Willis North America Appoints Sharon Edwards Chief Financial Officer

Willis North America, a unit of Willis Group Holdings (NYSE:WSH), the global insurance broker, today announced the appointment of Sharon Edwards as Chief Financial Officer. Ms. Edwards, who previously served as Chief Administrative Officer, Willis North America, will report to Michael Neborak, Chief Financial Officer, Willis Group.

In this role, Ms. Edwards will be responsible for all aspects of Willis North America’s finance functions, including transactional accounting, financial planning and analysis, reporting, and the financial operations of each region within North America.

Ms. Edwards joined Willis in 1991 and has extensive financial and operational expertise. Commenting on her appointment, Vic Krauze, Chairman and CEO, Willis North America said "Sharon is a valuable member of our leadership team and brings deep skills to this role. She played a key role following Willis’ acquisition of Hilb, Rogal and Hobbs in 2008, where she led the integration of Willis North America’s financial and accounting operations. With her help, Willis North America will continue to grow and further build its strong financial structure.”

In 2009, Ms. Edwards was appointed Chief Administrative Officer, Willis North America, where she was responsible for Sales Operations, Field Operations, and Financial Process Improvement. Prior to that, she served in a variety of leadership roles including, Director of Financial Operations, North American Controller, and Regional Finance Officer for Willis’ Midwest Region.

Commenting on Ms. Edward’s appointment, Michael Neborak said, "Sharon has an outstanding track record and her combined talents of financial and operational expertise have been a great asset. I’m confident she will build on that success.”

Ms. Edwards also serves on the Willis Partners Council and the Willis North America Board of Directors. She is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a B.A. in Accounting from the University of Tennessee. She is based in Nashville, TN.

Willis North America is the North American retail brokerage business of Willis Group Holdings. The unit effectively doubled in size with the 2008 acquisition of Hilb, Rogal and Hobbs (HRH) and currently has more than 200 local offices and 6,000 employees across the United States, Canada and Mexico. Willis North America offers a full range of insurance and risk management services, specialist expertise and global resources to large corporate, middle-market and small business clients.

About Willis

Willis Group Holdings plc is a leading global insurance broker. Through its subsidiaries, Willis develops and delivers professional insurance, reinsurance, risk management, financial and human resource consulting and actuarial services to corporations, public entities and institutions around the world. Willis has more than 400 offices in nearly 120 countries, with a global team of approximately 17,000 employees serving clients in virtually every part of the world. Additional information on Willis may be found at www.willis.com.