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Vice President
Lockton, Chicago

A Sleuth of a Broker

When Kelly Dier, president of Marmon Highway Technologies LLC, first learned that Marmon Group was going to split into autonomous companies responsible for their own insurance coverage following Marmon's acquisition by Berkshire Hathaway, Dier remained with the Marmon Group's broker.

At the end of the insurance contract, Dier decided on a new broker, Debbie Goldstine, vice president -- account executive working out of Lockton Cos.' Chicago office. It wasn't long before Goldstine uncovered significant exposures from years of unintended self-insured product liabilities to a company exposed to lower frequency but high-severity claims.

In conjunction with her first renewal with MHT, a supplier of brakes, axels and other components used in the manufacture of trucks, she negotiated a one-time coverage solution for claims incurred but not reported, mitigating the uncertainty associated with previous years.

"We're bare up to $2 million per exposure, and she got me coverage from $2 million to $17 million for product and general liability," Dier said.

For Snap-on Inc., a manufacturer and marketer of tools, equipment, diagnostics, repair information and systems solutions, Goldstine managed to make up the slight increases in the primary layer coverages with savings in the excess layer coverages at renewal. "Our excess umbrella coverage came in as flat," said Daniel Kugler, assistant treasurer, risk management, for Snap-on Inc. "She realized that the coverage in the primary layers were going to come up a bit, and then said, let's see if we can make it up in the excess layers. We got pretty close."

Vice President
Aon, New York

A Master of the Relationship

When Swiss Re, one of the largest underwriters of U.S. automotive original equipment manufacturer product liability coverage, decided to switch placement to U.S underwriters, it meant severing long-standing relationships with senior underwriters who knew how to underwrite OEM product liability in their sleep.

Placement broker Len Graziano, vice president of excess casualty for Aon Risk Solutions, knew exactly what to do to manage client expectations: Keep the clients informed and arrange meetings with senior managers in advance of the renewal dates.

Graziano has a well-deserved reputation for keeping abreast of his clients' needs and finding solutions to them, thanks to his relationships in the industry.

"He looked at excess product liability and recast the program and we thought he was very creative in doing so," said Tom Vanderford Jr., associate general counsel of Hyundai Motor America. The broker has done "a great job for us, making sure the markets are kept up to date as to what is transpiring with Toyota as a whole," said David Bertsch, national enterprise risk manager for Toyota North America. "That's important because it makes for more candid dialogue when we meet with the markets."

Toyota, which has faced its challenges over the past several years, needed to make sure there were "no surprises" when it came time to discuss renewals with underwriters, Bertsch said.

Managing Director
Marsh, Detroit

An Expert Negotiator

When a U.S.-based supplier to original equipment manufacturers suffered a $3 million claim stemming from a fire in a manufacturing facility in Sweden, carriers pushed to raise rates on the company's global property program.

"Luckily, there were no injuries and for us, it was a big deal because it was the first claim we've had in as long as anyone can remember," the risk management director said. The supplier held a trump card in the form of Michael F. Kowalski, Marsh's Detroit-based managing director, who hustled to market the company's property program to other underwriters. In the end, the property renewal came in flat, despite an environment of higher pricing among global property programs.

"We went out to market looking for a flat renewal, but we wanted to increase a sublimit on one of our facilities in Italy from $25 million to $100 million," the risk management director said. Coming in flat at renewal required some "horse-trading," he said. "We got the limits we wanted in Italy, and part of the reason we were able to do that is that we knew the hot spots for underwriters were in Thailand."

The supplier of undercarriages, brakes and other essential parts for large trucks, didn't have any supply chain or factory exposures in Thailand, and Kowalski was able to use that as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the underwriters. In the end, the OEM's supplier ended up with five carriers on its global property program: Allianz, XL, ACE, Zurich and Swiss Re.

Managing Principal
Aon, Southfield, Mich.

