40 Most Influential People In Reinsurance: September 2009

In September 2009, Global Reinsurance Magazine released its list of the 40 most influential people in reinsurance for 2009.  The four-part list is reprinted below.

 

The Global Reinsurance Top 40 (1-10)

September 2009

Perhaps the most striking change this year is Stefan Lippe’s entry at number three. He took over at Swiss Re from Jacques Aigrain, who was punished for the company’s foray into investment banking. Another high new entry is Ulrich Wallin at number 11, who this year took the helm at Hannover Re from the retiring Willi Zeller.

Greg Case leaps 19 places to fourth, as his vision for Aon takes hold. Also racing up the rankings is Patrick Thiele, who jumps from 18th to seventh, after PartnerRe’s acquisition of Paris Re. Ed Noonan (up from 32nd to 15th) is another whose standing has increased markedly after a takeover.

Note:  Last year’s positions are shown in brackets

 

1(1) Warren Buffett, CEO, Berkshire Hathaway

Billions made and lost; still going strong at 78

The 78-year-old Sage of Omaha has had a mixed year. On the plus side, he made significant investments in both Goldman Sachs and Swiss Re at bargain prices. Against that, he was hurt by the vacillations of stock markets.

Again on the plus side, a billion-dollar bet on ConocoPhillips looks like making good money, but statistics show that Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway has underperformed in the past 15 years in comparison to Power Corp and its owner Paul Desmarais, making Buffett only the second greatest investor in the years since 1994.

Yet, again on the plus side, in September last year Berkshire bought 225m new shares in BYD, a Chinese electric car maker. The stock jumped five-fold in the weeks after the deal was announced, earning Berkshire a $1bn profit. Disappointingly, a biography by Alice Schroeder, to whom Buffett gave unprecedented access, was easily outsold by the story of a younger wizard, Harry Potter.

Everything about Buffett and Berkshire is a contradiction. In 2008, for example, the net worth of the company decreased by $11.5bn, reducing the per-share book value by 9.6%. But take a longer view and the picture reverses: over the 44 years that Buffett has been in charge, book value has grown from $19 to $70,530, an annual growth rate of 20.3%.

Sometimes, Buffett can be accused of over-adherence to his own rules. For instance, his basic philosophy of stock ownership is never to sell. Those who got out when the Dow topped 14,000 must be considered better short-term investment managers. Whether they’ll be reporting 20% annual gains for the next 43 years remains to be seen.

Not entirely inflexible, Buffett has changed his views from time to time. In the early days, Berkshire focused on long-term (that is, permanent) investments in publicly quoted stocks, but lately he has been buying companies whole. Having $40bn in spare change obviously affects your thinking.

Everyone knows of Buffett’s pre-eminence in the folk wisdom department. He still lives in the house he bought in 1958, plays the ukelele at AGMs, etc. Heretical though it may be, would it be wrong to ask why a man would make a meaningful percentage of a trillion dollars and not let it affect him? Where’s the fun in that?

Buffett’s recipe for success

Berkshire pins its success on four main principles:

1. maintaining its “Gibraltar-like financial position”, which features huge amounts of excess liquidity, modest near-term obligations and dozens of sources of earnings and cashflow (assets at 31 March 2009 exceeded $260bn);
2. widening the “moats” around its operating businesses to give it durable competitive advantages;
3. acquiring and developing new and varied streams of earnings; and
4. expanding and nurturing the company’s cadre of operating managers.

Berkshire’s insurance interests

Berkshire is a holding company with subsidiaries that engage in diverse business activities including property and casualty insurance and reinsurance, utilities and energy, finance, manufacturing, services and retailing. In its insurance portfolio are:

• GEICO, the third largest auto insurer in the US, which Berkshire acquired in 1996;
• General Re (bought in 1998), one of the largest reinsurers in the world based on net premiums written and capital, which consists principally of Cologne Re and the Faraday companies, as well as life/health reinsurance activities;
• the Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group;
• NRG (Nederlandse Reassurantie Groep), a Dutch life reinsurance company, acquired from ING in December 2007;
• Berkshire Hathaway Assurance, a financial guarantor that insures municipal and state bonds that finance public works; and
• other subsidiaries that underwrite property and casualty insurance, including National Indemnity, Medical Protective, Applied Underwriters, US Liability Insurance, Central States Indemnity, Kansas Bankers Surety, Cypress Insurance, BoatUS and other subsidiaries referred to as the “homestate companies”.

 

2(3) Dr. Nikolaus von Bomhard, Chairman, Munich Re

Like many successful leaders, von Bomhard knows the importance of surrounding himself with good people. He avoids hogging the limelight, either in a conscious effort to avoid becoming “Mr Munich Re” or simply because he trusts other senior members to do their job. Understated at the best of times, he revealed the German giant had turned a profit of €1.5bn in 2008 despite the global financial meltdown

A private individual, the 53-year-old enjoys long-distance running, skiing, golf and classical music. He worked his way up through the company since joining its graduate trainee programme in 1985. He was a fire treaty underwriter before taking up a post in Brazil in 1997. He joined the board of management in 2000, becoming chairman in 2004.

