Aon Corporation (NYSE: AON) is an American public multinational corporationheadquartered

in Chicago, Illinois, USA that provides risk management services, insurance andreinsurance brokerage,

human capital and management consulting. Aon has approximately 600 offices worldwide, serving 120

countries with 61,000 employees.[3]

In January 2012, Aon announced that headquarters would be moved from Chicago to London.[4]

In 2011, Aon was ranked number 286 on the Fortune 500 list.[5] Aon is the largest reinsurance broker in

the world. In 2011, Aon was ranked as the largest insurance broker in the world based on revenue.[6] Aon

is known internationally as the principal sponsor of the English Premier League team Manchester United.[7][8]

Aon was created in 1982, when the Ryan Insurance Group (founded by Pat Ryan in the 1960s) merged

with the Combined Insurance Company of America (founded by W. Clement Stone in 1919). In 1987, that

company was renamed to Aon, a Gaelic word meaning oneness. Combined Insurance was sold to ACE

Limited in April 2008.

Aon is a global provider of insurance and reinsurance brokerage services, insurance products, risk and

insurance advice, web-based risk management information systems, as well as other consulting services.

The company operates in three major segments: commercial brokerage, consulting services, and

consumer insurance underwriting.

The brokerage unit Aon Risk Services provides retail property/casualty, liability, and other insurance

products for groups and businesses, as well as risk management services. Aon Re Global handles

reinsurance brokerage services for aviation, marine, energy, professional liability, and other niche and

specialty business lines. Its consulting unit, Aon Consulting Worldwide, specializes in employee

benefits administration. The risk and insurance brokerage segment accounted for 82% of total revenue

from continuing operations in 2007, and the consulting segment accounted for 18%.[9]

The company employs approximately 59,000 workers in its 500 offices in 120 countries.[10] Aon is the

world's second largest insurance brokerage, and largest reinsurance brokerage.[11]

W. Clement Stone's mother bought a small Detroit insurance agency, and in 1918 brought her son into

the business. Young Stone sold low-cost, low-benefit accident insurance, underwriting and issuing

policies on-site. The next year he founded his own agency, the Combined Registry Co.

As the Great Depression began, Stone reduced his workforce and improved training. Forced by his son's

respiratory illness to winter in the South, Stone moved to Arkansas and Texas. In 1939 he

bought American Casualty Insurance Co. of Dallas, Texas. It was consolidated with other purchases as

the Combined Insurance Co. of America in 1947. The company continued through the 1950s and 1960s,

continuing to sell health and accident policies. In the 1970s Combined expanded overseas despite being

hit hard by the recession.

In 1982, after 10 years of stagnation under Clement Stone Jr., the elder Stone, then 79, resumed control

until the completion of a merger with Ryan Insurance Co. allowed him to transfer control toPatrick Ryan.

Ryan, the son of a Ford dealer in Wisconsin, had started his company as an auto credit insurer in 1964. In

1976, the company bought the insurance brokerage units of the Esmarkconglomerate. Ryan focused on

insurance brokering and added more upscale insurance products. He also trimmed staff and took other

cost-cutting measures, and in 1987 he changed Combined's name to Aon. In 1992, he bought Dutch

insurance broker Hudig-Langeveldt. In 1995, the company sold its remaining direct life insurance holdings

to focus on consulting. The following year it began offering hostile takeover insurance policies to small

and midsized companies.

Aon built a global presence through purchases. In 1997 it bought The Minet Group, as well as insurance

brokerage Alexander & Alexander Services, Inc. in a deal that made Aon (temporarily) the largest

insurance broker worldwide. The firm made no U.S. buys in 1998, but doubled its employee base with

purchases including Spain's largest retail insurance broker, Gil y Carvajal, and the formation of Aon

Korea, the first non-Korean firm of its kind[clarification needed] to be licensed there.

Responding to industry demands, Aon announced its new fee disclosure policy in 1999, and the company

reorganized to focus on buying personal line insurance firms and to integrate its acquisitions. That year it

bought Nikols Sedgwick Group, an Italian insurance firm, and formed RiskAttack (with Zurich U.S.), a risk

analysis and financial management concern aimed at technology companies. The cost of integrating its

numerous purchases, however, hammered profits in 1999.

