Marsh & McLennan’s
Seabury & Smith
Sightings from The Catbird Seat
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FREE THE ANIMALS!
CLOSE HUNTINGDON LIFE SCIENCES
Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) is the world's second largest animal testing laboratory. HLS operates three testing centers: one in East Millstone New Jersey, USA and two in England. HLS has become synanomous with animal cruelty and bad science.
Imprisoned in these notorious laboratories are 70,000 animals, including dogs, cats, monkeys, birds, rabbits, fish, mice and farm animals. Every animal used in HLS's barbaric and useless experiments are killed at the end of their short, misery filled lives. 500 animals die each day within the walls of Huntingdon Life Sciences.
HLS is in the business of conducting chemical tests on animals. These tests are commissioned by its clients, who are some of the top names in the pharmaceutical, biotech and agrochemical industries.
Chemical testing on animals is a very ugly business. Each year at HLS, 180,000 animals are forced to ingest, inhale and endure all manner of toxic chemicals. Animals are restrained and forced to consume toxic doses of pharmaceuticals, pesticides or industrial chemicals such as weed killers and disinfectants. Some animals are placed in inhalation chambers where they are choked by noxious fumes; others have caustic chemicals applied to their shaved, raw skin. At the end of these excruciatingly painful procedures, some of which last up to a year, the surviving animals are killed and their bodies are dissected for analysis. For the animals, HLS is a living hell.
HLS has been the target of five undercover investigations that have revealed horrendous animal cruelty, health violations and the incompetence that takes place inside HLS. Videotapes from these investigations have exposed HLS staff punching and violently shaking beagle puppies, performing a dissection of a live monkey, transplanting a frozen pig's heart into a baboon and breaking numerous animal welfare laws.
These investigations have resulted in HLS employees being convicted of animal cruelty, fined by the USDA and almost being shut down by the British government. We hope that you will join the fight to end animal cruelty, and shut down Huntingdon Life Sciences!...
Contact Huntingdon Employees
There are people who are directly responsible for the poisoning, torture and death of 500 animals a day,180,000 a year at Huntingdon Life Sciences - and these people have home addresses.
Huntingdon Life Sciences Employees:
Cathy Brower
Position: Human Resources Executive
346 Franklin Road
N. Brunswick, NJ 08902-3257
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Bank of America:
The Bank of America has its entire mutual fund program run through the controversial investment firm
Stephens Inc.
Stephens Inc. provides to the Bank of America mutual fund legal consultation, state reporting, research, management, and sales of mutual fund programs. Insiders within the Bank of America have reported Stephens handles as much as 160 billion dollars in resources for the companies they manage through the bank.
PRINCIPAL OFFICERS
Kenneth (Doyle) Lewis
President, Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer
2525 Richardson Dr.
Charlotte, NC 28211-3311
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CALIFORNIA
Gregg Carpenter
Seabury & Smith
777 South Figueroa St
Los Angeles, CA 90017
Marsh Risk & Insurance Services and Seabury & Smith
2555 Third St, Suite 100
Sacramento, CA 95818
Peter Garvey, Danny Lindquist
Guy Carpenter
101 California St, Suite 250
San Francisco, CA 94111
JoAnna A. Reynolds
Marsh USA Inc.
2000 S Colorado Blvd.
Tower 1, Suite 5000
Denver, CO 80222
Allison Mortlock, Marsh USA Inc
745 Fort St., Suite 800
Honolulu, HI 96813
http://www.freetheanimals.homestead.com/closehls.html
March 2, 2006
California Medical Association Selects
UMB Healthcare Services to Provide
Health Savings Accounts to Physicians
By epayments
SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 1, 2006--The California Medical Association (CMA) announces an agreement with UMB Healthcare Services, a division of UMB Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: UMBF), to provide Heath Savings Accounts (HSA) to CMA physician members. Marsh Affinity Group Services, a service of Seabury & Smith, Inc. will provide insurance services as part of the arrangement with both CMA and UMB.
"CMA is pleased to make available to its membership this comprehensive set of health savings account tools. They provide value and simplicity for physicians when they use the health-care system," said Jack Lewin, M.D., chief executive officer of CMA. "In addition, health savings accounts provide significant tax savings and are a key component in stimulating consumer-directed health care products."
