, the framework is still in place.

Mezzina is very self-critical, very detail-oriented, says one major client. "He has the ability to move things decisively to a conclusion in all matters, including helping direct the settlement of litigation."

Mezzina is also fun to work with. "He's very engaged in what he does, but he's always a pleasure to be around," says the client.

Managing Director, Chairman
Global Aviation Practice
Marsh
New York

Gerald E. Frick brings to bear for clients a gentlemanly clout on a global basis. Despite his wide-ranging managerial duties, Frick is known for his "lead by doing" style. One of his group's clients notes that Frick himself has attended the company's annual risk management planning session.

As the director of the sprawling group that brokers for 65 percent of the world's airline and aerospace manufacturers, Frick's major accomplishment in the past year was forming the group's global aviation practice, which consists of its operations in the United States, United Kingdom, France and Canada. As part of this realignment, Frick structured his specialists by industry segments: airlines, aviation manufacturers, space, general aviation and reinsurance. Therefore, every client has access to the group's top talent in each industry segment regardless of where the client or Marsh's expertise is based. Frick notes that the emphasis on service is all the more important going into 2007 because minimal losses among air carriers have led to a dramatic decline in premiums since Sept. 11, 2001--at 25 percent a year, he says. Plus, there is more capacity coming into the market, he adds.

Three attributes that mark Frick are his creativity, passion and love of his work. "It's not so much a job" for him, notes one client, who adds, "He really has a passion for aviation and space."

Executive Vice President
Willis
Phoenix

"Credibility" is John Jacobs' middle name among those who know him, both over the long run and in the busy last year.

"John has credibility on all sides," says one insured. "He is seen as a broker who will drive a hard bargain with insurers for his clients, but he will also stand up to his clients and say, 'This is the most you can expect to get.' " Jacobs is known as an incredibly hard worker who, as one client put it, "absolutely loves what he does. He loves the industries he covers, and he loves the people in those fields." He also is a master at knowing how to use the resources of the entire Willis network, this client says.

In the airline world, Jacobs placed the directors' and officers' liability runoff for the old US Airways Inc. and America West Airlines at the time of their merger. He successfully placed the new US Airways D&O liability program at realistic terms and conditions.

In addition to his work in the field of aviation and aerospace, he is a self-described "client advocate" for many large, publicly traded commercial accounts in fields as varied as energy, gaming, retailing/wholesaling and transportation/trucking/rail.

Recently, Jacobs put together a global environmental program for Phelps Dodge Corp., one of the world's largest copper mining companies.

Personally? "He's fun, he's relaxed, he has a great sense of humor. He's a really good guy," says one client.

President and CEO
John F. Throne & Co. Insurance Marketing Inc.
Seattle

In the eyes of some very big clients, President and CEO R. Michael Throne and his Seattle-based insurance marketing company perfectly exemplify economist E.F. Schumacher's notion that "small is beautiful."

Says one of his admiring clients, "In size, Michael is one of our smallest brokers, but he's one of the best."

Says another client, "The only leverage we have with our brokers is their integrity, and Michael's is of the highest order. He is an absolute hero for the client. He's relentless about getting us the best deal, but at the same time, he helps us build healthy relations with our underwriters."

Throne and his group are well-known for their meticulousness, as well as their thorough knowledge of the world of aviation.

"Mike is 100 percent aviation," says one client. "And that is what I want."

This year, Throne has effectively collaborated with a major carrier to introduce a medical-malpractice extension endorsement to the aviation policy for his air-ambulance operators.

Once completed, this endorsement will not only provide his clients with broad coverage, but will eliminate the inherent risks of purchasing coverage from the nonadmitted marketplace, where the premiums are not regulated and the clients have been subject to punitive increases.

President
Aviation and Aerospace
Aon
Chicago

Very client-focused and knowledgeable about the marketplace, says an important client of Wayne A. Wignes.

"He's very energetic and hard-working," says this same client, who has worked with Wignes for more than 10 years.

Wignes is known for his doggedness in pursuit of the best deals, and his veteran standing gives him a cool, calm command of his decision-making process.

Late last year in London, Wignes completed the final stage of the post-Sept. 11, 2001, recapitalization strategy for the U.S. airline market. By attracting material new capital in such a mature market segment, Wignes' efforts resulted in expanded capacity and dramatic savings for Aon's U.S. airline clients.

Also in the past year, Wignes was outspoken on behalf of the aviation war-risk insurance program. He acknowledges that not all parties support the insurance¿citing the European Union and free-market advocates as examples¿and he understands the political debate on whether the federal government should be involved in something that the private sector might arguably be able to do better. However, he believes that major airlines today have the capacity to stomach the losses from a major incident.

Looking ahead at the industry as a whole, Wignes sees increased aircraft and passenger exposures and new business alliances as agents of change in the marketplace.