Despite its troubles, in 2000 Aon bought Reliance Group's accident and health insurance business, as

well as Actuarial Sciences Associates, a compensation and employee benefits consulting company. Later

in that year, however, the company decided to cut 6% of its workforce as part of a restructuring effort. In

2003, the company saw revenues increase primarily because of rate hikes in the insurance industry

(meaning higher commissions for Aon). Also that year Endurance Specialty, a Bermuda-based

underwriting operation that Aon helped to establish in November 2001 along with other investors, went

public. The next year Aon sold most of its holdings in Endurance.

[edit]September 11 attack

Its New York offices were on the 92nd and 98th–105th floors of the South Tower of the World Trade

Center at the time of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack. When the North Tower was struck at 8:46

a.m., many executives began evacuating their employees from the upper floors of the South Tower. The

evacuation of Aon's offices, ordered by Eric Eisenberg, was carried out quickly as 924 of the 1,100 Aon

employees present at the time managed to evacuate the building before United Airlines Flight 175 struck

it twenty stories below them.[12]

However, many were influenced to stay by security guards and security announcements, or did not exit

the building in time. As a result, 176 employees of Aon were killed in the attacks, including Eisenberg

and Kevin Cosgrove, a vice president of the company that made a call to 911 when the tower collapsed.[13]

[edit]Spitzer investigation

In 2004–2005 Aon, along with other brokers including Marsh & McLennan and Willis, fell under regulatory

investigation under New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and other state attorneys general. At issue

was the practice of insurance companies' payments to brokers (known as contingent commissions). The

payments were thought to bring a conflict of interest, swaying broker decisions on behalf of carriers,

rather than customers. In the spring of 2005, without acknowledging any wrongdoing, Aon agreed to a

$190 million settlement, payable over 30 months.

[edit]UK regulatory breach

In January 2009 Aon was fined £5.25 million in the UK after it made more than $7 million worth of

"suspicious" payments to overseas firms and individuals. The UK's Financial Services Authority stated

that the fine related to the company's inadequate bribery and corruption controls, claiming that between

January 14, 2005 and September 30, 2007 Aon had failed to properly assess the risks involved in its

dealings with overseas firms and individuals. The Authority did not find that any money had actually made

its way to illegal organisations. Aon qualified for a 30% discount on the fine as a result of its cooperation

with the investigation. Aon said its conduct was not deliberate, adding it had since "significantly

strengthened and enhanced its controls around the usage of third parties".[14]

[edit]Acquisitions

On August 22, 2008, Aon announced that it had acquired London-based Benfield Group. The acquiring

price was US$1.75 billion or £935 million, with US$170 million of debt.[15]

On Mar 5, 2010, Hewitt Associates announced that it acquired Senior Educators Ltd. The acquisition

offers companies a new way to address retiree medical insurance commitments.[16]

On July 12, 2010, Aon announced that it has agreed to buy Lincolnshire, Illinois, based Hewitt

Associates for $4.9 billion in cash and stock.[17]

On July 19, 2011, Aon announced that it bought Westfield Financial Corp., the owner of insurance-

industry consulting firm Ward Financial Group, from Ohio Farmers Insurance Co. Financial terms were

not disclosed

Sponsorships

[edit]Manchester United

On June 3, 2009, it was reported that Aon had signed a four year shirt sponsorship deal with

English football giant Manchester United. On June 1, 2010, Aon replaced troubled American insurance

company AIG as the principal sponsor of the club. The Aon logo is prominently displayed on the front of

the club's new shirts.[21]

The deal is said to be worth £80 million over four years, replacing United's deal with AIG as the most

lucrative shirt deal in history at the time, but it was later equalled when Standard Chartered Bank agreed

a deal with Liverpool FC to pay £20 million a year over the same period.[21]

[edit]British Touring Car Championship

Aon has sponsored the British Touring Car Championship team run by Arena Motorsport since

2009. Arena Motorsport runs 3 Ford Focus' under the Team Aon banner. Its drivers are Tom

Chilton, Andy Neate and Tom Onslow-Cole with Chilton's father Grahame being Aon's vice-chairman,

who is a "huge fan" of motor racing. His other son Max Chilton races in the GP2 Serieswith backing from

Aon.