The company’s Changing Gear programme will surely be von Bomhard’s main legacy. Introduced in 2007, the expansion and restructuring initiatives have continued with the acquisition of Hartford Steam Boiler from AIG. More purchases could be on the cards for 2009. “Munich Re is in good financial shape and can exploit opportunities in the market,” he says.

 

3(–) Stefan Lippe, CEO, Swiss Re NEW ENTRY

Stefan Lippe has not been in the top job for long. But he deserves his high spot on our list for taking on the biggest leadership challenge of the year, and for quickly establishing control. Lippe, 53, took the reins from Jacques Aigrain in February, after massive losses wiped out a third of Swiss Re’s market value in a week.

“Back to basics” is Lippe’s pledge for the future. Unlike his predecessor, he has a background in reinsurance having begun his career at Bavarian Re in 1983, working his way up to his election as chairman in 1993. He became a member of Swiss Re’s executive board in 1995 as head of Bavarian Re, and was appointed head of the property and casualty business in 2001. In 2008 he became chief operating officer and deputy CEO.

Lippe often stresses his belief in relationships and communication. He dines in the company’s canteen and encourages staff to email him with their thoughts and advice. While he is “clear about the challenges that Swiss Re needs to address”, it is also clear that he is not about to swing too far in the other direction in an effort to get the reinsurer back on course.

Swiss Re’s problems stemmed from its financial products. Capital was depleted by full year mark-to-market losses of CHF6bn in its financial markets division, including CHF2bn from structured credit default swaps.

Under Lippe’s watch, financial markets has been disbanded and the reinsurer is getting back to reinsurance basics, which early signs suggest is paying off. First quarter results for 2009 beat analysts’ expectations.

Despite the changes, Lippe does not want Swiss Re to lose its pioneering spirit. Although he has stressed “back to basics” that does not mean “going back to the Stone Age,” he said recently. “We were always an innovator and that won’t change.”

 

4(23) Greg Case, President and CEO, Aon Corporation

Plucked from relative obscurity to lead the global brokerage firm out of its difficult post-Spitzer meltdown in 2005, Greg Case’s profile has been steadily growing.

He is a McKinsey man who surprised analysts by snaring the top job at Aon as he was appointed with no corporate management experience. But during his tenure there has been a mood-shift in the company, and he is now flanked by a team of young executives that look the insurance version of Reservoir Dogs, dressed in Armani suits and twinkling smiles. Their enthusiasm is difficult to ignore – even in these trying times.

The 46-year-old also oversaw the purchase of rival broker Benfield which took Aon to the top of the reinsurance brokerage pile. The deal gave Aon a much bigger presence in key P&C markets such as Florida, where Benfield had built up its presence over many years. Aon also provided the best information during the AIG crisis.

Since joining Aon, Case has met about 100 clients a month and more than 30,000 of Aon’s staff around the world.

 

5(8) Brian Duperreault, President and CEO, Marsh & McLennan Companies

Now 62, Brian Duperreault came out of retirement to guide MMC out of the dark days post-Spitzer just as the recession was hitting. In a rollercoaster 18 months, he has set improving performance and morale as his main goals. Though his success has been dampened by the recession, he has achieved a lot in a short time. Last year, Marsh’s profitability rose and there has been increased new business production and improved client revenue retention. Guy Carpenter is doing much better with Peter Zaffino at the helm. Despite difficult times, Mercer and Oliver Wyman appear to be managed well with a tight grip on costs, and Kroll, which has been a thorn in the side of Marsh, has a new boss.

Duperreault earned his spurs by transforming Ace, as its chairman and CEO from 1994 to 2004, from a relative minnow to a global giant. He started his career with AIG and was a favourite of Hank Greenberg.

To relax, he collects antique maps and still commutes (when he can) back to his home in Bermuda.

 

6(6) Ajit Jain, President, Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group

“Ajit came to Berkshire in 1986. Very quickly, I realised that we had acquired an extraordinary talent. So I did the logical thing: I wrote his parents in New Delhi and asked if they had another one like him at home. Of course, I knew the answer…there isn’t anyone like Ajit.” So says Jain’s boss and mentor Warren Buffett.

Jain, 58, is admired for his calculated risk-taking and, in Buffett’s words, avoiding “foolish losses”. He takes the risks that others avoid, such as insuring Chicago’s Sears Tower (now Willis Tower) in the aftermath of 9/11, when such trophy buildings were considered too risky.

Unsurprisingly, his name is often mentioned during the constant speculation surrounding Buffett’s succession plans. In his 2008 report, Buffett credits him with the company’s $58.5bn insurance “float” and a healthy performance despite a tough year.

Yet Jain nearly missed out on his big opportunity. Content to settle in India, his wife convinced him to move back to the US in the early 1980s, where he pursued a career at McKinsey before joining Berkshire.

 

7(18) Patrick Thiele, President and CEO, PartnerRe

Move over Kessler, there’s a new European king in town! PartnerRe’s decision to acquire Paris Re in a $2bn deal rivals the Scor/Converium marriage of two years ago. In Thiele’s ninth year at the helm, this latest acquisition completes the once strictly property cat reinsurer’s transition into a diversified global force. The combined companies are expected to produce the world’s fourth-largest reinsurer, bringing shareholders’ equity to about $6bn. “This is an important acquisition for PartnerRe and provides us the opportunity to enhance our already successful franchise,” says the 58-year-old Thiele, known for his calm and steady leadership.

