Friday, February 24, 2012

Presentation on Risk, Sustainability, and Insurance

Feb. 21st, 2012 was a day for sustainability and insurance for CPCU members in the Chicago area. The Chicago chapter (downtown) hosted Doug Sisterson from Argonne National Laboratory. Key takeaways from his presentation were 1) That the evidence showing that humans are contributing to climate change is overwhelming and 2) climate change affects different parts of the world differently.  Some key sources to look at :
1. Climate Models:  An Assessment of Strengths ad Limitations, the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, Synthesis and Assessment Product 3.1, July 2008.  (www.climatescience.gov/Library/sap/sap3-1/final-report/sap3-1-final-all.pdf.)  It is over 100 pages but has some graphs comparing how well a dozen or so models "predicted" past events.
 2.  Global Climate Change:  Impacts in the United States. (Highlights).  U.S. Global Change Research Program. (www.globalchange.gov/usimpacts).  It is brief, but has some nice illustrations of CO2 concentrations vs. time and separation of human vs natural effects of global warming effects over time.

That evening I presented my presentation on Risk, Sustainability, and Insurance at the Northwest Suburban chapter of CPCU. The focus of that presentation was on how forces such as growth in population, energy demand, temperature, and debt affect the insurance industry, and then what is being done to address the adverse consequences of these trends.
Two Katie School of Insurance students from ISU attended. They are doing independent studies on risk, insurance, and sustainability and will  present their findings in April 2012. This seems to be a topic that is capturing the interest of young people interested in careers in risk management and insurance. 

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

New Course in Sustainability and Risk Management

As part of the new minor in Business Environment and Sustainability, the Katie School helped to develop a new course in Sustainability and Risk Management. It will be offered in the fall of 2012 and taught by one of the most well-known risk managers in the country, Dan Kugler. Director of Risk Management for Snap-On Tools. Dan's perspective is that Sustainability is a strategic risk issue for firms and the design and content of this course supports this view. The following is an excerpt from the ISU Course Catalog describing the new course.

382.04 SEMINAR IN INSURANCE: SUSTAINABILITY, RISK MANAGEMENT AND INSURANCE
            3 sem. hrs.
This course examines overarching risks, their interconnections, and common causes in areas such as human resources, marketing, finance, accounting, real estate, manufacturing, operations, and corporate governance. Upon completion of the course, students should be able to identify key economic and environmental risks facing businesses and explain: the interconnections among these risks; the common causes of risks stemming from unsustainable business, consumer, and government activities; the benefits to businesses having sustainable business practices, the relationship between sustainability, risk management, and insurance; and describe new risk management tools being developed to help address sustainability issues.

We will have a number of industry speakers to discuss many of these topics.

In support of the new minor in Business Environment and Sustainability, the Katie School will be hosting a symposium at the Marriott in Uptown, Normal on April 10th. This will be an all-day event beginning with breakfast at 8:00 a.m. It will feature speakers from around the country as well as local business owners, discussing how businesses are engaging in sustainability practices. Dan Kugler,will be presenting on the topic of how sustainability addresses a strategic risk for firms. Camil Pasado, a specialist in the energy unit at Chubb Insurance will discuss how alternative and renewable energy addresses the risk of oil dependency and carbon emissions. This is a symposium for ANYONE interested in learning how sustainability can best be practiced in businesses and how it can be included in strategic and tactical goals that benefit the firm, society, employees, and customers. Look for information about this symposium details and registration information in February. \

We will continue to provide information about this event at the Katie School website at http://www.katieschool.org/

Information about the new course will also be updated on this website.