CHICAGO, Jan. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Aon Consulting, the human capital and management consulting organization of Aon Corporation , announced today that its Financial Advisory and Litigation Consulting Services practice established a global group responsible for high-tech investigations, information security and IT consulting. The company also announced that Daryk Rowland and Lee Curtis have joined as co-global leaders of this group, and Warren G. Kruse II has joined as U.S. service line leader.
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"Daryk, Lee and Warren are well-known and highly regarded consultants and experts in their field," said Jerry Barbanel, executive vice president and co- global leader of the Financial Advisory and Litigation Consulting Services practice. "Their addition will further add value to the depth of services that Aon Consulting provides its clients."
The high-tech investigations, information security and IT consulting group will assist corporations, financial institutions, law firms, governmental agencies, and other entities with sensitive issues involving theft of trade secrets and intellectual property, internet investigations, identity theft, network intrusions, human resource matters and regulatory compliance. The group will provide a full range of consulting and expert services, including serving as an independent special master for cases involving critical IT issues.
Daryk Rowland joins Aon Consulting from Kroll where he led the Financial Advisory Services' High-Tech Investigations and IT Consulting practice. Rowland has more than 20 years of collective law enforcement, information security and computer forensic experience. While serving as a detective, Rowland was responsible for investigating technology crimes and examining computer evidence in cases related to software piracy, intrusions and financial crimes. He has testified as an expert in State and Federal Courts, and before the U.S. Senate and California Legislature.
Lee Curtis also joins Aon Consulting from Kroll where he led the West Coast Financial Advisory Services' High-Tech Investigation and IT Consulting practice. Curtis brings more than 30 years of collective law enforcement, high-tech investigations and information security experience. During his career, Curtis served as a criminal investigator in the high-tech and white- collar crime unit of the Santa Clara District Attorney's Office, and was a special agent with the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service. In addition, Curtis was the director in charge of the West Coast computer forensic practice at KPMG. He has testified as an expert in civil and criminal cases involving computer forensics in State and Federal Courts. Curtis is the current international treasurer of the High Technology Crime Investigation Association, as well as its past international president. He also serves as an independent special master in highly sensitive IT matters.
Warren G. Kruse II brings more than 25 years of collective law enforcement, high-tech investigations and information security experience to Aon Consulting. Most recently, he led Kroll's East Coast Financial Advisory Services' High-Tech Investigation and IT Consulting practice. Kruse was also the founder and managing partner of Computer Forensic Services, LLC. In addition, he served as the technical investigations manager at Lucent Technologies, where he was responsible for global computer forensics and incident response matters. Kruse began his career as a police officer and assisted the criminal investigations division of the police department in computer crimes and investigations. He has testified as an expert in both civil and criminal matters in State and Federal Courts. Kruse is the co- author of a leading book on computer forensics, titled "Computer Forensics: Incident Response Essentials." He most recently was international president of the High Technology Crime Investigation Association.
"We are delighted to have three high-tech experts of this caliber join Aon Consulting," said Andrew Appel, chief executive officer of Aon Consulting. "Their expertise will help assist our clients in dealing with critical and sensitive technology issues and investigations. We welcome Daryk, Lee and Warren to our team."
Rowland and Curtis are based in California, and Kruse is based in New York and New Jersey.
For more information, contact:
Joe Micucci, Aon Consulting, 312-381-4786,
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 2004 revenues of $1.247 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.
This press release contains certain statements related to future results, or states our intentions, beliefs and expectations or predictions for the future which are forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from either historical or anticipated results depending on a variety of factors. Potential factors that could impact results include: general economic conditions in different countries in which we do business around the world, changes in global equity and fixed income markets that could affect the return on invested assets, fluctuations in exchange and interest rates that could influence revenue and expense, rating agency actions that could affect our ability to borrow funds, funding of our various pension plans, changes in the competitive environment, our ability to implement restructuring initiatives and other initiatives intended to yield cost savings, our ability to implement the stock repurchase program, changes in commercial property and casualty markets and commercial premium rates that could impact revenues, changes in revenues and earnings due to the elimination of contingent commissions, other uncertainties surrounding a new compensation model, the impact of investigations brought by state attorneys general, state insurance regulators, federal prosecutors, and federal regulators, the impact of class actions and individual lawsuits including client class actions, securities class actions, derivative actions, and ERISA class actions, the cost of resolution of other contingent liabilities and loss contingencies, and the difference in ultimate paid claims in our underwriting companies from actuarial estimates. Further information concerning the Company and its business, including factors that potentially could materially affect the Company's financial results, is contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact: Thaddeus_Woosley@asc.aon.com
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