Today's announcement that Willis Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Joe Plumeri will be stepping down does not come as a shock to financial analysts, but one analyst says the announced replacement did come as a surprise, and disappointed investors.

Meyer Shields, an analyst with Stifel Nicolaus, points out that Plumeri's contract was set to expire next year. “It is far from a big surprise,” he says.

A spokesperson for Willis confirmed that the board has been engaged in a search for a replacement for Plumeri for the past year, but the search was not made public

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