Risk And Insurance - Power Broker®

Hospitality / Gaming

2010 Power Broker^® Winners

Cari Hernandez

Vice President, Entertainment Practice Group
Aon, Chicago

Cutting Through the Nonsense

Cari Hernandez has been around the casino business for years, but in the last year, she's stepped up her game to fill the space left by the passing of Dana Berry, according to a risk manager at one of the East Coast's swankiest resorts. She was able to do so thanks in large part to the trust she engenders in her clients and the relationships she's built with underwriters.

An example perhaps: Another client, a Vegas-based gaming company, recently gave Hernandez its D&O business, a tricky placement at the time. Hernandez organized an "insurance underwriter committee meeting," the risk manager recalled, bringing together 15 underwriters to talk with the company's C-suite execs. The risk manager expected his premiums to go up as much as 10 percent at renewal. He got a 4 percent reduction, in large part because of Hernandez's work.

Another client, an exec involved in corporate counsel at a casino owner and developer, admitted, "She probably knows more about casino development than I do."

The client needed that knowledge, given the financial restructuring it underwent while developing multiple multimillion-dollar properties. Hernandez had to soothe the company's CEO regarding last year's property renewal. Then, for an OCIP that wasn't going well--Hernandez provided assistance too, even though another brokerage firm originally placed it.

"I don't need anymore nonsense," the East Coast risk manager said. Hernandez saves him from it.

Donna Pfluger-Murray

Managing Director
Aon, New York

The Fast Fixer

The story is a bit of a soap opera, so it's a shame that a lot of the details cannot be shared. But the gist of the matter is that Donna Pfluger-Murray helped one of the world's largest hotel companies pull off "a bold move," according to the company's risk executive. It moved its entire international casualty program--involving about 200 policies in more than 50 countries--from one carrier to another.

Pfluger-Murray led the entire effort, from policy issuance to premium collection, from claims management issues to policy wording. The greatest part, perhaps, was that all of this was done in the few weeks leading up to renewal and without prior design.

You see, the change in carriers was not planned. It was done "on the fly," as the risk exec put it. Why? Because the risk manager has to keep all of his insurers "playing in the sandbox nicely," as he put it, we can't get into the good stuff.

But we can tell you that "it all went on balance pretty damn smooth," said the client. "It was absolutely essential that the transition went well."

The risk management director provided some insight into perhaps why Pfluger-Murray was able to succeed. How she understands the hotel company's business "inside and out," down to the difference in each of the hotel contracts.

Think you want to make a big switch to Pfluger-Murray? She can help you with that. One of her projects this past year was a report on the "Top 10 Keys" for switching to a new global brokering network.

Chuck Gohn

President
Associates of Glens Falls, Glens Falls, N.Y.

Better Than the Big Guys

"It's refreshing," said the head of one hospitality association about Chuck Gohn's capabilities as a broker, adding that he'd put Gohn up against "any of the big guys."

It could be that this reference, a brokerage industry veteran, has a jaundiced view of the inadequacies of most big brokers. But let's look at the sunny side of the argument: that Gohn is just that good. Gohn operates his agency in upstate New York with far fewer resources than large outfits. Yet he caters to a growing group of hospitality clients, particularly high-end resorts and recreation complexes.

He has the talent to handle sticky issues and tricky placements. In the past year, he worked with one client building a new condo hotel at a ski resort. The client wanted to keep his skiing liability policy separate from his hotel policy. That involved Gohn working closely with the program broker and carrier on ski liability, as well as the hotel insurer. It was a win-win for all parties involved, particularly the client, whose needs were placed above all else.

"I don't think he's ever said no to me," said another client at a New England resort.

Client service is not limited to his hospitality clients. In explaining how Gohn is not held back by the regional nature of his business, another client describes how Gohn has gone to bat again and again for affordable coverages when his employer purchases another "excess risk" acquisition with serious losses in its history.

