Aon moves to fill top-level gaps

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20 August 2012

Aon Risk Solutions has made two key appointments as it moves to replace senior managers who have left the company for rival brokerages.

National Director Client Services John Donnelly has been appointed MD of Broking and Chief Broking Officer for the Pacific Region, while Director of Broking and Deputy Chief Broking Officer James Baum has become Chief Broking Officer for Aon Australia.

Aon Risk Solutions Pacific Region Chairman Steve Nevett told insuranceNEWS.com.au the recent losses of senior managers to other major brokerages indicates nothing more than the fact that Aon is “a big target for talent”.

He says Aon has an “enormous depth of talent in our broking and client teams”.

Earlier this month Aon’s Chief Broking Officer, Bob Mann, and three other senior managers resigned from Aon to move to JLT early next year.

In June four other senior Aon executives resigned simultaneously to move to Willis.

And last week Willis announced that its former Melbourne-based MD Placements Maurice Gatto, who resigned from the company in February to move to Aon, had decided to stay with Willis.

He had been due to start at Aon this month, where he was to report to Aon Placement Director David Stanborough – who resigned from Aon at the same time as Mr Mann to join JLT.

Mr Gatto has returned to Willis as MD Placements, with the man who replaced him in the role, Chris Nelson, returning to the specialisms business “in an expanded role”, CEO Pieter Lindhout said.

Mr Nevett says in a statement that despite the competition for top-level broking executives, “Aon is well placed as the largest insurance broker in Australia to attract and retain experienced broking professionals at all levels”.

His statement accompanied an announcement of Mr Donnelly’s appointment. His new broking chief joined Aon in 2009 from JLT, where he had been MD Corporate and CEO of JLT Risk Solutions in Australia.

Mr Baum, who will report to Mr Donnelly, has had senior broking and management roles within Aon and previously worked at Marsh on the placement of major complex programs.

Editor’s note: Our Breaking News on Wednesday said Bob Mann and three other Aon managers who are moving to JLT will work in Sydney. In fact, only one of the four will be based in Sydney; the three others – including Mr Mann – will work from Melbourne.

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