After 42 years with Deloitte and its predecessor companies, Paul Hubbard retired as a senior partner at the end of August. Stepping into many of his roles will be John Johnston, who has been a partner with Deloitte since 1998. The leadership shift marks a time when the company can look back over its considerable growth as well as ahead to budding opportunities.

The Big Four accounting firm has come along way over the course of Mr. Hubbard's career. When he came to Bermuda in June 1967, he brought the total staff in the office to just four.

He thought he was entering a relaxing, two-year stint in paradise. Today Deloitte has just under 200 employees from 16 countries and is about to welcome a new group of 20-odd recruits. In addition to the firm's growth in numbers, the Bermuda business scene has changed by leaps and bounds.

"About a year after I came, all of a sudden, captive insurance started coming," Mr. Hubbard said. "From there, you learned as you went along." Early growth came from the captives market, then the mutual funds and later the explosion in the commercial insurance industry in the 1990s.

As industry and international business grew on the Island, so did the demands for professional staff to service those industries. "It happened fairly quickly and as a consequence the firm got very busy and grew quite well. All of a sudden you were doing a lot of overtime," said Mr. Hubbard.

As the only bachelor in the firm during the early years, he was called upon to do much of the needed business travel. "I got to travel everywhere, literally," said Mr. Hubbard. "The only countries I have not been to are Russia and (those in) South America. I have been all over."

Over the years he also spent a great deal of time in the Cayman Islands and Mr. Hubbard was a founding partner of Deloitte Cayman in 1972. That firm now also boasts some 200 employees. Another career highlight was setting up the firm's captive insurance company in 1984, which Mr. Johnston will now take over as director. "That has proven to be a very sound decision over many years," Mr. Hubbard said.

Deloitte has managed to weather the current economic slowdown without lay-offs. "We certainly looked at all the costs and the levels of employment," said Mr. Hubbard. "We did not renew some contracts but in general it has been a gentle process."

Mr. Johnston said recruitment this year is down a little bit but that also has to do with people opting to stay with the firm longer. "The sort of business we are in, it's a relatively stable business," Mr. Hubbard noted. "Although it's not recession-proof, there is always a need for the type of services we perform."

"The Bermuda companies tended to weather the latest crisis very well," added Mr. Johnston. "They are very conservatively managed. So while they may have suffered some temporary investment losses and declines, their fundamental business models were perfectly fine and are now intact."

Both men agree Bermuda is well positioned to meet challenges in the insurance industry. "Where else can you go in the world where you can walk down the street and write a billion dollars of risk," asked Mr. Hubbard. "Bermuda has always survived and always will."

Mr. Johnston also praised the jurisdiction's efforts to meet challenges that might arise from tax changes. "Should things such as this Neal initiative in the US go ahead, we know that some companies are concerned about that," said Mr. Johnston of the push by US congressman Richard Neal to pass tax legislation which would punish non-US insurance groups.

"But the sense I have is, if Bermuda as a jurisdiction continues to do things properly where it can, where it has control over things - such as being a transparent tax jurisdiction, such as banging ahead and making sure it gets mutual recognition from an insurance regulatory point - then, I think, even if tax changes take place, they won't have such a huge impact on Bermuda.

"There will still be attractiveness in coming to Bermuda. Bermuda continues to thrive as a reinsurance market, I think it would take a lot to undo that."

It's not been all work and no play for Mr. Hubbard for four decades. He managed to marry and have children and grand-children and dabble in his grand passion - sailing - a sport he hopes to pursue even more vigorously now. He already has his eye on the upcoming Oyster Regatta in British Virgin Islands and the next Newport to Bermuda transatlantic race.

In a business that's very success depends upon building strong and lasting relationships, however, Mr. Johnston said the retiring partner will not be allowed to stray too far.

"Paul's relationships will continue to be very important to the firm," he said. "So much of our business comes from referrals."

However, Deloitte is also eyeing strategies to grow and diversify. "We are always going to pursue a strategy of responsible growth," said Mr. Johnston.

"There is going to come a point where Bermuda is going to reach a saturation point, at least from a professional services standpoint and there may not be a whole lot of capacity for further growth, particularly in the audit service line.

"So we are looking at different strategies now to diversify a little bit. For example, we are looking into the feasibility of a consulting business. We are also in the process of building out our tax service line and our actuarial service line. So we are looking at things that are less traditional in our business."