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Vice President
Aon, Sacramento, Calif.

The User

Alex Michon is a user. Oh, not in the vernacular, derogatory way, but in the way he uses the resources of his company to accomplish what needs to be done for his clients.

For one client facing severe financial difficulties, there was little he could do to reduce fixed costs or the costs of TPAs, attorneys or consultants. But using the crisis as an opportunity, he prepared a cost-of-risk analysis showing theretofore skeptical regional managers how much could be saved by focusing on safety. To make his point, he offered to share his client's pain by taking $70,000 of Aon's fee and spending it on safety education that could ultimately reduce workplace injuries. But $70,000 doesn't go all that far in a large institution, so Michon decided to do much of the work himself. Because safety wasn't his field, he sought help and instruction from peers and other clients, instituted a safety program, and in less than a year, realized seven-figure savings for his client.

"Alex knows how to utilize the resources of Aon, which is a big company," said the general counsel of one client. "He's much smarter than the average bear."

A business major with a minor in classical literature from Fresno State University, Michon has been with Aon for 14 years.

"Did you ever meet sales and service people who are so phony-baloney?" the risk manager of another client asks. "Well, that's not Alex. He's a real person. He's a star."

Vice President
Aon, Sacramento, Calif.
Category: Nonprofit

The Teacher

At heart, Alex Michon is a teacher. Take the story he tells about when he met a university's young assistant risk manager several years back at an event.

The young man, a recent college graduate, had an understanding of the industry that surprised Michon for someone so young, and they struck up a friendship. While the young man was in no way a prospective client, Michon mentored him over the next three years.

Later, the young man moved to another company. With Michon's continued mentoring and his own talent, he landed on the management committee within six months and cut risk costs by 30 percent within the year.

Although Aon very rarely hires straight from outside the commercial insurance brokerage world, Michon's superiors eventually hired the young man to assist Michon's clients in a risk management matters. The years of mentoring paid off for both of them. One is on a career path that pays substantially better than before, and the other has a skilled practitioner helping his clients reduce losses and identify risk.

The word has gotten around and now Michon is mentoring five other people at Aon, trying to help them understand the methods and processes of enterprise risk management (ERM). In the end, Michon wants to let people that insurance is really about people as much as it is about contracts.

"It's a struggle to understand how a claim can be stopped before it starts," said Michon. "But it really helps if our clients understand the total cost of risk, and it really helps if our clients look at risk management as more than just insurance contracts.

"That is the core of what I am trying to teach," he added.

--By Julie Liedman

Practice Leader, Charitable and Social Enterprise
Aon, Parsippany, N.J.

Finding the CURE

Risk management groups associated with the not-for-profit sector usually understand the philosophical issues of cure-based charities, but are not necessarily focused on issues relevant to the size and complexity of these large not-for-profits.

What's more, because of the unique risk exposures and risk philosophies of the large cure-based charities, those charities are often challenged to find true peer group information.

Matthew Schneider sought to cure all of that. Realizing the commonality of each entity's mission to cure a harmful human condition, he created a conference, the Charities United Roundtable Exchange (CURE), which hosted its first meeting last year.

By sharing experiences, contacts, challenges, solutions and benchmarking, participants discussed their risk management challenges with the intent of helping each other improve decision-making and rein in costs.

Six large nonprofits participated in the meeting. Today, almost a dozen are involved. Schneider served as moderator and central coordinator of relevant information.

"We always wonder if we have enough, or the right, coverages," said the CFO of one of the nation's largest cure-based charities. "The roundtable brought together people with common issues unique to nonprofits, and we all found it very helpful. Matthew is very, very knowledgeable and assistive.

"He clearly is the expert," the client said.

Managing Director, Religious and Nonprofit Practice
Arthur J. Gallagher, Itasca, Ill.

Mega Help for Mega Churches

Existing off-the-shelf church property and casualty solutions didn't meet the unique needs of his megachurch clients, Peter Persuitti felt, because they did not work long term for them. With their numbers growing exponentially, emerging religious institutions needed products that addressed their increasing risk as their numbers grew.

What was missing, he felt, was a practical assessment of the megachurches' business plans, something more than merely evaluating the square footage of their buildings and their total insured values.

So Persuitti created Impac, a unique megachurch program. It is a network of support--everything from companies that provide background checks for employees and volunteers to those that specialize in crisis management, in addition to insurance--that leverages technology to connect megachurches with information and resources that help mitigate risk and provide new and different means for such things as risk financing and retention.

"Peter has a deep understanding of risk management needs in the faith-based community," said the president of the pension board of one of Persuitti's client churches.

Adds the president of a technology company that Persuitti recommends to his clients for background checks, "He has propelled the Gallagher agency to be more than just an insurance agent. He has encouraged his clients not only to buy good insurance in case of catastrophic events, but to find ways to prevent catastrophic events."

Managing Director, Nonprofit Practice
Beecher Carlson, Portland, Ore.

