Newsletter Sign-up

Area Vice Chairman
Managing Director
Real Estate & Hospitality Practice Leader
Arthur J. Gallagher
Glendale, Calif.

Every broker would probably want to save their clients 50 percent on their premiums--no simple task in this market. But Alexandra Glickman has actually done that.

"At one point there was only one carrier who offered a certain type of coverage, but Alex found a competitor to offer the same type of coverage at a substantially lower premium, saving us 50 percent on the premium," says one risk manager who's been a Glickman client for four years.

It's not surprising that the same risk manager says about the broker: "She knows the business inside and out. She's very knowledgeable, forward-thinking and has great relationships with the market."

Glickman has been in the real-estate brokerage business for more than 23 years and is credited with many achievements. For example, she crafted valuation policy language that is now the standard for most manuscript forms. Since joining Gallagher in 2001, she has helped triple revenues within the real-estate and hospitality practice.

"She is the definition of a Power Broker^TM," says another risk manager. "She is so tuned into the real-estate industry, which is rare among insurance brokers," she adds. For example, Glickman sends out a quarterly newsletter, updating her clients about the status of TRIA. "She keeps us informed."

Senior Vice President
Northeast Regional Real Estate Practice Leader
Willis
Washington, D.C.

As senior vice president and Northeast regional real-estate practice leader for Willis, Joe Downey¿s advisory role extends to client properties in 250 cities in more than 25 countries around the world.

¿His real strength is his ability to tap into a world network,¿ says one risk manager for a property company boasting ownership of 1,100 properties around the globe. This risk manager chose Downey as the company¿s broker after a fierce competition among eight major brokerage firms. ¿Hands down, the team he¿s built is the best,¿ says this risk manager.

Downey put his team to the test when he encountered a particularly complicated deal with a potential client. In this case, he reduced a potentially large lawsuit payout of more than $25 million down to less than $6 million. Downey¿s team had convinced the prospective client that they could settle the loss--the collapse of a building during a major, sudden rainstorm--for much less than the pending lawsuits were claiming.

He accomplished the task due to his understanding of several lease provisions that the client¿s former brokers and attorneys had overlooked. When the matter was finally closed last year, the company only had to pay the claim for one layer of umbrella coverage instead of several.

Managing Director
Aon
New York

Every broker should understand the major issues in his market. And Kevin Madden is well versed in the real-estate market.

"He's got a great sense of what's going on in real estate. He understands the issues and translates them very effectively into good protection for his clients," says one risk manager. "He understands the different asset types and what kinds of risks might be associated with that area."

As an example, the risk manager cites a particular insurance program Madden put together for the client that "made us more competitive in the marketplace and earned us new real-estate business," she says.

Even with the tight catastrophe capacity crisis, Madden has managed to work with his clients located in hurricane-prone zones to provide creative solutions and alternative programs. Madden also consults with real-estate lenders on their insurance requirements and provides creative, strategic marketing and servicing input for many of Aon's real-estate clients. Aon represents more than 30 percent of the largest real-estate owners, managers and developers, and as managing director of the real-estate practice, Madden is directly responsible for the oversight and direction of all accounts. He has been requested by many real-estate associations over the past year to be a speaker on current insurance issues.

Vice President
Sullivan Curtis Monroe Insurance Services
Irvine, Calif.

Michael Isaacs didn't begin his career in real estate, but he has become such an expert that he's admired by his co-workers. As one says, "What sets Michael apart from other brokers is his knowledge and expertise of the real-estate industry."

Indeed, since Isaacs took over the entire real-estate insurance portfolio of a major shopping-center owner and operator of 1 million square feet of space valued at $500 million, the company has moved its corporate insurance business to Isaacs as well.

"He's exactly what we'd look for in a Power Broker^TM," says the client, whose real-estate firm owns properties in Southern California and Nevada. "With him we lowered our risk and lowered our costs as well," the client adds. Unlike this company's previous brokerage firm, which had placed different policies for each property, Isaacs moved all the coverage under one umbrella policy that still covers each individual shopping center.

"He's improved our coverage and saved us 20 percent off of our premiums," the client says. It's no wonder that this client makes it clear that he values Isaacs's advice.

Isaacs' co-worker also points to the broker's ability to become a valued member of his clients' professional teams, working alongside their accounting and legal advisors, especially when dealing with real-estate portfolio acquisitions.

Managing Director
Aon
Boston

Anyone with property in Florida is grateful to get any coverage at all, let alone three months before renewal. "He did an excellent job for us," says the president of a risk purchasing group with 90 percent of its properties located in southwestern Florida. This client is referring to Richard Miller, the managing director in Aon's Boston office. She thinks one of the reasons he's so effective at this job is his background as an underwriter with excess and surplus insurer Lexington, which turned out to be the lead carrier for her coverage.

"It's difficult for any Florida property to get coverage," she says, referring to the purchasing group's $1.5 billion worth of condominiums, office buildings, retail furniture stores and a resort for which she buys insurance.

It was even more difficult to get property coverage because her risk group had $65 million in claims in 2004 stemming from the devastating Hurricane Charley, the strongest to hit the United States since 1992's Hurricane Andrew. Her 2005 Hurricane Wilma loss is still being settled, but she expects that to fall just under $10 million.

Not surprisingly, this client's renewal still soared by 250 percent. "It was astronomical, and we got a lot less coverage for a lot more money," she says. Even so, she's happy with the coverage Miller secured for her. "They completely placed our total amount on our effective date, and with no holes," says the client.

Director
Aon
New York

With a name like Vincent Flood, it's probably appropriate that he's a real-estate broker placing coverage in hurricane zones. As of the end of November 2006, Flood placed coverage for a portfolio of properties valued at between $10 billion and $20 billion, with the bulk located in Florida and in California, where earthquake coverage is also difficult to place.

"Given the challenges in the property market, he did a remarkable job," says one real-estate risk manager. Flood, known as "Vinny" to his co-workers and clients, also kept premiums down as much as possible. "Our noncatastrophe premium was flat, but the catastrophe coverage was up significantly, at least 100 percent," says one client, about an increase that some property owners would still consider a bargain. Flood was able to successfully place the insurance because "he has strategically worked to find alternative solutions to adequately and competitively insure the risks," says another risk manager.

As the director of the GNY Property Brokerage, he has also earned a reputation for helping clients successfully renegotiate loan covenants, with respect to both capacity and insurer security ratings, to make sure clients remain in compliance and don't default. In fact, one client, for its largest real estate portfolio, provided a "broker of record" letter to Aon, thanks to Flood's efforts.