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Managing Director
Arthur J. Gallagher
Category: Education

In the Public's Service

There's a strong public service streak that runs in Nancy Sylvester, managing director of Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Management Services Inc. While it's true that being an education broker lends itself to public service more frequently than, perhaps, the work of a telecommunications broker, there's no denying Sylvester's a leader.

She's spent hours working weekends and nights with the Louisiana Housing Council, for example, to help it receive state-approved reimbursements in the wake of damage sustained from hurricanes Gustav and Ike. The funds will go to help repair housing for low-income residents over the next five years.

Sylvester also works with Loyola University in New Orleans to help resolve claims issues when the institution lacks the administrative staff to do so. Because she knows what claims adjusters are looking for, the claims can be processed earlier, helping students get back to class quicker.

In addition, she frequently arranges client and carrier meetings across the United States to help insureds develop relationships with carriers, which in the end matters because it has an effect on pricing, terms and claims response.

Of course, being an education broker, Sylvester has done her fair share of mentoring, whether it's on a pro-bono basis for people she barely knows, or encouraging others to join the profession, or hiring recent college graduates and showing them the essentials of risk control, loss prevention or plain old customer service.

Managing Director
Aon, Jericho, N.Y.

Landfill Gas to Fuel Vehicles

When you can play any role in furthering a technology that can help reduce this country's dependence on foreign oil, it just makes going to the office every day all the more enjoyable.

Howard Tollin's work with the Cornerstone Environmental Group will aid in its quest to take landfill gas and convert it into fuel for vehicles. A large contract for BioCNG was recently executed and Tollin looks forward to many more as alternative energy sources become a reality and not just a politician's slogan.

Tollin's efforts for a New York metropolitan area law firm helped facilitate a very difficult litigation settlement.

"The carriers were reluctant to accept the risks, and Howard guided us to two carriers for the two sites at issue and was eventually successful in getting quotes for policies that would cover all of our risks," said a partner in the firm.

Tollin also helped the firm's client who wanted to insure third-party claims and risks of unknown contamination for a difficult cleanup located near a Superfund site.

"By approaching new markets, Howard was able to offer our clients options to cover risks in difficult-to-insure situations," she said.

As a director for New Partners for Community Revitalization, Tollin's expertise in environmental insurance helps in furthering the group's goal to turn brownfields throughout the state into thriving tax-generating properties. New Partners Executive Director Jody Kass said Tollin's environmental insurance knowledge has been instrumental in the group's achievements.

Managing Director
Aon
Category: Environmental

Environmental Success

Boris Strogach and Steve Schiffer are two young insurance brokers that have Aon's Howard Tollin to thank in encouraging them and mentoring them in the insurance brokering industry. Tollin co-wrote two articles with Strogach when he was a law student and helped him find work first in the legal field and then as an environmental insurance broker. Tollin hired Schiffer into brokering right out of college.

But Tollin's impact on the industry is much broader than that.

Tollin writes risk management memos for clients and helped establish a database of 600 environmental claims that help clients understand environmental exposures.

Tollin also chairs industry panels, including one at the National Brownfields Conference on pollution policy responses, and another at the New York State Bar Association's environmental annual meeting on green building.

In addition, he volunteers his time as a panelist at community revitalization and university events, and as an educator on environmental issues as they relate to construction.

Tollin's work with the New Partners for Community Revitalization has helped further that group's goal to turn brownfields throughout New York into thriving tax-generating properties.

Tollin's work for a New York law firm helped it overcome a very difficult litigation settlement.

"The carriers were reluctant to accept the risks and Howard guided us to two carriers for the two sites at issue and was eventually successful in getting quotes for policies that would cover all of our risks," one of the partners in that firm said.

Senior Vice President
Wells Fargo, San Carlos, Calif.

Managing an Earthquake

Tom Whitenight, senior vice president with Wells Fargo Insurance Services Inc., played a critical role for a technology client that had just completed the acquisition of a company in Japan when the country was hit with a devastating earthquake and tsunami.

The story began in 2009 when the company declared bankruptcy and sold most of its assets to another company. Whitenight helped the client throughout that process. But it didn't end there. The new, acquiring company, Rackable Systems Inc., a data storage company, went on to acquire the bankrupt company's former Japanese operation. The ink was barely dry on the deal when Japan was hit by the earthquake and tsunami, which devastated much of the east coast and sent global supply chains into a tailspin. The Japanese operation had 272 employees and six offices in the country, one of which was in Sendai, where the earthquake and tsunami had hit.

"He was just so calm," the client said. "We didn't know what the implications would be. We had people in Sendai, people in Tokyo. It was just chaos," this client said. "The timing was just ¿ literally you just shake your head."

This client credited Whitenight with getting the coverages in place in the first place, but then for helping in the immediate aftermath to determine whether the company's employees were safe and to assess damage. Whitenight sorted out coverage issues while managing the claims process. He came through in the middle of one of the world's worst natural catastrophes, making sure his client had the appropriate coverages.

Senior Vice President
Wells Fargo
Category: Technology

A Difference Maker

Wells Fargo's Tom Whitenight believes in doing things "the hard way." He has been working to create long-term growth for his firm by bringing in new talent and mentoring it. In the community, he and his wife work with groups that support recovering addicts and that help them re-educate themselves and learn new job skills. He also works with youth sports groups and food drives, and is active in his local church.

Over the past year he has changed his point of view from merely being a producer to someone who looks at the business he is employed by as a business owner. Whitenight feels the hard work he is doing for his firm has helped create the bridge for him to give back to his community.

When an earthquake and tsunami struck Japan in March, 2011, Whitenight went to work for his client. First and foremost was checking on the welfare of the employee base of the consortium he was helping to insure. Second was making sure that there was no property damage. Once that was accomplished, Whitenight went to work placing local coverage while at the same time managing the claims process.

He arranged a cargo program immediately so that his client could continue to receive product and minimize its down time. Whitenight worked a lot of late nights and early mornings to provide customized certifications that met local requirements. These were crucial to keeping the client's supply chain operational in the middle of a national crisis.