Aon Consulting Announces New Hire in the Baltimore Office

BALTIMORE, March 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Aon Consulting, the human capital and management consulting organization of Aon Corporation , announced today that Joann Hess has joined the Baltimore office as senior vice president and Southeast region lead health care actuary.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20041215/CGW049LOGO )

Hess brings more than 18 years of experience as a health care actuary to Aon Consulting. Most recently, she was the chief actuary for Coventry Health Care, a managed care company. Prior to Coventry Health Care, Hess served as director of actuarial services for the Region 1 Tricare contractor. Earlier in her career, she held actuarial positions at Alexander & Alexander (which has since been acquired by Aon), and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Maryland. She has significant experience in commercial group health and disability insurance, health and flexible benefit program design and financial modeling, and hospital contract financial analysis and negotiations. Additionally, Hess has expertise in Medicare Part D benefits and bid processes, as well as managed care and fee-for-service Medicaid programs.

In her new role, Hess will be responsible for leading and further developing Aon's Southeast region health, life and disability actuarial services team. She also will provide actuarial services to Aon's large, self- funded clients throughout the Southeast region.

Hess holds a bachelor of science degree in Mathematics from Loyola College. She is a member of the American Academy of Actuaries and a fellow of the Society of Actuaries.

About Aon

Aon Corporation ( http://www.aon.com/ ) is a leading provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, human capital and management consulting, and specialty insurance underwriting. There are 47,000 employees working in Aon's 500 offices in more than 120 countries. Backed by broad resources, industry knowledge and technical expertise, Aon professionals help a wide range of clients develop effective risk management and workforce productivity solutions.

Aon Consulting is among the top global human resources consulting firms, with 2005 revenues of $1.255 billion and 7,000 professionals in 120 offices throughout the world. Aon Consulting delivers integrated consulting solutions to help clients with employee benefits, human resources outsourcing, compensation, communication and management consulting.

For more information, contact:

Rebecca Stevenson, Aon, +1.410.783.4614, Rebecca_A_Stevenson@aon.com