Thiele has guided the reinsurer through some of the industry’s biggest challenges, including 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, which brought the company losses of $347m and $511m respectively. The push to diversify away from US catastrophe seems to have paid off; the reinsurer is one of the three surviving members of the Class of 1993 and the only one to outgrow its catastrophe-only background. Last year it revealed a full year net income of $46.6m.

 

8(11) Evan Greenberg, Chairman, President and CEO, Ace

Warm and fuzzy he ain’t. But no one doubts that Evan Greenberg is really, really good at what he does.

As the son of Hank Greenberg, he may be genetically hardwired to be successful in this business, but just look at how well he has steered Ace since taking over as President and CEO in 2004 from Brian Duperreault and how steady he has kept the ship during the economic crisis with the company’s performance described by analysts as “solid”.

The 54-year-old caused more than a few ripples in Bermuda by moving the corporate headquarters to Zurich, but recently Greenberg has been focused on trying to gain customers and says the company is well positioned to build market share as insurance markets improve and economic growth recovers.

Greenberg arrived in 2001 to head up Ace Tempest Re.

Before that he was chief operating officer of AIG, where his father was grooming him to take over the business – but sons famously don’t do their father’s bidding and there was a fall-out.

 

9(5) Joe Plumeri, Chairman and CEO, Willis Group

New Jersey-born Joseph J Plumeri has become something of a cult figure – one part CEO and the rest pure celebrity. Since joining Willis as chairman and CEO in 2001 (after a 32-year career at Citigroup), the straight-talking 65-year-old boss has led Willis through some of the insurance and broking sector’s toughest tests, including the 9/11 attacks and Eliot Spitzer’s investigations.

Among his successes is shaking up one of the industry’s oldest institutions and bringing it through a period of restructuring. Organic grown and strategic acquisitions have culminated in the $2.1bn acquisition of Hilb Rogal & Hobbs. Plumeri remains an outspoken proponent of transparency in the broking sector and sees the financial crisis as an opportunity for the industry as a whole.

Joe wouldn’t be Joe without a bit of razzmatazz. Having last year opened the Willis Building at 51 Lime Street, London’s newest and shiniest skyscraper, this year the “Willis Tower”, once the Sears Tower, was officially unveiled in Chicago.

 

10(4) Lord Levene, Chairman, Lloyd’s

Lord Levene of Portsoken is one of the most recognisable and respected figures in the insurance and reinsurance world. The once Lord Mayor of London is so much a part of the London insurance market that it seems incredible to think he has only been chairman at Lloyd’s since 2002. Accomplished in business with a long and varied career, he has quickly identified the issues in insurance that need fighting for.

And fight he does – against unfair tax and anti-competitiveness, to push climate change up the agenda and, most recently, to protect Lloyd’s and the insurance sector from being punished for the excesses perpetrated in banking.

Speaking frankly – and the 67-year-old Levene only ever speaks frankly – to Bloomberg following this year’s G20 meeting in London, he said: “The banks have got serious problems but the rest of the financial services industry is in good shape.

Our relations with our regulator are very good and I hope it’s going to be a situation of ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’.”

 

The Global Reinsurance Top 40 (11-20)

September 2009

 

11(-) Ulrich Wallin, CEO, Hannover Re NEW ENTRY

Ulrich Wallin has surely one of the toughest jobs in reinsurance – replacing Wilhelm Zeller, the man who led Hannover Re for

13 years. This is not something he can achieve overnight – and nor is he likely to try. Zeller had a unique style and Wallin will have to carve out his own path. His first job is to build the company’s capital in an effort to appease the rating agencies. AM Best has changed its outlook on the reinsurer to stable from positive, and Standard & Poor’s went a step further, putting the German giant on negative outlook due to its “constrained financial flexibility in a different capital market environment”.

Wallin, 54, acknowledges that his leadership will be different. He is keen to reduce any volatility in the business profile and improve the company’s risk management. He is likely to be a more reserved leader than Zeller. A qualified lawyer, who has sat on the executive board of Hannover Re and E&S Rück since 2001, he does not yet look entirely comfortable with all the attention.

 

12(9) Maurice ‘Hank’ Greenberg, Chairman and CEO, CV Starr

Ask any reinsurance executive who they most admire in the industry and at least half will opt for the 84-year-old Hank Greenberg, leader of the Greenberg dynasty with sons Jeffrey (deposed as CEO from Marsh in 2005) and Evan (president and CEO of ACE) following in his footsteps.

He is admired both for the empire he built up at AIG and for his dogged resolve, particularly during a crisis. Two decades after most senior executives would happily swap their suit for a golf shirt, Hank is still using all his grey matter, matched with a sharp wit and even sharper tongue.

But the past 12 months have not been kind. He has lost a fortune as a result of the collapse and bailout of AIG, a failure that many hold him responsible for. AIG had apparently begun investigating selling credit-default swaps when he was still CEO. Hank of course, blames the current board of directors.

But things may finally be looking up as a decision in his on-going court battle against AIG recently went in his favour.

