2014 40 Under 40 Broker Awards: Mark Vila
Midwest Region Reprints
Executive vice president, chief marketing officer and chief placement officer
Willis of Illinois
Age: 39
For Mark Vila, the road to becoming a brokerage executive began on the accounting side.
Mr. Vila, who initially wanted to be a math teacher, joined Willis Group Holdings P.L.C. as an accounting coordinator in the Milwaukee office. Once he got in, “it was pretty exciting,” he said.
He moved from accounting to risk finance to sales and ultimately to management, relocating to Chicago where he manages a team of 17 placement brokers with $500 million in premium volume.
Mr. Vila has “unique talent — he does a lot of things very, very well,” said Mike Liss, Chicago-based national partner of the Midwest region at Willis.
“His background is really more financial,” Mr. Liss said. “He already had a really good grasp of numbers, and ties that in with a really good personality and is good with people. It's a formidable combination.”
“He really represents what Willis is all about in terms of our values — clientcentric, all about integrity and very much a team player,” Mr. Liss said.
Mr. Vila provides “outstanding customer service,” said Jeff Dato, head of regional risk and reputation (Americas) for InterContinental Hotels Group P.L.C. in Atlanta. “He's a true business partner.”
Among other things, Mr. Vila worked with his team to devise an aviation workers compensation approach that includes a focus on loss prevention, aggressive claims management and financial analysis.
“We've helped 10 airlines over the past decade with that approach,” he said.
He says the most interesting part of his job is solving problems, which is “the most challenging but also the most fun” part of the job.
Read Next
-
<i>Business Insurance</i> 40 Under 40 Broker Awards recognizes star performers
Talent is the lifeblood of the insurance brokerage business. That's easy enough to say, but finding that talent is anything but easy. Finding and cultivating the best and brightest takes time and commitment — on the part of the brokerage and the part of the person hired.
