The Bermuda insurance industry is to honour two of its members with awards.

The Bermuda Insurance Institute has announced James N. Stanard, chairman, president and chief excutive officer of RenaissanceRe Holdings, is the Bermuda Market Leader of the Year.

Brian Hall, president of Inter-Ocean Management, has been named as recipient of the 2001 Lifetime Achievement Award.

The BII first introduced these awards two years ago to recognise contributions of individuals within the Island's insurance industry whose initiative and leadership set them apart from their peers. The BII also feels the awards recognise the global significance of the Bermuda market and are in line with the institute's commitment to excellence in its work to prepare future innovators and leaders of the industry.

The Market Leader award is given to an individual who has distinguished himself or herself during the course of the year and the Lifetime Achievement award is for someone who has distinguished themselves over the course of their career in the industry.

The award selection committee is a broad-based panel including representatives from Business Insurance, the College of Insurance, the Bermuda Insurance Management Association, the Bermuda Independent Underwriters Association, the Insurance Brokers Association of Bermuda, The Royal Gazette and the BII.

Mr. Stanard has earned acclaim for taking RenaissanceRe to the forefront of the market. While other companies in the industry generally suffered through share price declines and soft market conditions, he lead his company from strength to strength.

This week, RenaissanceRe announced its sixth consecutive annual increase in quarterly dividend. And on January 29, the company announced an 18 percent increase in operating earnings per share for the year and a 21 percent return on equity. These figures placed the company at the head of the industry for the eighth year in a row in terms of productivity for shareholders.

The company also achieved 40 percent growth in managed cat premium over the year. Gross premiums written for the last quarter of 2000 rose to $52.4 million, compared with $31.3 million for the same quarter in 1999. Gross premiums for the year ending December 2000 were up to $433.0 million, compared with $351,3 the previous year.

Mr. Hall began his career in the Bermuda insurance industry when he joined American International in 1958. He joined International Risk Management in 1964 where he developed experience in captive concepts and management before moving on to founded Inter-Ocean Management.

Bermuda Insurance Institute honours Hall and Stanard Inter-Ocean became the Island's largest management company and the business was bought by Johnson & Higgins in 1979.

Mr. Hall was appointed president of Johnson & Higgins and became a director in 1989. He retired in 1997 and re-established Inter-Ocean Management. In August 1999 he was appointed a director of RenaissanceRe.

He also launched the Bermuda Foundation for Insurance Studies and remains as chairman of its board of trustees.

During his career he was responsible for Johnson & Higgins global captive management operation which represented facilities in Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas, the US Virgin Islands, Barbados, Sweden, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Dublin, Isle of Man, Guernsey, Vermont, Hawaii, Colorado, British Columbia and Singapore, with consultancies in New York, London and Tokyo.

Mr. Stanard and Mr. Hall will be honoured at a banquet on March 10 at the Fairmont Princess Hotel in Hamilton.

TOP PERFORMERS Brian Hall James N. Stanard