Aon's Case: Insurance Industry Should Help Solve Financial Mess

NEW YORK--The insurance industry can be a major participant in finding the answers to resolving the global financial meltdown, Aon insurance brokerage Chief Executive Officer Greg Case advised last night.

Mr. Case's comments came as he was honored here as the 2008 Insurance Leader of the Year at a dinner sponsored by St. John's University School of Risk Management in New York.

Mr. Case, president and CEO of Chicago-based Aon Corp., said at no time has the complexity of risk been greater, from concern about terrorism to the effects of a passing pandemic, nor more global in scope than it is today.

"Now more than ever before, everyone wants to know what is going on in the world of risk," said Mr. Case.

The challenge for insurance professionals, he said, is how fast the industry will meet emerging risks and drive the opportunities that come with it. He said the challenges cover a whole host of opportunities from new products to better technology to finding risk solutions, and the question is how the insurance industry will meet those demands.

"The exciting challenge for all of us is that we are a great industry and in a great position to make a difference, almost in an unprecedented way," said Mr. Case. "And we are doing it at a time when perhaps we are seeing the greatest time of client need ever."

He said the insurance industry is in a position to have a strong, positive impact on the global economy and could "make a difference in an unprecedented way."

"We can be, we should be, and will be an integral part of the solution out of the current economic crisis," said Mr. Case. "That should be our role, and should be our destiny."

Ellen Thrower, executive director of the School of Risk Management, said the dinner raised more than $2 million for the university.

Acknowledging the money-raising accomplishment Mr. Case joked that in case the audience was not aware, "the last few months have not exactly been the perfect time to be raising money."