The Bermuda Insurance Institute (BII) has announced the appointment of BF&M's president and CEO John Wight as its new president.

The BII made the announcement at its annual general meeting held last week. Mr. Wight had previously been the vice-president of the BII, and last week completed his two-year term as chairman of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bermuda.

Other officers appointed to the BII included Chris Fisher, vice-president, Wanda Mello, honorary treasurer, Robert Stubbs, honorary secretary, and Laurie Orchard, immediate past president.

Council members elected were Roger Gillett, Judy Gonsalves,Greg Hendrick, Maureen Nusum, Carol Parker-Trott, Andrew Soares, Neal Southam, and Richard Winchell.

"2010 marked the 40th anniversary of the BII," said Mr. Wight. "The organisation has been committed since 1970 to developing talent in Bermuda to service the Bermuda insurance industry.

"The BII has played an important role in supporting Bermuda based companies in attaining the immense success that Bermuda has achieved in the global insurance and reinsurance marketplace. I am pleased to be working with a dedicated team of Council members and BII staff to continue the tradition of meeting the educational needs of the member companies who we support, and who support us. In the past year the BII surveyed our member companies to gain more insight into how we can better service them.

"The valuable feedback received indicated that we can further assist our member companies by offering a Leadership Diploma course. Creating a specific course of study is one of our goals for this Council."

The BII also announced that for the 2009 year it recorded an excess of revenues over expenses of $58,867. The organisation's net assets at December 31, 2009 totalled $791,271.

Other highlights for the last year included 105 industry employees and independent students successfully completing 115 insurance designations in 16 different areas of study, five bursaries awarded to students working outside the re/insurance industry, and 25 seminars and workshops held with 568 participants.