Two more senior managers switch from Marsh to Willis

Willis Group Holdings, a leading global insurance broker, has attained the services of another pair of senior managers at the expense of troubled Marsh & McLennan.

Willis, the third largest insurance broker in the US and major rival of Marsh, has hired Paul Gibbs and David Fuhrman to head up strategically important operations in California. The two men are former managing directors at Marsh & McLennan and follow the switch of another Marsh employee, Arlene Corsetti, at the end of last year.

The defections come in the wake of a bad year for Marsh & McLennan, which was embroiled in New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s investigations into the US insurance industry last year. Marsh has settled the related lawsuit for $850 million and has initiated a substantial reorganization of the company, which has involved some planned employee departures and some unwanted employee departures.

Willis has appointed Paul Gibbs as CEO of Southern California Operations (Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties) and David Fuhrman as CEO of the Los Angeles office.

Prior to joining Willis, Gibbs was a managing director and zone leader for Southwest (Southern California, Nevada and Arizona) operations of Marsh. Fuhrman was also a managing director at Marsh, responsible for the rapid growth of the Los Angeles office’s middle market practice.