 

13(16) Peter Zaffino, President and CEO, Guy Carpenter

A management shake-up pushed Peter Zaffino to the top of Guy Carpenter at the start of last year. Under his watch the company has tightened its belt, made difficult job cuts and trimmed off any excess. His cuts have resulted in the company showing marked improvements in profitability despite challenging times for reinsurance market, and growth is now on the mind of management.

The Guy Carp boss oversaw the acquisition of broker John B. Collins Associates, a move which gives the New York-based reinsurance broker more scale in the US and allows it to play “catch-up” to now much larger rival, Aon Benfield. Zaffino has also been making a raft of high-profile hires, including former XL Capital number two, Henry Keeling.

The 42-year-old has broking in his blood – his father, Sal Zaffino, served as chairman of Guy Carpenter from 1999 to 2007. Zaffino Jr joined the team in 2001, and quickly made his way up the corporate ladder, holding a number of executive management positions within the firm.

 

14(14) Dr. Richard Ward, CEO, Lloyd’s

Richard Ward is either extremely lucky or exceptionally talented – or perhaps he just has good timing. Since taking the helm at Lloyd’s, the once boss of the International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) has seen the market go from strength to strength. First there was the resolution of Equitas, when a groundbreaking £3.8bn deal with Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway was agreed in October 2006. That led to an “A+” and praise from Standard & Poor’s in April 2007, with the rating agency citing “the unstoppable momentum behind improving London market business processes”.

Strong and well capitalised despite the crisis, Lloyd’s is now enjoying the industry’s renewed interest in subscription underwriting.

And the 52-year-old Ward seems set on the same path at Lloyd’s which saw him bring automation to the IPE. It once seemed impossible that the 320-year-old market would ever get to grips with electronic processing. Now, with more than 90% of claims processed electronically, peer-to-peer messaging taking off and the Lloyd’s Exchange in its pilot phase, change finally looks imminent.

 

15(32) Ed Noonan, Chairman and CEO, Validus

Ed Noonan’s profile has risen sharply this year, thanks to his determined pursuit of a merger opportunity. When Max Capital and IPC announced their merger in early March, Noonan felt the deal undervalued IPC. Within a month, Validus offered a higher price – and he pressed on relentlessly, threatening to unseat IPC’s board, if that’s what it would take.

When IPC’s shareholders finally voted on Max’s offer, 72% rejected it. Although that did not mean a victory for Validus, a late bid from Flagstone was quickly seen off. Even an all-cash offer from Berkshire Hathaway was not enough to dissuade the board from a marriage with Validus. The final vote awaits. The merger will catapult Validus to the top five Bermuda reinsurers.

Despite his fierce determination revealed in the fight for IPC, the 50-year-old Noonan is charming and relaxed. Before forming Validus with former Marsh & McLellan chief Jeffrey Greenberg, he had been interim CEO at United America Indemnity. Before that, he had been with American Re for 18 years.

 

16(19) Neill Currie, President and CEO, Renaissance Re

The 56-year-old who led RenRe back from the brink after Wells Notices and losses from Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma threatened its future, has done a great job. No wonder that his contract has been extended to 2014. Proud of its catastrophe roots which began post-Andrew in 1993, RenRe has sustained its original monoline business model through sophisticated modelling techniques and underwriting expertise. The company is keen to share its expertise, regularly backing research into hurricane risk mitigation.

But even the wizards at HQ could not hold back the push to expand. While it maintains all the characteristics of a Bermuda cat reinsurer, Currie has begun to diversify. Now, with its property cat, specialty reinsurance and rebranded insurance business, it has a growing platform at Lloyd’s. In June, RenRe announced it had agreed to buy Spectrum Syndicate Management – the underwriting agency for its Lloyd’s platform. In a tough economic environment, this acquisition – with the company’s recent Florida sidecar deal, Tim Re II – is seen as a sign of continuing strength.

 

17(13) Michael Butt, Chairman Axis Capital Holdings and Axis Specialty

His charm, elegance and wit have made Michael Butt a favourite in the reinsurance circuit.

But don’t be fooled into thinking he is just a pretty face, because he has more than 42 years of experience under his belt and Axis is arguably one of the biggest success stories of the Class of 2001, companies set up after the terrorist attacks on 9/11.

The 66-year-old works hand-in-glove with Axis’ chief executive officer John Charman; the two form one of the most successful Odd Couples in the market.

He joined Axis a little later than Charman in 2002 at the invitation of his old friend Bob Newhouse, who had set up the company.

Butt was president and CEO of Mid Ocean from 1993 to 1998, when it was bought up by XL Capital. He then served as a director of XL Capital until his departure to Axis.

You can feel his hand in the appointments of Thomas Ramey (former chairman of Liberty International) and Wilhelm Zeller (retired chairman of Hannover Re) to its board.

 

18(22) Denis Kessler, Chairman and CEO, Scor

With net income of €315m for 2008 despite the financial crisis and Hurricane Ike, it is clear that 2002 has become a distant memory. A former AXA man, Denis Kessler, 57, was brought in to lead the recovery mission when the French reinsurer lost its “A” rating back in the tough days after 9/11. He succeeded and has not lost any momentum since.

He fought relentlessly to see the merger with Converium go ahead in 2007, a transaction that put Scor in the big league. More recently, the proposed buyout of XL Re Life America suggests the buying spree is not yet over. Shrugged off as a “gardening deal”, Kessler used the deal as proof of Scor’s strong position.

