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Senior Vice President
Aon, St. Louis

Loyal to Tim

The chief financial officer at a private equity firm got a call recently from an insurance broker--an Aon rival--asking what the broker could to do to win his business. The CFO's response: Hire Timothy George.

"I'm not loyal to Aon, but I am loyal to Tim," he said. "So if you hire Tim, you'll get all of my business."

What has George done to win that kind of customer loyalty? "He always goes beyond," this client said.

"He really is just outstanding on the customer service side."

This client speaks about his first days on the job several years ago when he knew very little about the insurance requirements of the private equity firm. George would spend hours on the phone with him to go over contracts and explain products.

In addition, he said, George has done an outstanding job working with the firm's dealmakers. "On deals, I've never heard one bad thing and that's impossible for deal guys. If the deal guys don't complain, something is beyond weird," he said.

The accolades came from other clients as well.

"Tim is about as good as they come," another client said. "Tim has always done a fabulous job," he said, noting that George came up with a solution this year that helped to dramatically reduce the firm's insurance costs.

Managing Director
Aon, New York

A Four Bagger

Vincent Flood didn't just come through on one critical project for a high-profile financial institution client this year--he and his team delivered on four.

"We've been a challenging risk to insurers over the last two years," this client said. "And there's no such thing as an easy property placement."

In addition to a large property placement, this client had a new captive that needed coverage and it had a new headquarters building coming out of construction. On top of all of that, Flood and his team also brokered the property and terrorism coverage for the real estate assets of the firm's private equity funds.

None of these situations was easy. The property placement had to be Basel compliant. In the case of the captive, Flood's firm, Aon, was not the captive manager and so he and his team had to place coverage without overstepping their role.

With the new headquarters, the exposure had to be seamlessly integrated with the coverage for the existing corporate property program.

This client also gave credit to Flood's London counterpart Andrew Laing for his role in placing the coverages and complimented the firm on its ability to present a united front.

"I couldn't be happier," he said. "They absolutely deserve enormous credit and enormous props for what they've accomplished."

Director
Aon, St. Louis

The Right Touch

Private equity investments typically require extensive due diligence and diplomacy. To get the deals done right, private equity firms rely on advisers who can get the necessary information while maintaining good working relationships with the target company.

It's not an easy job and not everyone can do it. But Nick Kalist, director with Aon Mergers & Acquisitions Group, can and does.

"When we're buying a distressed company, we put a lot of pressure on our advisers to get a lot of information quickly so we can make decisions quickly," one private equity client said.

Kalist, he said, "Is, by far, one of the best at doing that."

"He's the only one that we consistently get good feedback about from the other side," he said.

"He's by far one of the best advisers we have."

In one case, Kalist coordinated the property & casualty insurance due diligence for a private equity client interested in a global, publicly traded company.

The evolving global footprint of the client required Kalist to understand the risk profile of the newly formed company, create a program structure appropriate for that risk, mitigate collateral requirements and reduce the total cost of risk.

By structuring appropriate retention levels, consolidating coverage and integrating certain exposures into the private equity fund's master insurance programs, Kalist was able to meet all of the client's objectives.

Senior Managing Director
Equity Risk Partners, San Francisco

Manufacturing Coverage

It's one thing for a broker to help a client to buy the right insurance. But it really makes an impression when a broker is there for a client throughout a complicated claim dispute. That's the story with one of Tony Marcon and one of his client relationships.

Marcon, who specializes in working for private equity firms, was working for a manufacturer which had been acquired by a private equity firm.

A short time after he had helped the manufacturer to obtain the appropriate coverages, there was a catastrophic fire at one of the manufacturer's plants.

It's after an event like a fire that a company finds out whether it has good insurance protection and, indeed, this company did. But in addition to the coverage he arranged, Marcon was a tireless advocate for the manufacturer in dealing with the claim, making sure the company was paid what it was owed.

The story doesn't end there, though. Marcon also guided the company through its renewal this year. The company knew it would be dropped by its current insurer and knew there would be few insurers interested in its business.

Marcon, however, set up a competitive process, which gave the manufacturer options and helped it keep its insurance premiums under control.

"I have a great deal of confidence in Tony," this client says. "He's the guy I call and talk to when something comes up."

Senior Vice President
Marsh, New York

Blown Away

Siobhan O'Brien has become the go-to person for a number of major financial institutions facing exceptionally difficult times over the last year or two.

Clients sought her expertise on difficult renewals, corporate restructurings, complex claims situations and changes within the C-Suite at many major financial institutions.

As the landscape for banks became more perilous over the last year, she ensured that her clients successfully renewed their D&O programs without undue erosion of coverage, pricing structure or service.

Her innovative work with companies in conservatorship, in emergency takeovers and in bankruptcy has helped clients to secure critical insurance programs despite significant difficulties.

"She is your absolute A-team player," one client said. "She has been through numerous complex, demanding, unique transactions. She has an immense amount of energy to solve the problem. She is always upbeat. She is an absolute problem solver and just a pleasure to work with," the client said.

Another risk manager said her company used to think it had good broker representation before. But then it brought O'Brien on about 2-1/2 years ago.

"When you compare what Siobhan has done--it blows the rest of the field away," this client said.

Managing Director
Marsh, New York

Riding the Waves

It would be an understatement to say that financial institutions faced some unusual, even unprecedented challenges in 2009 as the industry tried to cope with the fallout from the economic meltdown of 2008.

Thomas Orrico and his team at Marsh came through with creative solutions in a couple of cases where major financial institutions were facing high-profile, critical situations.

In one case, the client was an asset management firm that was being spun off from a bankrupt investment bank. This client had previously purchased its insurance through its parent company and it now needed its own package of insurance coverages--from D&O and E&O to fidelity bonds.

"Just getting our program in place was a huge accomplishment," this client said of the work done by Orrico and his colleague Paul Huelbig. This client found itself out from under the protection of its former parent, with no experience in the insurance markets and yet still somewhat tainted by its former parent in the eyes of the market.

"We were happy with the outcome," this client said. "We came in under budget, which also is not a small accomplishment."

Another client also found itself in a crisis last year. Asked about the Marsh team's performance, this client said: "It's largely about their creativity in just putting together the programs for this particular risk."

Senior Vice President
Marsh
New York

Managing Director
Aon
New York

Managing Director, Multinational Client Services
Marsh
New York

Managing Director
Aon
New York

Senior Vice President
Aon
New York

Senior Vice President
Willis
Boston

Managing Director, Practice Leader
Aon
New York