Stanford GSB: Stanford Business June 1997

Spreadsheet One The Big One That Got Away Do It, But Don't Expect to Do It All Top Teachers Named Lady Luck Is a Hard Worker *Pick Your Battles	Spreadsheet Two Good Fortune Beckons Executive Programs Challenge Change Soon to Be a Familiar Face Growth Key Topic in London	Spreadsheet Three It Pays to Set Standards Road to Bali Center Seeds Entrepreneurs Throwaway Computers Almost as good as being there Sorry, No Vacancy
A Closer Look: Eric Schumacher	A Closer Look: Ron Sandler	A Closer Look: John Scully
For The Record: The Class of '97

A Closer Look: Ron Sandler, MBA 1976

When Ron Sandler , MBA '76, arrived at Lloyd's of London in 1995 as its chief executive officer, newspapers around the world were predicting the death of the noble institution that for 300 years had symbolized fail-safe insurance.

"I was actually attracted by the headlines," admits Sandler with a grin. "If you regard yourself as a problem solver, and I do, I suppose there were no bigger problems to solve than the problems over here in Lime Street." Sandler took on the challenge of dealing with a string of losses, caused by disasters ranging from the Exxon Valdez spill to the Northridge, Calif., earth-quake, that had presented Lloyd's with a staggering 9 billion pounds in liability.

Eighteen months later, the Lutine bell, Lloyd's historic chime that is rung once for bad news and twice for good, sounded three times as Sandler and Lloyd's chairman Sir David Rowland announced completion of their reorganization plan. The plan created a separate entity known as Equitas to assume responsibility for losses accrued prior to 1993. The reorganization lightens the risk burden for Lloyd's and the Names--the elite group of wealthy men and women who have pledged their resources, "down to the last cuff link."

Having won the battle for Lloyd's survival, Sandler is now focused on refurbishing Lloyd's to last for the next 300 years. "Running Lloyd's is not like running a company where you set your direction and manage resources accordingly. It's more akin to the job of a politician running a community."

Born in what was then Rhodesia and educated at Cambridge as well as Stanford, Sandler said he is fascinated by Lloyd's unique mixture of a clubby, moneyed society and an organization brash enough to write the world's first automobile insurance policy and to insure Michael Jackson, a 2,000-year-old bottle of wine, and space satellites.

"Lloyd's is the Silicon Valley of insurance. It's where the insurance entrepreneur who has an idea and is prepared to take a modest amount of risk can very easily obtain the capital to do that. Lloyd's is a succession of spin-offs."

BY CATHY CASTILLO

Attracted by a challenge, Lloyd's of London CEO Ron Sandler gave his company a new plan for surviving disaster.

PHOTOGRAPH BY GRAHAM TROTT