It is clear that he revels in every success. When S&P upgraded Scor to “A” from “A-” in March, seriously bucking the trend, it was surely the icing on the cake. “The upgrade is the result of a successful business strategy that is withstanding the current financial crisis, enabling Scor to benefit from its strong market position,” he says.

 

19(15) Don Kramer, Chairman and CEO, Ariel Re

One of the most popular personalities in the reinsurance business, Don Kramer has a one-liner for every situation and isn’t afraid to speak his mind.

He started his career on Wall Street but soon moved into insurance, showing his entrepreneurial side by building up several ventures, including NAC Re (which he sold to XL Capital in 1999 for $1bn) and Tempest Re (which merged with ACE in 1996). He came out of retirement at the age of 68 to head up Class of 2005 reinsurer Ariel.

The secret to his success is that he has never been allowed to underwrite anything – he leaves that to the experts and focuses instead on running a business.

He admires former AIG boss Hank Greenberg but thinks that he’s allowed his career to dominate his life.

The 71-year-old Kramer, on the other hand, has plenty of interests outside reinsurance. Along with his love for ballroom dancing and charitable activities, he has eight grandchildren and enjoys a busy social life with his wife Elizabeth.

 

20(-) John Charman, CEO and President, Axis Capital NEW ENTRY

Admired and feared by many in the industry in equal measure, John Charman had been planning to step down as CEO at the end of 2008, citing a lengthy and messy divorce. That was resolved when he lost his appeal against his former wife’s record-breaking £48m settlement – the highest ever awarded by a British divorce court.

With this behind him, the 56-year-old Charman has extended his contract to 2013, but he does not expect to renew it again. “I don’t believe in being in one place for too long,” he said last year. “We have an excellent management group who are young but experienced and it will be their time.”

Charman built up a fearsome reputation during his early career at Lloyd’s when he became known as a tough but results-driven boss as CEO of Tarquin, the parent company of the Charman Underwriting Agencies at Lloyd’s. His decision to stay on at Axis will have come as a relief to shareholders after a tough year in 2008, which saw full-year income down 66.7%.

 

The Global Reinsurance Top 40 (21-30)

September 2009

 

21(-) Mike O’Halleran, Executive Chairman, Aon Benfield NEW ENTRY

The Benfield/Aon merger made the merged entity the largest reinsurance broker in the world and has rocketed O’Halleran into the list of the market’s most influential people.

Even before the merger, O’Halleran had spent a career getting Aon Re to be the broker of choice for the reinsurance market, building up its consultation role with investment in analytics, catastrophe modelling, actuarial services and rating agency capabilities. He is respected by his team and peers alike – in fact, the 58-year-old, who is well known as a big Chicago White Sox fan, says sports are at the core of his management philosophy – he’s a great believer in team play.

O’Halleran was part of the team that started Aon Re. He was president and chief operating officer of Aon from April 1999 until September 2004, but had held other senior management positions within the group since 1987, the year he was headhunted by Aon’s founder, Pat Ryan. When he joined Aon was still relatively small, and when he helped start Aon Re, Guy Carpenter was the main reinsurance broker.

 

22(24) Charlie Crist, Governor, Florida

Florida Governor Charlie Crist provoked the ire of big US insurers this year for refusing to back a bill to deregulate the industry and let insurers hike their rates.

The bill, HB 1171, would have enticed insurers to provide property cover by removing restrictions on rates. The industry argued regulations made it impossible for them to make a profit if Florida was slammed by a major storm.

But Governor Crist, a Republican who was Florida Attorney General from 2002 to 2007, resisted pressure from a powerful lobby of insurers and the business community by vetoing HB 1171 in June this year.

“To have that industry unregulated in essence is not something that is appealing to me, nor is it fair to the customer,” Crist, 53, said. Consumer groups praised the veto as a “no brainer” which protected hard-pressed households from potentially steep rates hikes.

At the same time, Crist increased rates for the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp by 10%. US reports said Crist’s veto means State Farm Florida will go ahead with plans to stop writing insurance for property owners.

 

23(26) Mike McGavick, CEO, XL Capital

Mike McGavick is widely seen to be doing a good job at XL Capital. He inherited a mess when he took over as CEO in May last year, but has brought to bear his experience of turning around Safeco, the Seattle-based insurance giant.

McGavick grew up in Seattle where, as a boy of 10, he knocked on doors to help his father, a local politician, with his campaigns. He attended Seattle Preparatory School, an elite prep school and later followed his father into politics, unsuccessfully running as a Republican for the US Senate in 2006. He returned to business and the CEO position at XL. He has pursued de-risking and cost-saving measures to restore confidence and return the company to profitability.

At 51, he is a man of ferocious drive and energy, with a firm but high-pitched, hoarse voice. Despite XL’s problems, McGavick is relentlessly upbeat. His vision is of XL returning to its core values, especially skilled traditional underwriting.

Raised as a Catholic, his faith remains important to him.

 

24(28) Stephen Catlin, CEO, Catlin Group

A well-known figure in the London market and on the conference circuit, it seems incredible to think that Stephen Catlin could have ended up being a dentist. But he turned down a place at dentistry school to begin working on a Lloyd’s box at the age of 18. The rest is history.

