NEW YORK--The insurance industry needs to improve its public relations efforts and describe how it helps policyholders recover from disasters, said Willis Group Chief Executive Officer Joe Plumeri.

Mr. Plumeri, who spoke here last night, said the insurance business fails to praise its accomplishments for the public good.

His passionate comments came during a dinner given by St. John's University School of Risk Management honoring Mr. Plumeri as the 2006 Insurance Leader of the Year.

Abandoning a prepared text, Mr. Plumeri, who joined the industry after retiring as a chief executive with Citigroup, said that before joining Willis in 2000, he heard insurance was a boring business--but he discovered that was not the case.

"This industry has bad public relations," he remarked.

Mr. Plumeri said for all the criticism that is heaped upon the industry for its failure to pay claims, no one makes the counterpoint about "the lives and industries [insurers] have rebuilt" in the aftermath of catastrophes.

The passion those in the business feel when they help policyholders put their lives back together fails to be translated to the public, he said.

While working in the financial services industry, he admitted he "never felt a sense of contributing to the community. I never had the sense that I had an opportunity to get lives back on track. It is important that there is someone who should help make this happen."

He went on to say that no one helps to rebuild from a disaster like the insurance industry, adding, "The world flourishes because of this industry."

As an example, he noted that the Sugar Bowl was recently played in the Superdome in New Orleans, which just a little over a year ago was ravaged, along with the city, by Hurricane Katrina. A year later, the city is coming back to life, and without insurers, this would not have happened, he said.

"This did not happen because of FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Administration]; it happened because of this industry," said Mr. Plumeri, pointing out that insurers have paid more than $40 billion in claims compared to less than $15 billion the federal government has delivered to the city.

He said the industry does not get the recognition it deserves for its part in helping to rebuild New Orleans, but members of the insurance industry should feel high esteem for their accomplishments, a theme he returned to continually throughout his address.

"I believe in passion and self-esteem," and while some believe that accomplishments can be measured in monuments, "this should not be an industry of monuments but an industry of dreams."

The dinner at which he spoke raised a record $1.86 million for the School of Risk Management, and Mr. Plumeri said he would contribute an extra $140,000 to bring the total to an even $2 million.

He dedicated his donation to the memory of his father, Samuel Plumeri, whom he said had a belief that passion for ideas and long-term goals could accomplish much.

Mr. Plumeri added that he wanted the funds to create a class that would have a sense of appreciation for the insurance industry.

"We should feel good about what we do and share in this self-esteem," he said.

The gift to the university is not an isolated act of philanthropy for Willis' chief executive, who has been active in many charitable works. Earlier this month, Mr. Plumeri and his wife Nancy made a $2 million donation to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the largest individual gift in the group's history, according to its Web site. The foundation helps children with life-threatening medical conditions fulfill a wish.

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Plumeri: Insurers Need To Burnish Image

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