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Area Vice President
Arthur J. Gallagher, Orlando, Fla.

Delving into the Details

Last year was extremely challenging for the majority of Chris Connelly's clients, those classified as "highly exposed, concentrated catastrophic windstorm risks."
The RMS 11 model change, for example, was driving a nearly fourfold increase in loss estimates for one client. So Connelly analyzed the drivers of the model, and worked with underwriters and clients to improve the accuracy of results.
Because he was able to improve data quality and data accuracy for that client, the result was a two-year premium increase of only 5 percent, despite extreme pressure on both primary and excess insurance layers due to the modeling changes.
Connelly, area vice president (Orlando, Fla.) at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., also worked with the client on property restructuring, using an occupancy-based approach, affording additional catastrophic windstorm capacity for the client's utility risks.
One client said Connelly and his team "are prompt in providing creative solutions to new programs and services we are considering. Their understanding of public entity risk management is comprehensive and they foster collaborative work between their clients to address deficiencies." Another client said Connelly and his team helped restructure the organization's property program to form a single insurance company, negotiating contracts with Lloyd's of London for all participants and the new company.

Senior Vice President
Aon, Albuquerque, N.M.

A True Professional

Karen Cunningham knows that an insurance policy is only a piece of paper -- until there is a claim. Cunningham, senior vice president at Aon Risk Solutions in Albuquerque, N.M., recently helped one of her clients through a claim involving boiler and property coverages, direct and indirect damages, as well as contamination.

Initially, she was told this claim could take up to two years to settle; Cunningham and her team did it in a little less than a year.

Cunningham met with a team of experts weekly, and recruited an Aon specialist to help the client complete the detailed business income worksheets. The experts and the client were able to illustrate the business income value to the carrier.

Mike Tuttle, manager of insurance and claims at the University of New Mexico, said Cunningham's knowledge, customer service abilities and commitment to the institution last year were "outstanding."

"Karen is a true insurance professional," Tuttle said.

Another client said Cunningham "really went to bat" for various entities that suffered losses due to a freeze and a natural gas shortage.

"Karen got the insurers to consider all of the occurrences all over the state as one occurrence in January and one occurrence in February, as opposed to an occurrence for each day," the client said. That made a big difference, the client said.

Director of Public Entities
Aon, San Francisco

Walking on Water

William Deeb, who has a doctorate in Education, knows when it's time to put his "brain power into overdrive."

As the City and County of San Francisco prepared to host the 34th America's Cup this year, Risk Manager Matt Hansen asked Deeb and his team for financial guarantees and triggers to protect the entity should the event be disrupted or any city-related deliverables not be met.

Deeb, director of public entities at Aon Risk Solutions and his team, provided a unique solution to protect the client's interests.

Deeb and his construction team also quickly placed a separate $150 million excess liability program to prevent delays on a large tunneling project, crafting a solution utilizing London, Bermuda and U.S.-based markets.

"Billy Deeb is my quarterback at Aon," Hansen said. "They have invaluable resources that they bring to the table, and he connects the dots for me and brings everything to together."

Another client, Diane Wren, director of administration and risk services at the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles, said Deeb "is very knowledgeable, which has proven to be critical when I've been faced with a challenge. He's actually walks on water for us, and has saved us a lot of money."

Deeb "is probably the best broker I've ever had," said David Rawe, risk and safety administrator at the Placer County Water Agency in California.

Area President
Arthur J. Gallagher, Boca Raton, Fla.

Mitigating Premium Increases

Dave Marcus and his Public Entity and Scholastic Division team were able to convince Risk Management Solutions, a modeling vendor, that there were some "kinks" in its new windstorm model, after conducting a great deal of investigative work -- including onsite structural testing -- to ensure that the RMS construction codes and modifiers used by the model were correct.

Using the revised data and specific RMS coding instructions, Marcus and his team at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., were able to reduce one client's RMS model probable maximum prediction by 55 percent, from $1.81 billion to $805 million, and another client's probable maximum loss prediction by 37 percent, from $1.34 billion to $850 million.

Because the brokers were able to show this model reduction to the marketplace at renewal this year, they were able to substantially mitigate most of the premium increase and capacity reduction that these clients would have seen.

Chauncey Fagler, executive director at the Florida College System Risk Management Consortium, said Marcus, the area president (Boca Raton, Fla.), spearheaded the background work for the consortium's property renewal to make sure the codes for RMS were correct, thereby saving money for the organization.

"He has also been instrumental in providing us with excellent safety training through his organization, and with guiding us with regards to our risk management information management services system," Fagler said.

Account Executive
Arthur J. Gallagher, Tacoma, Wash.

Resourceful and Tenacious

Elizabeth Miser knew that an earthquake-sensitive client couldn't just put its risk out to market: She and her team at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in Tacoma, Wash., had to develop an alternative marketing approach to produce the desired results.

They recommended the client travel to underwriters to deliver a PowerPoint presentation on how it manages the risk of its largest facilities, seeking to put the state in a most favorable position and to determine how to overcome the RMS modeling factors of 275 percent.

"They came up with a program that fits our needs, and kept the premiums flat for one year," said the client. "We both gave up a little bit, but Liz was instrumental in getting that done for us."

Miser developed a risk analysis that reflected the probable maximum loss for the earthquake exposure, and convinced the client to reduce its total insured values. She then found an alternative product, the Swiss Re parametric plan, which pays the selected policy limit based on the moment magnitude, epicentral distance and depth of the earthquake.

She also convinced a carrier to tour the client's facilities to see how the various locations were constructed to minimize earthquake loss. As a result, the client secured the earthquake coverage they required at a competitive premium.

Her clients appreciate her resourcefulness.

"Liz and her team are leaders in proposing solutions to any specific problems that develop within our lines of coverage," said one client.

"Liz Miser," said another client, "has been very effective, proactive and informative."

Vice President
Lockton, Farmington, Conn.

Taking the Initiative

Farmington, Conn.-based Debra Testa is at the forefront of introducing high-deductible health plans and wellness/disease management programs to public sector clients.

As vice president and public sector practice leader at Lockton Cos., Testa assists her clients at the collective-bargaining table as they negotiate new plan designs, contribution strategies and incentives for union employees.

Many employers have moved to high-deductible plans, while adding biometric screenings and other wellness initiatives to their agreements with employees. Public entities migrating to new plans have collectively saved up to $3 million.

Michael Walsh, finance director of the Town of East Hartford in Connecticut, said Testa and her team at Lockton are "working on a high-deductible health plan solution linked to a health-savings account, and wants to move it to our teachers' contract in 2013 on a voluntary basis."

"It's a new product to help a distressed municipality that has diminished financial capability, which enables us to deliver the same benefits but at a lower cost," he said.

In addition to health care benefits, public sector clients have been in the crossfire over generous public pensions and other benefits.

Testa and her team worked with one large public sector entity to transfer its over-65 Medicare supplement plan from a fully insured arrangement to a self-funded arrangement, saving in excess of $300,000 in the first year alone.

Vice President
Alliant
Sacramento, Calif.

Program Manager
Aon Risk Solutions
Baltimore

Executive Vice President
Willis
Charlotte, N.C.

Area Executive Vice President
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.
Itasca, Ill.

Vice President
Alliant
Seattle