Catlin founded Catlin Underwriting Agencies in 1984 with fellow underwriter Rupert Atkin. With starting capital of just £25,000, the Catlin group of today operates four underwriting platforms, a network of international offices and has just sponsored the Catlin Arctic Survey.

The extremely ambitious polar survey catapulted the Catlin name into the headlines in 2009. The 73-day expedition, led by British polar explorer Pen Hadow, was undertaken to assess the state and thickness of the Arctic sea ice. The data they collected is now being interpreted by scientists and will be presented at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this December.

“It’s rare to be able to sponsor something that has such global importance – and global interest,” says the 54-year-old Catlin.

 

25(29) Tatsuhiko Hoshina, President and CEO, Tokio Millennium Re

In 2008, Tokio Millennium Re recorded the lowest loss ratio and the lowest combined ratio among major Bermuda reinsurance companies, as well as the highest return on equity. It was also among a tiny number of financial companies that experienced no write-downs, despite the financial crisis of 2008. Capital exceeded $1bn, from a standing $125m start nine years earlier.

Behind TMR’s success is the self-effacing Tats Hoshina. The 46-year-old arrived in Bermuda in 2000 as TMR’s number two and has gone on to become the Bermuda industry’s number one performer. A keen athlete, he will compete in the Half Iron Man triathlon during the Monte Carlo Rendez-vous. Last year he had major mechanical problems with his bike, but completed the race and managed to look relaxed at a gala reception later the same day. He has also competed in the New York and Boston marathons, and takes part in the Bermuda half-marathon each May.

Tats also is part of an effort to globalise the Tokio Marine Group and is on the board of Kiln Limited and other group companies.

 

26(-) Andrew Appel, CEO, Aon Benfield NEW ENTRY

A McKinsey man like Aon CEO Greg Case, Appel joined Aon in 2005 to head up its consultancy arm. Three years later he was promoted to CEO of Aon Benfield, the newly-merged entity and a formidable powerhouse, with the largest market share among reinsurance brokers.

But the merger has not been without its difficulties. Benfield was known for an open, collaborative culture and was strong in marketing, whereas Aon’s culture was technically deeper and more academic. Appel has had to meld these two cultures, and make staff cuts, while retaining key personnel. Of the top 150 leadership positions, more than 95% have stayed.

Appel combines a sharp brain with good people skills and a dazzling smile. At 44, he is one of the youngest in our top list.

An early riser, he is in the gym most mornings and gets to the office by 6:30am. On weekdays evenings he is often at a client dinner, but reserves weekends for his family. In his spare time he enjoys wine and scuba diving.

 

27(27) Bronek Masojada, CEO, Hiscox

Bronek Masojada can make two significant claims to being one of the most influential figures in the market today. The first has been in transforming Hiscox from a relatively small insurance company, rooted in Lloyd’s of London, into a global player which has been beefed up with heavy external fund-raising and a diversified range of products.

Masojada, 46, also played an important role in drawing up the map for reforming Lloyd’s when he worked for McKinsey (there’s that name again!). Working with key industry figures such as Robert Hiscox, he helped produce the 1991 Rowland taskforce which led to corporate capital coming into the market.

Masojada became the company’s managing director at the age of 31. Then, the private company had premium income of £350m and 200 staff.

Under Masojada, who became chief executive in 2000, Hiscox became a FTSE 250-listed company, which last year posted pre-tax profits of £105.2m and had sales of more than £1bn. Hiscox domiciled in Bermuda 2006 and now has 900 staff and offices in 13 countries.

 

28(33) Frank O’Halloran, CEO, QBE Insurance Group

As the head of the sprawling Australian insurer, Frank O’Halloran has earned his place at the top of the pile. He was brought into the company in 1976 at the age of 30 after it was formed by merging three companies. The young accountant was tasked with bringing order, integrity and innovation to QBE and worked hand-in-glove with the then boss, John Cloney. The company grew in leaps and bounds and O’Halloran took over in 1998 when Cloney stepped down.

Under his tenure he has taken the company from a well-known and trusted Australian insurance company to becoming one of the largest reinsurers in the world with more than 75% of its operations outside Australia through 20 years of more than 100 acquisitions. And the 62-year-old is still buying.

O’Halloran says he is waiting to strike mega-deals in Australia, to avoid being marginalised by the growing importance of IAG, Suncorp and Allianz. He has spent nearly $A1.25bn on two sizeable Australian companies since last August (mortgage insurer, PMI and rural provider, Elders).

 

29(21) Joe Taranto, Chairman and CEO, Everest Reinsurance Group

Despite being a man who shies away from publicity, there is no denying what a force Joe Taranto is in the market. As the head of Everest Re, a world leader in property and casualty reinsurance and insurance, his quiet hard work has paid off, shrugging off a terrible slump in stock price and taking advantage of market conditions to write more business.

The 60-year-old saw written premiums rise by 14% in the first quarter of 2009 and reinsurance premiums up 19%, despite foreign currency devaluations relative to the dollar.

Everest has benefited from the “flight to security”, and the company attracted new business and increased shares on existing deals. At the insurance level, an “A+” Best rating and financial stability has had buyers putting them on the top tier of their preferred list.