[edit]Awards

Best Employee Benefit Consulting Firm and Best Retail Agent/Broker in 2007 by Business Insurance.

Hewitt Associates (NYSE: HEW), based in Lincolnshire, Illinois, United States was a globalhuman

resources (HR) outsourcing and consulting firm delivering a complete range of integrated services to help

companies manage their total HR and employee costs, enhance HR services, and improve their

workforces.

Hewitt was founded in 1940 and ceased to exist as an independent entity at the completion of its

purchase by the Aon Corporation in October 2010. Hewitt's operations were merged at that time with

some elements of Aon's consulting arm to become a new subsidiary of the Aon Group called Aon Hewitt.

History

Founded: 1940 as Edwin Shields Hewitt and Associates

NAIC: 541214 Payroll Services; 541612 Human Resources and Executive Search Consulting

Services; 561310 Employment Placement Services; 561320 Temporary Help Services; 561330

Professional Employer Organizations

SIC: 7361 Employment Agencies; 7363 Help Supply Services

Aon bought Hewitt, renamed to AON Hewitt .

[edit]1940s–70s

Edwin "Ted" Hewitt founded Edwin Shields Hewitt and Associates on October 1, 1940, as a brokerage

house focusing on insurance and personal financial services. During and after the war, Hewitt's particular

expertise became immensely valuable when the government instituted "pay-as-you-go" income taxes in

1943 and the U.S. cost of living increased more than 25 percent in 1945. Once the war and its rationing

ended, Americans returned to work and the economy recovered. Hewitt's clients, many of whom had

manufactured goods for the war effort, returned to their customary businesses and thrived. Hewitt began

offering its clients statements to track their employee benefits and had pioneered the use of specific

financial goals for company investments. Hewitt's programs were the first of their kind to be approved by

the Internal Revenue Service; they were so cutting edge the U.S. Department of Labor asked the firm to

create forms for the welfare and pension programs of the 1950s.

By the 1960s the Hewitt firm continued to expand its pension and benefit plans, creating more

sophisticated programs for its clients. During the decade the firm revolutionized employee benefit

packages once again, as the first company to design pension and benefit plans tied to a corporation's

revenue and growth projections. While such a practice became commonplace in the pension and

employee benefits of larger corporations, it was another in Hewitt's growing list of industry firsts. Hewitt

was so respected for its work in the field that it was the only company asked by the U.S. government to

consult on the Federal Interagency Task Force from 1964 to 1968. The Task Force was responsible for

the design and implementation of the new Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

In the next decade Hewitt began offering its clients an increasing number of innovative products, including

its trademarked Benefit Index to track the performance of benefit programs. The Benefit Index was

another industry first and soon became the standard to which all aspired. Hewitt also offered its clients

several flexible investment strategies for employee benefit packages, which led to the formation of a new

consulting firm, the Hewitt Investment Group, in 1974.

[edit]1980s and 1990s

Hewitt continually sought to better its programs. The company began to conduct in-depth surveys to find

out which benefit programs worked best and which ones needed improvement. In the 1980s Hewitt

researched numerous issues and began issuing its findings industry-wide on subjects such as offering

benefits to part-time employees, full versus partial hospital reimbursement, fluctuating profit-sharing

percentages, mental health benefits, 401(k) programs, and rising health plan deductibles. Another topical

issue was computer use for automated benefit calculations.

The use of computers had finally begun to take hold in larger businesses, as Hewitt found automated

benefit programs had increased remarkably from 1986 to 1988. In a survey detailed in PC Week

(November 6, 1989), Hewitt had surveyed 700 companies to find 71 percent had become either fully or

partially automated in their administration of benefits plans, up from 48 percent two years before. Hewitt

responded to the expanding use of technology by designing computerized benefit programs and software

so companies could manage their benefit plans. Hewitt Technologies was created in 1988 to monitor and

respond to the industry's rapidly changing technological needs.

