The man who heads one of the newest names in Bermuda's growing club of insurance and reinsurance leaders delivered a speech to the biggest gathering of Bermuda Insurance Institute insurance education award recipients.

Robert Deutsch, CEO of billion-dollar Ironshore, gave words of encouragement to the record 97 award recipients and revealed some of the reasons why Ironshore had settled on Bermuda as its home base.

The company was formed last December and raised $1bn in capital. It has written $225 million of premiums between its Bermuda and New York offices, primarily in insurance.

Mr. Deutsch said the vision and industry of Bob Clements, who created Ace and XL and reconfigured Arch, was responsible for the birth of Ironshore.

"Bob, as some of you may know, is often considered the father of insurance in Bermuda. We should all be as productive as this person, who just turned 75 two weeks ago today," said Mr. Deutsch, at the awards gathering in the Fairmont Hamilton Princess last Friday.

Explaining the reasons why Ironshore settled on Bermuda as its home, he said it was a combination of not having to worry about corporate income tax, Bermuda's slicker regulatory environment, the attractive climate of the Island and the wealth of talented individuals living here who can fill vacancies within international business.

Of the regulator environment he said: "The Bermuda Monetary Authority is a strong organisation that carefully monitors insurance companies here in Bermuda.

"Additionally, they are in the process of increasing the regulatory scrutiny over insurance companies on the island."

Surrounded by nearly 100 award recipients of certificates, diplomas and special prizes and scholarships overseen by the Bermuda Insurance Institute, Mr. Deutsch said: " What about the pool of talented professionals here. To me, that's a tremendous advantage for Bermuda.

"This island is home to many, many talented individuals, and the depth and breadth of that talent increases with each year. We need you, we want to hire you and we want you to get rich."

The CEO said that since Ironshore became active on January 2 it has grown from a team of eight to 30, including 12 Bermudians.

"And there is more to come. I wouldn't be surprised if a year from now we have 50 people here rather than 30 and if our work force is over 50 percent Bermudian. If I'm right, we will have gone from zero Bermudians on January 2 to 25 twenty months later."

Mr Deutsch mentioned he had met with Labour and Immigration Minister Derrick Burgess recently and pledged continuing support to hiring Bermudians were possible and supporting the community.

"Ironshore plans to have more than a business presence in Bermuda. We want to be part of the local community. We are the lead sponsor and true partner with the Western Counties Cricket Association. Part of our sponsorship for the Cricket Club is the full funding of the Junior leagues where we're really happy to be able to contribute to the youth of Bermuda," he said.

"All of us at Ironshore are grateful for the warm reception we have received on the island. We have been welcomed into the community, and it is truly an honour to be part of such a strong, vibrant business environment.

"We intend on living up to our end of the bargain, and rest assured that we expect several of you out there to become part of the Ironshore team.

"Unlike some businesses, those of us in the international insurance world recognise that our biggest assets go home each evening. It is incumbent upon us to harness your talents and create working environments in which you will prosper.

There is no doubt in my mind that companies that will succeed in the future fully understand that fact of life."

Amongst the education award recipients at the luncheon was Vernell Brown, who works for Ironshore.

The luncheon set a new record, not only for the number of award recipients and categories (14) but for total number of attendees, which was 330.

• The $5,000 Willis Scholarship was this year presented to James Pedro, who is working for Tokio Millennium. Mr. Pedro was also judged best student in the Bermuda Insurance Market class.