Times have changed since insurance executive Brian Hall's days as a partner of global intermediaries and captive managers Johnson & Higgins, the only non-American ever on the board. But he has no time to dwell on the past.

After the merger of Johnson & Higgins with Marsh Mac, he left the firm last July amid speculation of a rift between he and J&H's new Marsh Mac bosses.

His friends and colleagues in the industry and even some of his former staff felt that the new hierarchy relinquished a valuable asset when they made it easy for him to go. Some believe he was hard done by.

For him, though, that past is fading on the horizon. He is busier than ever.

We were sitting in his office, a penthouse suite atop the Washington Mall, looking out over the busy little city that is Hamilton, flushed with the success of one of the fastest growing insurance markets.

From his luxurious office, the municipal building that is City Hall obscures his view of Victoria Hall, which he occupied for years as J&H director and chairman of Johnson & Higgins (Bermuda) Ltd. He was chairman of J&H's Global Captive Management Group, with 17 worldwide offices and 300 staff.

He is the IAC representative to the Premier's International Business Forum, a director of the Bank of Bermuda, a member of the Bermuda Stock Exchange council and a trustee of the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute. He has served as a founding president of the Bermuda Insurance Managers Association, and as local and national president of the Bermuda Jaycees, holding a senatorship in Jaycees International. This year, Mr. Hall was appointed chairman of the board of governors of the Bermuda College and the Stonington Beach Hotel Ltd. The irony of that appointment is that his rise to leadership in business came in the absence of a traditional college experience.

"I never went to college as a youngster,'' the Saltus alumnus said. "I went to work at American International when I was 17 (40 years ago in 1958). My only post high school experience occurred much later in life, in 1986 when I completed the Harvard Business School International Senior Managers' Program.'' But while that non-college route to success was available to Bermudians of the past, he acknowledges that for the competitive world of the future, education and the desire for re-training are central keys. He said, "We have to spend more time getting into the schools and the Bermuda College and show our young people the types of opportunities that exist in our Island.'' He sees too much pressure on boys to gravitate toward motor bikes and sports instead of academic excellence. He observed, "One weakness I find from young graduates from high school, who are looking for jobs in business or entry into the Bermuda College is that they don't necessarily project well. They lack confidence. One thing that has been good for that is the debating clubs.

"I want to see a lot more partnerships develop between the College and the business sector. And there is no reason why this should be a college completely funded by the Government. There is no reason why the private sector shouldn't pony up if they see, through results, that the college can deliver.

We're seeing some great results and excellent students coming out of the college, and sometimes they seem to get pushed under the table. People look so often for the negative.'' This, from a man who always seems to emphasise the positive. He is the founding force behind the Bermuda Foundation for Insurance Studies, raising $7.5 million to help fund programmes to get more Bermudians prepared for careers in the insurance industry.

Mr. Hall founded Inter-Ocean Management Ltd. in 1969, the business of which was purchased by J&H in 1979, when it was the largest captive manager here.

Call for better links between business and College Incorporated by legislation, not regulation, it has a broad range of powers.

Sitting on the shelf since 1979, he reactivated it last year.

He said, "We were J&H's captive management arm really, when Bermuda was the only captive management destination. We were their service providers, providing management services. We had about 60 staff at the time we sold to J&H.'' He recently discussed with onshore interests a plan to establish a presence in Bermuda. Reinsurance firms in the process of forming a Bermuda company asked him for advice.

He said, "As you get older, you realise you've built up a huge network of relationships. You are able to help expedite other people's opportunities. I don't want to manage anything, but I'm always open to anyone with a new idea, a new venture, a new product, particularly in the insurance business.

"Very quickly I got a lot of calls. The first was to be an expert insurance witness, and although I thought about it, the idea of being in court all the time was not appealing.

"I was consulted on a business proposition and provided advice. People call who are establishing new Bermuda insurers. Some want to know who in Bermuda could help manage their risks.

"In a couple of cases I have established long term, fee-paying relationships.

It's an opportunity to build in a very generic way.

"I spent some time in Washington recently, talking to various representatives of health care and health maintenance organisations about some of their unique problems and how they can be addressed by some of the intelligent market players here.'' He said, "People talk to me about a whole range of things they would like to do. I've done some consulting. I've seen several companies incorporated in Bermuda and have been asked to be on the board of several. I put the people who want to buy those services with those who are providing them.'' While Bermuda has developed itself as a well integrated insurance industry and has risen above long-time critics, Mr. Hall is adamant that to maintain the growth, the regulatory environment here has to be above reproach.

He has been helping to develop an awareness of Bermuda's opportunities in international markets and highlight industry contributions to the community.

He does not see international business and tourism on different sides of the economic equation, but rather elements of a Bermuda blend.

Brian Hall