Latest news with #AIG
The Herald Scotland
12 hours ago
- Sport
- The Herald Scotland
Golf's female professionals exposed by lack of TV coverage
"I have friends [on the tour] that worry a lot about money and the financial side of things, so I think being on tour and trying to make a cheque to pay the rent or pay for your expenses is quite stressful, and it can affect your golf quite a lot," Ms Dryburgh said. Read more: "I think over a whole career I've been able to kind of put that in the back of my mind and focus on the golf, but don't get me wrong, it has affected me at times." At the crux of the matter is exposure, most specifically, the amount of airtime given to coverage of women's events. The knock-on effects reverberate throughout a player's potential earning streams. 'We're not shown as much on TV, so people don't necessarily know we are on [[TV]]," Ms Dryburgh said. "They don't know where to look for us. We might be on recorded, later in the day, [so] not on prime time [[TV]], whereas the men are on consistently every week and people know where to find them." She added: 'It's still not easy for a women to get sponsorship because of the TV thing. Gemma Dryburgh says the pressure to earn money has affected her golf at times "Week-to-week it's kinda the same five to 10 [female] players that are on TV, and I would say those players are probably doing pretty well on sponsorship. But for example, for myself to get on TV, I have to be in the top 10 or the top 15, trying to contend, to get some TV time." Less airtime means less exposure for sponsors and their brands, pushing down the value of contracts. This has been alleviated to a degree by social media, which some players have successfully used to build a following that bypasses traditional media. Still, large disparities remain. Born in Aberdeen, Ms Dryburgh played at Tulane University in Louisiana before turning professional in 2015, playing on various circuits including the Ladies European Tour (LET) before joining the LPGA Tour in the US in 2018. Now based in New Orleans, she's back in the UK to compete in the ISPS Handa Women's Scottish Open before moving on next week to the AIG Women's Open at Royal Porthcawl in Wales. The total purse for the Women's Open has roughly tripled since AIG became the title sponsor in 2019, reaching $9.5m in 2024. Last year's winner, Lydia Ko, walked away with $1.42m. Read more: By comparison, last week's Open winner Scottie Scheffler left Royal Portrush with a paycheque of $3.1m from a total purse of $17m. Ms Dryburgh's biggest financial win to date was a first place finish in the 2022 TOTO Japan Classic, earning her $300,000. This stacks up against annual outgoings ranging from $180,000 to $200,000 for expenses such as her caddie, travel, accommodation and tournament entry fees. "We have the same expenses as men," she said. "Obviously sometimes if they're making that much money they can fly private, etcetera, but on a base rate they are the same expenses and we're not making as much. 'It can be a discouragement but I would say on a positive note that since I turned pro, which was 10 years ago now, the prize money [for women] has gone up massively, especially the majors.' Read more: As a player director at the LPGA, Ms Dryburgh is among those representing the interests of her fellow competitors on the tour. She believes there are "big opportunities" to make further progress on financial parity under new LPGA commissioner Craig Kessler, who officially took over on July 15. "The more you can see us, the more you know who we are," she said. "I think women's sport has shown that, like recently in women's football. "If you actually get the eyes on it, people want to watch, and I think especially with women's golf because it's such a good product – you don't have to compare it to men's golf, it's its own product. I've heard from lots and lots of people who really, really enjoy watching us play, and I think they can learn a lot from the way we play the game."
New Indian Express
a day ago
- Health
- New Indian Express
Uncertainty looms over liver transplant services at SCB MCH, Orissa HC takes note
Cuttack: The Orissa High Court has taken serious note of the uncertainty over the future of liver transplantation services at the state-run SCB MCH in Cuttack due to the lapse of a crucial partnership agreement. On July 18, the division bench comprising Justice SK Sahoo and Justice V Narasingh sought clarity on the issue from the hospital authorities. During the hearing, SCB MCH superintendent Prof Goutam Satapathy informed the court that no eligible patient had been denied transplantation solely due to the expiration of the MoU with AIG, Hyderabad, from April 1, 2025. He assured the bench that efforts were underway to finalise a new MoU with MGM Healthcare, Chennai, to ensure continuity of the life-saving service. The court has scheduled the next hearing for July 31, stressing the urgency of the matter. The liver transplant unit at SCB MCH was established in 2022, backed by a sanctioned fund of Rs 22 crore. The goal was to provide liver transplants free of cost to the people of Odisha. Under the original MoU, a team from AIG Hyderabad provided technical and procedural support to SCB MCH to conduct two liver transplants - the first on April 3, 2024, and the second on September 9, 2024. The collaboration was designed to continue until the hospital developed its own fully-trained transplant team. However, the current vacuum in specialised trained staff has raised concerns about the sustainability of the programme.
