Willis Grabs Big Brokers' Defecting Employees

By Mark E. Ruquet

NU Online News Service, Dec. 2, 4:18 p.m. EST?As the brokerage fee scandal casts shadows over their larger competitors, Willis Group is busy picking up their staff.[@@]

This week, Willis, headquartered in London, said Marsh brokerage's Arlene Corsetti had joined Willis as executive vice president regional executive officer. She will lead the Western region, encompassing Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. Based out of San Francisco, she will also assume the role of Willis Healthcare Practice Leader in North America.

According to Willis, Ms. Corsetti joined the firm after 21 years with Marsh. Before leaving, she was director and regional manager, overseeing the 17 offices of Marsh's Midwest operations. In 2003, the operations accounted for $550 million in revenue to the firm. She was also a member of the firm's internal board of directors.

In a statement, Willis Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Joe Plumeri called Ms. Corsetti's decision to join his company "a testament to our cutting a different path in the insurance broking business that attracts the best in the industry," he said.

Earlier this month, Brian Morgan, who spent 10 years at Marsh, the last five building the firm's presence in the mid-South, joined Willis as CEO of its Nashville office.

Another defection to Willis from the major brokerage ranks was James Kent, formerly a vice president with Chicago-based broker Aon in their Bermuda office. He has joined Willis as an executive vice president in Bermuda with Willis Re, Willis' reinsurance unit.

In October, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer announced a suit against Marsh's parent company Marsh & McLennan, based in New York City, alleging bid-rigging and other abuses in the placement of insurance contracts in return for profitable volume placement contingency commission fees.

The fall-out has lead to the layoff of 3,000 employees at MMC.

Commenting on the hiring, Dan Prince, a spokesman for Willis, said that recruiting has been an important component of the firm's growth since Mr. Plumeri assumed his position as chairman and chief executive officer of the firm in October of 2000.

"In the early days of those [recruitment] efforts, we had to do more of an introduction of Willis," he said. "Over the course of time, those calls have gone from outgoing to incoming. As more time goes on, and our [sales] model continues to be validated, the pace of those incoming calls has gotten much, much faster."

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Willis Grabs Big Brokers' Defecting Employees

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