ACE Limited yesterday announced the appointment of Michael Furgueson to the newly-created position of executive vice president, Financial Lines, ACE Overseas General.

ACE Overseas General is a business segment in the ACE Group of Companies comprised of ACE International (ACE Europe, ACE Latin America, ACE Far East and ACE Asia Pacific) and ACE Global Markets, the Company's Lloyd's operation.

Mr. Furgueson will report directly to Evan Greenberg, head of ACE Overseas General. He will report locally to Gary Schmalzriedt, President & Chief Executive Officer, ACE European Group. Mr. Furgueson will be responsible for all financial lines, including D&O, Professional Indemnity, Financial Institutions and Fidelity Employment Practices Liability.

In addition, Martin Firman has been promoted to Senior Vice President, responsible for D&O, ACE Overseas General. And Richard Pryce has been promoted to senior vice president, responsible for Professional Indemnity and Financial Institutions for ACE Overseas General. Both will report directly to Mr. Furgueson.

Mr. Furgueson will be based in London and he comes to ACE from the International Division of Kemper Insurance Companies, where he was one of the founders of the Financial Insurance Solutions Division. Prior to joining Kemper, Mr. Furgueson spent 15 years at Chubb including a four-year posting to London as European zone manager. He most recently held the position of worldwide field operations manager.

ACE also announced the appointment of Roger A. Day to the position of executive vice president, International Claims for ACE Overseas General. Mr. Day will report to Evan Greenberg, head of ACE Overseas General and will be based in Philadelphia.

He will have management responsibility for the ACE International Claims Organisation and oversight responsibility for ACE Global Markets. Mr. Day has more than thirty years of experience, most recently with Zurich Financial Services, where he served as managing director, Claims in the United Kingdom. Prior to that he spent 25 years with AIG, serving in a variety of senior international claims roles.

Meanwhile, Peter Murray, currently responsible for ACE European Group claims, has been promoted to the position of senior vice president, Claims for ACE Overseas General. Mr. Murray, who is based in London, will report to Mr. Day and locally to Gary Schmalzriedt, president & chief executive officer of ACE European Group.

In addition to his current responsibilities as head of our ACE European claims organisation, Mr. Murray will assist Mr. Day with the overall management of our international claims organisation.

Another new appointment by ACE makes Roger Giddings senior vice president of ACE Overseas General and Head of Offshore Energy Underwriting for the newly created ACE Global Energy Group.

Mr. Giddings will have global responsibility for ACE's Offshore Energy product line and will also manage ACE's London office Energy operations.

As such he will be based in the UK and will report locally to Gary Schmalzriedt, President & Chief Executive Officer of ACE European Group. He joins ACE from Zurich Global Energy, where he was Chief Underwriting Officer, Exploration and Production.

Prior to joining Zurich, he was chief underwriting manager, Energy at AIG where he spent ten years of his career in various roles.

Management changes were also announced by ACE in Japan after the unexpected death of ACE Japan's CEO last month.

Takashi Imai was appointed president and chief executive officer of ACE Japan the Japanese Property & Casualty subsidiary. Imai-san succeeds Takashi Ohkawa following his untimely death last month.

Imai-san joined ACE in October 2000 as director and head of ACE's Far East Accident and Health business. Prior to joining ACE, Imai-san was Head of Marketing, American Express Financial Advisors, and was responsible for marketing mutual funds and variable life products. Before that, he was head of insurance, Asia Pacific and Japan at American Express.

In addition, Yoshio Endo, currently chief financial officer of ACE Japan has been promoted to executive vice president and his responsibilities have been broadened to include internal operations and systems. Endo-san has over 20 years' experience in the insurance and financial services industries. He started his insurance career with CIGNA in 1982 and had held various financial positions within CIGNA Worldwide, including Assistant Treasurer. Prior to joining ACE, he was Managing Director of Aetna Heiwa Life Insurance Company, a Japanese life subsidiary of Aetna Inc., having worked as VP-Finance and Treasury of Aetna International in Hartford, Connecticut. Endo-san is a Certified Public Accountant and a graduate of Annhurst College.

Independent Consulting Solutions Ltd., a Bermuda information technology company, announced the recent addition of two new members to its already impressive team.

Patricia K Holder and Gareth Bromley (see pictures) have joined the company as senior technical consultant, financial applications focusing on Microsoft Great Plains and Real World support and as senior technical consultant, infrastructure and security, respectively.

The company said Mr. Bromley brought with him an impressive list of certifications and experience gained at high-profile organisations such as British Telecom (BT) and British Petroleum (BP).

Amongst a long-list of technical qualifications ranging from Linux to SUN, Check Point and Nokia, he is one of a handful of individuals to hold the internationally recognised Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), qualification, bringing together a breadth of security topics under one non-vendor certification He is particularly strong supporting Cisco and recently passed the Cisco Certified Internwork Expert (CCIE) Security written exams which are the highest level of Cisco exams available. He is due to sit his lab exam in May 2003.

Mr. Bromley is also a Cisco Certified Network Associate, Cisco Certified Network Professional, Cisco Certified Internetworking Professional in Security, Cisco Security Specialist, Cisco Certified Design Associate and a Cisco Certified Design Professional.

Ms Holder reportedly has more than five years experience of Great Plains and Real World systems and more than ten years knowledge and expertise with Microsoft Office products. Pervasive SQL, Active Directory, Solomon, SUN, Windows 2000 Server are also part of her skills set.

CEO Robert Salmon, said the two appointments were in line with Independent Consulting Solutions' goal of becoming the pre-eminent Professional and Technical Services powerhouse in Bermuda: "At Independent Consulting Solutions, we pride ourselves on maintaining a team of the best-qualified business consultants and professionals we can find," he said. "Patricia's appointment plays directly to the core values we have of being a client-driven business. Decision makers from across the customers we support had begun asking us for Great Plains support. Patricia brings a wealth of experience in this area and she has the back-up of some very high-end consultants in complimentary areas to Great Plains.

"Gareth's expertise also addresses the extensive requirements our major clients have for security and infrastructure support based on a combination of solutions. His broad range of high-end certifications makes him the perfect fit for expanding two already well established areas of our company."