Vote For The Insurance CEO of the Quarter Century

Happy New Year to everyone reading. This New Year holds a bit of extra significance as it means we are a quarter of the way through the 21st century. And that means it’s a great occasion for top 10 lists and voting for awards.

In that spirit, I have decided to hold a vote for the Best Insurance CEO of the 21st Century (so far)! Instructions on how to vote are at the end of the post, but first let’s get to the nominees.

I’ve listed everyone in alphabetical order, but you may notice some themes. Three (well, 3.5 I guess?) are from brokers. There are also three ex-AIG, who all of whom spent time in Bermuda, and a fourth Bermuda CEO who had no AIG experience.

There is only one personal lines executive which maybe says more about the underwhelming performance of the large auto carriers as it does about the nominee who ran circles around them.

The final two nominees arguably resist a label but will be known to all of you. And now to our first nominee…

Greg Case

Case (along with a top contender for CFO of the Quarter Century, Christa Davies) rebuilt Aon in the wake of the Spitzer scandal. While his critics contend he “McKinseyized” the place and took away the culture of the old school broker, most would argue he professionalized the company and took it to a level it never could have reached if it had remained a rollup of (often dysfunctional) broker culture.

Margins when he took over in 2005 were in the teens. Today, they are over 30%! While peers saw similar improvement, arguably Aon was the trendsetter in changing the sector’s key metrics from account wins to margins, cash flow, and ROE.

John Charman

Out of all the big personalities on this list, John may be the biggest. From his reputation as the ultimate “star underwriter” at Lloyd’s to his tumultuous time at Ace to founding Axis – then being forced out, only to rebound with his coup at Endurance, John was always in the spotlight.

While he deserves to be on the list for his various successes, my main reason for including him is nobody else took such giant risks during massive uncertainty. He bet on marine during the first Iraq war. He bet on terror right after 9/11. And yes, there was some good fortune that binary outcomes went his way, but he also got superior pricing that made those rational bets and he wasn’t scared to make them while others ran away.

Brian Duperreault

To paraphrase LeBron James, Dupe fixed “not one, not two, not three”…well actually three insurers, but that alone is unprecedented. When I first met Brian, Ace was considered a busted franchise that made a tragic bet on Cigna. Soon after, Ace (with help from another nominee) played the 9/11 hard market expertly and built a franchise that later was strong enough to acquire Chubb.

That feat alone was worthy of inclusion, but then he did it again at Marsh after it ran into its own post Spitzer malaise. Finally, he made one last revival bringing AIG back to respectability, if not its former grandeur.

The other important thing to note about Dupe is he had an incredible eye for talent. He recruited Evan Greenberg at Ace, Dan Glaser at Marsh, Peter Zaffino at AIG. Not only was he a master talent scout he was a tremendous manager who knew what he was good at it and what to lean on his partners for.

Jay Fishman

Jay had a different background than most on this list. He came from banking, as a protégé of Sandy Weill at Citigroup. He ended up in insurance as the CEO of Travelers while it was part of Citi. He ended up leaving to take over a struggling St. Paul only to reunite with Travelers through a merger that ultimately led to his second term as CEO.

Jay was always exceptionally prepared for any topic and could speak at length on any question you could throw at him. For a “non-insurance guy”, he was an incredible operator who inherently grasped how to succeed in the industry better than most lifers. Travelers not only improved underwriting under his guidance but also became a technology leader, developed the best internal reporting in the sector, and was at the forefront of using automated data for underwriting.

You don’t find many insurance companies that win by outexecuting their peers. Most success stories tend to be about changes in risk selection or perhaps a merger or maybe better capital allocation. Travelers just ran circles around the competition on executing basic, routine tasks which gave them better visibility into results and more runway to leverage their strengths.

Pat Gallagher

Twenty five years ago, Pat was running a regional broker that happened to be public. Today, he runs the third largest insurance broker in the world with a global presence in everything from personal lines to Fortune 100 multinationals to reinsurance.

One of the biggest stories in the insurance world over this time period is surely the success of agency rollups. And while most people think of private equity as the big driver, nobody executed it better than Pat (and CFO Doug Howell). Gallagher was able to balance growth through acquisition while retaining a differentiated culture that you don’t find in the private equity rollups.

It would have been easy to be content being a large regional broker with a hefty valuation and not take any big risks. Instead, Pat called his shots wisely and picked the right times to make some big bets that have worked out spectacularly.

Evan Greenberg

As noted above, Evan joined Ace when it was considered the underachiever of Bermuda. He was quick to realize the potential of the Cigna assets as well as to leverage the hard market in Ace’s core E&S markets. While Brian put the vision together at Ace, it was Evan who put the vision into action. It is no coincidence that Ace’s ascension to the peak of the Bermuda market happened in the years after Evan joined.

