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Managing Director
Marsh
Dunwoody, Ga.

Sometimes all it takes is one really great idea to make yours a household name. Anthony Reynolds, who deserves a lifetime achievement award for his 27 years at Marsh, is getting a lot of buzz these days for designing an integrated property/casualty risk financing program for one of the world's largest retailers.

"This program was a tremendously creative solution to what a big company like us needs," said the client. "He's recognized by a lot of people out there as one of the great minds, someone that's able to bring solutions to the table that other people don't think of."

In fact, the client claimed that those in the industry can pinpoint Reynolds' unique work, saying, "They know it's a Tony deal."

Not only does he hold the respect of the retail community, but of the insurers too. His long-standing personal relationships with senior insurance company executives have helped him favorably resolve his clients' problems with coverage, claims, premiums and collateral.

This client confirms that there's no limit to Reynolds' industry knowledge and creativity, and he's got a "tenacity with an unwillingness to accept a negative answer."

That toughness goes a long way with the most demanding of clients. A lot of brokers say they want the business but would run in the other direction if they knew what it would entail. Reynolds' staying power undoubtedly has a lot to do with why this retailer has a sole agreement with Marsh Atlanta, a very unusual situation for a company this large, admitted the client.

"We have that agreement for a reason," he said. "We have been very pleased."

Senior Vice President
Marsh
Chicago

Foreign products liability is always on the minds of retailers, and Elsa Lynch has had a lot of experience setting up foreign vendor supplier programs in her nearly 30 years at Marsh.

"She's making sure anything we import has product liability coverage," said a risk manager for a specialty retailer. Lynch is often called on to help her Marsh colleagues implement foreign supplier programs.

She wins points for her creativity--for example, looking at captives to handle warrantee insurance, something the client never would have thought of. Being bilingual, she's also a resource when it comes to interpreting documents in Spanish from the client's Puerto Rico operation.

When Lynch's clients need her most, she's been there to quickly resolve the problem.

"Recently, we were working on a television commercial, and on the spur of the moment we needed to place media liability coverage," the risk manager said. "She knew exactly what to do and didn't have to stop to take a breath. We had coverage placed in 48 hours."

What it comes down to for most retail clients is finding a broker who has years of retail experience, and yet never gets complacent. They need a person who knows the client and the industry inside and out, but whose eyes are constantly open for new practices, trends, products or services.

"The most important thing you can find in a broker is someone who's smarter than you," the client said. "That's Elsa. That's what she brings to the table."

Managing Director
Retail/Wholesale Industry Practice Leader
Marsh
San Francisco

Risk managers in the retail industry want specialty brokers, people who live, eat and breathe retail. Gary Bull's been doing that at Marsh for 16 years. You know you've got clout when a national clothing retailer who's not even your client names you as the best of the best.

Bull is widely known as someone who cares about gathering the best benchmarking information and presenting it for all to share in the retail community. It's not too surprising that he¿s made it onto our list for the third year in a row.

One retail client confirmed, "He's done it, year in and year out."

Bull has added a second Retail Client Advisory Council meeting so that twice as many clients can participate in this acclaimed peer-networking opportunity. The participation in the Retailer Networking Group and Benchmarking Studies, which he started in 2006, continues to expand as well.

"He has such a broad reach over the entire retail industry," said one retail client. "He interacts with all Marsh retail clients, constantly going out on road trying to provide more educational materials to risk managers. He's never trying to sell you anything. You feel he's there for you."

Recently, Bull's worked with other Marsh practices and third parties to address two risk issues at the forefront of retailers' minds--foreign sourcing and unseasonable weather. Clients can access several new weather-based financial products and services like vendor intelligence and screening, counterfeiting investigations, supply-chain risk consulting and risk transfer.

Senior Vice President
Hilb Rogal & Hobbs
New York

If it walks like a risk manager and talks like a risk manager, it's a--broker? Well, in this case, it's Joe Vineis, a 15-year HRH veteran who got commendations for his ability to immerse himself in the world of a retail risk manager--a major plus when it comes to approaching underwriters with a complex property program.

One client, a risk manager for a major clothing retailer, said she's got many locations domestic and international, some of which are prone to disasters. That kind of program can make underwriters skittish.

"You need a broker who can show what a good risk you are, who can put himself in a risk manager's shoes," she said. "It's very important for a broker to understand our world. Joe's done that very well."

Vineis had great success on the road in 2007, meeting with underwriters to market his clients' business. On the casualty side, he distanced his clients from a growingly conservative Discover Re, maintaining a great relationship with Zurich and drawing on new blood at Arch to achieve 20 percent to 35 percent savings.

For property, he took advantage of new capacity at Ironshore in Bermuda. His benchmarking initiatives with 35 major retailers have continued to impress the industry and helped him sign on a couple more clients in 2007.

Vineis is also known for personally servicing his customers. He sprung into action when a clothing retailer's New York City store experienced a major fire. "He was my eyes and ears," said the client. "He's not our claims guy, but he went to the store, met with the fire marshal and made sure nothing happened that shouldn't happen."

Managing Director
Aon
New York

Len Churnetski is the guy who knows how to solve your problems, according to one risk manager who's only complaint was, "I just wish there were more Churnetskis in the business. They're hard to find."

Another client, at one of the largest national specialty retailers, raved about Churnetski's ability to provide strategic oversight for the company's overall enterprise risk portfolio and his talent in motivating the team of nearly 100 employees who work on the account.

This client said he relied heavily on Churnetski to navigate the company's historical information and evaluate its property program challenges--one of which is its large aviation risk, an issue most retail accounts don't have.

The company recently moved its property and marine cargo over to Aon, and Churnetski's expertise weighed heavily in that decision.

Churnetski's breadth of experience sets him apart. "A lot of brokers have a line or two that they really know, and that's how they get ahead," said the client. "He is a great generalist and has significant experience on every line of business. It helps put the puzzle pieces together."

Part of Churnetski's appeal is that he is widely respected by retail risk managers. In 2007, he organized for the third time Aon's Retail Industry Symposium, which covered issues from cyberrisk to workers' comp.

Speaking of which, it's no surprise that this past head of Aon's workers' comp practice led a creative initiative last year, introducing 24 major retailers to an innovative new workers' comp and physical therapy PPO network. That initiative has led to four program audits and three pilot programs and is projecting substantial client savings.

Managing Principal
Integro
San Francisco

Marc Kunney has been laying low since leaving Marsh, his employer for 14 years, for Integro in 2005. But he's been developing a team of top talent and is slowly building an impressive list of clients. One retail client, who followed him to Integro to handle her casualty program, said she hasn't second-guessed her decision.

"I've worked with a lot of brokers, many who have been in the industry a lot longer than he has," she said. "He's the person I rely on."

This client's particularly confident in her broker based on the talented team he's formed at Integro, claiming it's the best team she's worked with in a very long time.

"I can see where it's going five years from now, ten years from now," she said. "They believe in him, and they are like sponges trying to absorb everything he says. Marc's a leader."

Not only does he take the time to understand a client's business strategies and corporate culture, but he's committed to constantly re-evaluating that knowledge, utilizing it to generate unique tactics for managing risk.

"His business savvy is what sets him apart," said the client. "Marc is less reliable on traditional thinking, being more strategic and more creative."

He's particularly creative when it comes to alternative risk financing structures, continuously looking at reinsurance and capital markets. The client's received feedback from others in the industry that the way Kunney has structured her captive "is more sophisticated, not straightforward vanilla, and is fully leveraging our structure to make it work for us."