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Managing Director
Arthur J. Gallagher, Pasadena, Calif.

Bringing a New Depth of Knowledge

If economy of scale is a boon to the commercial sector, it is doubly so in the charitable world. But big is also complex, and that pesky "nonprofit" tag can sometimes act to discourage outside service and support people, such as insurance brokers. That is where Tim DePriest, a managing director with Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. and a senior vice president with Chapman Insurance, one of its divisions, earns his stripes.

DePriest, brings comprehensive solutions to their complex problems and deals handily with challenges that rival those in the for-profit world, clients said.

"This year, we had some staffing challenges, and Tim stepped in to assist us through our renewal process when we were having difficulty," said the human resource director for a large public health 501(c)3. "Our previous broker had us on a retrospective rating plan and a captive plan for our workers' compensation over several years. There were a lot of components that we did not understand. Tim has been working with us this year to help with our understanding of the plans and to give us a mechanism to budget for future expenditures on open claims. Tim was able to get us a cost effective workers' comp plan."

The human resources director at another community-oriented group said, "Tim and his staff well understand the unique needs and challenges of insuring sizeable and diverse nonprofit social services agencies such as ours. As a result, he has effectively supported us in devising and managing a comprehensive risk management program to protect and position our organization in achieving our mission."

Senior Vice President
Arthur J. Gallagher
Category: Nonprofit

Keeping the Doors Open

For those that have very little public voice, the people that need help the most, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s Tim DePriest is providing crucial assistance.

The past year has seen numerous examples where DePriest has stepped forward to help people who have been dealt cruel burdens.

For one client, a nonprofit that counsels abused and physically aggressive teenagers, DePriest waved his firm's brokerage commission on its workers' compensation coverage, allowing the nonprofit to stay open and continue its mission.

DePriest and his son volunteered for another client that serves abused women and their children. They collected enough materials to put together more than 150 hygiene kits for the women at the shelter. The project, which served as DePriest's son's Eagle Scout project, gave the shelter enough kits for a six-month supply.

Once a month, DePriest also prepares and serves meals for a client that helps the homeless. DePriest's philosophy is that the more pressure he takes off of the nonprofit groups that help some of our most vulnerable citizens, the more energy and resources that they can devote to fulfilling their missions. DePriest also serves the insurance industry by recruiting talent from other sectors. He has two staff members that he recruited from the financial services and pharmaceutical industries respectively, that are now thriving as a part of his team.

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."

Managing Director
Aon
Category: Pharmaceuticals

Always Learning

Timothy J. Gosnear and his family have demonstrated their leadership by belonging and donating their time to two nonprofit charitable organizations.

One of those charitable organizations provides support for local families struggling due to financial setbacks, job loss, illnesses and other hardship.

Backed by his employer, Gosnear has donated hundreds of thumb drives for a back-to-school backpack and supply drive each summer. It is an act that, he said, that helps him and his family "appreciate how fortunate we are."

For the past decade, Gosnear has also served as a trustee for an environmental education center to which he gives his time, risk management and finance expertise. This opportunity also allows him to convey his interest in environmental education and outreach programs to youth groups and others interested in environmental protection.

Within the professional sphere, Gosnear is active in trade groups such as Pennsylvania Bio, which lobbies for the advancement of bioscience. He attends events, seminars and educational offerings sponsored by Bio to ensure that he's "deeply ingrained" in the segment.

Gosnear has successfully fused his personal and professional interests. For his global clients, he's also acquired detailed knowledge on global insurance program coordination, the unique local laws and regulations outside of the U.S. and the operational impact of global clinical trial programs.

Area President & Managing Director
Arthur J. Gallagher, Las Vegas

Rules of Engagement

Whom do you call if you have to place hull and liability insurance coverage for one of the most expensive aircraft ever delivered to a private customer this year? You fly in Bradley Meinhardt, area president and managing director of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s Aviation niche, that's who.