"He is professional, he is aggressive in every turn for what he does for his clients," this fan added. "He's a sharp pencil."

Robert W. Hessel

Senior Managing Director
Beecher Carlson, Atlanta

Repeat Performer

This is the fourth year that Bob Hessel has earned the Power Broker^TM distinction, so other competitors in this category might clamor to get his "number" retired to leave more room in the winners' circle. But as long as he continues to be nominated by industry risk managers--and continues to perform outstanding feats of service for his clients--it's hard to foresee an end to his streak of wins.

Perhaps his most singular accomplishment of the past year has been how he handles the sticky subject of terrorism. Whether an attacker targets a risk manager's own building or another hospitality firm's facility, no matter. Underwriters get jittery. After the significant bombings last year, Hessel was able to avoid a "knee-jerk reaction" from casualty markets, reported one risk manager of a name-brand, publicly traded hotel company.

For another of Hessel's clients, he was able to secure lower premiums, increased limits and a reduction in public liability by $1 million for excess liability, despite his renewal occurring so soon after two major attacks.

"During these economically and politically charged times, that was magnificent," the risk manager said.

Hessel is able to get such results from underwriters, explained the risk manager, because of an aggressive threat vulnerability metrics program. He employs people with intelligence experience to help him parse real risk from the "USA Today-type risks."

Richard A. Babb

Senior Vice President
HUB International Midwest, Chicago

The 48/14 Advocate

For our Power Broker^TM project, our judges and editors are keen to identify success stories: intricate and intractable problems solved by brilliant brokers. In Richard Babb, we have one of those sorts of stories, sure.

Imagine a five-star resort on the tip of the Baja Peninsula in Cabo San Lucas. The palm trees, beach and desert ... and the hurricanes. This property had a program that was "quite a costly proposition," reported the executive in charge of insurance for the owner.

Babb was able to market it away from the Mexican primary insurance market and the London markets that reinsured it, to one of the world's most recognizable specialty carriers. The move secured better coverage for the client and better terms, and on top of it all, more than $1 million saved in annual premium.

Every top broker pulls off such feats, but what sets Babb apart is perhaps his "intangibles." For one, he has a mastery of his topic. When there's a purchase transaction to be finalized, this client's lawyers go to Babb to have him review the loan agreements.

"I think he has a solid understanding of the needs of hotel owners," the client said.

And his knowledge is easily accessible. This same client remembers a meeting he had last fall about fires in California, where many of their properties are located. This risk executive was headed out of town for a family baptism, but to allay his boss' fears, all he had to say was that Babb would be available if anything developed.

"One thing you need to know about Rich Babb is he's 48/14," the client said.

David Pagoumian

CEO
NAPCO LLC, Iselin, N.J.

Wholesaler out Front

On one level, David Pagoumian earned this honor for the work he and his team have done for particular clients.

As one risk exec at a global hospitality company stressed, he would not be able to put together his property program without Pagoumian. The wholesale broker fills out the vast majority of his multimillion-dollar top tower, stretching capacity and lowering rates while keeping carriers on the program (and there are many). "In my world, I need him," the risk manager simply put it.

Pagoumian and company specialize in being indispensible for clients who need customized property programs. For another client, one not in hospitality but in a mixed bag of retail and healthcare, Pagoumian's team applied its typical creativity to get affordable capacity for U.S. quake and windstorm--capacity the risk manager wouldn't have bought had it not been competitively priced. The wholesalers pulled it off by bringing in new markets, convincing existing markets to up capacity and ventilating certain layers for price competiveness.

Perhaps this client's favorite part is that the NAPCO team involves itself in claims to make sure markets "behave" and pay up. That leads us to our other reason for this honor: How, broadly speaking, Pagoumian has expanded the role of wholesale brokers. Sure, a lot of it speaks to the strength of risk managers able to make big-name brokers play nice, and the retailers' willingness to play along. It's also a matter of Pagoumian putting his mind to it.