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Chief Operating Officer, Property Practice
Aon, New York

Navigating Tricky Foreign Coverages

Getting just the right coverage for a rapidly expanding global enterprise such as PepsiCo Inc. requires a keen sense of staying in line with a foreign company's local insurer requirements in such a way as to not break the insurance budget.

In India, Mike Andler, chief operating officer, property practice for Aon Risk Solutions, worked closely with a local carrier to champion a customized program that included, among other favorable features, a flat local deductible as opposed to a percentage-of-loss calculation.

Jose Heftye, director of treasury risk management for PepsiCo, particularly appreciated the fact that costs have remained flat despite insured values having risen about 30 percent. "He has been able to maintain cost and improve coverage every year," he said.

A risk manager for a Fortune 100 global enterprise said that Andler's solutions often lead to new insurance product introductions.

"His risk engineering background adds to his broking abilities to help both the market and client understand the technical side of risk," the risk manager said. Moreover, he said Andler does a great job "cutting through the fluff to identify the key issues and critical decision points that simplify the insurance process."

Scott P. Borup, director of corporate risk management for Johnson & Johnson, appreciates Andler's ability to focus on the long term rather than the more traditional annual process in order to ensure that the insurance partnerships he develops fit in with J&J's overall insurance philosophy.

Managing Director
Marsh, Norwalk, Conn.

A Mentality of Continuous Improvement

After a $4 billion company's product faced the stress and the spotlight of highly publicized products liability litigation, Marsh Inc. Managing Director Doug Carey led a team of Marsh life sciences experts to propose a cost-effective insurance program with $200 million in limits for the company's newly reformulated Food and Drug Administration-approved signature product. In addition, Carey negotiated a deal that included new "batch" claim language clarity, an enhanced extended reporting provision and lower cost through an improved loyalty bonus feature with the incumbent insurer.

Another client, Sonny Chan, former risk manager with CB Richard Ellis and now a financial analyst with Boehringer-Ingelheim USA, said that Carey's "strong understanding of our business and its internal operating processes makes his advice and guidance material and relevant."

"And his overall execution is effective and timely," he said.

Carey's team of experienced and knowledgeable subject matter experts contributes to what Chan terms his "continuous improvement mentality, which gives us comfort that we have a solid state-of-the-art program."

For 2012, Chan relied on Carey's expertise more on an advisory basis for such issues as claims management and some sensitive confidential personnel issues.

"His advice and guidance better prepares us so we can manage the issues at hand more efficiently and effectively," said Chan, "essentially making us better managers of the risk."

Managing Director
Aon, Philadelphia

Cyber Risk Inclusion No Small Feat

When a major pharmaceutical company decided to incorporate cyber risks into its liability program, Timothy J. Gosnear strived for more than a year to develop such an integrated plan with significant catastrophic limits.

"To our knowledge this incorporation of cyberliability coverage into other multiline liability programs had not been done before," said a senior risk manager for the company.

Gosnear, managing director of the Life Sciences Practice at Aon Risk Solutions, accomplished this goal by involving insurers early in the process, keeping them informed so they were comfortable writing the risk, and then negotiating prudently to ensure that the insured got good value for the coverage provided.

Given the newness of cyberliability risk, the risk manager said that Gosnear's ability to target which of the company's current carriers was up for the job indicated his ability to keep up with industry trends. "Tim's efforts were exceptional. Ultimately, we met our goals and consider this a very successful program placement," he said.

Another pharmaceutical company's risk manager said that Gosnear's underwriting background is a plus in that "it gives him a lot of credibility when he negotiates deals on our behalf." His company experienced sharp spurts of both growth and contraction that benefitted from "Tim's steady hand as he served as not only an insurance adviser but risk management expert."

Vice President
Equity Risk Partners, San Francisco

Bringing Jobs and Risk Stateside

Moving a health-beverage production plant from New Zealand to the U.S. may have been good for the U.S. jobs numbers but it provided some insurance challenges for the company's finance officials.

Eternal Beverages Controller Steve Tyndall had nothing but praise for the job Equity Risk Partners Vice President Audrey Murray did in educating senior officers about the coverage needed for their new risks.

Tyndall said the move stateside proved instrumental in lowering the company's carbon footprint while maintaining quality.

"Audrey was instrumental in helping us achieve this goal by working with us to ensure we had appropriate coverage for our new manufacturing structure at a price that made sense for our company," Tyndall said.

Murray invested the time to understand the process of producing naturally alkaline premium bottled water. "She provided me with models that detailed the specific information needed for each coverage and explained the meaning behind each question or analysis so that I could provide the information needed to properly market the coverage we required," Tyndall also said.

As a result, Eternal Beverages obtained what Tyndall termed very competitive bids "that balanced our coverage with the new risks our company was experiencing."

For a start-up venture, Murray needed to establish insurable values from the top company official who had no point of reference of where to begin.

Executive Vice President
Willis, Radnor, Pa.

Biotech Pioneer From the Start

Veteran broker David Shuey's risk assessment tool, developed specifically for seven segments of the life sciences industry, has been invaluable for companies looking for specificity in the risks they face and the cost of providing coverage.

For years now, the director of a biological standards research organization has relied on Shuey, executive vice president and North America practice leader of life sciences at Willis, to carry out his group's mission.

"When we were first getting our insurance program off the ground there were not many carriers who even understood what we do or who wrote products for us," he said. "David really developed the whole biotechnology risk."

A recent quality control issue that resulted in a recall tested Shuey's mettle in a way few things can. "And David handled it all very well."

While the supplier ultimately took responsibility, "we nonetheless had to deal with the issue of public and customer relations, as this was a big threat to our brand."

Alain Cappeluti, president of Noble Life Sciences Inc., a company that provides preclinical drug development services, has worked with Shuey for more than 20 years.

"David has always been an early adopter, if you will, for all these years in putting in the time to understand the life sciences business and in particular biotechnology and drug development," he said. Cappeluti recalled the early days of working with Shuey in getting underwriters to discuss business interruption insurance for biotech startups.

Managing Director
Marsh, Morristown, N.J.

When Minor Tweaks Aren't Enough

If your insurance program could use an extreme makeover, then Darlene Villoresi is the broker to turn to. On a large branded and generic pharmaceutical risk, Villoresi, managing director - casualty at Marsh, concluded after a thorough review that such a program overhaul was needed. The project took most of last year but was worth the effort, according to the client. Significant accomplishments on the policy form included a critical revision to follow underlying coverages for risk other than product liability along with the proper recognition of a large self-insured retention for products cover. The program also broadened coverage for additional insureds as needed for contracts.

Mylan Inc. Senior Director of Risk Management Dennis Krause said that Villoresi and her associates had the right stuff for the major revisions his coverage required.

"In a challenging insurance environment, they were successful in restructuring our product liability insurance program to maintain current total premium and full coverage on all products," Krause said. "This was accomplished by utilizing their international network along with reworking the utilization of our captive."

Joseph Peiser, president of Wright Solutions at The Wright Insurance Group, said Villoresi came through with flying colors for the global generic pharmaceutical firm.

"This past renewal," he said, "Darlene was able to build a global product liability program using insurers from all of the major markets -- U.S., London, Dublin, Europe and Bermuda."

Senior Vice President
Poms & Associates Insurance Brokers Inc.
Woodland Hills, Calif.

Director, National Life Sciences Practice
Aon Risk Solutions
Philadelphia

Assistant Vice President
Aon Risk Solutions
Denver