We are going to miss Joe. No, not the vice president. JoePlumeri, CEO of Willis Group Holdings.

If you're not aware, Willis Group announced this week thatPlumeri will be hanging up his insurance broker's spurs as of July2013. The firm is bringing in Dominic Casserley to replace himduring a transition period of about six months with Plumeri in therole of nonexecutive chairman.

Anyone who has met Plumeri knows that he is a very energeticindividual who can fill a room with his personality andopinions.

For those of us in the press, he offered great quotes and wasnever shy about expressing his opinion. Plumeri was a breath offresh air in an industry that is typically reserved and circumspectin communication.

He and I both started in our respective roles more than 12 yearsago. In fact, he was one of the first chief executives I met inthis industry. I remember meeting him on the floor of the Risk andInsurance Management Society conference: I was introduced. He shookmy hand, but he had that attention-drawn-elsewhere look. Therewasn't much conversation, and we went our separate ways.

Since then, he's managed a few achievements.

He brought Willis out of its doldrums as a minor, silent playeramong the world's major insurance brokers and reinvigorated thefirm.

When Plumeri came on board, Willis was owned by the mega-equitybuyout firm KKR (Kohlberg Kravis and Roberts). Shortly after, hetook Willis public, and KKR sold its interest in the brokerage firmwithin four years.

When the company went public, its stock was priced at $13.50 ashare. As of last week, it stands at more than $35 a share.

The firm found itself at the center of history when the WorldTrade Center was attacked on 9/11. Wills was the broker thatsecured coverage of the towers for Silverstein Properties, theleaseholder. But there were questions about coverage where nocoverage contracts were in place. This led to prolonged litigationover whether the attack was one or two events.

A settlement was finally achieved in 2007 when seven remaininginsurers reached accord with the intercession of then New York Gov.Eliot Spitzer and Insurance Superintendent Eric Dinallo, whomediated an agreement between the carriers and the insured.

Plumeri defended his firm, saying it had done its job. Butcoming out of that was probably one of the first campaigns heundertook to try to bring some reform to the industry.

He argued on several occasions that it was ludicrous for aninsurer to issue coverage to an insured and not have a contract inplace for an extended period of time. Over the years since, there'sbeen improvement.

Whether Plumeri should take sole credit forimproving the situation is hard to say, but he was a prominentvoice—as he was on another issue: contingent commissions.

Before Spitzer, who wasNew York's attorney general in 2005,brought the hammer down on Marsh & McLennan Cos., Plumeri wascritical of contingents. However, if memory serves me right, hisinitial criticism had more to do with the fairness of contingentsand that they were a detriment to a sales culture that shouldremain hungry for new sales opportunities and commissions.

When Spitzer began unearthing questionable practices at Marsh,Plumeri voluntarily gave up contingent commissions. He later becamea vocal critic of contingents, saying that they should be totallybanned throughout the industry.

Today, while Aon, Marsh and Willis restrain themselves fromtaking some forms of contingents, the rest of the industry enjoysno such limitations.

Indeed, during a recent conference call with financial analysts,executives with the insurance brokerage firm Brown & Brown saidthat insurers that were paying enhanced commissions in lieu ofcontingents were switching back to contingents.

Plumeri may not have been able to change the industry, though he didmanage to annoy a lot of agents with his strident criticism, but hekept the conversation going.

One outcome may be carriers will get away from paying thevolume-based contingents at the heart of the 2005 Marsh probe thatcost the broker $850 million—plus a considerable number of jobs andrevenue. Instead, compensation will come from the quality of a bookof business.

Paying for performance is right at the heart of Plumeri'sphilosophy, one would assume. However, even Willis had to facereality in at least one case and in February reversed course, taking contingents on its Employee Benefitsbusiness.

In the years after Marsh's fall from grace, it looked likeWillis would be a dynamic sales engine that some analysts thoughtwould outperform and overtake the other major brokers—but somewherealong the way, the firm's earnings got a little off track.

However, that does not detract from the fact that Willis is aplayer among insurance-brokerage firms—not an also ran—for whichPlumeri can take full credit. And as much as he has been a thorn inthe side of some in the industry, Plumeri has also been a voice ofconscience. That served Willis well in its marketing, and havingraised issues over ethics and making the industry better isn't sucha bad legacy.

So Joe, we'll miss you. But I wouldn't expect Joe Plumeri todisappear. You never know, with his ownership interest in two minorleague teams, maybe his next venture could be helping the Yankeeswin a World Series.