By the beginning of the 1990s Hewitt had ventured abroad and offered tailored benefit programs to

corporations in the United Kingdom. The firm had brought in more than $250 million in revenues for 1990

and was ranked the fourth largest benefit management and consulting firm in the world, according to

Business Insurance magazine. Yet many of Hewitt's clients were feeling the pinch of a struggling

economy and inflation. As companies began looking for ways to bolster the bottom line, benefits were

often the first place executives looked for a quick fix. In a time when few received raises and those who

did received only cost-of-living increases, Hewitt started retooling retirement packages and healthcare

benefits to keep its customers from making drastic changes. Of particular interest were retirement

programs since few seniors could withstand the effects of inflation and soaring healthcare costs. Hewitt

also researched other benefit additions such as flextime scheduling, child- and elder-care benefits, and

HMOs (health management organizations) versus PPOs (preferred provider organizations).

By 1997 more than 100 large companies outsourced their benefit programs to Hewitt, covering about nine

million worldwide employees. Hewitt not only managed these HR services but provided both the

companies and their employees with the opportunity to view their benefits with ease. The company ran

into controversy, however, when it secured lucrative incentives to open a new benefits management

center in Orlando, Florida. Public officials decried the incentives, believing that Hewitt was favored over

other firms that could have offered more jobs and revenue for the city. Despite the furor, the new office

opened in Orlando in 1997, during a fiscal year (ending in September) in which Hewitt's revenues

reached close to $700 million.

In 1998 Hewitt partnered with the California-based Financial Engines, an online investment firm, to offer

its clients financial advice over the burgeoning "information superhighway" or Internet. Hewitt clients were

among the first to view nearly every facet of their company's benefit programs with a few simple

keystrokes, and could seek online investment advice and make changes in real-time. Such

advancements, along with being the first HR industry firm to launch a corporate web site, landed Hewitt

among PC Week's Top Ten Most Technologically Innovative Companies. Hewitt also continued its in-

depth surveys, developing the Health Value Initiative in 1999 to measure the effectiveness and quality of

more than 2,000 healthcare programs worldwide. The Initiative's findings led to testimony for the

government and various agencies in an attempt to reform the U.S. healthcare industry.

As the decade closed, Hewitt was poised for further growth both domestically and abroad. Not only was

the company broadening the scope of its operations, but it offered clients advanced tools to outdistance

their competitors. Hewitt's HR management services had become known for their cutting-edge technology

and the company's ongoing commitment to offer newer, faster, and more comprehensive programs would

take it to the top of the industry in the next century.

[edit]2000 onward

By early 2000 Hewitt's expansion moved forward with new offices near Houston, Texas, and an increased

presence in Asia with a new office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The company also announced the merger

of its British and Irish operations with the United Kingdom's Bacon & Woodrow, a leading retirement and

HR management consulting firm. Hewitt also unveiled plans for Sageo, a comprehensive online service

where participants could compare, choose, and enroll in benefit programs. Sageo was designed for

retirees and companies with numerous older employees, to offer this growing population the same

benefits provided to Hewitt's 150 corporate clients and their 15 million worldwide employees. Hewitt

hoped that Sageo's online format would not only simplify the benefits process but lower employer costs

as well. Within a few months of its debut, Sageo had enrolled nearly a dozen companies representing

500,000 individuals. However, Sageo never made money and was dismantled shortly thereafter.

In 2001 Hewitt formally announced its intention to become a publicly traded company after nearly six

decades as a private firm. Under the ticker symbol HEW on the New York Stock Exchange, Hewitt went

public on June 27, 2002, with an initial offering of 11 million shares (at $19 per share). Share prices rose

as high as $23 the following day. Hewitt wasted little time in putting its new funds to work, paying off debt,

purchasing France's Finance Arbitage, an investment consultancy firm, and spearheading expansion

plans for the United Kingdom and China.

In 2003 Hewitt took over the Cork, Ireland-based Becketts, a benefits consultancy, and bought the

software programs and payroll services of Cyborg Worldwide Inc. These moves, along with several

others, prompted the Chicago-based Crain's Chicago Business to name Hewitt one of the area's fastest

growing public firms, with fiscal revenues topping $1.9 billion for the year. In 2004 Hewitt announced the

purchase/merger of Irvine, California's Exult Inc., another HR and consulting firm. The deal was valued at

close to $700 million and was expected to bring in combined revenues of more than $3 billion by the

following fiscal year.

