Aon appointment

Former Aon Bermuda president and CEO Gregory Springer has been appointed chief underwriting officer of Combined Specialty Group.

CEO of Combined Specialty Group Dennis Reding said: "I am very pleased to announce that Gregory Springer will be joining Combined Specialty Group as Chief Underwriting officer. Gregg will have group responsibility for reinsurance, reinsurance security, risk management, underwriting compliance, product development, business continuity planning, privacy issues and other corporate wide underwriting policies and positions. He will also develop our strategy and plans for potential opportunities in the alternative risk and large account P&C business."

Mr. Springer will report to Mr. Reding and will be based in Chicago.

Mr. Springer began his insurance career in 1977 with Industrial Indemnity Corporation progressing to the position of Senior Vice-President. In 1987 he joined Andersen & Andersen as a Senior Officer, and in 1993 he joined AIG as Senior Vice-President - Chief Underwriting Officer for AIG Risk Management. In 1995, he joined TIG as President of the P&C Division, and the following year joined Aon Bermuda as President/CEO, with responsibility for insurance, reinsurance and captive management, returning to the states in 1997 to become Managing Director - Risk Management for Aon Risk Services in Chicago. In 2000, he moved back to the company ranks with a major carrier as Executive Vice-President - Casualty Executive, with responsibility for corporate underwriting, reinsurance, new product development and casualty underwriting practices, reporting to the CEO.

Mr. Springer is a graduate of Oklahoma Christian University with a BS in management and accounting.

In 2001, Aon announced plans to spin off its underwriting operations to stockholders through a new company to be named Combined Specialty Group. The spin-off is scheduled for spring, 2002.

Aon Corporation is a holding company that is comprised of a family of insurance brokerage, consulting and insurance underwriting subsidiaries.

Air Care promotion

Air Care Limited has announced the promotion of David Taylor to Sales Support Analyst.

Mr. Taylor, who has been with Air Care since November 2000, has been an invaluable asset to Air Care and has been very instrumental in the daily management and implementation of the company's sale's procedures and communications. The company is pleased to have someone of his calibre and strong work ethics as a member of its staff. During Mr. Taylor's tenure with Air Care he has gained knowledgeable experience in all phases of sales and contractual procedures. His area of expertise covers sales forecasting, proposal and project estimation compilations. Mr. Taylor holds a degree in Hotel Studies from the Bermuda College.

Sovereign Risk hires new political risk underwriter

David Bailey will join Sovereign Risk as vice president and senior underwriting officer as of April 2, the company announced this week.

Mr. Bailey has 23 years of experience at the Export Development Corporation (EDC) in Canada's national export credit and investment insurance agency.

Mr. Bailey was in the political risk insurance field at the EDC for the past 17 years and was most recently the chief underwriter in this unit where he was responsible for strategic direction, leadership and management of all aspects of the company's political risk programme.

"We are delighted to have an underwriter of Dave's calibre and experience joining our team," said Price Lowenstein, president and chief executive officer of Sovereign, which is one of the world's leading providers of political risk insurance and reinsurance and is based in Bermuda.

"He brings to Sovereign a tremendous amount of market knowledge and transactional experience in political risk underwriting, structuring and analysis. Dave will be a great asset in our efforts to work closely with national agencies, multilateral agencies and private sector financial institutions."