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Chief Operating Officer
Beecher Carlson
Gulfport, Miss.

Hurricane Katrina's impact was still all too apparent in 2007, but the Sawyer Foster Agency, a Beecher company, was there to continue the mop-up, rebuild operations and reconstruct coverage for their clients.

COO Calvin Foster's influence extends beyond the land of riverboat gambling and laid-bare house foundations. Former clients recall how he helped to set up their self-insurance programs, still one of his specialties, back in the day. And today, they know to call him in wherever they are, whenever they are in a bind.

Take the chief financial officer of a new mixed-use resort in Las Vegas. Any time he gets involved in a project, he said, he gets in touch with Foster and orders up the broker's professional, hard-nosed and to-the-point style. The client's done that at three different jobs over the last decade.

"He's the best," the executive said. "I'm in good hands."

For his latest project, he called in Foster to place all of his coverages for him. The biggest challenge for the broker came in having to review and revise the insurance program for the construction of the resort/casino. Foster designated a special Vegas-based team to handle the program. Then he oversaw the revamping of claims procedures and improved the terms and conditions for the cover.

His success typifies why clients are so loyal to Foster: He was able to get the program to work for the client, instead of the client having to work for the program.

Senior Vice President
Public Entity & Gaming Practice Leader
Marsh
San Francisco

"The biggest bang for the buck comes with our discussions with Craig," said the risk manager for a California-based Native American gaming center. The risk manager might have been motivated to say that because Craig Bowlus and his team provided virtually free risk management consulting for him. "He's been great at putting the best people forward and not taking all the credit himself," said the risk manager.

What Bowlus and the team were getting paid for was to rework the casino's "horrendous" DIC program, which they did for a 40 percent discount at renewal. So Bowlus deserves his fee and his props.

A previous Power Broker^TM winner, Bowlus continued to make his name in 2007 by spearheading Marsh's effort to draw more markets into the Native American gaming space. Where traditional carriers leave off, Bowlus has helped tribes design captives that suit their unique governmental status.

"He's got his finger on the pulse," said another risk manager at a Native American gaming corporation, this one in the Northeast, adding that in many ways he's the "catalyst" driving that pulse.

His is a familiar face at the National Indian Gaming Association, and he organized Marsh's Native American finance conference. When you find somebody like Bowlus, she said, you better keep him because there aren't enough brokers out there like him in this niche.

Executive Vice President
Willis
Phoenix

John Jacobs is a hard man to pigeonhole into one industry category, for the work he does on an everyday basis let alone for the Power Broker^TM Awards. The client advocate has worked with massive publicly traded companies in sectors ranging from retail to waste disposal, airlines to energy.

But risk managers in the gaming industry double-downed on their compliments to Jacobs, and as such we decided to pay out to their wishes.

Jacobs is well-known in the gaming industry for his knowledge, his willingness to move in innovative directions and for his work for such high-profile clients as MGM Mirage, said one Las Vegas-based risk executive.

Another risk professional on the Strip perhaps best explained how this broker-of-all-trades is able to not only succeed in multiple industries, but is capable of impressing the risk managers in those industries with his specialized knowledge of their business.

"John is a tireless advocate for his clients, and he engages any resource he needs to address a client's issue, even if it means going to the top management of an insurance company of his own company," the client said.

It's this resourcefulness and initiative that earned Jacobs in 2007 the Willis "One Flag" Award, which is given to brokers who effectively utilize the firm's worldwide resources.

President
Willis
Pascagoula, Miss.

It might be time to retire John J. Bullock from the Power Broker^TM Awards, at least in the gaming category. This is the third win in a row for the Mississippi native, who's also won the Willis Exceptional Producers Award the last 10 years.

But it's hard not to give accolades to Bullock, who made a name for himself with his legendary claims support and new business development during those topsy-turvy months after Katrina, Rita and Wilma.

And in 2007, Bullock didn't slow down. As one client put it, Bullock is still "that Mark Twain kind of guy" sought up and down the Mississippi for his reputation and his pre-eminent expertise in riverboat gaming.

His singular achievement this past year was an 18-month property policy, stretching across two hurricane seasons, that he landed for one of his biggest clients. The policy is set up so that the client can capitalize on a calm wind season in year one with a 50 percent premium cut in season two. No one else could have managed such a placement except this "consummate broker," said the risk executive.

Bullock also created a program for another client involving multiple ownership groups that before hadn't been considered one asset group. Bullock and his "outstanding" team were able to convince carriers to price the properties together for less, said the grateful client.

The client summed up why Bullock can't be beat in this category: "I've not found anyone as knowledgeable as John."

Global Markets Leisure Practice Leader
Willis
London

"(Fraser) is highly sought after within the hotel international community," said a risk executive for one of the world's largest gaming companies.

No wonder Fraser is willing to take more red-eye flights than anybody else the executive knows. Fraser works with clients in nearly every time zone, from London and Spain to India and the Caribbean. And he anticipates locales where clients will expand next.

The Chinese special administrative region Macau is one such spot. Of course, the "Monte Carlo of the Orient" is no secret. In 2006, its revenues surpassed even those on the Vegas Strip. Fraser is right there in the pits, with local contacts in government, law and tourism to keep his clients in the game.

One could say, without too much hyperbole, that Fraser is the living embodiment of the globalization of hospitality.

That is not to say that Fraser, while tirelessly crisscrossing the planet, cannot also handle mundane brokering tasks for U.S. clients like MGM, Foxwoods and Isle of Capri. He's as determined at those as much as he is at racking up frequent-flyer miles.

"Laurie immerses himself in his client's business and familiarizes himself with the insurance history and facets of the business and claims that are important to insurance placement and management," said the top executive of risk management and general counsel for a world-class gaming operation.

President
Kaercher Campbell & Associates
Las Vegas

In Las Vegas it seems enough people know William Allen Kaercher well that he could be the "future mayor," according to one client.

That client, a risk executive for a notable gaming operation who uses the broker to place property/casualty insurance, said that what sets Kaercher apart is his grasp of customer service. Case in point is how his program involves coverages net of commission. Kaercher provides documentation to prove commissions aren't hiding.

"No. 1, A rate," said another gaming client about the 39-year brokering veteran. "If somebody says it can't be done, Allen finds a way."

And this can-do attitude influences his associates. That way, no matter who Kaercher assigns, clients can trust that their tough tasks will be handled--such as placing an emergency property coverage over a weekend, or landing benefits for an expatriot employee of a sister company after underwriters turned them down three other times.

Kaercher's work ethic extends into the community, where he's won the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce Community Achievement Award two years running in addition to the state of Nevada Community Achievement Award and a U.S. Senate Special Congressional Recognition.

Another indication of his influence in Vegas: Last year he was awarded the contract for the OCIP with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. His influence in the industry? He also reached across the Pacific to put together the OCIP for a billion-dollar project in Macau.