If there is a glaring example to counter criticism that Bermuda's international business industry is comprised of "foreigners'', who have no real interest in the future of Bermuda, that example is EXEL Ltd. president and CEO, Brian O'Hara.

An American by birth, his parents were stationed here during the Second World War. His sister, who recently concluded a holiday here, was born in Bermuda.

One in a family of an astounding 13 children, it was perhaps just the luck of the draw. But Brian's interest in Bermuda is as deep as the Atlantic Ocean.

EXEL's many successes are adding volumes to the prestige of Bermuda as a leading offshore financial centre.

A self-admitted creature of habit, the 49-year-old vacations with his family and friends in Washington State.

Apart from six brothers and six sisters, he has 38 nieces and nephews and a host of friends who live in the Northwest and San Francisco. His parents built a home in the mountains of the Lake Chelan national recreation area in the middle of Washington state.

He marvels: "It's a real high desert lake, 50 miles long and about two miles wide, like a fjord, glacier-carved like. It's really beautiful.

"But this year, my teenaged son and I have been invited by one of my directors to go fly-fishing in Alaska. That will be getting out of my rut.'' He first came here 18 years ago in 1979, and concedes the feeling of a spiritual link with the island, because of his family's history here.

He said, "I almost felt like I was coming back to a place, where I'd been before, although I'd never lived here before. My parents used to come and visit in the early days and they would love to see things they remembered from the past.'' He looks up from a reflective smile and added: "I was already in my 30s when I came here, and it was extremely quiet back then. I was used to a little more cultural activity and night life when I was somewhat young. But it was not that far away from New York, if you really needed that excitement.

"Over the years I've grown more fond of the quieter aspects of Bermuda. I don't need the rat race of New York every day, and after two or three days there, I can't wait to get back home. And I don't need the excitement and night life anymore.

"But I remember when it was really quiet here.'' He laughs. "And there wasn't much of an insurance community here when I opened the Trenwick operation.'' His career in insurance began 1970 in San Francisco with the Royal Insurance Co. and Employers' Reinsurance Co. In 1975 he joined General Reinsurance Corp.

and three years later, assumed responsibility for the newly developing captive reinsurance underwriting. From 1979 to 1986 Mr. O'Hara was a director, senior vice president and chief underwriting officer of reinsurer Trenwick Group, Inc. As a founding principal of Trenwick, Mr. O'Hara opened its offices here in 1979. He has focused the last 15 years on the offshore or alternative insurance industry. He served as the first president of the Bermuda Independent Underwriters Association and has been active on several committees of the Bermuda Government, including the powerful Insurance Advisory Committee and the Insurance Admissions Committee. He has also chaired the Council of Advisory Committees.

Mr. O'Hara shares something with many young Bermudians who have thoughtlessly turned their back on insurance as a career, because of an unknowledgeable claim that insurance is a "boring'' profession.

O'Hara an industry leader Said Mr. O'Hara with a smile, "I thought so too, before I got in. It was the last industry I wanted to get into, or any of my friends. That was just a lack of understanding though, of what it was all about.

"I was lucky to get into a business that underwent dynamic change. Nobody saw it. But I decided to stick around and the changes that developed have been well beyond what anybody expected.'' Bermuda surprisingly emerged into an insurance centre after significant industry events in the mid-80s. The recognition of Bermuda as an appropriate site for major risk management transfer for large corporations came after the over-capitalisation of the market in the late '70s and early '80s, which led to a lot of closures.

It was a time too, when Bermuda's reputation was being besmirched from high chairs in London and New York. There were views that buyers were really paying attention to, that security in Bermuda was poor.

It was sponsorship of stalwart giants like J.P. Morgan and Marsh & McLennan that made a difference. Huge capital flowed to Bermuda, as influential forces shaped a new market. The ball they started rolling has changed the perception of Bermuda as a secure, legitimate and viable place for doing business.

Mr. O'Hara concedes that Bermuda, as an industry faces any number of new challenges and triumphs in the future, especially with forces like the Internet that may finally get the local market closer to the broad scale commercial retail customers from Iowa to Indiana.

But he said, "The efficiencies in the tax and regulatory structure here are pretty formidable when you apply also the huge amount of capital that has been gathered and the great security.

"Before, offshore had a negative connotation and Bermuda definitely shot itself in the foot in the early '80s. Light regulation became viewed as bad regulation.

"Of course, we have shored it up considerably since then. The rules are a lot better and the people looking after the rules are a lot more experienced and we really do a great job here of screening out the bad actors.'' Chief O'Hara EXEL Ltd., the holding company behind the Bermuda-based insurer, XL Insurance Co., Ltd. has continued the industry trend toward consolidation with its announced plan to swallow Bermuda `cat' GCR Ltd.

David Fox of The Royal Gazette caught up with Brian O'Hara, one of Bermuda's best compensated executives, to learn more about him and his views on the Bermuda market.

BRIAN O'HARA -- "I almost felt like I was coming back to a place where I'd been before.''