Mario P. Vitale Appointed CEO of Willis North America; Company Integrates All North American Operations

Business Wire, Feb 12, 2003

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 12, 2003

Willis Group Holdings (NYSE: WSH), the global insurance broker, today announces the appointment of Mario P. Vitale as Chief Executive Officer of Willis North America.

The business unit now integrates all the broker's North American efforts - large account and middle market units as well as various practice groups that specialize in serving particular industries. The alignment of all North American operations will yield a more aggressive Willis driven by a single, integrated growth strategy. Vitale, who had been serving the company as Chairman of the global large account practice, assumes responsibility for North America immediately.

Supported by an existing structure that includes 13 regions and various industry practice groups, Willis North America will be driven by a common sales culture defined by teamwork, cross-selling, training, superior client service and robust pipelines - regardless of the size of the client or prospect.

"Heading Willis North America, Mario will unify all our development efforts with a single, integrated expansion plan; this includes organic growth, recruiting producers and identifying potential acquisition candidates," said Joe Plumeri, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Willis. "Mario's appointment is further progress toward our building the world's greatest insurance broker as we will now service our clients and present ourselves to prospects in a consistent manner without regard for the size, geography or industry of the audience.

"Mario has made a major contribution to Willis since he joined us just two years ago," Plumeri continued. "I have every confidence that he is the right person to take on this major opportunity."

"We enjoy tremendous potential to grow both our large account and middle market businesses, said Vitale. "Until now, we have kept these units separate with like-minded sales strategies but operating on different - albeit - parallel paths. Bringing them together will not only unify the efforts and enable significant cross-selling, but also foster a more aggressive sales environment. I am excited about this new assignment to bring all our North American efforts under the same banner."

Mario joined Willis as a Group Executive Vice President of Group Sales and Marketing in November of 2000. In his sales and marketing capacity, Mario and his team laid the foundation of Willis' sales culture.

Prior to joining us, Mr. Vitale was President of the Risk Management Division of Kemper Insurance Company for one year and President of the Risk Management Division of Reliance National with full global responsibilities for 13 years.

He is on the Board of Directors of the College of Insurance in New York.

Willis Group Holdings Limited is a leading global insurance broker, developing and delivering professional insurance, reinsurance, risk management, financial and human resource consulting and actuarial services to corporations, public entities and institutions around the world. With over 300 offices in more than 80 countries, its global team of 13,000 associates serves clients in some 180 countries. Willis is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol WSH. Additional information on Willis may be found on its web site: www.willis.com.