Marsh, the world's leading insurance broker and risk adviser, announced today the appointments of three industry veterans to its recently launched Global Rail practice.

Joining the Global Rail practice are Jim O'Hara and John Durante as Senior Vice Presidents, and Michael Snee as a Vice President.

Mr. O'Hara joins Marsh from Aon, where he was a senior vice president in the company's national rail practice, directly involved in the production, servicing, and brokering of rail and rail-related accounts. He brings more than 30 years of insurance industry experience to Marsh, including more than 20 years in the rail brokerage industry. He previously was a claims analyst at Aon and casualty claims manager at L.W. Biegler.

Mr. Durante also joins Marsh from Aon, where he was a vice president and sales leader, providing insurance and risk management services to Aon’s railroad industry clients. He brings 23 years of insurance industry experience, almost all in rail, to Marsh. He was previously an account executive at Sedgwick James and also held positions at Gateway Western Railway and Chicago South Shore & South Bend Railroad, responsible for labor relations, human relations, and liability claims management.

Mr. Snee joins Marsh from Willis, where he was an assistant vice president and client manager for several accounts in the manufacturing, chemical, financial, trusts, and healthcare industries. He has facilitated the placement of local policies for several multinational clients, and brings expertise in captive management, property, general liability, auto, workers’ compensation, and excess liability.

Messrs. O'Hara and Durante will be based in Marsh's Chicago and St. Louis offices, respectively, and will report to Jim Beardsley, Global Leader of Marsh's Rail practice. Mr. Snee will be based in Marsh's Philadelphia office and will report to John Raymond, Senior Vice President, Property, in Marsh's Rail practice.

"Having already forged one of the best partnerships in rail brokerage, Jim O'Hara's and John Durante's expertise in short-line, regional, inter-city, and intra-city systems will be invaluable to Marsh's clients, and we're excited to have Michael Snee join John Raymond to lead the core rail property team in this dynamic global practice," said Mr. Beardsley. "We're excited to welcome Jim, John, and Mike to Marsh as we continue to build the industry's best team."