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UPDATES: SURETY TEAM LEAVES NEAR NORTH

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CHICAGO-A team of five surety bond executives and managers has left Near North Insurance Brokerage Inc. to join Aon Risk Services Inc.

Geoffrey E. Heekin, who led Near North's surety bond practice, is now executive vp-commercial surety services for Aon in Chicago. Robert E. Duncan was named senior vp-commercial surety services in Chicago, Douglas T. Hite was named senior vp-commercial surety services in Washington, Jennifer Jakaitis was named bond system manager in Chicago and Patricia Thurmond was named an account manager in Chicago.

Near North does not expect the loss to have any material impact on the company. "It's unfortunate," said Tom Ealy, a partner and managing director for Near North, but "we will withstand this fairly easily. We've been in the surety business for 30 years. For us, it's a multimillion-dollar revenue practice."

However, Near North expects it will "suffer no loss of clients or loss of support from our markets," he said. Near North's relationships with clients are "institutional," not specific to individuals.

Mr. Ealy said 13 people remain in the surety bond practice and that it already has hired one new account executive and is interviewing two possible candidates to lead the division.