Taranto became chairman and CEO in October 1994. Before this he was a director and president of Transatlantic Holdings, after being handpicked by Hank Greenberg to head up the new reinsurance start up. He joined AIG in 1975.

 

30(25) José Manuel Martinez, Executive Chairman, MAPFRE SA

José Manuel Martinez’s talent and potential were spotted when he joined MAPFRE in 1972 at 25. The chairman of Spain’s largest insurer is credited for his pioneering work to build a diversified presence for MAPFRE’s reinsurance business. As early as 1977, long before the reinsurance world awoke to the Latin American market’s potential, a young Martinez was visiting insurers to establish MAPFRE’s reputation as an internationally active reinsurer. After building up a presence in the Spanish-speaking world, he turned his attention to Europe and the Far East, capitalising on the hard market opportunities in 2000-2002.

He still has ambitions to make significant inroads in the US market and hailed last year’s acquisition of US auto insurer the Commerce Group as “a decisive step in MAPFRE’s international expansion”.

Today, the 62-year-old oversees a company with more than 30,600 employees. Despite the tough environment, MAPFRE’s profits rose 12.9% in the first half of 2009, with international business contributing 47% of the company’s premiums.

 

The Global Reinsurance Top 40 (31-40)

September 2009

 

31(17) Raymond Barrette, Chairman and CEO, White Mountains Insurance Group

This executive must have White Mountains running through his veins. In 2007 Raymond Barrette was brought out of retirement and the 58-year-old has been doing a very good job for the property and casualty insurer.

Under his guidance, White Mountains posted a second-quarter profit in 2009 on the back of strong results at its unit, OneBeacon Insurance Group, and net investment gains.

He has also been behind the decision to convert its Bermuda reinsurance operations into a branch of its unit, White Mountains Re Sirius, which writes non-life reinsurance and selected primary coverage, including international health and travel insurance, contingency, aviation and property. As part of this plan, White Mountains Re will contribute more than $200m to Sirius.

Barrette took over from the legendary Jack Byrne – and Steve Fass took over for the two years when Barrette tried to lay down his management pen.

Before joining the company in 1997, Barrette had 23 years of experience in the insurance business, mostly at Fireman’s Fund.

 

32(20) W Marston Becker, CEO, Max Capital

Marty Becker took on the battle of all battles in 2009 when he went head-to-head with fellow Bermuda reinsurer Validus Re. When the proposed merger between Max and IPC was announced in March, many expected the deal to go ahead without a hitch. But Becker was in for a tough ride when – later in March – Validus Holdings’ hostile bid for IPC upped the stakes.

Right from the start, southern gentleman Becker, 56, showed his mettle; there were signs that he was getting ready for war.

“We remain fully committed to completing our planned merger with IPC,” he said in May. “In contrast, Validus continues to promote illusory concepts to IPC shareholders…”

Since taking the helm in November 2006, Becker has focused on bringing more diversification to Max, emphasising the value this would bring to IPC. But fighting talk was not enough. Max was forced to bow out gracefully in June when IPC shareholders voted against the merger.

 

33(30) Ken LeStrange, President and CEO, Endurance

Ken LeStrange is no stranger to tough times. Throughout his career, he has been brought in to take on parts of businesses that were struggling and to bring them round to profitability.

LeStrange likes to keep tight control at Endurance, the reinsurance company he helped to form in 2001. Having worked for various of the major global players, he is well aware of the pitfalls of becoming too large.

With a passing resemblance to Walter Matthieu, the 51-year-old instead cuts an extremely sharp image in his immaculate dark blue suits and crisp white shirts. Very much the top executive, this is a man who clearly knows what he wants, expects to get it and will not suffer fools gladly along the way.

Encouraged into the reinsurance world by his father (who worked at General Re) – LeStrange had plans either to go into publishing or to read law – he has worked from the bottom up, starting on a management training programme at the Hartford Insurance Group.

 

34(34) Scott Carmilani, President and CEO, Allied World Assurance Company Holdings

Allied World’s seemingly continuous growth, quarter by profitable quarter, was not enough last year for Scott Carmilani, the quiet and self-contained 44-year-old American who lets the performance of his clumsily-named company do the talking for him.

In mid-October, Allied World completed the acquisition of the Connecticut-based Darwin Professional Underwriters for $550m in cash. Darwin offers a wide array of specialty and primary professional lines coverages, including an industry-leading health care professional liability franchise and a niche errors and omissions division. It has also developed a business and technology model to underwrite small professional liability businesses, which, as expected, has proven to complement Allied World’s large account, specialty insurance and reinsurance strategy.

Next stop, probably, a Lloyd’s reinsurance component.

Headquartered in Bermuda, Allied World was formed by AIG, Chubb and Goldman Sachs in 2001. Carmilani, an AIG man since 1987, has been at the Allied World helm since January 2004.

 

35(35) Yassir Albaharna, CEO, Arab Insurance Group (Arig)

This Bahraini national has changed the face of Arig. With an open and outward-looking view of the world, he was tasked with bringing Arig back into control after over-expansion into the West during the 1990s.

He joined Arig when he was 23, becoming CEO in 2003. Under the 46-year-old’s guidance, Arig has become a more focused operation and has been sitting on capital, waiting for the opportunity to deploy it when the time is right.

