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Principal
Integro, San Francisco
jim.bacon@integrogroup.com

Principal ... and Principled

Clients praised James Bacon for a multifaceted process-driven approach that attacks current and outstanding liabilities, and administrative expenses--activities also known in many circles as bringing home the bacon.

In the past year a large healthcare organization, for example, cited Bacon for exemplary work on several fronts. "Jim partnered with us in negotiating a great contract that consolidated several third-party administrators into one TPA that is projected to save $1.6 million over the next three years.

"We were able to get the TPA to agree to do some unique things they've never done for anybody else," said the manager of workers' compensation at the client company. These changes will not only save an immense amount of money but also improve productivity."

The solution Bacon offered included redesigns of departments and the claim reporting and disability management processes as well as replacing existing TPAs. "In addition, he is good technically," said the manager. "He did a thorough data integrity assessment that was invaluable to us. He's a big-picture thinker as well as a detail person."

"Jim has a very quiet demeanor," said another client. "He is very honest and forthright. I always feel that he's working in my best interest. In the past year, she said, Bacon helped her firm self-insure for workers' comp and some major revamping brought $5 million to the bottom line. "We actually reviewed every open claim," she said, "and in some cases we found employees we had reserves on that were dead."

Principal
Integro, San Francisco
marla.eisenberg@integrogroup.com

Eisenberg Theorems Explore New Realms

In her second year with Integro, after 14 years with Marsh, Marla Eisenberg opened up new territory for her current employer--especially in the realm of analyzing claims.

For example in 2008, in her role as a workers' compensation consultant to a large California self-insured employer, she reviewed their internal processes and personnel as well as the external vendors managing the programs. Over the course of the year, she worked with the vendor and it was clear the contractor was going to fall short of the expected level of service so a vendor selection was completed.

To ensure the claims did not deteriorate, Eisenberg provided oversight on the claims and in a 12-month period, she and her team were able to reduce the company's actuarial accrual by $4 million. In addition, she provided advice on restructuring job duties, developed job descriptions for new positions and redesigned the flow of claims processing.

In another case, during an audit of the workers' comp program at that company, Eisenberg and her team were able to save the client $5 million. "This was a special, one-time audit," said the client, "because our costs had grown so high."

In a third case, Eisenberg drew praise for her ability in the claims management area. "She is doing an audit for us, and so far everything is going well," said the client. "She is very good at training people in claims management as well as practicing it herself."

Senior Vice President
Willis HRH, Amarillo, Texas

The Team Player

With more than 300 professional sports teams under his group's management, Alex Fairly still had time last year to implement a new plan that provides an exciting opportunity for existing and prospective clients.

An area that for which the professional sports marketplace indicated a pressing need was in helping teams with noncommon ownership to be able to band together to procure workers' compensation coverage. Their inability to do this was threatening the viability of some of these teams' operations. Last year Fairly was cited as a Power Broker^TM in the Entertainment/Sports category, but this year his unusual work in workers' comp landed him in this category.

Before the involvement of Fairly and his group there were several leagues--the Central Hockey League, Women's Professional Soccer, the National Lacrosse League and the Arena Football League, as well tens of midlevel professional teams such as Independent Professional Baseball and Division I professional soccer--all procuring workers' comp coverage from the insurer of last resort in their state.

Together with two major insurers, Fairly and his group developed a model for teams and their leagues to buy workers' comp coverage as a single unit. The model included creating a legal entity which was commonly owned by the teams.

These solutions helped slash by 50 percent the teams' cost of risk in workers' comp, and the model will be applicable to other classes of businesses as well.

Senior Vice President
Wells Fargo Insurance Services, Cincinnati
bob_grigas@wellsfargois.com

Discount Bob

"Responsive" is Bob Grigas' middle name, according to many people in the workers' compensation field. "He is one of the most responsive people I've ever come across in my experience with insurance brokers," said the CEO and treasurer of a major client.

Further, Grigas' knowledge of markets has saved this chief executive a considerable amount of money since linking up with Grigas in 2003. "He does a nice job of marketing our bids. Our whole senior team appreciates that. In the past year, in Kentucky and Indiana, he helped us reduce workers' comp premiums by between $300,000 and $400,000."

Soon after Grigas agreed to take on this client, he was able to get a major carrier to handle the coverage--something Grigas' predecessor had not been able to do. "Bob was able to convince this large carrier that we were a very good risk and wrote coverage for us."

"Bob is very accessible," said another client. "He is very timely. He is in front of the market; he's able to think six months out. For me, it's invaluable that he's able to think strategically in terms of what is important to our bottom line."

In 2008 Grigas, who has as much expertise in the transportation sector as he does in workers' comp, delighted this client by coming to him six months ahead of contract renewal time saying, 'If we move right now, if you're willing to lock in for next year's renewal I can get you a good discount.' I said yes and that was one less important thing I had to worry about."

Managing Director
Aon, Chicago
carol_murphy@aon.com

The Big Score

One of the highlights of a distinguished year in 2008 for Carol Murphy occurred when, as a member of the Aon team, the brokers obtained the business of one of the largest retailers in the country.

The retailer is now one of Aon's largest accounts, and Murphy personally brokered the casualty renewal for the firm's workers' compensation and other primary lines representing a total cost of risk of about $195 million ($180 million of retained losses plus $15 million of premium costs) when Aon was engaged. This is one of a handful of the largest workers' comp deals in the United States.

In addition, through Murphy's negotiating strategy and thanks to her leverage in the marketplace, the Aon team was able during a time of financial turmoil, to reduce overall collateral requirements by $20 million versus expected growth of $100 million in those same requirements. The carrier that writes the retailer's program has confirmed that this is the best collateral deal for a client in the carrier's book of business.

"Our first casualty placement with Carol was this year and we had a great result. She knows the markets extremely well," said the vice president of risk management at this retail client. "She has the respect of the market and can go straight to the top with insureds and underwriters."

"She's creative and innovative," said another client. "She doesn't stop. She's on the cutting edge in our industry. She listens very well, which is an art. Plus she is a good brainstormer with a good sense of humor." Murphy as selected as a Power Broker^TM last year in this category.

National Workers' Compensation Practice Leader
Marsh, Boston
Mark.J.Noonan@marsh.com

A Broker on the Mark

In 2008 Mark Noonan proved why he is widely known as a thorough and progressive workers' compensation broker. Noonan and his team in the Boston office introduced a number of new products in the past year. Among the slate of products were new proprietary tools to help cut the total cost of risk in workers' compensation, with a focus on medical costs and outcome management.

Along with new tools, Noonan, a staple of the lecture and seminar circuits, developed training programs for clients, generated content for client/prospect seminars and wrote detailed updates on the latest legislative workers' comp debates winding their way through state legislatures.

Noonan is known as exceptionally persuasive. One client recalled how Noonan was brought in for a one-shot session and ended up conducting an entire operational assessment of her department that led to the hiring of a new person last October.

"He's the most innovative person in his field," said another client. "He never says no."

Noonan is leading his team in identifying a new product to help cut the total cost of risk in workers' compensation. The information is being collected, the technology identified and the process delineated. Also in the past year one client, who considered Noonan her mentor, noted that he was instrumental in helping her third-party administrator identify key risk factors in her coverage. "He helped our TPA understand the importance of stewardship and benchmarking," she said.

Marsh
Senior Vice President
Hartford, Conn.

Marsh
Vice President
Chicago