As the Big Wheel Turns

When Hayes Lemmerz, the world's largest wheel manufacturer, was acquired by a Brazilian company in 2012 and became a division of lochpe-Maxion, it opened up vast new opportunities for Maxion's Director of Global Risk Management Michael Coffman.

He suddenly found himself at the hub around which the spokes of a much larger risk management program revolved, and he knew the wheel wouldn't turn without the help of LeAnne McCorry, managing principal with Aon Risk Solutions.

Before the merger, Coffman was insuring 19 manufacturing facilities in 12 countries on five continents; post-merger, the company grew to 32 manufacturing sites in 14 countries on five continents. "The insurance programs are wrapped around different types of risk and distribution issues, and the bulk of the Brazilian company's operations are in South America and Mexico," Coffman said. "It was a massive undertaking, with a lot of complexity, and she's not even my direct account executive. She's four levels up in the food chain."

A high-ranking risk management executive with one of the largest automakers in the world, said McCorry brings "a more global and strategic mindset," which is critical when insurance programs are manuscripted and risks the company faces don't always come from North America. "Given the shrinking environment in Europe, a lot of insurer platforms over there are under pressure, so globally the insurers might be executing well, but their European operation is shrinking and companies are looking for ways to reduce costs, and many are turning to insurance," the executive said.

Executive Managing Director
Beecher Carlson, New York

A Winner -- Again

When the Atlanta-headquartered brokerage Beecher Carlson needed to come up with a two-year extension for a global property and marine placement for a group of insurers including a European and Japanese carrier, the firm turned to Executive Managing Director Gregory Myers, a perennial visitor to these Power BrokerŪ pages.

The property program had big contingent business interruption losses in the two previous years due to the 2011 tsunami in Japan and floods in Thailand, but the program was underpriced relative to the rest of the market, and carriers were pushing for lower contingent business interruption limits and catastrophe exposures.

Enter Myers, who managed to extend both programs with no reduction in coverage. Not only that, he managed to add new countries into the program. Myers, long an expert in insuring the automotive marketplace, is also structuring unique insurance programs for service contracts, windshield warranties, and wheel and tire replacements -- products sold by dealerships. It's the kind of niche automotive insurance business where you need to know your loss ratios cold -- which is exactly where Myers excels.

For Nissan North America Inc., Myers proposed a loss-portfolio transfer of the company's older outstanding workers' compensation deductible liabilities.

"In effect, he helped us actuarially forecast and appropriately price our workers' compensation deductible losses for transfer to our sister company, Nissan Global Reinsurance Ltd.," said Larry Weissman, senior manager of risk management/treasury with Nissan North America.

Senior Vice President
Aon, Cleveland

Pummeler of the Incumbents

Judy Ertel, director of corporate risk insurance for Cummins Inc., the Columbus, Ind.-based maker of diesel and natural gas engines and power generation systems, likes to refer to Brian Slife, senior vice president for Aon Risk Solutions, as "our global quarterback."

Slife, who is a senior account representative and not a placement broker, went to Munich with her last year for a summit meeting with senior Cummins managers, and brought the rest of his team along. "Brian really led and facilitated the dialogue with our internal businesses so he could align his firm's resources to best serve us," she said.

For another major client, Slife helped retool a Cleveland-based employer's executive liability program.

"I'm impressed with their resources, but that's all talk," said Radu Demian, manager of corporate risk management for University Hospitals in Cleveland. Demian invited Slife and his team for a look. Slife made sure the team's placement brokers came up with three markets that were not previously identified, and several options to enhance UH's program.

"Beazley came in aggressively and gave us a discount considering our greater relationship through other insurance programs. They also said, if you do directors' and officers' and the fiduciary liability with us, we'll give you the fiduciary coverage at a significant discount. It was a great deal." Slife relayered the program, enhanced coverage and also saved UH 10 percent. "We knew the change was going to be better for us, but we didn't think it was going to be this good," Demian said.

Property Broker
Aon Risk Solutions
Southfield, Mich.