For 2004 Hewitt reached revenues of $2.2 billion and the firm sustained its 43rd consecutive year of

growth. Employees numbered more than 22,000 in nearly three dozen countries (including Brazil, China,

France, India, Ireland, The Netherlands, Puerto Rico, Singapore, and Switzerland) serving more than 18

million employees for its corporate clients. In addition, the company was named one of America's Most

Admired Companies in 2004 by Fortune magazine, ranked as one of the 100 Best Places to Work for the

fourth consecutive year by Computer World, and had become the United States' largest and the world's

second largest benefits outsourcing company, according to Business Insurance magazine.

By early 2005 Hewitt clinched several significant business processing outsourcing (BPO) contracts,

signing publisher Thomson Corporation, Sun Microsystems, hospitality leader Marriott International,

beverage giant PepsiCo Inc., Wachovia Corporation, and others to a roster of more than 2,500

international clients. As the year came to a close, Hewitt had fallen a bit short of its $3 billion goal,

bringing in revenues of $2.8 billion. With analysts believing the business outsourcing market would top

$33 billion or more in 2006, Hewitt continued to dominate the U.S. benefits industry and aimed to be the

world's top provider of outsourced business processing.

On July 12, 2010, Chicago-based insurance broker, Aon Corp., announced that it had agreed to buy

Hewitt Associates for $4.9 billion in cash and stock.[1] The purchase was complete as of October 1, 2010

and Hewitt's stock ticker (HEW) was removed from the NYSE.

On October 14, Aon said 1500 to 1800 jobs would be cut.[2]

[edit]Growth strategy

Prior to 2000, most of Hewitt's growth was organic. Acquisitions of and joint ventures with very small

boutique firms, primarily defined benefit plan actuaries and human resources consultancies, were typical.

In 2000, Hewitt began growing through larger mergers and acquisitions. The first of these was the

announcement, in late 2000, of a plan to integrate its UK and Ireland business with Bacon & Woodrow, a

leading retirement and financial management consultancy in the UK.

In June 2003, Hewitt announced the completion of the acquisition of Northern Trust Retirement

Consulting, L.L.C., expanding its portfolio of outsourcing clients. Later in 2003, Hewitt acquired Cyborg

Worldwide, Inc., expanding outsourcing capabilities to include payroll services.

On October 1, 2004, Hewitt completed the acquisition of Irvine, CA - based Exult Inc., a company

specializing in Human Resources Business Process Outsourcing or HR BPO. This move was to ensure

Hewitt would remain competitive within the HR Consulting and Outsourcing space, in which HRBPO was

a rapidly growing area.

As of early 2010, Hewitt had approximately 2,600 clients, making it the world's largest provider of multi-

service HR business process outsourcing (BPO), and it claimed to be the only firm fully integrated HR

outsourcing and HR consulting. Hewitt's clients included over half theFortune 500 and a third of

the Fortune Global 500. Hewitt had 86 offices in 37 countries and employed over 27,000 employees.

[edit]Leadership changes

On Thursday, June 15, 2006, it was announced that CEO and Chairman Dale L. Gifford would be

stepping down. The announcement was made in the face of Hewitt's declining stock performance and

market worries about the entire BPO sector, but Gifford, who has served as chief executive officer since

1992, indicated the decision was his own, and that he planned to retire.[citation needed]

Just after the closing of the stock market on Thursday, August 10, 2006, the company announced the

appointment of the fourth CEO of Hewitt Associates, Russell P. Fradin, whose tenure commenced on

September 5, 2006. On December 12, 2009 Hewitt announced that Robert A. Schriesehim would be

joining the company effective January 4, 2010 as SVP and CFO from Lawson Software, where he had

been serving as CFO and a board member.[3]

Russ Fradin continued on as the CEO of the Aon Hewitt subsidiary after Aon Corporation's purchase of

Hewitt was completed in November 2010.