California Medical Association is the professional organization of 35,000 physicians in California from all modes of practices and specialties....
The CMA's HSA product ... provides fully automated on-line enrollment, HSA debit card and includes a state-of-the-art digital certificate for enrollees to securely access their account on-line at UMB. HSA enrollees who generate sufficient fund balances may also access an array of mutual fund and related investment opportunities. The product also permits physicians who already have the required High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) to enroll with UMB, or if a physician needs an HDHP, Marsh assists them in identifying the most appropriate coverage based on their needs, deductible amounts and other factors...
UMB Healthcare Services, which provides health care solutions to some of the top insurance and software companies in the nation, serves as the official custodian of the CMA HSA plan. Benefits and features provided to CMA members include Visa debit card access, transaction processing, mutual fund and investment services and automated Web services and enrollment.
"UMB is pleased to work with CMA and Marsh to provide Health Savings Accounts to physicians," said Dennis Triplett, president of UMB Healthcare Services. "Our partnership with this reputable and distinguished medical group continues to strengthen our reputation as a qualified financial services partner in the healthcare industry."
"Health Savings Accounts make perfect sense for the majority of physicians in California and around the country," said Roy S. Lyons, a Senior Vice President of Marsh Affinity Group Services, a leading association insurance program broker and administrator. "Physicians often can reduce their practice expenses through the use of qualified high-deductible health plans. With online enrollment through our web site, members have easy access to an important new member benefit."
Marsh Affinity Group Services and Seabury & Smith, Inc. are part of the family of companies of Marsh Inc., the world's leading risk and insurance services firm. Marsh Inc. has nearly 30,000 employees and annual revenues exceeding $5 billion. The firm provides advice and transactional capabilities to clients in over 100 countries. Marsh Inc. is a subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMC), a global professional services firm with approximately 60,000 employees and annual revenues exceeding $12 billion.
MMC also is the parent company of Guy Carpenter, Kroll, Putnam Investments, and Mercer. MMC's stock (ticker symbol: MMC) is listed on the New York, Chicago, Pacific, and London stock exchanges. MMC's Web site address is www.mmc.com [2]. Marsh's Web site address is www.marsh.com [3].
UMB Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: UMBF) is a multi-bank holding company headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., offering complete banking and related financial services to both individual and business customers. Its banking subsidiaries own and operate 140 banking centers throughout Missouri, Illinois, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Arizona. Subsidiaries of the holding company and the lead bank, UMB Bank, n.a., include an investment services group based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a trust management company in South Dakota, and single-purpose companies that deal with brokerage services, consulting services and insurance. UMB was named one of Business Week's "Web Smart 50" companies in 2005.
Contacts
UMB
Erin Goff, 816-960-3118
or
CMA
Peter M. Warren, 310-548-5329
Source URL: http://allpaynews.com/node/543
November 1, 2004
California civil suits anticipated charges
brought by Spitzer.
By Berry, Kate, Los Angeles Business Journal
The contingent commissions that are at the center of the Marsh & McLennan Cos. scandal were the subject of two lawsuits filed three years ago in California.
The suits, both filed on behalf of the public by New York law firm Anderson Kill & Olick, allege that Marsh & McLennan and other insurance brokers took kickbacks and undisclosed fees to steer business to large insurers--allegations that were later made by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.
Both lawsuits--one filed in Superior Court in Los Angeles, the other in San Francisco--claim that Marsh engaged in unfair competition and unjust enrichment in violation of California's Business and Professions Code.
Neither of the lawsuits allege bid-rigging or price fixing similar to those that arose from Spitzer's probe.
The San Francisco civil lawsuit, which appears beaded for trial, alleges that a group of insurers including Allianz AG, American International Group, CNA Financial Corp.'s Continental Casualty Co. unit, Chubb Corp. and Hartford Financial Services Group all made undisclosed payments to insurance brokers, including Marsh, for steering customers to them.
"Such undisclosed fees and commissions constitute undisclosed kickbacks," the lawsuit states. "The defendants' practice of holding themselves out as representatives of their policyholder clients while secretly receiving substantial commissions ... constitutes unfair competition."
