of Mr. Ian Linnegan, their director of education and training for the last six years.

Mr. Linnegan, leaves at the end of June, after taking the institute from its humble beginnings as a one-room teaching facility on the third floor of Global House to its current spacious layout in the Cedarparkade building on Cedar Avenue.

His replacement is the Bermuda College's Dean of Adult and Continuing Education, Mr. Peter Doyles, 32-years removed from Lincolnshire, who has Bermuda status and who has been at the College for twelve years.

BII president Mr. Glen Gibbons, said: "The institute is looking to Bermudianise the position. We're testing the waters this year. We are hiring a Bermudian as that has always been the wish of the (BII) council.'' Mr. Gibbons said Mr. Linnegan had done a good job. He highlighted the teaching pool established amongst insurance executives that allowed the institute to increase its number of courses, link with a handful of professional bodies and even create industry seminars.

Mr. Linnegan will also be remembered for the work he did in pushing ahead the Masters of Business Administration (MBA) programme that has a focus on risk management and will be taught through the New York College of Insurance, starting this September.

That programme will be a crowning achievement for the Institute, because it will provide the opportunity for Bermudians and others in the insurance industry to substantially increase their net worth in their companies, through long-term study.

Mr. Linnegan's work since 1988 of helping insurance professionals to study and upgrade their skills may also be in his future. Mr. Linnegan, armed with an honours degree in Business Administration, may soon be involved in providing in-house study for private, training-hungry companies.

He is a qualified teacher in further education and an associated member of both the Chartered Insurance Institute and the American Association of Training and Development.

Mr. Linnegan said: "I have gone as far as I can go with the BII. They do a great job for people who want to study in insurance. I'm really excited about the possibility of working with a human resource development team as a private professional insurance training specialist.

"There is nothing cast in concrete right now. But there are exciting possibilities.'' Education has always been a major focus for the institute and there is an opportunity that the BII can develop an even closer relationship with the Bermuda College, now that the college is right now assessing growth opportunities through a strategic planning exercise.

Meanwhile, Mr. Doyles,62, whose motto is "learning is lifelong''said that he will spend the initial period making himself familiar with BII operations and the various insurance companies on the island.

Without an insurance background, he admits he will be back in school himself, boning up on the complicated subject matter.

Mr. Gibbons said that he will be more of an adminstrator/educator than an insurance technician. "He'd be good for marketing,'' said Mr. Gibbons.

"People will know Peter's name. We have an automatic buy-in as far as we're concerned.'' Mr. Gibbons continued that there will now be less of a need for a technical insurance expert, because there will be active participation from a "more pro-active council.'' Mr. Doyles said: "My role won't be that much different from what I'm doing at the college. Getting to know the industry will be my biggest challenge.'' CHANGED HANDS -- The Shopping Centre has been purchased by the "MarketPlace'' chain. It will keep its name under its new owners.