Insurance company Aon, which employs 400 people in Ireland, has agreed a $4.9bn (€3.9bn) acquisition of Hewitt Associates in a deal that will expand the risk management and insurance brokerage's consulting business.

Chicago-based Aon will merge Hewitt with its existing consulting business once the deal is completed later this year.

The company, also set to sponsor Manchester United from this season, will pay $50 (€39.50) per Hewitt share -- a 41pc premium on the group's closing price of $35.40 (€28) in New York on Friday.

Russ Fradin, Hewitt's chief executive, is to lead the new unit, which will be called Aon Hewitt.

Mr Fradin said: "We are extremely excited to join forces with another global brand to form the leading human capital services enterprise.

"Aon and Hewitt share a relentless commitment to our clients and to the associates who serve them."

The deal is expected to generate $355m (€281m) in annual cost savings by 2013, through reducing back-office operations and overlapping management duties.

The acquisition is the latest in a wave of consolidations in the advisory and consultancy sector after similar deals were made between Towers Perrin and Watson Wyatt and JLT and HSBCActuaries and Consultants.

It is also the second large deal that Aon has made in recent years following the acquisition of reinsurance broker Benfield for £935m (€1,114m) in 2008.

Aon chief executive Greg Case said: "As we continue to grow our business, this merger will give us a broader portfolio of innovative products and services focused on what we believe are two of the most important topics in the global economy today -- risk and people."

Aon Corporation is the leading global provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human resource consulting and outsourcing. Through its more than 59,000 colleagues worldwide, Aon delivers distinctive client value via innovative and effective risk management and workforce productivity solutions.

Industry Leading Global ResourcesOur industry-leading global resources, technical expertise and industry knowledge are delivered locally through more than 500 offices in more than 120 countries. Aon was ranked by A.M. Best as the No. 1 global insurance brokerage in 2009, based on brokerage revenues, and voted best insurance intermediary, best reinsurance intermediary and best captives manager in 2010 by the readers of Business Insurance.

Aon recognized many years ago that our clients want products and services built around their unique needs and provided by professionals with deep expertise in their industries and local markets. We saw that globalization demanded two capabilities: gather the best thinking from around the world and then deliver solutions locally. With worldwide distribution, a vast base of intellectual capital, and leading technology, we have built a professional services company to achieve these important goals—all focused on areas increasingly in demand: insurance brokerage, risk management, and human capital consulting.

Insurance and Risk ManagementInsurance and risk management is now widely viewed as a critical boardroom issue. It is the cornerstone of every company’s capital structure. A poorly constructed program may leave your organization vulnerable to major long-term setbacks, or worse, insolvency and bankruptcy. Aon Risk Solutions provides a well-designed insurance and risk management program that frees you to pursue your vision—unhindered by concerns that you may need to hoard precious financial capital or maintain unusually high levels of liquidity.

Human Resource Consulting and OutsourcingAon Hewitt is the world’s top global human resource consulting and outsourcing firm, providing a complete array of consulting, outsourcing and insurance brokerage services. Our professionals possess extensive knowledge and experience in a variety of fields and help companies of all sizes attract and retain top talent. We can help you achieve better business results by finding, developing, motivating and rewarding employees in ways that fit with your broad financial and business goals.

ReinsuranceReinsurance is critical to helping insurance companies underwrite risk profitably, while preserving or enhancing capital strength and ratings.  Aon Benfield, the world’s leading reinsurance broker and capital advisor, provides clients with integrated capital solutions and services, delivering objective advice and fostering competition among highly rated reinsurers and an expanding array of new and alternative capital providers. Clients are better able to differentiate and meet their business objectives with our treaty and facultative reinsurance placement services, capital markets expertise, and relevant analytics and technical expertise, including catastrophe management, actuarial and rating agency counsel.

To effectively deliver these, and other, services, Aon has developed a global network of local resources brought together via our Global Business Units and a Strategic Account Management system. These resources let us deliver services around the world—to multinational companies, small businesses, independent agents or brokers, associations and affinity groups and even individual consumers—with the local expertise necessary to meet your specific needs.

Headquartered in Chicago, Aon Corporation is the leading provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage and human resources consulting and outsourcing.

