On March 25th, 2022, the Actuarial Science Club at UIUC, alongside the Illinois Risk Lab, will host its fourth annual Spring Symposium. This event will bring together experienced business leaders from the actuarial world to share their expert insight on emerging trends within risk management and insurance. The theme of this year’s symposium is Actuarial Perspectives on Climate Change, a continuation from last year’s symposium, which explored solving emerging risks across the insurance industry using innovative methods, including InsureTech, AI, and data analytics. However, contrary to last year, this year’s symposium will dive deeper into the risk of climate change, a very relevant topic in the industry, as stronger and more frequent natural disasters caused by global warming have already generated great physical and financial losses for families and businesses.
The Risks Analytics Symposium 2022: Actuarial Perspectives on Climate Change will be a hybrid half-day event where university students, as well as academics and industry professionals, will have the opportunity to network and view live presentations in-person at UIUC or virtually through Zoom. There will be an industry panel and an academic panel where attendees can learn and ask questions about what the insurance industry is doing to mitigate climate risk from experts in the field.
The Risk Analytics Symposium 2022 is eligible for up to 4.8 SOA and AAA CPD Credits!
Meet Our Speakers:
Speaker: James Jones
Institution: Illinois State University
Topic: Effects of Climate Change on Crop Insurance
James Jones is the Executive Director of the Katie School of Insurance and Risk Management at Illinois State University. The Katie School supports over 500 students majoring in risk management and insurance actuarial science, and other majors who are interested in careers in insurance. He works with Katie School staff, the Dean of the College of Business, industry executives, departments chairs, and faculty in helping to develop talent for industry.
He co-authored the Journal of Insurance Issues “Best Paper on “Drought Triggered Index Insurance Using Cluster Analysis of Rainfall Affected by Climate Change,” and his paper “Insurance and Environmental Sustainability”; won first prize from the Society of Actuaries. His recent research is on “Perceived Risk and Willingness to Provide Loans to Smallholder Farmers in Ghana.”
James is the author of two textbooks, and he has developed courses on Risk, Sustainability, and Insurance and Risk in Society. He is President of Western Risk and Insurance Assn. and a member of several boards including the Illinois Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association. He co-developed a computer simulation on running an insurance company used in the insurance operations course. He was winner of Strickler International Award for Innovation in Insurance Education.
James is not an actuary, but he speaks conversational actuary with a thick business accent.
Speaker: Kaiyu Guan
Institution: University of Illinois
Topic: Effects of Climate Change on Crop Insurance
Kaiyu Guan is a Blue Waters Associate Professor in ecohydrology and remote sensing in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, and the Department of Computer Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
He uses satellite data, computational models, fieldwork, and machine learning approaches to address how climate and human practices affect crop productivity, water resource availability, and ecosystem functioning.
Kaiyu has keen interests in applying his knowledge and skills in solving real-life problems, such as large-scale crop monitoring and forecasting, water management and sustainability, and global food security.
Speaker: Bessie Schwarz
Institution: Cloud to Street
Topic: Mitigating Climate Risk Using Aerial Imagery
Bessie Schwarz is the CEO and Co-founder of Cloud to Street. She is an expert in designing and implementing products for low and middle income countries and communities, as well as in Human-Centered Design for empirically based disaster response tools. Her technical training is in geospatial analytics and social psychology, with a focus on risk and climate change communication.
Bessie serves as the Senior Strategy Advisor to the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, where she founded a consulting practice to support campaigns with climate communication research and models. She has a Masters of Science from Yale University and a BA in Philosophy and Environmental Science and Technology from Carleton College, and is an Echoing Green Fellow, Draper Richard Kaplan Entrepreneur and Miller Center Scholar.
Bessie is a community organizer by training and at heart. She has worked with communities vulnerable to climate change across the US and led national campaigns on climate and energy policy.
Speaker: Raghuveer Vinukollu
Institution: MunichRe
Topic: Mitigating Climate Risk Using Aerial Imagery
Raghuveer Vinukollu is a Senior Vice President for Climate Resilience and Solutions at Munich Reinsurance America, Inc. based in Princeton, New Jersey. He is a member of the Strategic Products team and also a core member of the Nat Cat Solutions group focusing on development of innovative products designed to cover various natural catastrophe exposures, either through traditional reinsurance structures or private label approaches.
Raghuveer has a PhD in land surface hydrology and has often expressed his thoughts on the impact of flooding on personal property and local businesses. He is a passionate advocate for climate adaptation and resiliency with emphasis on the role of insurance and public private partnerships in building resilient communities. Raghuveer’s expertise in Climate Resilience is reflected in the recent studies titled “Re | imagining resilience in a post pandemic world” and “Nature’s remedy: Improving flood resilience through community insurance and nature-based mitigation”, in which he was the main contributor.
Raghuveer is also one of the members of the State of California Climate Insurance Working Group and a board member of Helvetas USA (non-profit). He has also served on the Corporate Advisory Board for the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative (MRCTI).