Making Persistence Pay

Dennis Doherty is dogged. Whether it's getting coverage where none seems possible or working without pay to help a client, Doherty puts himself on the line to support the mission of the nonprofits he works with.

Take the humanitarian organization that delivers healthcare in developing countries suffering from natural disasters or civil strife.

"He's tremendously resourceful in tracking down affordable coverage," said the organization's director of administration and regulatory affairs. "We inquired about medical-malpractice insurance. It's almost impossible to secure in the countries we serve. But he secured it in all the countries where we are."

Then there was the employee in the organization's Liberian program. A native of Sierra Leone, she had medical coverage as an expat, but traveled home periodically. When she fell ill in a remote area of Sierra Leone, she tried to arrange evacuation to a modern hospital. Although her illness was employment-related, she was denied coverage.

"He went to battle for us--and I do mean battle," the director said, "and secured coverage for her."

For another organization, which provides temp jobs for people with disabilities, Doherty sought to get its workers' comp business. Even though he didn't have the contract yet, he sent a safety expert who held several meetings to figure out how the organization could reduce workers' injury rates. After a while, he got the contract.

Managing Director
Beecher Carlson Insurance Agency, Portland, Ore.
Category: Nonprofit

A Tale of Redemption

Sometimes Dennis Doherty feels like he's reading a fairy tale--a fairy tale that he is the star of. And, indeed, his story does read like one.

It begins in 1983 when Doherty, an unemployed and divorced alcoholic, entered DePaul Treatment Centers in Portland, Ore.

"My life was shattered by alcoholism," he said.

Fast forward to 2010. Doherty, who is in recovery, is now managing director of Beecher Carlson's brokerage practice in charge of insuring the nonprofit sector. Fifteen years after their divorce, he and his wife remarried; they've been married for 18 years now. And he is on the board of DePaul Treatment Centers, the very facility that helped him turn his life around. A former board chairman, he now heads its governance committee.

Doherty also is on two other boards, DePaul Industries, which provides training and jobs for mentally challenged people so they can lead lives of independence, and the Nonprofit Risk Management Center, a national, nonprofit organization that provides assistance and resources for community-serving nonprofit organizations.

"As a recovering alcoholic, I'm very appreciative of the nonprofit world," said Doherty. "DePaul Centers saved my life. I'm dead serious about that.

"Looking back, I realized the people there weren't there for the money. They were giving of themselves to help me be successful," he said. "Now, I'm in the community contributing, and I am very appreciative to have the ability to do that. I'm blown away by it.

"I feel blessed every day," said Doherty, "It's like reading a fairy tale and I'm in it."

--By Julie Liedman

Assistant Vice President
Marsh, Philadelphia

Value-Added Service

There is service and there is service. And the distinction between the two can make or break a deal. Stacy Menditto can attest to that.

Menditto made a proposal to a very large association of fraternal societies for life, health and property/casualty products totaling almost $7 million in premium. The client had some issues with its incumbent, with whom it had an 11-year relationship. The issues ranged from feelings of instability because of changes in management to its failure to leverage the association's brand and affinity with members. Menditto felt Marsh's financial stability, marketing strategies, customer service and brokerage expertise would provide solutions for their issues.

But that wasn't enough. She decided to hand-deliver her proposal and invited the local client executive to come along. Just as the meeting ended and the Marsh folks were preparing to leave, FedEx delivered a package--the competition's proposal.

Local representation, senior management, and a precise presentation providing solutions for the association's issues and immediate answers to strategic questions were just what the association needed. Three hours later, Menditto was awarded the contract.

"Stacy is very adept at seeing opportunities and selling them," the association's CEO said. "I respect her because she has the unique ability to see opportunities not just in the, 'Hey, this makes economic sense, we can make a buck off of this.' But, 'These are products and services your members really need.' "

"She provides value-added service," he said. "She's the real deal."

Business Leader, Association Business
Marsh, Park Ridge, Ill.

Tapping Small Markets

It didn't take a rocket scientist to see that in association-sponsored affinity programs, large associations with attractive memberships have program opportunities often not available to associations with smaller memberships.

It took Terry Bernier to do something about it. Bernier reviewed Marsh's existing base of associations that provide benefits for their members and concluded that the small-association community represented a significant untapped market for whoever could successfully deal with large numbers of small associations. What resulted was a model that delivered best-in-class products through an online buying service.

The site, www.mmchealth.com, provides a multitude of options for individual, short-term, limited and small-group medical; dental; and Medicare coverage in every state from 40 insurance companies to provide individual members with a menu of choices.

The model is centered on developing a standard data set regarding every member of every participating association. This database will facilitate the aggregation of many small groups into a single large group for marketing purposes.

"We've had a long and happy partnership with Terry," said one client, "and we don't expect it to change.

"Under Terry's leadership, Marsh has been able to identify personal lines of insurance for our members--and I don't doubt they will help us improve and modify them as markets and products change."

Managing Director
Wortham
Houston

Senior Vice President
Willis
New York