The Vaughan Institute of

Risk Management

December 2024 Update

Working together to inspire and equip the next generation of Risk Management and Insurance (RMI) leaders to make the world safer, smarter, and more secure.

Another semester is in the books. Take a glance at our past month's happenings below and here's to wishing you and your family the happiest of holidays!

Key Performance Indicators

As of December 17, 2024

New records:

• 384 students enrolled in the RMI Program
• 315 students enrolled in the RMI Major (estimated 4th largest in nation)
• 51 students enrolled in the RMI Certificate
• 18 students enrolled in the University of Iowa's MBA Program w/RMI focus
• 1 student enrolled in the RMI PhD Program
• 103 Gamma Iota Sigma Members

Happy Holidays from the Vaughan Institute!

Wishing you a joy-filled holiday season from Jim Lewis (Executive Director), Fred Crawford (Executive in Residence), Camille Bonar (Assistant Director), and the big man himself (CEO, North Pole).

• Connects you with industry professionals
• Provides real-world experience
• Promotes leadership and academic excellence

The only fraternity focused on Risk Management, Insurance, & Actuarial Science

Congrats to our University of Iowa GIS chapter for completing their first new member video - take a look!

Graduating Seniors

Student Case Competitions

Thank you to our 12 student volunteers who agreed to represent the University of Iowa at the following case competitions this coming spring.

Interested in mentoring these amazing student teams in their case competitions? Are you a student interested in joining a team?



Let us know at camille-bonar@uiowa.edu.

What We Are Watching/Listening To

With the semester wrapping up, our students are looking for ways to stay involved and informed over break. What better way to stay up-to-date on the latest trends than a great podcast? Do you have any suggestions for our students? Share them with us at camille-bonar@uiowa.edu.

Are you interested in learning more about specific positions in RMI? PlayerFM has a great selection of podcasts focusing on underwriting. Click below to learn more!

Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) Projects

We want to take a moment to thank our eleven incredible ERM partner companies for a great semester! The Vaughan Institute focuses on giving its students real-world experiences, and we wouldn't have been able to do this without the help and partnership from the following companies:

Analyzing Root Causes and Potential Solutions to Increase Product Persistence (Usage/Retention) at Aflac

Understanding, Mitigating, and Transferring Property Risk at the University of Iowa

Cost Assessment for a Proposed University of Iowa

Student-Run Captive Insurance Company

The Impact of Distracted Driving on Risk

and Distribution and Regulatory Considerations

Assessing Fertility Insurance Product Market Fit in

Life/Disability and Health Insurance Sectors

Benchmarking TRISTAR Market Perceptions with

Comparable Third-Party Administrators

Congratulations to the 2025 Global Insurance Accelerator Cohort!

Congrats to the following seven companies accepted into the 2025 GIA cohort! The Vaughan Institute and JPEC are looking forward to collaborating with our strategic partner, the GIA, to share our insurtech product-market fit methodology. See you January 9th, 2025, in Des Moines.

ClaimMentor accelerates claims processing by automating the scheduling, recording, transcribing, and summarizing of claimant interactions, reducing processing time by 50%* and enabling adjusters to swiftly focus on high-value adjudication tasks.

L1A's AI-based Agricultural Risk Management (AI-ARM) platform empowers insurers with actionable insights to assess climate risks, incentivize climate-smart practices, and enhance crop resilience, ensuring sustainable agricultural financing and improved food security.

Name Image Likeness Event Insurance Company (“NILE”) is an early-stage startup on a mission to develop a tech-enabled platform providing new first and third-party insurance products to protect against athlete life cycle risks.

Serfer AI is an AI-driven platform that automates insurance regulatory processes, reducing manual effort and accelerating time-to-market for insurance products.

Skytree Scientific is revolutionizing lightning protection with an AI-powered SaaS platform that provides unparalleled accuracy and proactive risk mitigation.

Spectacle Health is a benefits administration platform that transforms how companies offer employee health benefits, reducing cost and increasing choice. 

Student Scholarship Opportunities

Spencer Scholarships (Undergrad, Master's, and PhD) - Due January 31st, 2025

Norm Ziegler Trailblazer Scholarship Fund - Due February 15th, 2025

Qualifications:

• US citizen and a full-time student attending any college in the US
• Majoring or minoring in Insurance, Risk Management, Actuarial Science, or a related field
• 3.0 cumulative GPA on a 4.0 scale
• Must not be receiving full reimbursement for the expenses of tuition, books, etc. from any outside source

Mark Your Calendars!

Insure Your Future Summer 2025 Leadership Dates

Wednesday, May 28, 2025        Kick-Off Event at the Principal Charity Classic

Thursday, June 5th, 2025         Session #1, Holmes Murphy, Waukee, IA                                                                                                                               

Tuesday, June 17, 2025            Session #2, Wellmark, Des Moines IA

Thursday, July 10, 2025            Session #3, Transamerica, Cedar Rapids

Tuesday, July 15, 2025             Optional Community Improvement Project, Cedar Rapids

Thursday, July 17, 2025           Optional Community Improvement Project, Des Moines

Thursday, July 24, 2025           Session #4, WR Berkley; CWG and BerkleyAg, Urbandale

Vaughan Institute 20th Anniversary - Save the date!

November 5-6, 2025

Big plans are in the works for a major event in Iowa City. Think TED Talk-style event combined with a national student case competition on "What Emerging Risks Could be Addressed with Insurtech Innovation?" Other top programs should be looking for an invite coming soon to be our guests in Iowa City next year.

Interested in joining us? Reach out to camille-bonar@uiowa.edu.

New Insurtech Innovation Class

This new insurtech class is an RMI elective that counts toward the major and certificate and is filling up fast. We will explore proven methodologies and resources for insurtech innovation and discuss real-world lessons learned by some of the great successes (and a few epic failures).

• Real-world experience in both RMI and venture capital
• Exposure to interesting, new insurtech companies
• Meet founders who will guest speak
• Analyze various insurtech startups for market impact using AI platform

Check out our previous issues