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Senior Vice President, Casualty Practice
Marsh, New York
heidi.bauermeister@marsh.com

Finding More Cash for the Cash-Strapped

Let's face it, the U.S. automotive industry is in its worst shape in modern history. In this brutal market, an insurance broker has to help his or her client meet the insurance carrier's collateral expectations from big companies that are either bankrupt or on the verge of it.

That's the difficult soil that Heidi Bauermeister treads on, and she walks that ground very well, according to those who work with her.

"We're all grown-ups here, and the insurance company's interests need to be protected," said one automotive industry risk manager. "She is very, very good at being able to balance the interest. She is not just out there saying, 'This is what my client needs.' "

Risk managers said Bauermeister has superior communication skills and is an excellent people person. Maybe that's why Marsh's brass made the decision this year to move Bauermeister to New York as senior vice president for its casualty practice.

"She is very technically proficient, and she has a great way with people from a negotiations perspective," said a risk manager for one of Detroit's Big Three automakers. He added that her ability to manage his need for collateral has been crucial to obtaining coverage for his excess liability exposures.

In 2008, Bauermeister redesigned two large clients' primary general liability programs to exclude expenses, saving 25 percent for each of them in that line of coverage. Providing any way to allow the automakers to conserve cash is certainly work well done.

Managing Director, National D&O Practice Leader
Aon, New York
jennifer_fahey@ars.aon.com

The Leaps of an Innovator

After peaking in the fourth quarter of 2002, directors' and officers' premium pricing has been on a steady decline. But with dozens of looming professional liability lawsuits in connection with the subprime mortgage meltdown, price declines could level off or even rise.

With that knowledge in mind, let us now praise Aon's Jennifer Fahey, who according to one of the risk managers of an automotive company that is one of the Dow's largest members, delivered outstanding results under very trying circumstances this year.

"She has great industry knowledge, and I think she is an expert on the coverage and what is important to a client," this risk manager said.

As a D&O specialist, Fahey must be able to leap from industry to industry, and that she does with aplomb. Not only has she produced outstanding results for an automotive client with a world of challenges, she has been an innovator in the run-off coverages that are nearly always purchased by public corporations to mitigate liabilities stemming from prior management.

Rather than let those normally six-year coverages just run on auto pilot, Fahey conducted an analysis of the triggering transaction and worked with the carriers to improve terms whenever possible. She could have sat back and raked in the revenue, but then we wouldn't be talking about Jennifer Fahey.

Executive Managing Director
Beecher Carlson, New York
gmyers@beechercarlson.com

Benefiting From the Myers Multiple

It would benefit someone wishing to wear the mantle of Power Broker^TM to be well-respected in their field, have tons of experience and be able to negotiate with large organizations as skillfully as their corporate risk management partners do.

That's why Beecher Carlson's Greg Myers, with 23 years' experience in the automotive sector and a Power Broker^TM award for his work in 2006, has this year again been named as a winner.

Working for multiple companies on several continents, Myers implemented workers' compensation loss cost controls for one client with several U.S. manufacturing locations.

For yet another, he brokered external insurance and administrative services to support finance and insurance products. And for a third, he was able to cut premiums for the client's worldwide marine program while at the same time preserving a relationship with a carrier whose sterling service record the client wanted to maintain.

"We have expanded our business with Greg," said a risk manger for an international auto manufacturer. "He has proven himself effective in that and we have given him a good portion of our casualty business."

"He always puts the needs of his client first. He makes it his job to solve your problems," said the risk manager for another global automotive manufacturer. "He really learns about your company and tries to understand your goals and objectives."

Senior Vice President
Marsh, Los Angeles
Marshann.Varley@Marsh.com

Practiced at the Art of the Soft Sell

In a previous chapter in her life, Marshann Varley was a Singapore-based risk manager for General Motors, overseeing that function for the Detroit-based manufacturer's operations in 14 countries.

So it's no surprise that Varley, who is now a Marsh client executive based in Los Angeles, has the industry knowledge and the drive to create a forum for Southern California-based original equipment manufacturers and Tier-1 suppliers on such topics as business-continuity planning, product recall and environmental matters.

It's also no surprise this is her third year as a Power Broker^TM winner in Automotive. She has the authority and experience to lead risk managers wherever they need to go, in one client's case aiding in the creation of automobile loaner programs for two major brands.

"I've drawn on her experience with others on this so this implementation was very simple, very quick," said the risk manager who insured those programs with Varley's help.

"She is very creative and has a lot of energy and passion around trying to do the right thing and not trying to sell you something that you might not need," added another client.

In the past year, Varley developed a service plan to assist in the relocation of a client's headquarters and lowered the total cost of risk.

"Marshann's diligence and professionalism has assisted us in maneuvering through many land mines with our existing carriers," said yet another risk manager for a global auto manufacturer.

Chief Operations Officer
Managing Director
Aon, Southfield, Mich.
carol_a_williams@ars.aon.com

Tending a Hand to the 'Helpless'

The word collateral is one that we kept hearing time and again this year from automotive risk managers who felt pressed to provide the asked-for security to insurers handling programs such as workers' comp and casualty.

An automotive industry that seemed to be in free fall toward the end of the year was clearly being called on the carpet by an insurance industry that was having plenty of its own problems.

"It had been a situation where we were feeling quite, I wouldn't say, helpless," said one risk manager. "We charged Aon, and specifically Carol, to put together a strategy and an approach that would give us significant collateral relief in our 2008 and 2009 renewal, and she was able to deliver a huge deliverable on that, which was extremely important to us for financial and liquidity reasons."

For her part, Williams said one of the keys to finding automotive risk managers the breathing room they needed at renewal in these kinds of times is better articulating company financials to obtain collateral reductions from insurance carriers.

"I'm sure they were wondering, 'How the hell are we going to do this,' but they worked real well," this risk manager said of Williams and the rest of her Aon team.