Co-CEO of Aon Hewitt Leaving Company March 31

Baljit Dail. co-chief executive officer at Aon Hewitt, is leaving the company March 31, global insurance broker Aon Corp. disclosed in a regulatory filing.

Dail is leaving "to focus on his health and work life balance," Aon said in a Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Aon Hewitt will continue under current CEO Kristi Savacool.

Dail, also a named executive officer at Aon Corp., entered into a separation agreement providing for the termination of his employment. His resignation includes being a member of all committees of Aon, including the executive committee, the filing said.

The separation agreement provides for compensation and benefits that includes a lump-sum payment of $1 million, subject to applicable withholdings on Oct. 1, 2012. It also contains "certain confidentiality provisions and restrictive covenants" that impose additional restrictions on Dail, including noncompetition and nonsolicitation provisions that apply for two years starting on March 31, the filing said.

A spokesperson for Aon Corp. in Chicago had no comment beyond the filing.

In May 2011, eight months into its $4.9 billion merger with Hewitt Associates, Aon Corp. named the two senior executives to succeed the outgoing chairman and chief executive officer of its Aon Hewitt benefits consultancy (Best's News Service, May 16, 2011). Aon, parent of Aon Hewitt, said Savacool, CEO of benefits administration, and Dail, CEO of consulting, would become co-CEOs of Aon Hewitt. They succeeded Russ Fradin, who resigned to become CEO of SunGard Data Systems Inc.

Savacool had been a senior vice president with Hewitt Associates and was named chief executive of benefits administration when the merger was completed. Dail was promoted from within Aon, having been the CEO of Aon Consulting and COO of Aon Benfield before the merger (Best's News Service, May 16, 2011).

The separation agreement also provides that after the separation date, Dail will be eligible for vesting under the "termination without cause" provisions under some of the company's stock plans and programs regarding certain awards.

Last month, Aon, the second-largest global broker, announced plans to move its headquarters from Chicago to London to be closer to Lloyd's and the emerging markets that Lloyd's services, including Africa and the Middle East, Asia and South America (Best's News Service, Jan. 13, 2012).

(By Fran Matso Lysiak, senior associate editor, BestWeek: [email protected])