Brandon Cole, National Director, Gallagher Community Arts Resources (CARS), has a niche business which produces large-scale cultural events, including the 100th anniversary celebration of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The event required two venues — the Disney Concert Hall and Hollywood Bowl — and eight miles of closed streets to accommodate 1,800 different performances and more… View Article

Seth Cole, Senior Vice President, Alliant The Association of California Water Agencies Joint Powers Insurance Authority is made up of 360 water districts across California. One district, explained Karen Thesing, director of insurance services, has a hydropower electric facility worth $3.2 billion. When the authority placed its all-risk portfolio in April, it did not include… View Article

Jacqueline Altschul, Account Executive Lead, Alliant Insurance Services By building deep relationships with her clients and their families, Jacqueline Altschul adds value by often anticipating risk before they do. While reviewing coverage for a billionaire client from Japan, she noticed he hadn’t appraised his art collection in five years. A new appraisal was completed, revealing… View Article

Morgan Anderson, Area Senior Vice President, Gallagher Morgan Anderson simplified the insurance program at the Interstate Equities Corporation, where, until recently, its coverages for more than 20 properties were scattered all over the place. “Morgan consolidated all of our policies under one master policy with a single renewal date,” said Miles Hofmann, the manager of… View Article

Kenneth Branigan, Senior Vice President, Marsh One of Kenneth Branigan’s recent challenges included devising a new approach to CAT risks for a client with more than 1,000 North American locations. Many are vulnerable to windstorm, flood and earthquake (WF&E), and 2017 saw three outlets suffer storm damage. At renewal, Branigan’s team negotiated a global marine… View Article

Jonathan Ball, Managing Director, Marsh “We started putting our general, umbrella and excess liability into a captive in 2017,” said one manager of risk and insurance. “It should not have been difficult but our carrier really struggled with how to handle the paper. “We talked to them about it months in advance and every time… View Article

Larry Bowlus, Senior Vice President, Aon Professional liability insurance veteran Larry Bowlus is a broker his clients have come to rely on. His positive traits are numerous, but they include the fact he is a great listener who is also skilled at communicating with various internal constituents. “I didn’t have an insurance background coming into… View Article

Maron Impagliazzo, Vice President, EPIC Despite the legalization of recreational marijuana in California, growers and distributors have a hard time building their businesses, because few insurers want to take on their commercial auto exposure. The potential for theft combined with federal prohibition of cannabis makes transporting the goods a risk endeavor. But Maron Impagliazzo and… View Article

Zach Brown, Partner, Orion Risk Management By all accounts, Zach Brown is a force to be reckoned with. Brown has been a part of the insurance industry only three short years. But in that time, he has established himself and cemented a reputation as a next-level broker — one who will move mountains to help… View Article

Humbled by his own experiences with homelessness, this P&C broker knows what it’s like to face a challenge. So he works for solutions instead.

With already burgeoning careers, the 2018 Power Broker® Rising Stars share the key components to their success.

These Risk & Insurance Power Broker® winners and finalists are emerging leaders of the brokerage industry.

From the frozen Arctic to the inferno of a high net worth divorce, Power Brokers go to extremes to find solutions for their clients.

Top Negotiator Ruiz Foods saw collateral obligations under its workers’ comp coverage continue to climb and its out-of-pocket costs increase to unsustainable levels. “Bruce Droz and his team worked to decrease the amount that carriers required us to maintain in standby letters of credit by more than $1 million,” said Bill Wheeler, corporate controller. “Bruce… View Article

Helping Clients Soar It seems like everywhere you look, businesses are finding more ways to use drones — also known as unmanned aircraft systems. It follows that the insurance industry needs to keep pace. But it wasn’t, as brokers and clients alike observed. Getting coverage meant a time-consuming process, restrictive policy language, low liability limits… View Article

Call Her Maestro Jenny Charles is a master at getting the right people together in a room and orchestrating business relationships and deals that wouldn’t happen if each party was singing their own tune. Says one source, “Jenny orchestrated a meeting between one of her clients and a major firm. It was a win-win for… View Article

No Problem Too Big Earthquakes on campus? No problem. Remote flights? No problem. High premiums? No problem. With Charmaine Davis, clients know the words “no problem” aren’t lip service. Davis’ “no problem” solutions are the result of hard work, industry knowledge and connections; understanding client needs; and leveraging the marketplace to her clients’ advantage. “When… View Article

A Joint Venture Pioneer In a pioneering effort, Marsh’s Danette Beck borrowed a practice from engineering and brought it to the construction sector. “We work often through joint ventures, and we don’t construct low-risk projects,” said the risk manager at one client. “Our incumbent carriers were not giving us competitive terms, and that was making… View Article

Negotiating in the Nick of Time “We recently switched our broker of record to JLT primarily due to Rob,” said a treasury official at one client. “He had some great ideas on how to improve our insurance program. One specific item he proposed and we implemented was adding our terrorism coverage back into our property… View Article

A Partner to Weather All Storms Beecher Carlson’s Susan Garrard supported a client through a complex transaction involving the purchase of a lease interest in a portfolio of power projects from a bankrupt company. “A material chunk of the portfolio is in a part of the country seriously affected by the hurricanes this year,” explained… View Article