One of the simple truths about the insurance industry is that it's a people business. Many interesting people work in the industry and related fields, but not all of them are widely known. Some of them in any given year will create significant news.

Business Insurance for many years has published issues looking back at the prior year's top news stories and looking ahead at what the new year may bring. That is the spirit in which we offer the People to Watch for 2010. The profiles that follow identify 10 people whom BI believes will make big news this year for risk managers and employee benefit managers.

The People to Watch is an annual feature comprising individuals whom BI editors have chosen as worthy of out attention. We may be wrong, of course. But we think these 10 will be worth watching.