Times
4 days ago
- Business
- Times
Lloyd's delays John Neal's AIG start over competition fears
Lloyd's of London has blocked its former chief executive John Neal from starting his new job at American insurance giant AIG until December, to avoid concerns about competition and confidentiality. Neal resigned from the insurance market in January, after six years as chief executive, to take up a role at Aon, the professional services and insurance firm. But last week, the insurance industry was stunned when it was announced he would instead join AIG. Neal worked his notice at Lloyd's until May and was due to start his new role at Aon in September. However, he will not join AIG until December. It is thought that the change in the start date relates to the fact that Lloyd's, as an insurance market, regards AIG, an underwriter, as a closer competitor than Aon, which is a broker. It is not clear whether Neal will be paid during this additional period. His salary was £770,000 before bonuses. He and Lloyd's declined to comment. Lloyd's traces its roots back to the Edward Lloyd coffee shop in London in 1688 and has evolved from insuring ships to a wide range of potential risks, from cyber to satellite launches. According to AIG, Neal will have offices in both London and New York and will join as president, running general insurance. He has known Peter Zaffino, AIG's chairman and chief executive, for more than 20 years. In an email to staff, according to a source, Zaffino described Neal 'as one of the most accomplished executives in our industry'. AIG launched a syndicate at Lloyd's earlier this year. At Aon, Neal was to have become global chief executive of reinsurance and global chairman of climate solutions. Its chief executive, Greg Case, said he wished Neal 'great success' and that Aon looked 'forward to working with him at AIG'. At Lloyd's, he has been replaced by insider Patrick Tiernan.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
AIG names former Lloyd's CEO as its new president
American International Group (AIG) has appointed John Neal as president to lead its General Insurance organisation, effective 1 December 2025. The company's General Insurance organisation encompasses the North America Commercial Insurance, International Commercial Insurance and Global Personal Insurance businesses. He will join the executive leadership team and report to AIG chairman and CEO Peter Zaffino. Zaffino said: 'I have known John for more than 20 years, and he is widely recognised as one of the most accomplished insurance executives in the industry. His appointment adds significant depth, global underwriting experience and talent to our leadership team. 'I am confident that John will continue to enhance our culture of underwriting excellence.' Neal's experience in the insurance industry includes a tenure as the CEO of Lloyd's of London, where he served from October 2018 to January 2025. Prior to his role at Lloyd's, he was the group CEO of QBE, where he held various senior leadership positions including chief underwriting officer and chief operations officer for the company's European operations. Neal stated: 'AIG is an iconic, global insurance industry leader, recognised for the deep technical expertise of its team and its remarkable strategic repositioning. I am honoured to take on the role of president and look forward to working closely with Peter and AIG's talented colleagues around the world on behalf of our clients and stakeholders.' Earlier in January 2025, it was reported that Neal would be leaving Lloyd's to join Aon as the head of its reinsurance operations. However, Neal has since accepted the position at AIG. "AIG names former Lloyd's CEO as its new president " was originally created and published by Life Insurance International, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
Winnipeg Free Press
6 days ago
- General
- Winnipeg Free Press
100 years later, the Scopes ‘Monkey Trial' still resonates
Opinion The tiny unincorporated community of Petersburg, Ky., 32 kilometres west of Cincinnati, Ohio, is home to the state-of-the-art Creation Museum, a 75,000 square-foot facility that 'allows families to experience history as God has revealed in the Bible.' Opened in 2007, the museum is the brainchild of Ken Ham, now 74 years old, an Australian Christian fundamentalist and former science teacher. After he relocated to the United States, he established his Christian creationist organization/ministry, Answers in Genesis (AIG) and initially raised about US$35 million towards the museum's development. In 2016, AIG opened Ark Encounter, located in Williamstown, Ky., 64 kilometres from the museum, a theme-park that features a life-sized