Our key advantage is our broad view of two of the most important issues in our economy today: risk and people. With an employee base of 59,000 people working in over 500 offices in more than 120 countries, we can anticipate how changes in one sector impact another.

Another advantage is our client focus: Every day our employees ask, “How can we help a client or how can we help a colleague help a client?” Because each of our client groups has unique needs, our professionals—coordinated by strategic account managers, or relationship managers—specialize by product, function and client industry. By truly listening to you and working with you as a partner, we can best develop solutions that work seamlessly with your business. Only in this manner can we help you uncover risks and discover new opportunities to make your business more successful, now and into the future.

Business Structure. Aon’s integrated businesses work together to benefit you Corporate Governance. Information about Aon’s corporate governance History and Facts. Aon’s strategic growth and business highlights

Aon’s business is structured to deliver the best, most effective solutions to our clients around the world. Aon companies, wherever their location, operate closely with each other to provide the best resources for your needs.

A Wealth of ResourcesTo provide consistent service, Aon has established Global Business Units that bring a common corporate culture to their work across borders. Every Global Business Unit is structured to focus on global clients and is connected through a shared purpose and vision, uniform standards and state-of-the-art technology. This worldwide network of companies lets us tap into the most innovative risk solutions, no matter where they were created: An industry expert in Europe can access recently updated information in the United States and deliver a solution seamlessly to a client in Asia.

For multinational companies, these resources are brought together by a Strategic Account Manager, whose sole task is to understand your business in order to match the appropriate skills and resources within Aon to your unique situation. Companies who operate in a single region benefit from a local representative who understands their issues and how to best address them. No matter your company’s size and reach, we work closely with you to define and understand your enterprise-wide risk profile.

Explore Aon’s resources through our primary businesses:

Aon   Hewitt   Aon Benfield   Aon Risk Solutions  

Corporate Governance

Aon Corporation's success is founded on an unwavering commitment to personal and professional integrity, ethics, honesty and fair dealing.  Aon's senior management team and our Board of Directors embrace these principles. We have adopted strong corporate governance practices that reflect this commitment and ensure that our company is managed with integrity and with the objective of building shareholder value over the long term.

This section of our web site contains detailed information about Aon's corporate governance practices.  It includes the formal Governance Guidelines under which the Board operates, as well as the charters of the Audit, Governance/Nominating, Organization and Compensation and Finance Committees.

We believe our strong corporate governance practices are illustrative of the ethical culture that has always existed at Aon.  We are dedicated to ensuring that this ethical culture persists as a driving force in each of Aon's business operations.

Gregory C. CasePresident and CEO - Aon Corporation

Corporate Board of Directors Corporate Information Contact Non-Management Directors Senior Management

Guidelines/Policies Aon Corporation Related-Person Transaction Policy Audit Committee Whistle-Blower Procedure Board Committees and Charters Board of Directors Governance Guidelines Code of Business Conduct Code of Ethics for Senior Financial Officers Environmental Policy Statement Governance/Nominating Committees Process for Identifying and Evaluating Director Candidates Market Relationships Procedures by Which Shareholders May Submit Nominees for Director Stock Ownership Guidelines Stock Ownership Guidelines for Nonmanagement Directors

Legal/Financial Bylaws Certificate of Incorporation SEC Filings

Aon History and FactsAon’s fast-paced growth began in 1982 when Ryan Insurance Group merged with Combined International Corporation. In 1987, that company was introduced to Wall Street as Aon, a Gaelic word meaning “Oneness.”

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, strategic acquisitions and organic growth fueled Aon’s expansion in the global insurance marketplace. Over the past twenty years, we have acquired some of the most well-known players in the insurance and consulting industries, including Hudig-Langeveldt, a provider of insurance protection for cargo ships that was founded in 1680. Although not all our acquisitions have this depth of history, many have been notable players in their respective fields for years:

Rollins Burdick Hunter Reinsurancy Agency Miller, Mason & Dickenson Alexander & Alexander Benfield Group Hewitt Associates

Although Aon is a major leader in virtually every market it serves, size is not our primary goal. We aim to be the world’s most responsive, client-focused insurance and consulting services company.

