Newsletter Sign-up

Senior Vice President
Wachovia Insurance Services
Washington, D.C.

Over the past two years, Alejandra Evans has helped to develop the Washington D.C. office of Wachovia Insurance Services into a center of excellence for wrap ups.

She has been able to accomplish this in a short period of time by exceeding clients' expectations in the areas of project risk assessment, coverage enhancements, program design creativity and significant cost savings.

Some of her key accomplishments include leading the DC Nationals Stadium team from the RFP process through the successful implementation of the Owner Controlled Wrap-Up. She delivered a comprehensive program with total premium significantly under budget.

She also led the recently bound program for the Kansas City Royals Stadium achieving significant coverage enhancements at a cost way below current market trends, and she is currently leading the wrap-up for the Indiana Convention Center Expansion and Renovation project.

Although she won high marks for her industry expertise, it was in the area of customer service where she really stood out.

One client said he was especially pleased that she somehow manages to get him his firm's insurance policies within 60 days, something that other brokers rarely manage to accomplish. "Her customer service is impressive," he said.

(Editor's note: On March 8, 2008, Evans was named executive vice president at Allied North America.)

Managing Director
Hilb Rogal & Hobbs
Schaumburg, Ill.

As the head of the HRH Architects & Engineers division at Hilb Rogal & Hobbs, Daniel T. Buelow has made it his business to provide insurance and risk management solutions for design professionals. Buelow and his team provide service for more than 800 architects and engineering firms, including some of the largest firms in the country.

One of the team's accomplishments during the past year is the development of more than a dozen risk management programs in the areas of health and safety that have been recognized by the American Institute of Architects.

Buelow's group has since been asked to present these programs at numerous industry events including local and national AIA, American Council of Engineering Companies and Council of American Structural Engineers conferences.

The team also has developed a series of monthly webinars based on these programs where design firms can join in from around the country for an interactive risk management workshop.

"I consider him to be at the top of the industry," one client said. "He's extremely proactive in terms of risk management; that's a huge area of support he provides for us as a client," he said.

An industry source at a law firm that represents architects and engineers said that he has referred Buelow to a lot of his own clients. "I trust him with my clients' programs," he said.

Buelow is actively involved in supporting the design community and its associations. He sits on the board of the Association of Licensed Architects and speaks on industry issues.

Senior Vice President
Midwest Construction Practice Leader
Marsh
Detroit

As the head of Marsh USA's construction practice in 10 Midwest states, Hurley and his team have been focused on helping clients as the cities in the region undergo tremendous change.

Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Louisville, Ky., are transforming and renovating acres of polluted but salvageable tracts of land called brownfields to green service centers and urban living environments. This is having a major impact on a number of sectors such as healthcare, transportation, higher education, residential real estate and manufacturing.

Hurley and his team frequently advise and counsel finance, legal, safety, human resource and operations executives as to how they can manage emerging risks and strategic objectives in a competitive market.

Clients include airports, hospitals, manufacturers, colleges and universities, as well as general and trade contractors, architects and engineers.

Hurley uses a variety of traditional and nontraditional markets for his clients. These include London and European markets, Cayman, Bermuda and group captives, wrap-ups, environmental liability solutions, builders' risk, professional liability.

One client commented that Hurley and his team have done a fantastic job, especially with its professional liability coverages.

"If John left (his firm), I don't know what we'd do," this client said, noting that he'd be tempted to follow Hurley wherever he went.

President
Project Technologies International LLC
Jericho, N.Y.

With a career that's spanned three decades and touched virtually ever facet of the construction insurance field, John Munson has a wealth of industry knowledge and experience.

As president of Project Technologies, the wrap-up insurance subsidiary of Allied North America, Munson directs large-scale wrap-up programs from start to finish.

He oversees some of the largest wrap-up programs in the industry today, including the $3 billion Metropolitan Transportation Authority construction project in New York and the new baseball stadium for the Mets.

"When it comes to bonding and insurance OCIPs in the New York area, that's your guy," an industry source said. "He is extraordinarily knowledgeable and talented."

He also has top-notch contacts with underwriters such as AIG, he said. "In New York, he's the best there is," he said.

Prior to assuming his role with Project Technologies in 2002, Munson was a senior vice president of Marsh, serving as a team leader in the construction group. He previously worked in various risk management capacities at Willis Corroon and Slattery Associates.

Project Technologies is a subsidiary of Allied North America, one of the country's largest insurance and surety brokers specializing in the construction industry.

Munson, a member of the American Society of Safety Engineers and the General Contractors Association's insurance and safety board, also serves on his local zoning board.

Managing Director
Executive Vice President
Aon
Los Angeles

Leslie Curry has built up a reputation in the construction sector over the years for her ability to solve difficult insurance issues--often with now insolvent carriers--and for her top-notch customer service.

Curry joined Aon in 1994 as the first employee Peter Arkley, managing principal of Aon Construction Services Group, hired. At the time, they had no business, but over the last 13 years, Curry and the Aon team have built up a thriving practice in the Los Angeles area.

In this last year, Curry took charge of a large public-entity client that was in jeopardy of being lost. The company's insurance program was to expire within four months, and it had decided not to pursue a new construction wrap up. Curry secured extension terms and pursued solutions in the alternative markets to structure a new program. The pricing and program structure came in under budget and exceeded the client's expectations.

The team moved quickly enough to get the new program onto a board agenda item in time to save the client from paying extension premium to the old carrier.

"She definitely has our interests in mind," said one client. "She has a great relationship with all the carriers and the service level we get from her is very good," he said.

Curry has been a member of the Aon Excellence Roundtable from 1995-2007. Before joining Aon in 1994, Curry was with Marsh & McLennan for five years.

Managing Director
Executive Vice President
Aon
San Jose, Calif.

Personal relationships are critical to a successful long-term business relationship and that is especially true when it comes to insurance.

Michael Heffernan has been serving the construction sector for 15 years and has worked hard at developing personal relationships with insurance markets and clients. He also makes it a point that his clients are known by the insurance markets that protect them. By maintaining strong relationships with clients and the insurance markets, Heffernan is able to get the job done.

In the past year, for instance, Heffernan had one client who sustained a catastrophic claim scenario in which the structure it was building collapsed and caused significant damage and delay to the project. Serious coverage concerns were raised by interested underwriters and the final disposition of the claim is still being negotiated.

While the initial signs from the underwriters' claims unit suggested that there were going to be coverage challenges, Heffernan was successful in getting the underwriters to advance north of a seven-figure amount for his client while the issues are being researched and debated.

"The team over at Aon has exceeded and continues to exceed expectations," said one of Heffernan's clients. "His loyalties are to us and not to the underwriter," he said.

"Mike's got tons of knowledge with respect to construction," another client said.