University of Houston Downtown

College of Business INSURANCE AND RISK MANAGEMENT CENTER

Fall 2014

AGENCIES Tim Brady, Vice Chair Chairman Brady Chapman Holland Gordy Bunch President & CEO The Woodlands Financial Group Kyle Dean President & CEO * Dean & Draper Insurance

Agency David de Roode, Partner Lockton Companies Anthony Gruppo Regional CEO-SW Hub Marsh & McLennan Agency * Bob Holloway Senior Vice President * USI Southwest Ken Hotchkiss Partner/Producer * Hotchkiss Insurance Agency

Jared Moore Exclusive Agent-Allstate Moore Insurance and Financial

Services Amanda J. Mount Asst. VP-National Healthcare

Practice Marsh & McLennan Agency Allen Wilson Senior Vice President * GEM Insurance Agencies WHOLESALERS Susan Howie VP—Human Resources HCC Insurance Holdings Scott Kilpatrick Business Development Director * Kilpatrick Companies, Ltd. Amy Leicht Area President * RPS - Leicht General Agency * Vikki Robinson Managing Partner R. T. Specialty Fred Steves Chairman * Myron Steves & Company Randy L. Doss Property Broker * CRC Insurance Services, Inc. ASSOCIATIONS Renee Stager Director of Education * Independent Insurance Agents of

Houston

CARRIERS Sharon Blake Branch Vice President–Houston * The Hartford Cindy Coleman Vice President Business Development Houston Region * AIG - Chartis Tom Fitzpatrick Senior Vice President Branch

Manager * Chubb Group of Insurance

Companies Mary Jane Fortin Executive VP & CFO * AIG Life & Retirement Pam Humphrey Senior Vice President ACE USA John Knox Chairman and CEO * SureTec Insurance Company Gerald Ladner Regional President State Auto A Scott Long Area Sales Manager

TransAmerica Employee Benefits Matthew Sasso, Chair Houston-Austin Branch Vice-

President CNA Insurance RISK MANAGERS Wayne Dauterive Director of Risk Management Metro National Corporation Ginny Penzell Risk Manager Memorial Resource Development Russ Taylor Owner Risk Management Tactix CONSULTANTS * Fred de Roode Chairman and CEO PPCLOAN Laura S. Hill President-Search Consultant The Hill Group Paul Z. Martin President PZM Education Strategies Irving Pozmantier President

* PozmantierWilliams Insurance

Consultants

* Founding Donor A UHD IRM Alumni

ADVISORY COUNCIL

For more information about the program go to: http://www.uhd.edu/irm, or contact Dr. Wendall Braniff at 713-226-5552 or braniffw@uhd.edu.

Enrollment Fall 2014 enrollment continues the growing trend for UHD’s insurance and risk management program. With 98 enrollments this fall, the IRM center reached a cumulative total of 873 class enrollments since its inception in 2009. We expect to top 250 enrollments this academic year and to finish the 2014-15 academic yean, the IRM center’s 6th year of operations, with over 1,000 cumulative enrollments. Online and hybrid clas-ses have made this growth possi-ble, providing working students the unique opportunity to com-plete courses for their under-graduate degree and industry-respected professional designa-tions simultaneously, while also working in the insurance and risk management industry, gaining practical experience and continu-ing to support their families. Academic Video at a Tipping Point The tipping point for academic video refers to the point at which video is poised to be as pervasive a tool for instruction, learning and research as textbooks. Video has been used in education for over half a century, and for good reason. Hu-mans are visual learners, and video is an excellent medium for illustrating processes and systems far afield from the college campus. The “killer app” that has powered academic video to its tipping point is lecture capture, which accomplished for higher education what digital video recorders did for home entertainment. In the very near future, video has the potential to become just as ubiquitous and available as print resources have been in education, revolutionizing the university experience for stu-dents, faculty and leadership alike. UHD’s Center for Teaching and Excellence will be involved in developing UHD’s lecture capture video resources, cataloging and making them available to stu-dents on demand. This is an important component of the IRM program, which will be relying upon UHD’s video capabilities to continue its progress toward outstanding online courses in support of a nationwide online IRM undergraduate degree. (Source: White paper sponsored by Mediasite by Sonic Foundry video management and published by University Business.) Also in this issue: Texas Insurance Education Foundation - Tim Brady p. 2 IRM Curriculum Focus Group - Dean Mike Fields p. 2 UHD Grads and Industry Hires p. 3 2013-14 Donors p. 3 Gamma Iota Sigma - Dr. Pamela Hurley p. 4 Dept. of Homeland Security Grant p. 4 Houston Marine Insurance Seminar p. 4 2014 Summer Graduates p. 4 IRM Scholarship Awards p. 4 St. Johns’ Education Survey p. 4