Finley Harckham, a partner at Anderson Kill, said the insurance industry is trying to portray contingent commissions as an acceptable practice that has been in place for a long time.
The central issue, he said, is whether there is sufficient disclosure. There has been debate on the subject since 1999, when the Risk and Insurance Management Association, an industry group, called for full disclosure of the practice to policyholders, he said. Not all companies did so, he said.
Spitzer's lawsuit against Marsh alleges that contingent commissions, which are sometimes referred to as "placement services agreements," create a financial incentive for brokers and violate their fiduciary responsibility to policyholders.
"This really has to do with the insurance practices of brokers that are selling to small businesses," Harckham said, adding that without getting competitive quotes, businesses may be overcharged or may miss out on buying less expensive coverage.
The Los Angeles lawsuit, also filed in 2001, sheds light on the brokers' practice of earning interest by investing premiums for periods of 30, 45 or 60 days before forwarding the premiums onto insurers. The suit alleges that this "constitutes unauthorized self-dealing by agents and fiduciaries at the expense of policyholders."
That suit alleges that brokers "insert themselves into the payment process in order to hold and invest for their own accounts the funds being transferred."
The lawsuit claims that Marsh and Aon Corp. generated more than $100 million per year in interest from their investment of claims payments and return premium payments.
A judge dismissed the Los Angeles lawsuit in February. Harckham said it is being appealed.
www.allbusiness.com/legal/265545-1.html
October 31, 2004
Cherkasky begins new era for Marsh
By Thor Valdmanis and Kevin McCoy, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — The executive suite of ousted Marsh & McLennan (MMC) CEO Jeffrey Greenberg is being retrofitted as a conference room.
The company's $25 million Falcon 900 jet is for sale.
And last week Marsh held its first conference call with the media in memory.
For a besieged insurance giant with almost $12 billion in annual sales, the moves could be dismissed as token stabs at corporate resuscitation. But for Michael Cherkasky, the rumpled former prosecutor newly tapped to lead the revival of the world's largest insurance brokerage, the changes represent a crucial distancing from the old guard that led the firm to the brink of ruin after allegations of bid-rigging and collusion.
The 54-year-old one-time high school basketball and soccer team captain is trying to signal 63,000 employees — and an at least somewhat skeptical Wall Street — that Marsh is on the comeback and that this new CEO with no insurance background is the right playmaker.
"The company has had a knockdown blow. But if in fact we can get back on our feet, it is going to be a terrific and fast recovery," Cherkasky said, sitting in a small and sparsely decorated office on the 44th floor of Marsh's Manhattan headquarters late last week. Dispensing with his jacket, Cherkasky seems eager to project a new informal, transparent and quick-moving Marsh.
Whether Cherkasky can successfully shake up a company known for its stodginess remains to be seen. The company is likely to survive, but in a reduced state as falling profit margins, class-action lawsuits and other private litigation take their toll on Marsh and its competitors, analysts say.
The entire U.S. insurance industry has been reeling since New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer filed a civil lawsuit last month charging Marsh with duping corporate clients by faking and rigging bids for property and casualty insurance contracts and favoring insurers that paid higher incentive commissions. Major insurers including American International Group and Ace and broker Aon were also named in the lawsuit.
Several state insurance regulators are joining Spitzer's rapidly expanding investigation. Industry critics allege that anti-competitive and even criminal behavior in the industry has helped inflate insurance rates paid by companies and individuals.
In an attempt to contain the damage, Marsh last week sacked Greenberg, whom Spitzer had accused of recalcitrance, and installed Cherkasky, the man who was once Spitzer's boss in the office of Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau. The two remain close friends. Indeed, Cherkasky has given Spitzer $16,500 in campaign contributions since 1999, New York election records show.
The change at the top prompted Spitzer to drop threats of criminal charges against Marsh and opened the way for negotiations toward a civil settlement.
But Spitzer, a Democrat with ambitions to run for New York governor, has come under fire from some business leaders for overreaching in all but demanding the head of Greenberg, a member of an insurance family dynasty that includes his father, AIG CEO Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, and his brother, Ace CEO Evan Greenberg. Spitzer's move all but crowned his friend and campaign supporter as the new CEO — particularly after Cherkasky hinted he might resign if not awarded the top job.
