Aon is losing three key aviation experts in a defection coup for Heath Lambert.
Two top people from the UK and a senior figure from the US are all defecting to the smaller broker, industry sources ...
Aon is losing three key aviation experts in a defection coup for Heath Lambert.
Two top people from the UK and a senior figure from the US are all defecting to the smaller broker, industry sources indicated.
Aon managing director Philip Gingell and executive director Mike Smith are beginning 12 months' gardening leave before moving to Heath Lambert.
They will be joined there by fellow Aon US aviation expert Charles Engel.
The move will be seen as a significant gain for Heath Lambert at a time of huge upheaval in the aviation insurance market.
The sector was thrown into crisis by the 11 September attacks. Airlines are now warning that war between the West and Iraq could send the whole industry into a disastrous decline.
Hostilities would also undermine the fragile insurance arrangements put in place following the terrorist attacks on Washington and New York.
A spokesman for Aon declined to comment.
Heath Lambert confirmed that it had set up an aviation unit in the US, staffed by a number of "senior market professionals" and headed by Charles Engel, formerly of Aon.
A spokesman for the broker described the unit as an exciting new venture.