After becoming CEO, Ace grew into not just the leader of the Bermuda market, but one of the global leaders in all commercial insurance with Evan becoming one of the most important voices influencing trends across the industry.

Through disciplined underwriting, strategic vision, and effective capital management, Ace built a balance sheet that was eventually capable of acquiring Chubb, transforming a once upstart offshore insurer into the preeminent name brand in all of insurance.

Dinos Iordanou

Like John Charman, Dinos started a new Bermuda company after 9/11, but that is about where the similarities end. Where Axis sought to make big bets in highly volatile markets, Arch set out to build a diversified insurer & reinsurer that could pivot amongst lines as market conditions ebbed and flowed.

Arch was the most successful of the class of 2001 and evolved the most from its reinsurance roots, most notably with the well timed addition of mortgage insurance after the financial crisis. Twenty five years later, they have surpassed not just their post 9/11 peers but have one of the best track records in the entire industry.

Dinos was the ultimate portfolio manager, consistently making timely calls about when to move into or out of different lines or businesses, whether it be transitioning between insurance vs. reinsurance, growing or shrinking cat, the timely mortgage entry, etc. This approach resulted in Arch having an uncanny ability to avoid big losses that impacted the rest of the industry which drove top tier financial results and allowed them to play offense when others had to play defense.

Ajit Jain

Ajit is like a famous athlete where you only have to mention their first name and everyone knows who you’re talking about. Steph. LeBron. Ajit.

If you need to price a risk that nobody else wants to touch, there is only one person to call. From asbestos to LPTs to tail cat risks to nuclear and even oddball low probability events like prize contests, Ajit will always write it if the price is right. And if someone else came in below his price, you knew they made a mistake!

So many insurers make excuses for why they need to renew an underpriced risk (relationships, market presence, we’ll never get back on the treaty, etc.). For Ajit, it’s just math. If the math works, you write it. If it doesn’t, you don’t. It’s not difficult, but neither is buying stocks when they’re cheap and selling them when they’re expensive. Yet, just like other investors can’t replicate Warren, other underwriters don’t have the temperament to replicate Ajit.

Glenn Renwick

The only personal lines executive on the list, Glenn Renwick is the GOAT of auto insurance. Progressive, under Glenn, brought so many innovations to auto that we now take for granted.

While Progressive experimented with direct to consumer before Glenn became CEO, it was under his leadership that Progressive leaned in to become the dominant player online. They were also at the forefront of the (now ubiquitous) auto insurance advertising wars and mastered the economics of direct acquisition.

But Progressive wasn’t just successful at acquiring customers. They were even better at pricing them. Glenn led the efforts to introduce credit before anyone else figured it out. When others caught on, he automated pricing at a far more granular level than peers which let them not just grow faster than the industry but also do it more profitably. After that, he switched to telematics.

They were always one step ahead. Progressive’s pricing algorithm knew a competitor’s best customers better than that company did – and they knew how much lower the price needed to be to get them to switch.

If that weren’t enough, Progressive led innovations in claims, call centers, marketing, etc. They were (and are) a machine that has consistently stolen share from peers unlike anyone else in insurance this century.

Pat Ryan

Last, but not least, is Pat Ryan. Actually, it’s ironic that alphabetically we began with Pat’s successor at Aon and finish with him.

Pat built not one, but two great insurance brokers. Ironically, his second one (the eponymous Ryan Specialty) was a direct result of his departure from Aon. The post Spitzer decision by Aon (and Marsh) to divest themselves of wholesale operations opened the door for Pat to launch his second act and build the most successful new broker of the century to date.

But before that, Pat began the consolidation of the brokerage industry at what became Aon. While there were bumps along the way, his vision of large global brokers shaped the industry for the coming decades and enriched many private equity firms who later followed in his footsteps.

The Other Contenders

I’m not going to list everyone who came close to making the top 10 because if I do that, others will be upset they didn’t even make the consideration list.

However, I do want to highlight two names that I left off specifically because of one issue. Hank Greenberg and Jim Stanard are industry legends. If this ballot were from say 1985-2010, they would absolutely be on it.

However, both of them had their most significant impact in the first decade of the 2000s and I didn’t feel that was long enough to qualify for the ballot. I understand both men went on to other successful ventures post AIG and Ren Re but they were not of the same magnitude.

If there were an Insurance Hall of Fame, they’d both be no brainer choices for me, but for this specific vote, I decided one’s impact had to be for at least half of the last 25 years.

The Debate

Everyone is more than welcome to complain about who was left off or to advocate for their top choice. Comments are welcome and anticipated. Personally, I feel like I can justify voting for any of the ten and easily support that vote. That’s why they made the final ballot.

How To Vote

If I did this correctly (fingers crossed!), you should see the poll below. If not, I will figure out a plan B and post an update later, so check back. Voting will remain open for two weeks.

Note, if you are getting this by email, you will have to go the site to vote (I think?) so click here and scroll to the bottom.