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COO and Director of Finance
Aon, Washington, D.C.

Just Try and Stump Her

As the leader of the Aon/Huntington T. Block Insurance Agency's standout 26-person fine arts team, Diane Jackson is always in the forefront of fine arts insurance activity.

But 2011 was a banner year for Jackson herself as she worked hand-in-glove with the staff of New York's Museum of Modern Art to put together a complicated insurance plan to cover the museum's historic Willem de Kooning exhibition. It was the largest show ever assembled by MOMA, with total value calculated to be in the billions of dollars.

Maria DeMarco Beardsley, coordinator of exhibitions at the Modern, said that just making the placement was challenging enough. The exhibition's insurance coverage came in a couple of hundred thousand dollars under budget, sources said.

"I find her easy to work with, quite approachable and professional," said DeMarco Beardsley. "She has the savvy to know how to manage relationships between the underwriters and the museum in an adept way."

A top official at one of the largest art museums in the United States said Jackson was "a model service provider." "She has a gentle, agreeable way of dealing with even the most complicated issues. She's incredibly helpful, even to someone who is not one of her clients," the official said.

Of Jackson's knowledge base, this person said, "It's fantastic," and then added jokingly, "I haven't been able to stump her yet!"

Senior Vice President
Aon, Baltimore

Performing Under "Massive Pressure"

Lynn Marcin, senior vice president with the Aon/Huntington T. Block Insurance Agency, puts together complex international loan deals. But her clients value her ability to explain those deals.

"Lynn takes the time to explain to me what things mean, how things work, what I can anticipate and what I can't anticipate," said Patty Decoster, chief registrar at Fort Worth, Texas-based Kimbell Art Museum, which is a major art lender. "She outlines for me what I often can't anticipate."

Last year, for example, Decoster was involved in a deal in which she thought U.S. indemnity coverage would be readily forthcoming, but at the last minute the indemnification fell through.

"In the aftermath of that, what Lynn managed to put together under massive pressure was phenomenal," said Decoster. "The lender was very demanding, but Lynn wove together a tapestry of insurance that ended up covering everything that was needed. She did it all through private insurers."

"We present up to 20 exhibitions each year in addition to borrowing and lending paintings around the world," said Don Urquhart, director of collections management at the Portland (Ore.) Art Museum. "Lynn is creative and flexible and responsive in protecting the museum from risk and in satisfying the needs of our lenders."

"Lynn is always there for me," said Heather Kajic, chief, collections management, at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

Vice President
Willis, New York

Stretching the Coverage Canvas

Mary Pontillo, vice president of Willis Fine Art, Jewelry and Specie in New York, is known for going the extra mile for her clients no matter what their size.

"We are a new company and Mary was able to help me from scratch: what coverages were necessary, what limits, even sharing her desk a few times when our company's office space was under construction," said Sarah Emond, director of operations with the New York-based appraiser Winston Art Group. "She anticipated everything we needed and made the set-up process move swiftly and surely."

If Pontillo, who moved from DeWitt Stern to Willis this year, doesn't know the answer, she'll find it, Emond said. Last year Pontillo also provided an assist to the prestigious Gerald Peters Gallery of Santa Fe, N.M., and New York. Pontillo helped the museum extend its policies to cover works that were on loan to another museum, said Ana Archuleta, assistant to Gerald Peters. The borrowing museum was in California and had no earthquake coverage. The Peters coverage had no earthquake exclusion and Pontillo was able to extend that policy to cover the California museum, greatly increasing the exposure of the artist.

"We had several clients involved, as well as several other galleries that we work with. So Mary had to orchestrate a bunch of work coming from a variety of sources," Archuleta said.

"Mary is very clear in explaining what she needs from us in order to help us achieve our goals."

Senior Vice President
Aon, New York

A Year of Bounty

The year 2011 was a bountiful year for Aon/Huntington T. Block Insurance Agency's Anne Rappa and her clients. In one case, she brought her extensive industry knowledge to bear to enable a major client to borrow pieces for an important exhibit. In another, she helped a client negotiate the bureaucratic insurance tangle it faced as a state-funded institution.

"Last year there was a situation in which a lender required compensation for damage in the course of treatment of works of art, which is really contrary to the general practice in the insurance world," said Robert Goldsmith, deputy director and chief operating officer of the Frick Collection in New York.

"But Anne was able to find a way get our carrier to live without the exclusion and allow the purchase of insurance, which enabled some very important art loans to come to the Frick for a major exhibition," said Goldsmith, adding, "Without Anne's getting the underwriter comfortable with this arrangement we wouldn't have been able to secure this loan."

Mary L. Sullivan, associate registrar at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, said of Rappa: "Not only do we get first-rate property insurance through Huntington, but also Anne helps us make all our insurance conform with our specific requirements as an agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia, which is not always easy."

"Anne is a great communicator," said Sullivan. She is very focused on relationships between clients and the museums that might be negotiating with them."

Managing Director
Willis, Potomac, Md.

Insuring the Masters

Robert Salmon of Willis Fine Art, Jewelry and Specie, is known far and wide as a master of fine arts insurance.

"Beyond being personable and interesting and very meticulous in the work that he does for us, Robert is very knowledgeable and abreast of everything going on insurancewise," said Tina Garfinkel, head registrar at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA).

Garfinkel is acutely aware of Salmon's talents based on work she did with him in 2011.

The highlight of their effort was the insurance of the most highly valued exhibition the SFMOMA had ever produced, a Gertrude Stein family collection of works by Matisse, Picasso and the Parisian Avant-Garde.

Even with the successful award of a U.S. government indemnity, SFMOMA still needed millions more in insurance limits. Just when a complicated layering of insurance looked like it was in place, Japan suffered its earthquake and tsunami, throwing the insurance market for the SFMOMA show into doubt.

Salmon recommended that SFMOMA bind the show insurance immediately, thus leaving the placement and terms intact. Mattie Kelley, director of collections management and head registrar at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, said of Salmon: "We are under construction right now and we are traveling part of our collection around the world. Robert was able to advise me as to how best to do this and made me feel comfortable sending these treasures around the world."

Assistant Vice President
Aon
Houston, TX

Senior Vice President
Aon's Huntington T. Block Insurance Agency Inc.
New York, NY

Senior Vice President
Willis
Potomac, MD