In his first meeting with Spitzer after becoming CEO, Cherkasky recalls that his friend congratulated him and then laughed.
"I think he understood in some ways that I was getting into the soup," Cherkasky says. "It was a little strange."
But he also says he expects no favors from Spitzer as they try to negotiate a resolution of the civil lawsuit.
"One of the ironies is me giving money to Eliot Spitzer," says Cherkasky, who joined Marsh only four months ago, after the insurance broker purchased the firm he'd headed, security consultant Kroll, for $1.9 billion. "But since I began negotiating with Marsh, I haven't donated. It wouldn't be proper."
Morgenthau, a mentor to Cherkasky and Spitzer, says, "They're both professional guys. Eliot is not going to do him any favors. But Eliot knows that if Mike tells him something is going to get done, he can bank on it."
To be sure, Cherkasky enjoys a sterling reputation among prosecutors and Wall Streeters who know him. He is married to his childhood sweetheart, has four children and doesn't smoke, drink or curse. The only vices he admits to are rooting for the New York Jets and drinking Diet Dr Pepper. He says he even stops at red lights during 5 a.m. jogs.
But the new CEO is also an intense competitor accustomed to challenges.
While serving as Morgenthau's chief of investigations, Cherkasky supervised local investigators assigned to the federal and state investigation of the 1993 World Trade Center terrorist bombing. He also supervised the investigation of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, which was accused of defrauding customers around the world and illegally accepting drug-tainted accounts. The case prompted U.S. and British authorities to close the bank in 1991.
Cherkasky's had his failures, too. He lost a 1990 assault prosecution of mob boss John Gotti. And he ran unsuccessfully for Westchester County, N.Y., district attorney in 1993.
"My wife never told me how she voted in that election," quips Cherkasky, who nonetheless makes clear he believes reversals teach resilience, an asset he'll need for his biggest career challenge yet.
Cherkasky learned some of his skills from his father, Martin Cherkasky, the man whose footsteps he almost followed to a medical career. The elder Cherkasky was a widely respected New York hospital administrator who built Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx into a top teaching institution.
Friends and associates say Cherkasky remains the model of the informal and straight-shooting prosecutor he was, not the Wall Street CEO he's become.
He still buys suits off the rack. When working at Kroll's midtown Manhattan headquarters, he can often be seen strolling to low-cost neighborhood eateries for lunch. A favorite: cheeseburger with fries.
Cherkasky has tried to instill this absence of pretension in his children. After college, they must get a job and experience the working world before any decision to pursue graduate school.
As he takes the helm at Marsh, Cherkasky is under pressure to remove the board that installed him. Recent scandals involving Marsh's Putnam mutual fund arm and its Mercer consulting unit have earned the directors poor grades from corporate governance advocates.
"Clearly this board is broken," says Nell Minow of The Corporate Library. "The first thing they need to do is fix the board, and then fix the company."
Cherkasky says, "It is not my place" to make board appointments. But he acknowledges there could be changes once a new chairman is found to succeed Greenberg — a position Cherkasky does not want.
An internal investigation into allegations of bid-rigging have led to the firing of three Marsh employees and the suspension of two others. But Cherkasky says it could be three more weeks before he learns the extent of the scandal.
Marsh is also saying goodbye to the lucrative incentive fees paid by insurance companies in exchange for getting more business. Competitors are expected to follow suit in vowing to accept money only from clients and not insurance companies, despite the significant hit to profitability.
Cherkasky admits the end of the so-called contingent fees will force Marsh to cut costs. By some estimates, the fees account for up to 30% of profit.
"Whatever your revenues are, you have to adjust your costs to make sure you get an appropriate return," he says. "One of the things we are working very, very hard on is understanding how we can become more efficient inside this company."
But these are still early days. Cherkasky says he is working on a succession of two-week plans aimed, at least initially, at retaining clients.
"What concerns us is that we have a lot of very uncertain customers," he says. "They are asking a lot of questions."
In response, Cherkasky is sending out a weekly update to Marsh's 25,000 brokerage customers, detailing reform plans.
