The decision was made to provide Brian Storms, chairman and chief executive officer of Marsh, with “a direct line of sight into the performance of the firm's three geographic regions,” the company said.

Mr. Malloy will remain with the firm through the end of this year “before leaving Marsh to explore new leadership opportunities,” the company said. “In the interim, he is transitioning his focus to work directly with Mr. Storms on important, short-term elements of the business transformation plan,” Mr. Storms said.

“Bill has made valuable contributions to this firm over the course of his career here, and he's been a significant part of Marsh's success, both in the U.S. and internationally,” said Mr. Storms. “We thank him and wish him all the best.”

In other changes, Mark Feuer, formerly of Merrill Lynch, is joining Marsh as leader of the firm's middle market practice in the United States.; Michael Whealon, formerly of ING Barings, Ltd., will lead the global technology, media & telecommunications industry practice; and Michael Feigin, formerly of Bovis Land Holdings, Inc., will run the construction industry practice.

In other changes, Joe Varnas, who has been head of Marsh's information technology unit since joining the firm late last year, has been promoted to chief operating officer and Tim Mahoney has been named the new leader for the America operation, which includes the U.S., Canada and Latin America.

The firm said that Mr. Varnas will continue to have direct responsibility for global information technology and operations and will add oversight for strategic planning, human resources and one of Marsh's specialty practice groups, global consumer, which serves affinity markets.

Mr. Mahoney will also have responsibility for overseeing Marsh's “G5″ initiative, which was created to upgrade service to the firm's top global clients. Mr. Mahoney joins Alex Moczarski (Europe / Middle East / Africa) and David Batchelor (Asia Pacific) as one of the three geographical region leaders, the company said.