View this article online: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2014/02/18/320616.htm
Willis Group Holdings has appointed Sara Benolken as the firm’s Global Industry Leader for Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT). She has “specialized in advising Willis’s TMT clients since joining the firm in 2007,” said the announcement, and “will lead the fifth industry group designed to seamlessly connect Willis industry experts with product and geography leaders around the world.
“The new global industry groups focus on the unique needs of clients within each sector while providing them access to the full range of insurance products and risk management services that define Willis as the analytical broker.
“Willis’s TMT industry group, along with the four other industry groups announced late last year – Construction, Financial Services, Natural Resources and Transportation – report to Steve Hearn, Deputy CEO of Willis Group. Additional specialized industry groups will be announced in the coming weeks and months.”
Hearn explained that “Technology, Media and Telecommunications represents one of the fastest growing, and rapidly converging industries worldwide, with a complex set of traditional and emerging risks accompanying its growth.” He added that “Benolken has proven herself, during a career spanning more than 20 years, to be one step ahead of change in this sector, providing clients with the insights, service, creativity and trust that our clients demand in a risk advisor.”
Benolken commented: “As recent trends have shown, today’s global technology companies may well become tomorrow’s leading media companies. As firms’ business models, manufacturing processes or geographic footprints evolve, their needs for innovative risk management solutions must evolve just as quickly. Willis offers leading industry knowledge and analytic depth to global TMT firms and I am looking forward to growing our presence even more in the months and years ahead.”
Before joining Willis in 2007, Benolken served as managing director of the Strategic Solutions Division at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. and, prior to that, was the global industry leader and managing director of Marsh’s Technology and Telecommunications Practice. After graduating from Portland State University, she began her insurance career at Sedgwick, which was later acquired by Marsh & McLennan. Benolken has earned the distinction of “Power Broker” on multiple occasions from Risk & Insurance magazine, among other industry honors.
Source: Willis Group Holdings