CEO Plumeri to Leave Willis Group

Joe Plumeri, who has been chairman and chief executive officer of Willis Group Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: WSH) since 2000, will step down from the position as Dominic Casserley will become the next CEO effective Jan. 7, 2013.

Steve Hearn, the current chairman and CEO of Willis Global, will serve as deputy CEO of the global insurance brokerage group, Willis said in a statement. Plumeri will serve as non-executive chairman through July 2013. Following a transition period in 2013, Casserley will be based in Willis' New York office.

Casserley, 54, is a senior partner of McKinsey & Co., which he joined in New York in 1983. While at McKinsey, Casserley has been based in the United States for 12 years and in Asia for five years. Since 2000, he has been working across Europe from London.

While at McKinsey, Casserley led the firm’s greater China practice and its U.K. and Ireland practice. A "noted expert" on global financial services, including insurance companies, and the opportunities of expanding into new markets, Casserley has been a member of McKinsey’s Shareholder Council, the firm’s global board, since 1999 and for four years served as chairman of the board's finance committee, said Willis.

Sen. Bill Bradley, managing director of Allen & Co. LLC and Willis’s presiding independent director, in the statement noted Plumeri's "passionate stewardship" of the firm for more than a decade in which "Willis delivered unrivaled shareholder value among our peers." Willis further noted Plumeri led the company back to public ownership and steered its global expansion during his tenure.

Plumeri, 69, joined Willis as chairman and CEO in October 2000, following a 32-year career with Citigroup, Inc. and its predecessors. Willis in 2000 was owned by private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, "but Plumeri successfully engineered an initial public offering within a year," Willis said in the statement. "From that 2001 IPO through the end of September 2012, Willis’ share price has risen 174%, outperforming the company’s closest competitors, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 and the S&P average of insurance stocks."

Willis has been expanding worldwide by launching new offices in a number of locations. The international division recently created three business units focusing on Asia, Middle East and Africa, areas Willis cited as the fast-growing regions of the world (Best's News Service, July 27, 2012).

According to Best's Review's annual worldwide ranking of insurance brokers, Willis Group Holdings was the third-largest broker in the world, with 2011 total revenue of $3.45 billion (Best's Review, July 2012).

Shares of Willis were trading the morning of Oct. 17 at $36.64, down 0.7% from the previous close.

(By David Pilla, international editor, BestWeek: David.Pilla@ambest.com)