Meinhardt moves fast. He placed insurance coverage for hull value in excess of $300 million, requiring liability limits of $1 billion with only three days' notice. It wasn't easy, and it required grinding through 72 hours of no sleep.

Thanks to his network of attorneys, brokers and contacts with the aircraft manufacturer, Meinhardt was able to land enough capacity to cover the risk to hull and liability using underwriters from around the world. "I would recommend Bradley 200 percent," said John Buch, president of Maverick Aviation Group Inc. in Las Vegas.

For Emilie Ryan, chief financial officer for the Lander, Wyo.-based environmental protection aviation nonprofit organization LightHawk, which relies on a large volunteer aircraft fleet, Meinhardt was able to get limits that were 10 to 20 times higher than what the company had previously. "This guy was amazing," she said.

Michael Quinn, president of Asia Pacific Airlines Inc., which owns and operates three cargo 727 jets out of Guam, said Meinhardt often spends hours explaining to underwriters why small freight airlines with only two or three pilots per plane present a much lower liability risk profile than a passenger plane.

Area Vice President & Managing Director
Arthur J. Gallagher
Category: Aviation

Flying Colors

Bradley Meinhardt, an area vice president and managing director for Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., doesn't mince words when it comes to the type of account that he looks for. He needs to work with risk partners that can provide a decent income to his firm.

But there is another side of him that is less pragmatic and more giving. There is a list of accounts that he works on that he knows will be challenging or that will lose money.

The list includes the Blackhawk Flight Foundation. The Blackhawk Flight Foundation provides flights for the family members of military personnel who are considered at-risk.

Another fascinating group that he works with is Lighthawk. Lighthawk is a group of volunteer pilots who coordinate with conservation organizations to provide them bird's-eye views of areas of the planet that are under some sort of environmental pressure or are in need of conservation.

For Lighthawk, according to its chief financial officer, Meinhardt was able to get limits that were exponentially higher than they were previously able to garner.

Other groups that Meinhardt works with are Miracle Flights for Kids, a health and welfare organization that provides flights for low-income children who otherwise could not afford the flight needed to transport them for needed medical care; and Angel Flight West, a group which provides similar services for children and adults.

Account Executive, Business Insurance
Leavitt Group, Concord, Calif.

Mission Accomplished

A frequent challenge to brokers serving the nonprofit sector is to provide attentive and personal service to the client organization without becoming too emotionally involved in the cause. Maintaining some professional dispassion is often necessary to keep a clear head for the very businesslike needs of placements, renewals and claims.

Tammy Mission, formerly an assistant vice president with Heffernan Insurance Brokers in Walnut Creek, Calif., is lauded by her clients as one broker who manages to care deeply for the programs she serves while always maintaining that high level of professionalism.

"Tammy is an unusual broker: one who is a go-getter, committed to the company she works for, and who adds tremendous value to the nonprofits she insures," said the insurance buyer for one outreach organization. This year, for example, another client that runs a program to benefit women and girls, credits Mission with participation far beyond the call of duty.

"When I engaged Tammy as our broker, she asked many questions about the focus and mission of the organization," this client said. "It was not idle curiosity on her part. Several months later she called to ask if she could spearhead a program."

Mission also initiated a marketing program, coordinating unsolicited one-time donations from a company's philanthropic arm. The gifts came with no restrictions and only one string attached: a face-to-face meeting with Mission. The donor organization was happy to broaden its charitable base, the recipient groups were thrilled with money over the transom, and Mission got both new prospects, but also broader understanding of her market.

Account Executive, Business Insurance
Leavitt Group
Category: Nonprofit

Applied Ethics

Ethics aren't just something one can talk about and adhere to. One has to take action based on one's ethics for them to have any impact or meaning.

In the case of Tammy Mission, formerly an assistance vice president with Heffernan Insurance Brokers, acting guided by ethics means that she will walk away from accounts where she feels the insured isn't being honest about their risk exposures.

It's not only her reputation she has in mind in this. It's her company's reputation and the reputation of the industry that she works in.