DIRECTOR’S REPORT

Michael Fields Wendall Braniff Dean Director

College of Business Insurance & Risk Management Center

Wendall Braniff, JD

Fall Spring Summer Annual Total

2009-10 22 34 7 63

2010-11 56 62 12 130

2011-12 62 82 14 158

2012-13 90 89 21 200

2013-14 83 92 49 224

2014-15 98 98

Total 411 359 103 873

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INSURANCE AND RISK MANAGEMENT CENTER

Fall 2014

ADVISORY COUNCIL

Tim Brady, ViceChair

The UHD College of Business has taken an innovative approach to curriculum development. Traditionally, universities confine their curriculum development pro-cesses to university faculty, who are trained in pedagogy and most capable of develop-ing teaching content and practices that ena-ble students to learn. Times have changed. Students in today’s colleges and universities seek an education that will best prepare them to enter the workforce and access upwardly mobile careers. In order for

The challenge to secure long-term finan-cial sustainability for the UHD Insurance and Risk Management Center is one whose outcome is critical to the Houston insurance community. As Vice chair of the IRM Center Advisory Council and chair of its development committee, I accepted that challenge.

GAMMA IOTA SIGMA

Dean Mike Fields

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS

The insurance industry needs a dependable supply of educated young people pursuing careers in the insurance business. UHD’s IRM majors are seeking an education that will prepare them for insurance careers. Seems like a natural fit. Support of the UHD undergraduate program is in the insurance industry’s best interests, and to that end, the Texas Insurance Education Foundation, a non-profit educational foundation has been created to develop continuous financial support for the edu-cation of this new talent for the industry. In addition to myself, the founding directors of the board of TIEF include Matt Sasso, Tom Braniff and Kyle Dean. The foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization and contributions are tax-deductible. The board, which will include up to nine direc-tors, will manage and distribute the funds. Our long-term goal is to build an investment portfolio, the corpus of which is increased and maintained at a level to provide a con-tinuous stream of proceeds for growing this industry resource. Contributions and pledges to the foundation may be made to: Texas Insurance Education Foundation 8980 Lakes at 610 Drive, Suite 100 Houston, TX 77054

While attending the Ameri-can Association of Insurance Managers and Consultants (AAIMCo) annual meeting in Nashville in May, Dr. Braniff connected with Dr. Kenneth W. Hollman, Chair of Insur-ance at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfees-boro where they had an in-

spiring conversation about sustainable funding and the structure of their respective programs. Dr. Braniff was introduced to Dr. Hollman through CNA’s Houston-Austin branch Vice President, Matt Sasso, chair if the UHD IRM Advisory Council, who also for-merly served on Dr. Hollman’s Advisory Council.

educators to know what knowledge, skills and abilities new gradu-ates must possess to successfully secure career positions, today’s educators need to communicate and collaborate with industry to ensure that the learning objectives they identify for their courses are aligned with industry talent needs. In 2009, the Insurance and Risk Management undergradu-ate degree program was the first in the College of Business to col-laborate with industry professionals and hiring managers in the development of its curriculum. That collaboration resulted in the development of courses aligned with respected professional desig-nations, internships, and industry access to and interaction with students at industry meetings and student presentations. This strategy has resulted in a continuing partnership with industry, through the IRM Center’s Advisory Council that has greatly bene-fitted our students and graduates in their pursuit of careers. Inspired by the IRM program’s success as well as my per-sonal observation that modern higher education benefits in many ways from a collaboration with the business community, the Col-lege of Business used industry focus groups to identify and priori-tize the curriculum for its MBA program, which resulted in the de-velopment of five certification programs: leadership, finance, in-vestment management, supply chain investment and human re-sources management, which can be taken separately as a Graduate Certificate program or combined with an MBA core curriculum for the MBA degree. Classes are co-taught by our MBA faculty and industry professionals to bring relevant experience into the class-room. In addition, all of these corporate-driven concentration courses are “flipped.” That is, the faculty member assigned to each class videos the lectures for students to access prior to the class; and the industry professional focuses on immediate takeaways in class. This overall approach has been enormously successful, re-sulting in 300 MBA enrollments for Fall 2014. Based on this success, all College of Business disciplines will undertake the focus group process this fall to ensure alignment of our undergraduate curriculum with industry needs. This will include a re-assessment of the IRM program, five years after its initial collaborative effort with industry, to ensure its curriculum remains relevant and applicable to the industry’s talent needs. The IRM Advisory Council will play a significant role in this process and I look forward to their input to help us to continue to develop and build one of the outstanding IRM programs in the nation.

MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE UNIV.

If you’re interested in tapping into this new industry talent pipeline, contact Dr. Wendall Braniff at braniffw@uhd.edu. To post either intern-

ships or permanent positions on UHD’s Career Services website, go to: www.uhd.edu/jobs4gators.

TAPPING INTO THE PIPELINE

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INSURANCE AND RISK MANAGEMENT CENTER

Fall 2014

Houston Insurance Industry Hires UHD Students and Grads

The Houston insurance and risk management industry has demonstrat-

ed strong support and a large appetite for UHD’s insurance students and gradu-

ates since the inception of its degree program in fall 2009. The program pro-

duced its first graduates in 2011, and has graduated 38 IRM majors in three

years, including 16 in the 2013-14 academic year.

100% of graduates have secured career positions, and some juniors and

seniors still in the program have completed internships in the industry and/or

secured fulltime positions. In all, students have completed 44 internships , and

students and graduates have secured 48 fulltime career positions with 37 Hou-

ston companies, including assistant underwriter, underwriter, account manager,

producer, risk assessment, claims and risk coordinator, service assistant, Human

Resources/risk manager, and assistant client manger positions. The internships

are indicated as INT and the full-time positions are indicated as FT on the chart

2013-14 DONORS

Since the inception of the IRM Center, $1,019,450 has been contributed and

pledged by the Houston and Texas insurance industry toward its operations and

scholarships. These are the companies and individuals that funded the program

for the 2013-14 academic year:

THANK YOU TO THE INSURANCE

AGENCIES AND COMPANIES

WHO SUPPORT OUR

STUDENTS AND GRADATES!

Myron Steves & Company

Fred de Roode

HCC Holdings

AIG - American General Life Companies

Risk & Insurance Management Society of Houston

CNA Foundation

Insurance Council of Texas

Bob Dean Memorial Fund—Dean & Draper

Capstone Consulting Group

Houston Marine Insurance Seminar

Cynthia & Bob Holloway

Charter Property Casualty Underwriter Society of Houston

USI

GEM Insurance Agencies

Brady, Chapman, Holland & Associates

Wendall & Tom Braniff

Independent Insurance Agents of Houston

Columbia Lloyds Insurance Company

Vikki Robinson

UHD Grants

Spencer Foundation

The Hill Group

Greater Houston Society of Healthcare Risk Management

Independent Insurance Agents of Texas

Totals 44 48

COMPANY INT FT

AIG-American General 2 1

AIG-VALIC 1 2

AIG Benefit Solutions 1 1

Bass Underwriters, Inc. 1 1

Burns & Wilcox 1 1

Capstone Consulting 1

Chubb 1

Columbia Lloyds 3 2

Comerica Bank 1 1

Cravens Warren 3 2

Dean & Draper 1 1

DNV Petroleum Services 1 1

El Paso Corp 2

Farmers 1 1

Gallagher 1 1

GM Financial 1 1

Hartford 1

HCC Insurance Holdings 1 1

Hulett Packard 1

IMS/London American 1 1

Kilpatrick Companies 1

Lockton 3 7

Memorial Resource Development 1

Metro National 1 1

Myron F. Steves & Company 1 1

New York Life 3 1

New York Transit Ins. Co. 1 1

RPS/Leicht 3 4

Silver Eagle Distributors 1 1

State Farm 1 1

Texas Mutual Insurance Company 1

The Woodlands Financial Group 1

Travelers 2 2

United Fire Group 1 1

USI Southwest 2 2

Veteran's Admin. 1

Willis 1 1

The UHD Beta Kappa chapter of Gamma Iota Sigma, the international fraternity for insurance, risk management and actuarial science, will be attending the International Conference in Dallas in October hosted by the University of North Texas. Dr. Braniff and I will be accompanying ten students to the conference, where they will learn the job functions of various positions in

