Michael Wiebe founded Wiebe Associates, LLC  (WA) to advise business owners on business protection and business growth.  We have been advising and growing with our clients since 2004.  Please see “Clients” and “Engagements” sections for representative examples of our client’s Risk Management successes.

Prior to WA Mr. Wiebe had extensive experience on both the buyer’s and seller’s sides of professional client services:

On the seller’s side, as Senior Vice President, Mr. Wiebe managed client relationships and delivered Sedgwick Group’s and Marsh & McLennan’s Companies (MMC) risk management services to a range of businesses.  These services included, but not limited to, property and casualty, and health and welfare insurance; crisis management, business impact analysis; and retirement planning.

Mr. Wiebe was instrumental in developing strategies to introduce MMC to the emerging business community and mid-cap businesses through seminars, conferences and association sponsorships.  He developed new business strategies for emerging technology businesses in New York City and designed insurance products to address their risk and exposures.  He managed significant client and new business revenue and MMC recognized Mr. Wiebe for his high customer satisfaction and new business production.

On the buyer’s side, prior to his tenure at MMC, Mr. Wiebe was Risk Manager at IBM.  He directed the reengineering, globalization and consolidation of IBM’s worldwide risk management programs, reducing costs more than 25%.  His teams’ work was the subject of numerous professional journal articles, and his team was awarded CFO magazine’s “Alexander Hamilton Award” for groundbreaking efficiencies in IBM’s workers’ compensation program.  Mr. Wiebe also managed IBM’s offshore captive insurance companies, where he grew revenue 80% and tripled profits in two years.

Additionally, while part of IBM Human Resources, he helped streamline and outsource one of IBM’s key employee benefits programs reducing costs more than $1m and improving customer satisfaction more than 10%.  He also was part of the team that delivered outsourced IBM HR services.

Before joining IBM, Mr. Wiebe held significant and diverse positions in corporate risk management, loss prevention and fire-protection engineering.

Mr. Wiebe has been an invited speaker for professional associations and conferences on risk management issues both domestically and internationally, and he has held leadership positions in regional and national chapters of the Risk & Insurance Management Society.  He has also written professional journal articles such as “Re-engineering the Broker/Risk Manager Relationship”, John Liner Review Magazine, and “Debit Cards for FSA’s, PBM’s and HRA’s Means $ Savings”, HR Network Newsletter.  Please see “Inspiration” section for more examples.

By Clay Bennett

Mr. Wiebe has a Bachelor of Engineering from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Connecticut.  He is certified by the Insurance Institute of America as an Associate in Risk Management, and he is a Certified Professional by the Board of Certified Safety Professionals.  He is also a licensed Broker by the New York State Insurance Department and the New York State Department of Education, and he is a past member of New York State Society of Professional Engineers, by examination.

Mr. Wiebe has lived in the Metro New York area since 1973.  He is an active volunteer with and donor to the All Stars Project, Inc., (http://allstars.org/dsy/) helping New York inner city high school youths participate in business internships.