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Managing Director
Arthur J. Gallagher, Glendale, Calif.

A Very Quick Return

Konrad Dowling is known as a great team builder and great team leader. "One of the superlatives about Konrad is the quality team he supervises," said Steve Squillante, an executive producer with IM Global. "He knows exactly when he needs to step in on something."

Squillante said his company does a lot of low-budget movies with high-profile directors that Dowling helps manage, such as James Wan's "Insidious," which grossed $75 million in the United States.

"Insuring the director is very important to the sales partners, because in these films the director is the main element of the movie," he said. "So you have a scenario in which ... you sculpt a product that works for the carrier and works for all the different parties at my end of things."

Squillante noted that, not only did Dowling jump in and solve that situation but the managing director of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in Glendale, Calif., also worked with the many partners to provide an additional level of comfort for all the parties involved.

Added Gwen Bialic, an independent film producer: "I could talk about Konrad forever. Right now I'm working on a film that got caught up in Hurricane Sandy. Everything had to happen very quickly on the insurance.

"There was another insurance company bidding, and it was in New York," she said. She said Dowling got back to her first with four itemized quotes.

Director
Aon, Atlanta

Helping Consolidate Acquisitions

Clients of Michael D. Drayer, director of the media industry sector for Aon Risk Solutions, value his ability to deftly handle acquisitions for them.

Kim Harris, manager of risk management and claims for Gannett Co. Inc., noted that, as her company acquired companies with their own cyberliability policies, she relied on Drayer's expertise and negotiation skills to consolidate the policies economically and with better terms than any of the previous policies had. "This has been a significant result for us as we continue to move further into the digital world," said Harris.

At The McClatchy Co., Elaine Lintecum, vice president, finance and chief financial officer, said of Drayer: "Michael understands the insurance markets and he knows how to reconcile our needs with the insurance markets. He not only knows how to explain things to me but he works well with the insurance carriers."

Added Chris Weissinger, business affairs director of Encompass Digital Media: "Michael is very smart. He has a creative side and a natural ability to connect with the client. We've been in a major growth pattern for the past couple of years and Michael has helped a lot in terms of coordinating our insurance program with all of our new international acquisitions."

Another client cited Drayer for doing a "really, really wonderful job" bringing together some markets and some alternatives for libel insurance in ways the company -- and its current insurance provider -- didn't think could be accomplished, and at competitive prices.

Partner & Vice President
HUB International Ontario, Toronto

Part of the Team

Alan Hollingsworth knows the convention and tourism business inside and out.

"Alan is an excellent listener and he thoroughly understands our business," said Reid Edwards, director of finance and controller at Tourism Toronto. "Every time we get together, he always seems to have a little tidbit about our business."

Hollingsworth, a partner and vice president at HUB International Ontario, is always available, noted Edwards. "I've never phoned him and had to wait more than an hour to get a response directly from Alan or one of his assistants."

Noted another client: "We had a fraud here, and he and his staff were just amazing in how they helped us. Alan always came back to us every couple of weeks to make sure we were getting the answers we needed. When things started to slow down in the case, Alan got on top of the adjusters. Even to this day he's keeping track of the case."

Dany Lester, CFO of the International Centre -- a large Toronto convention center, said of Hollingsworth: "Alan views himself as part of our team. Whenever we have presented Alan with a challenge, he has never failed to come up with an innovative solution. In one instance, our event logistics managers (ELMs) used to be responsible for requesting insurance certificates from our clients.

We asked Alan if he could come up with a better way to deal with this issue. He immediately developed and implemented a plan whereby his team became the point of contact for all insurance certificates. The plan has run very fluidly."

Managing Director
Aon, Sherman Oaks, Calf.

A Great Liaison

Paul Jones, managing director at Aon/Albert G. Ruben Insurance Services Inc., is known as a good listener and a master negotiator.

"Paul negotiated a very competitive program for the National Geographic channels," said Cindy Linnell, director of production management for National Geographic Channel. "We were comparing it to another program we were working with, and Paul found places where he could improve the program. He's always looking for ways to improve situations. He's a great liaison."

National Geographic was involved in some very complicated issues because it was shooting a film in the war zone in Afghanistan, requiring all kinds of difficult new coverages that it never had to deal with before. "Paul went above and beyond, and worked with a variety of underwriters to solve our problems," Linnell said.

Jones is also credited with facilitating a multimillion-dollar claim for a large media company, said that company's risk manager. "But Paul also helped us work with our claims adjusters and helped us get the claim paid.

"Paul also has helped us get some artists covered who have had some fairly significant medical issues and helped get them covered without costing us great financial stress," the risk manager noted. In addition, Jones has helped this media giant with its entertainment renewal policy and every year has gotten what the risk manager called a "very nice" reduction in premium and at the same time enhancements in its overall conditions.

Executive Vice President
Willis, New York

Integrity Bone Deep

Paul Richardson's clients have come to rely on him for his continuing curiosity and his bone-deep integrity.

"Paul is incredibly curious and interested in the smallest aspects of anything that develops," said Meg Morrera, director of risk management and insurance at Time Warner Inc. "He really understands our business fully, which then enabled him to come up with coverages that would best suit our needs. He's added to our program things we could never have imagined."

During the past year, Richardson, executive vice president of Willis of New York, put together a program for some of Time Warner's most difficult lines of coverage to place. "Paul was able to not only save us financially, but he gave us better coverage for that group of properties than we could ever have gotten," said Morrera.

At Avon Products Inc., Director of Risk Management Pamela Britt Schneider noted, "First and foremost, Paul is extremely honest and straightforward. He shares the full extent of his knowledge and experience. He doesn't hold back."

"Before we meet with the insurers, Paul says to me that we should grant them a rate increase for a strategic purpose," she said. "For our past renewal, for example, what happened was our values went down, so as a result of that, what Paul advised us to do was to pitch a rate increase to the insurers so they could feel as if, and they could demonstrate to their management, they were earning more rate on the account."

Even with the rate increase, she said, she paid less than the year before.

President
Taylor & Taylor, New York

A Partner and Adviser

Clients view Scott Taylor as a partner with remarkably wide-ranging resources.

"Scott is involved with us in so many ways other than just a broker," said Simon Broad, president of film production rental equipment company ARRI CSC. "He is a consigliere in a very positive way. During Hurricane Sandy, Scott took the time to send us a personal note to see if we had power. His service is incredibly personal."

When it comes to legal advice, the president of Taylor & Taylor Associates Inc. has always been extraordinary in contract negotiations, Broad said. "And Scott has been remarkably effective for that kind of advice for our industry. He is a fundamental part of the Equipment Rental Association that has blossomed in great deal to Scott helping us deal with exposure to risk. He's driven that."

Susie Wrenn, CFO of The Directors Bureau in Hollywood, cited a dramatic instance of Taylor riding to the rescue. "We took on a very ambitious project in filming the Montreux Jazz Festival live in 3D when that technology was relatively new," said Wrenn.

"We came back from Switzerland and discovered that a large chunk of our footage was lost through some technical glitch," Wrenn said. "I said, 'Scott Taylor will help us with this.' Scott actually knew the person at Sony who created this special device that we used. And Scott was able to connect us to this person and they were somehow able to retrieve and restore all of the footage."

Area Vice President
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.
Bellevue, Wash.

Vice President
Marsh
New York

Managing Director
Gallagher Entertainment
Los Angeles

President
Liberty Entertainment Insurance Services
Woodland Hills, Calif.

Executive Director
Aon Risk Solutions
Charlotte, N.C.