Insuring films in Iraq, Syria and Somalia is a difficult job, but this broker knows how to get it done.

Broker Kelly Ethier knows what it takes to keep collegiate-level athletes safe and protected. Using integrity, attentiveness, passion and industry expertise, she’s getting universities the coverage they need.

Coming from various backgrounds but unified by ambition, here are the 2019 Power Broker® Rising Stars.

The Power Broker® Rising Stars’ Class of 2019 are already shaping the industry for a new vision of the future of brokerage.

Creativity, deep industry knowledge and delivering superior customer service are the hallmarks of these award-winning brokers.

The best brokers are not necessarily brilliant, born wealthy or lucky. They just happen to work harder than the rest of us.

Frank Albrecht, Area Vice President, Gallagher Diversity is Frank Albrecht’s key strength. One day he can be dealing with complex international cross border matters and the next handling issues affecting local construction and haulage firms. Albrecht helped one client, petroleum consultancy DeGolyer & MacNaughton, reduce its Russian Federation taxes by 25 percent after placing the… View Article

Jodie DeVries, Senior Vice President, Marsh Power Brokers distinguish themselves by being more than insurance salespeople; they are true client advocates whose work enables companies to achieve their goals. When Graceland Fruit made an acquisition early in 2018, for example, the company had enough pieces of the puzzle to fit together on the operational side… View Article

Michael Calhoun, Managing Director, Aon Constriction in the aerospace sector was a common theme this year. “Major carriers have left,” said one director of insurance. “We had a very difficult time this year, trying to get a renewal with 65 percent of the previous market capacity left out there. Michael was able to go to… View Article

Frank Baer, Agency President, AssuredPartners When a struggling captive group approached Frank Baer in 2011 to audit and produce a report on its program, little did he know that seven years later he would have turned around its fortunes. The group was having problems with the structure of its rent-a-captive program that it had only… View Article

Andy Bullock, Senior Vice President, Marsh When the owner of an oft-delayed project lost its owner-controlled insurance program, the project faced further delays and ballooned insurance costs. The owner gave Marsh’s Andy Bullock 45 days to bind $100 million of general liability limits covering all the project’s contractors and eight years of completed operations coverage… View Article

Justin Corrado, Vice President, Marsh Marsh’s Justin Corrado recently helped a global shipping and logistics company place its first — and incredibly complex — cyber program. “No standard canned off-the-shelf policy would fit our needs,” said the company’s global risk and insurance manager. Together with Corrado, they built a robust and groundbreaking program. Corrado helped… View Article

Ken Banks, Area Senior Vice President, Gallagher Ken Banks has acted as Melissa Diaz’s colleague, competitor and broker over the last 12 years. When she signed on as risk services manager for the University of San Francisco, she said the transition was easy: Banks was already the university’s insurance broker. “He does more than act… View Article

Amanda Lania, Account Manager, Beecher Carlson “We have had the privilege of watching Amanda’s career as she has truly developed as an insurance broker,” said a risk manager of Beecher Carlson’s Amanda Lania. “Recently, we were putting together — at the 11th hour, of course — an extensive request-for-proposal bid response. Amanda, without blinking, jumped… View Article

James Bennett, Vice President, Aon “In the second half of this year, we had many changes. [We] spun-off one business segment into its own public entity,” said one risk manager.“ Then, just a few weeks later, we were purchased by a major global corporation. “To meet all contractual requirements, we had to develop and obtain… View Article

Alexander Brown, Assistant Vice President, EPIC “Just this year Alex [Brown] obtained for us a higher policy limit and realized premium savings versus expiring coverage and also obtained for us an additional $1 million limit for defense outside policy limits,” said one risk, finance and insurance manager. Brown worked with regulators to draft the language,… View Article

Timothy Ayala, First Vice President, Alliant Insurance Services Three tribal governments represented by Timothy Ayala of Alliant Insurance Services faced soaring premiums, so he proposed shifting from fully insured to self-funded health care programs to supplement the nominal health insurance the federal government is required to provide. This proposal promised big risks, big rewards and… View Article

Aaron Baum, Vice President, JLT Specialty Vice Media has grown to become an international digital and broadcasting company with unique insurance requirements. These are catered to by Aaron Baum, VP of JLT Specialty USA, who put together a custom-tailored global risk program for Vice, providing 16 lines of coverage covering the client’s feature film and… View Article

Kierstin Johnsen, Account Manager, Risk Strategies/DeWitt Stern “Kierstin doesn’t just do it by the book or with the best practices; she’s doing her job at the highest level in extreme circumstances. Effortlessly, it seems,” Louie Lane, studio manager, IDY, LLC said. His studio sends art all over the world, and this past year, Lane had… View Article

Shane Hogan, Senior Vice President, Aon When you win an RFP to handle the insurance work for one of the largest insurance companies in the world, you know you’re doing something right. Aon’s Shane Hogan is doing more than a few things right. For the major insurer, he was able to lower its Total Cost… View Article