In keeping with other spending cuts, Cherkasky's ascension to the top job did not bring an increase in the Marsh employment contract he got after the Kroll acquisition last summer. Admittedly, he's well paid: The four-year deal calls for a base salary of $750,000, plus an annual bonus worth up to $1.2 million. But that's short of the $1.2 million salary and $3.5 million cash-and-stock bonus his predecessor received last year.
Former colleagues say Cherkasky is well worth his pay.
Kroll founder Jules Kroll, another mentor, dismisses any suggestion that Cherkasky might have difficulty leading a sprawling insurance business. He notes that Cherkasky had no corporate experience before joining Kroll in 1994 and launching an $11 million-a-year division that monitors troubled organizations as they implement court-ordered reforms.
Cherkasky is also widely credited with turning Kroll around after an ill-fated merger with O'Gara, the armored car company, ended in 2001.
Arnold Ursaner, managing director at White Plains, N.Y.-based CJS Securities, said Cherkasky strengthened Kroll with strategic acquisitions and improved the balance sheet.
Though he had help from a strong Kroll team, "Certainly, if things had gone the other way, he would be taking the blame," says David Gold, a senior equity analyst at Sidoti & Co.
Still, most analysts acknowledge that Marsh and other insurance brokers will never achieve the profitability they enjoyed before they came under attack by Spitzer. While Wall Street awaits tangible signs of Cherkasky-led progress, Morgenthau remains one of his biggest believers.
"Marsh has to get its reputation back, and I think Mike is perfectly equipped to do that," said the veteran prosecutor. "He's been advising CEOs successfully for the last 10 years."
Seabury & Smith Adopts Marsh Name
On January 1, 2002 Seabury & Smith, the Indiana University Alumni Association insurance program administrator is adopting a new name. The Affinity Group Services practice will add the name of its parent organization Marsh to its name this year. Plan participants will receive a notice from the company and correspondence will begin bearing the Marsh name.
Seabury & Smith has been part of the Marsh & McLennan Companies now for quite a while. One of the MMC companies, Marsh is the world's leading risk and insurance services firm.
"We are proudly adopting the Marsh name," observed Kirke Dorweiler, chairman and CEO of the Affinity and Private Client Practices division of Marsh. "We now have even more resources to help our clients develop and deliver the benefits programs they offer their members...."
"Only our name is changing, " added Dorweiler. "The same people are answering the telephones and providing the quality service that our customers have known over the years. We continue to operate from our locations in West Des Moines, Chicago, and Washington, D.C."...
http://alumni.indiana.edu/benefits/marsh.html
January 1, 2002
From The American Society of Civil Engineers website:
Seabury & Smith Adopts Marsh Name
For Immediate Release
Contact: Affinity Group Services
a service of Seabury & Smith
1776 West Lakes Parkway
West Des Moines, IA 50266
...Seabury & Smith, the ASCE Insurance Program Administrator is adopting a new name. The Affinity Group Services practice will add the name of its parent organization Marsh to its name this year. Plan participants will receive a notice from the company and correspondence will begin bearing the Marsh name....
Seabury & Smith has been part of the Marsh & McLennan Companies now for quite a while. One of the MMC companies, Marsh is the world's leading risk and insurance services firm.
"We are proudly adopting the Marsh name," observed Kirke Dorweiler, chairman and CEO of the Affinity and Private Client Practices division of Marsh....
www.asce.org/pressroom/news/pr020202_seabury.cfm
From the U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association and Foundation website:
Seabury & Smith Adopts Marsh Name
On January 1, 2002 Seabury & Smith, the U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association insurance program administrator is adopting a new name. The Affinity Group Services practice will add the name of its parent organization Marsh to its name this year. Plan participants will receive a notice from the company and correspondence will begin bearing the Marsh name.
Seabury & Smith has been part of the Marsh & McLennan Companies now for quite a while. One of the MMC companies, Marsh is the world’s leading risk and insurance services firm.
“We are proudly adopting the Marsh name,” observed Kirke Dorweiler, chairman and CEO of the Affinity and Private Client Practices division of Marsh....
www.usna.com/Prod_Serv/Merchandise/Marsh/Marsh.htm
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MORE TO COME
FOR MORE MARSH BIRDS
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ZEROING IN ON ZURICH FINANCIAL SERVICES
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Last Update November 4, 2007, by The Catbird