In 2007 he bought Scottish Re’s Middle East life portfolio, which had $22m in annual premiums. The company has been said to be looking for further opportunities in the region.

Following a full-year loss in 2008, Arig returned to profitability posting a first-quarter net profit of $1.5m backed by strong technical tesult of $8.6m across its reinsurance portfolio. The company’s investment returns remained flat and gross written premium was down 14% due to lower trading volumes in the cyclical engineering and marine lines. The company, under guidance from Albaharna, has been implementing a selective acceptance policy.

 

36(36) John Berger, President and CEO, Harbor Point

John Berger, 56, has led Harbor Point since its establishment in Bermuda in December 2005. The company attracts the least attention of any of the Bermuda majors, which reflects Berger’s personal style – although his physical presence turns heads. He played basketball in Europe for three years after university, returning to the US to work at Prudential.

Berger was one of the original members of the F&G Re team.

He was responsible for the casualty department until 1991, when he took charge of all underwriting. He became president and CEO in 1996.

In August 1998, Berger launched Chubb Re, a subsidiary of the Chubb Corporation. He went on to form Harbor Point in December 2005. It acquired the continuing operations and certain assets, although not the in-force business or related reserves, of Chubb Re, the assumed reinsurance division of Chubb.

Since then, Berger has quietly but confidently built Harbor Point into a solid mid-sized operation that could figure on either side of the consolidation equation in the year ahead.

 

37(39) Hemant Shah, President and CEO, Risk Management Solutions

Don’t be misled by Shah’s youthful exterior. At 42 he might be the youngest CEO in our list but he’s also one of the most accomplished. On graduating from Stanford University, he helped to found RMS in 1989 at a time when catastrophe modelling was virtually unheard of. Just three years later Hurricane Andrew was a turning point that encouraged insurers to better understand their catastrophe exposures.

With both a deep technical knowledge of the modelling industry and the ability to communicate his products, Shah has built RMS into a force to be reckoned with. But he is not complacent.

With seemingly tireless enthusiasm for what he does, he is determined to not just improve the models but to better communicate how they should be used.

He took on the critics following the active hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005, and RMS has since strived to improve both the models and the data sets that go into them. But the warning, as ever, is “users beware”, as Hurricane Ike with its large footprint demonstrated all too well last summer.

 

38(37) Dr. Ewart Brown, Premier, Bermuda

Bermuda’s no-nonsense leader inspires fear as well as respect.

Politics is in Ewart Brown’s blood. His mother and aunt were both MPs. The young Brown studied in the US where he became a doctor. But he gave up his medical practice and American citizenship in the 1990s to return to Bermuda.

He became leader of the centre-left Progressive Labour Party in 2006, winning a general election the next year. Aged 63, he says he will quit politics in October next year.

He was involved in a political row last spring when he accepted four detainees from Guantanamo Bay without first advising the British (but doing a big favour for the US Administration at a sensitive time for Bermuda-US relations). Brown wants independence anyway for the tiny British colony of 62,000 people. The majority of Bermudians are against him on this. Brown has no beef with the (re)insurance companies that feed Bermuda, recognising their importance especially now that the tourism industry has declined. His work permit time limit policies have been criticised, but there are numerous exceptions to them.

 

39(38) Robin Spencer-Arscott, Chairman, World Insurance Forum

A Bermuda insurance market player almost since its inception, Robin Spencer-Arscott is probably best known for creating the World Insurance Forum. Taking the event out of Bermuda last year for the first time, to Dubai, was a gutsy move, aimed at establishing a truly global brand. The venue for the 2010 event is not yet known, but the smart money says it might go back to Bermuda.

The dapper 68-year-old served as president and CEO of Frank B Hall (Bermuda), which became a unit of AON. Spencer-Arscott then became chairman of its Bermuda group. He was later president and CEO of Cyrus Reinsurance II, an XL Capital sidecar now in run-off. His son Steven also supports the Bermuda market, from AAC Saatchi & Saatchi.

Today, Spencer-Arscott’s main thrust is as deputy chair of AAA Risk Solutions and a Director of Torus Insurance (Bermuda).

He co-founded the World Insurance Forum in 1993 with Suzie Pewter of the Whitfield Group. Held every two years, it attracts the biggest names in the reinsurance industry from around the globe.

 

40(40) Robert Hartwig, President, the Insurance Information Institute

Since joining the III in 1998, Robert Hartwig has become a widely recognised face in the insurance industry. A former senior economist for Swiss Re, he is a respected voice on matters affecting the property casualty insurance industry – particularly on his home turf in the US – and is regularly called to testify in Washington on behalf of the industry. From terrorism insurance and homeowner rate rises to climate change and catastrophes, Hartwig, 45, is not afraid of controversy.

He believes those who build homes on beaches and barrier islands in hurricane-prone states should be prepared to pay a premium that reflects the risk.

But he recognises the political difficulties inherent in the US state-led regulatory system.

Most recently, Hartwig has been full of praise for the industry’s performance through the financial crisis which he attributes to “a deeply entrenched and conservative operating philosophy that leads directly to superior risk management strategies. Insurers run their business under the assumption that every day is a potential doomsday – because it is.”