Acting ethically for Mission also means that she will help her clients find ways to transfer or manage their risks, even if that means that she costs herself a commission as a result of the advice she has given.

For her for-profit clients, Mission acts as a connector who doesn't seek a matchmaking fee. She'll simply put entrepreneurs together and let them benefit from the acquaintance.

Mission's nonprofit clients praise her for being passionate about their organizations, without losing the professional objectivity that she needs to make sure they are getting good advice.

The insurance industry can also thank Mission for the work she does recruiting at her alma mater, St. Mary's College of California. Mission attends job fairs there and conducts on-campus interviews for undergraduates who might be interested in insurance as a career.

Area Executive Vice President
Arthur J. Gallagher, Chicago

Pushing Underwriters for Better Coverage

Every semester, Kalamazoo College in Michigan sends a large share of its students overseas. But after political protests in Greece and the Middle East, an earthquake in New Zealand and the tsunami in Japan, college officials began wondering how to bring students back home in an emergency.

They turned to Chicago-based Bill Powell, area executive vice president for Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., who found an evacuation program that could be tacked onto the school's foreign liability coverage at a relatively low cost, said Joseph Brockington, associate provost for international programs at Kalamazoo, a liberal arts college with about 1,400 students.

"I can't ask my staff to do this out of our office in Kalamazoo, and I'm not alone," Brockington said. "A lot of the colleges and universities in the U.S. are moving toward getting evacuation coverage."

And some of them have asked Brockington how he did it. "I said, 'We have Bill Powell.' Bill's really good at this."

Powell has served Kalamazoo in other ways as well, college administrators said. For example, he helped make the case for ensuring international insurance coverage extended to students and faculty who were not necessarily traveling under the auspices of the study-abroad program. Powell also has pushed underwriters to deliver what the college would like to see in its policies.

Area Executive Vice President
Arthur J. Gallagher
Category: Education

A Proponent of the 'Powell Doctrine'

Bill Powell, area executive vice president for Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in Chicago, helped start URMIACares, a volunteer service project now in its fifth year sponsored by the University Risk Management and Insurance Association.

The idea was for people going to the organization's annual conference to give back to the convention host city in the form of volunteer service.

Whether it is helping out in a soup kitchen, or assisting with painting, repairs and deep cleaning at a women's shelter, an after-school program or another kind of nonprofit organization, URMIACares is a way for professionals to give back.

Similar programs exist with other trade organizations all over the country. The Risk and Insurance Management Society Inc., which represents corporate risk and insurance managers, has had a similar program for years.

Over the last five years, URMIACares has raised more than $20,000 for local charities and involved some 300 URMIA volunteers donating more than 3,500 service hours. URMIA cares and Powell does too.

For his higher education clients, Powell has crafted an evacuation program that can be tacked on to a school's foreign liability program. The addition is helping to soothe the fears of college administrators who worry about having to being students home in a hurry in the case of a political upheaval overseas.

Chief Operating Officer, Greater New York
Aon, Morristown, N.J.

On Top of the Risk

Brokers in the for-profit segment have it easy: The insureds they serve largely do business with healthy professional adults. Nonprofits, by their nature, tend to those with lots of extra risk to manage. "We've got all kinds of exposures," said one client. "We've got women and infants and a website giving out medical advice. And Matt is on top of all of it."

This past year, the client made a concerted effort to consolidate all of its exposures within its general liability coverage, and credits Schneider with accomplishing what had been a long-sought goal.

"We were finally able to get everything tucked under the general liability without additional charges, and in most cases without even any changes in language." The other huge exposures that nonprofits face are in fundraising. "Matt could write a book about unforeseen problems and potential liabilities," one risk manager said. Indeed, Schneider, chief operating officer of the Greater New York region with Aon Risk Solutions, may yet do so. He also serves as an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University.

In one recent situation, an enthusiastic but overweight volunteer had trouble walking at the conclusion of an event. "We were afraid of the potential liability," said the client, not only for a claim, but also the knock-on effect it could have on rates at renewal. "Matt was right on top of it, and put our minds at ease."

