Willis Group Strengthens Global Energy Practice; Phillip Ellis Joins as Global Energy Practice Leader

Ellis joins Willis from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) where heserved for six years as leader of their Oil & Gas Practice. Prior toBCG, Ellis was with Booz Allen & Hamilton, for over 13 years, where helast headed up their Energy Practice for Europe and the Middle East.He has a history of growing significant new businesses andinternational teams.

He has led a number of industry-changing programs such asreorganizing the upstream headquarters of a major oil company;developing the privatization strategy for a European national oilgroup; and leading the design of the world's largest gas developmentscheme in the Middle East. Ellis designed and led a crisis scenario ongas supply to Europe for a major oil company which anticipated majorrisks and opportunities now facing the industry. He recently led aglobal benchmarking of investment criteria, methods, anddecision-making cultures in the upstream oil industry, enrollingsixteen of the world's most prominent oil companies in the program. Hehas also been engaged in helping a large oil group develop newbusiness in the Middle East.

Ellis received an M.S. in Management from the Sloan School of theMassachusetts Institute of Technology, an M.A. in Science, Technologyand Public Policy from George Washington University, and a B.S. inAtmospheric Physics from the University of California, Davis.

Commenting on today's announcement, David Margrett said, "PhillipEllis is an energy professional with an outstanding reputation in theindustry. His depth of knowledge and level of expertise is sure to addvalue to our Global Energy Practice, as we continue to explore new andbetter ways to increase our broking and risk management capabilitiesthrough the next evolution of the energy insurance sector."

"I am excited about the challenges and opportunities ahead," saidEllis. "Willis has a great reputation in this sector for outstandingrisk management work and I look forward to working with Sandy Vietor,Alan Brooks, Guy Bessis and the entire team of great professionals inthe Energy Practice."

Willis Group Holdings Limited is a leading global insurancebroker, developing and delivering professional insurance, reinsurance,risk management, financial and human resource consulting and actuarialservices to corporations, public entities and institutions around theworld. With over 300 offices in over 100 countries, its global team of15,800 Associates serves clients in 180 countries. Willis is publiclytraded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol WSH. Additionalinformation on Willis may be found on its web site: www.willis.com.