replica of Noah's Ark — built according to the specifications outlined in the Book of Genesis. Ticket prices to the museum and ark are not inexpensive — nearly US$110 for adults and US$60 for youth ages 11 to 17. Nonetheless, since 2017, there have been an average of 800,000 visitors each year. And since 2007, more than 10 million adults and children have wandered through the exhibits, which postulates among other controversial suppositions, that about 4,300 years ago dinosaurs and humans co-existed and that dinosaurs were washed away in the Great Flood that precipitated Noah constructing his ark. The dinosaur flood theory might sound a bit off the wall, yet creationist beliefs remain somewhat strong in the U.S. Last July, a Gallup poll found that 37 per cent of Americans are convinced that God created humans in their present form within the past 10,000 years (in 2007, it was 42 per cent). About the same number of Americans — 44 per cent in a 2022 poll — think that creationist ideas should be taught in schools. Canadian opinion is no different. According to a 2024 poll conducted by Research Company in Vancouver, 41 per cent of Canadians think creationism should be part of the school curriculum. At the same time, a large number of Americans and Canadians equally believe that the theory of evolution advanced by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace in the mid-19th century should have a prominent place in education. The most famous debate between creationists and evolutionists occurred a hundred years ago this summer in a courtroom in the sleepy town of Dayton, Tenn. In 1925, the state of Tennessee had passed an anti-evolution statute, which banned teaching 'any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals.' (The political alignment was quite different then: the legislation was spearheaded by John W. Butler, a Democratic Party state representative.) Any educator violating the act could be found guilty of a misdemeanour and fined a maximum of US$500 and not less than US$100. The American Civil Liberties Union decided to challenge the act. The organization found a willing volunteer to test the new law in John Scopes, a 24-year-old science teacher and football coach at Dayton's high school. He had used a state-sanctioned biology text in his classroom that included a chapter on Darwin's theory of evolution. He was charged with violating the statute and the matter wound up in court. Over a period of 11 days, from July 10 to 21, the 'Monkey Trial' — so named because of the misinterpreted view that Darwin was supposed to have claimed that humans were directly descended from apes — was the number one news story in North America and beyond. Hundreds of journalists descended upon Dayton including the witty writer and critic H.L. Mencken, who covered every fascinating moment of the proceedings, referring to it as the greatest trial 'since that held before (Pontius) Pilate.' The high drama in the court mainly owed to the participation of Clarence Darrow, at the time the most famous criminal attorney in the U.S., who had been recruited by the ACLU to defend Scopes; and William Jennings Bryan, a celebrated orator and Democratic Party politician, who acted for the prosecution. For years, Bryan had mocked Darwin's theories (Mencken called him a 'fundamentalist Pope'). Darrow and Bryan argued about the history of western civilization, Darwin's writings, and the accuracy of the Bible. The judge even allowed Darrow to call Bryan as a witness and question him about Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel and Noah's Ark. In the end, Scopes was found guilty and fined US$100. It was a hollow victory for the creationists. Still, Tennessee (among other states) did not repeal the 1925 legislation until 1967. The following year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a legal challenge about Arkansas' education laws, that permitting the teaching of creationism while outlawing the teaching of evolution was unconstitutional. Since then, creationists have tried many times to have creationism re-integrated into state curricula — reframing it as 'intelligent design,' which 'proposes that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, rather than an undirected process like natural selection' — but have been unsuccessful. Considering the current volatile and polarized political climate in the U.S. and the fact that the creationism and evolution debate is part of the battle over religion, morality and culture, the odds are good that this dispute about the meaning of life will continue for the foreseeable future. Now & Then is a column in which historian Allan Levine puts the events of today in a historical context.