In another situation, Schneider advised a client through its decision to self-insure for certain exposures. The client credits Schneider with managing the self-insurance option as if it were simply a normal placement, with full cost and risk analysis. The result was a strategic decision with a business case, not a default position.

Chief Operating Officer, Greater New York
Aon
Category: Nonprofit

A Teacher of Excellence

Aon Risk Solution's Matthew Schneider, in addition to delivering top-flight service to his nonprofit clients, has distinguished himself as a leader in the risk management educational field.

As a member of Seton Hall University's insurance advisory board, Schneider has overseen development of two university level college courses that deliver a comprehensive view of the world of professional risk management to undergraduates.

One course is text-based, but also offers lectures from more than a dozen visiting risk management professionals, including brokers, underwriters, risk managers and others.

A second, "Directed Research" course, offers a single student the chance to be mentored, working closely with a volunteer underwriter, broker and risk manager. In 2012 and previous years, Schneider devoted his teaching salary to pay for a scholarship for a student taking the directed research course. A 2012 graduate of this course is now working in the industry.

Schneider has taught risk management for the past five years and in 2012 was awarded Seton Hall University's Stillman School of Business Adjunct Faculty Excellence Award.

As a Chief Operating Officer, Greater New York for Aon Risk Solutions, Schneider is known to risk managers as an expert in the area of the exposures facing nonprofits in fundraising. For other clients, Schneider has seamlessly devised self-insurance options.

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.

Executive Vice President
Willis
Category: Pharmaceuticals

A Biology Major

David Shuey is another broker who has managed to meld his personal interests with his professional life in the biosciences.

In his community work, Shuey has chaired the board of the Arthritis Foundation and has raised more than $150,000 in the past three years to support programs and research benefiting those who suffer with arthritis.

"Many of my clients also do research in the autoimmune/arthritis space so my volunteer work and my work life intersect," he said.

Last year, he developed the life science risk review template that is now used by all Willis associates to conduct in-depth risk reviews for its clients, helping them address issues that were unkown or ignored. Think of it as a kind of microscope helping broker look for "damaged cells" within the enterprise of Willis' clients.

"It's easy to just place policies for clients," he said. "It's much harder to take the time to drill down on a client's risk exposures and propose meaningful solutions."

Shuey's also caught the writing bug. He writes a nationally distributed newsletter called "LifeLines" on life science topics, speaks at seminars and conducts webcasts on life science risk management topics.

Perhaps most important for a Responsibility Leader®, Shuey mentors a dozen other brokers who have "declared a major" in the life sciences. "My goal is to transfer my excitement and knowledge to them so that the life science industry can benefit from our interest and commitment," he said.

Senior Vice President
Willis, Denver

Bringing Enterprise Risk Management to Chipotle

When David Young won the Chipotle Mexican Grill account this past year, he quickly realized the Denver-based Fortune 1000 company had spent much of its focus on insurance transactions, and little on proactive risk management. A strategic turnaround was soon in place.

"Honestly, David Young has a way of bringing enterprise risk management to our attention in a way that is meaningful and impactful for what we do on a day-to-day basis," said R.L. Harris, safety, security and risk analyst at the company. "By doing this, Chipotle has been in a better position to make informed decisions in our approach to managing risk."

Harris said Young, senior vice president at Willis of Colorado in Denver, worked with the Safety, Security and Risk team at Chipotle to establish monthly meetings with managers in many functional areas of the company to consult on risk prevention strategies and implementations.

"I have noticed that, because of those meetings, people are more open and conversational about how they are approaching risk at Chipotle," she said.

Young also did not neglect the existing insurance program, which he restructured. That produced premium savings in excess of 25 percent, even in a firming market, said Harris.

He also has helped Chipotle save money, Harris said, by restructuring the way it does its due diligence and bond general contractors and subcontractors. "We just started with Willis this year and it feels like they have been with us for a while," she said. "They have really made some great changes for us. It's a great partnership."