WRMA elects new president

The Weather Risk Management Association (WRMA) today said that its vice-president, Brian O'Hearne, has stepped up to serve as the association's president. O'Hearne is also president and chief executive of Kansas City-based GuaranteedWeather.

O'Hearne replaces outgoing WRMA president John Polasek, vice-president of origination and structured products at Houston-based Entergy-Koch Trading, whose term has ended.

O'Hearne will serve as president until the next annual election in June 2005. Polasek became WRMA president in November 2003, when Lynda Clemmons resigned her post. Clemmons, a well-known figure in the weather risk industry, also resigned from XL Weather & Energy, where she served as president and chief operating officer. Her future plans are still unknown although some weather traders expect her to return to the market imminently.

Other WRMA leadership changes include the election of Jeff Porter, managing director of weather derivatives at New York-based Hess Energy Trading Company, as WRMA's new vice-president. Porter was formerly the association's treasurer.

Meanwhile, Gearoid Lane, head of electricity supplies at UK-based Centrica, steps up to become WRMA treasurer. Lane was formerly on the WRMA board of directors.