Filed at 12:21 a.m. ET

NEW YORK (AP) -- The insurance industry, long-perceived as stodgy, is seeing changes in the executive suite that have brought a younger, fresher perspective.

Young for insurance executives, that is.

In the past three years, 14 of the nation's largest publicly traded insurers have announced succession plans or replaced their chief executives or chairmen with younger executives. All but one of the 10 chairmen appointed since 1999 are younger than 57 years old. Three are in their 40s.

The latest insurers hinting at change are Chubb Corp., American International Group Inc. and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. -- organizations that have been defined by their longtime chairmen.

``The days of the celebrity CEOs are starting to wane,'' said Michael Paisan, a Williams Capital Group analyst.

Dean O'Hare, Chubb's chairman and CEO since 1988, plans to retire within the next 12 months, while Maurice R. Greenberg, AIG's chairman, and Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, have hinted at potential successors in the past week.

Michael Smith, a Bear Stearns & Co. analyst, said management turnover is typical during the early stages of an upward pricing cycle, noting that a similar amount of turnover was common in the mid-1980s.

``One might also suggest that what we're seeing here is a true management shuffle rather than the clerical shakeup that so often excites investors,'' Smith said.

One driving force behind a number of the changes has been a need to revamp operations to take advantage of the changing market environment. The moves have met with mixed success.

Mike McGavick, a 44-year-old former CNA Financial Corp. executive, joined Safeco Corp. as president and CEO in January 2001, turning the insurer into a money maker.

The Seattle insurer has aggressively reduced its expenses, including cutting as many as 1,200 jobs by the end of 2003. It also revamped its sales force and sold its Safeco Credit Co., reducing its debt by $1.5 billion. Safeco also has benefited from higher auto and homeowners rates.

St. Paul Cos. replaced longtime Chairman Doug Leatherdale in October 2001 with Jay Fishman, a 49-year-old former Citigroup Inc. insurance executive.

Fishman has announced plans to exit a number of businesses and transfer the Minnesota insurer's reinsurance operations to Platinum Underwriters Holdings, a newly formed Bermuda reinsurer.

The company's revenue and combined ratio -- a measure of underwriting losses and expenses per premium dollar earned -- improved in the first quarter, but profits were down as the firm exited businesses. Rates rose significantly in most lines.

Gary Wendt, 60, joined Conseco Inc. as chairman and chief executive in June 2000 after time with a private equity fund and 12 years as chairman and CEO of GE Capital Services, a unit of General Electric Co.

Wendt is in the process of turning around the Carmel, Ind., insurer, which has been saddled with debt issues and difficult market conditions in its consumer finance business. Wendt said recently the insurer has resolved its cash flow issues for 2002. Results are improving, but Conseco still posted a net loss in the first quarter.

At the same time, a number of other executives have stepped aside or laid the groundwork for a successor.

Dan Amos replaced his father as chairman of Aflac Inc. last year, Glenn M. Renwick became president and CEO at Progressive Corp., also in 2001, anointing him as the likely successor to longtime Chairman Peter B. Lewis; and Jeffrey W. Greenberg was named chairman and CEO of Marsh & McLennan Inc. in 2000 -- five years after leaving his father's company, AIG.

In addition, Allstate Corp., Nationwide Financial Services Inc., John Hancock Financial Services Inc., Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., Lincoln National Corp. and CNA Financial have replaced retiring chairman over the past five years.

O'Hare's departure comes at an interesting time for Chubb. The Warren, N.J., insurer is emerging from a difficult period for the industry.

In a recent interview, O'Hare, who originally planned to retire at 55, said he wanted to leave Chubb near the beginning of an upward pricing cycle -- a period when times are good and it will be an easier transition for new leadership. O'Hare turns 60 in June.

The choice of his successor is important to O'Hare, who started at Chubb as an underwriting trainee in 1967 and has vowed the insurer will remain independent. O'Hare will be the only Chubb executive on a committee of outside directors that will choose his successor.

During a recent conference call, O'Hare brushed off suggestions that his departure could signal a greater willingness to sell the company. Some on Wall Street see Chubb as a likely takeover target.