Pamela Hurley, PhD

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INSURANCE AND RISK MANAGEMENT CENTER

Fall 2014

the industry, resume development, social and interviewing skills, meet with industry representatives to apply for internships and career positions and make valuable career contacts. The attendees include graduates Neelum Ashraf (‘14) and Justin Gon-zalez (‘14) and students Zoraida Alviso, Isabel Carvajal, Rachel Depue, Theresa Epstein, Cory Lacy, Jovana Lopez, Matthew Max-well, and GIS president Ali Nematpour.

GAMMA IOTA SIGMA

IRM SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS

The UHD Insurance and Risk Management Center scholarships, funded by the IRM Center Advisory Council, are awarded to IRM majors who meet the academic qualifications. The following stu-dents were awarded IRM scholarships for Fall 2014 totaling $9,250:

Zoraida Alviso Matthew Maxwell Julie Braun Sheryl Peavy Isabel Carvajal Angelo Penas Rachel Depue Anne Singletary Saul Hernandez Blaise Solet Cory Lacy Ivan Udalov

SUMMER 2014 GRADUATES

2014 Summer awardees of a Bachelor in Business Administration Degree with a major in insurance and risk management included:

d

These eight graduates, together with six graduates in the Fall and two in the spring total 16 graduates for the 2013-14 academic year, and will be invited to participate in the December 20, 2014 Gradua-tion Ceremony at Minute Maid Park and the IRM Graduation Cele-bration Party at the Ball Park Café in the Westin Houston Down-town Hotel, across Texas Avenue from Minute Maid Park immedi-ately following the ceremony. All alumni, students and faculty are invited to join the graduates and their spouses and families to cele-brate their outstanding achievement.

St. John’s University’s Survey and Analysis of Collegiate Education in Risk Management and Insurance Globally

Wendall Braniff, J.D. and Pamela Hurley, Ph.D. recently participated in a survey and provided information for a report being prepared by W. Jean Kwon, Ph.D., CPCU of the School of Risk Management. Insurance and Actuarial Science at St. John’s University in New York. The report will be published later this year and provides a comprehensive analysis of risk management and insurance educa-tion from historical, present and future perspectives. Nearly 200 institutions globally participated in the survey and the final data-base includes complete responses from 116 institutions, including 37 public and 79 private institutions in 23 countries, including UHD. It concludes with recommendations for broader availability and higher quality of education in the future and will eventually be translated into foreign languages including Russian, Spanish, Portugese, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Serbia-Croatian and Marcedonian. We look forward to publication of the final report and to the program success factors, challenges and recommenda-tions it presents for undergraduate programs offering and building insurance and risk management majors.

ST. JOHN’S IRM EDUCATION SURVEY

HOUSTON MARINE INSURANCE SEMINAR

The Houston Mariners, sponsors of the international marine, oil and gas conference, Houston Marine Insurance Seminar, recruit-ed an outstanding cast of presenters, who provided updated in-formation, strategies and technologies to nearly 500 attendees at their fall conference at the Westin Galleria Hotel. The Mariners also honored the Texas insurance and risk management under-graduate programs by hosting the program directors and three students from each university, including the University of Hou-ston Downtown, University of Houston, University of Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor University, North Texas State University, Rice Uni-versity, St. Mary’s University and Texas Southern University.

Dr. Wendall Braniff, students Irwin Morales, Jovana Lopez and Matthew Maxwell,

and professor Stephanie Gaffron attended the HMIS seminar.

DEPT. OF HOMELAND SECURITY GRANT

Dr. Pamela Hurley is participating with an interdisciplinary team of researchers at UH to propose a grant to be funded by the De-partment of Homeland Security to research risk management and insurance related to critical infrastructure sectors including petroleum, chemical, energy distribution, and utilities.