Company HighlightsAon Corporation provides more insurance brokerage, reinsurance brokerage and risk management services than any other company in the world, and is a leader in human capital management consulting. Aon has 59,000 employees in 500 offices in more than 120 countries.

Backed by broad resources, industry knowledge and technical expertise, Aon professionals help a wide range of clients develop effective risk management and workforce productivity solutions. Aon Corporation’s total revenue for 2010 was $8.5 billion.

Aon is the world’s largest global insurance broker:

No. 1 global reinsurance broker No. 1 global manager of captive insurance companies No. 1 global employee benefits consultant

Products & Services 

By Specialty eSolutionso AonLineo Aon RiskConsoleo Aon SafetyLogico iVOS

Group and Individual Insurance Human Resourceso Consultingo Benefits Administrationo HR Business Process Outsourcing

Reinsuranceo Analyticso Client Serviceso Facultative Reinsuranceo Inpointo Investment Banking Groupo Practice Groupso Treaty Reinsurance

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By Solution Actuarial Risk Assessment AonLine Aon RiskConsole Aon SafetyLogic Analytics & Technical Services Benefits Administration

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Aon Corporation

Type Public company

S&P 500 Component

Traded as NYSE: AON

Industry Risk management

Insurance brokerage

Reinsurance brokerage

Management consulting

Founded 1919

Founder(s) W. Clement Stone

Headquarters Aon Corporation

Aon Center,

200 East Randolph Street,

Chicago, Illinois,

United States

Area served Worldwide

Key people Gregory C. Case

(President and CEO)

Lester B. Knight

(Chairman)

Products Insurance, risk management,

human resource consulting

Revenue US$7.60B (FY 2009)[1]

Operating income US$1.02B (FY 2009)[1]

Net income US$747M (FY 2009)[1]

Total assets US$23.0B (FY 2009)[2]

Total equity US$5.38B (FY 2009)[2]

Employees 61,000 (2011)

A few weeks ago, Aon Hewitt announced that Russ Fradin, who led Hewitt since 2006 and is

currently the Chairman and CEO of Aon Hewitt, will be leaving to become CEO of SunGard.

Kristi Savacool, Aon Hewitt’s current chief executive officer of Benefits Administration, and Baljit

Dail, Aon Hewitt’s chief executive officer of Consulting, were appointed co-CEOs of Aon Hewitt and

will report to Greg Case, President and CEO of AON. Jim Konieczny, current chief executive officer of

Aon Hewitt’s HR BPO, will remain in that role and will report directly to Savacool. These changes are

effective immediately.

In a call with other Aon Hewitt leaders, Savacool and Dail stressed that the effect of their co-

leadership would be “greater integration between the Outsourcing and the Consulting businesses,”

resulting in better solutions and service delivery for Aon Hewitt clients around the world.

Other important points:

• It is business as usual at Aon Hewitt. Other than changes in leadership roles, very little else is

changing. The business and investment strategy remains the same, and the delivery teams remain

focused on their clients.

• Bringing the HRO and the Total Benefits Outsourcing businesses under Savacool will further

promote the integration of Aon Hewitt’s outsourcing services without diminishing Jim Konieczny’s

responsibilities.

• There is continued commitment to the growth and development of the HRO BPO business.

• The leadership structure in Benefits and Consulting will remain unchanged; all leaders will take on

more responsibilities, creating the capacity needed by Savacool and Dail to take on their new roles.

• The focus on integration between the Outsourcing and Consulting businesses is being touted as a

continuation of the broader integration of the former Aon and Hewitt organizations.

While this can be viewed as a positive change, it will be important to see how the integration is truly

realized by clients. While the pair expressed that good succession planning prepared them for

Fradin’s departure, most senior leaders in the Aon Hewitt Outsourcing and Consulting businesses

will be adding responsibilities to their realm — all this during a time when the Aon and Hewitt

integration is still under way.

Client satisfaction can be greatly improved with integrated consulting and outsourcing services by

one provider. Others have tried to build out such synergies in the past, with varying success. These

factors make the new co-CEO arrangement worth keeping an eye on.

Readers, what do you think of this turn of events? Have you noticed any changes since this news was

first announced?

By Carla Frederick, Director, TPI