(Click here for a PDF
of the 2012 conference brochure.)
2012 Main Event Program
Monday, April 16
John Ferree, severe storms services leader,
National Weather Service
John Ferree |
What can we learn from the severe storms and huge
losses of 2011? Was the unusual frequency of tornadoes and severe
thunderstorms an anomaly--or a sign of things to come?
Our opening speaker will be addressing those
questions, identifying what we have learned about the climate and
weather patterns in recent years, what we can expect in the near future,
and what lies beyond our ability to predict.
John Ferree, a 34-year staff member with the
National Weather Service (NWS), currently leads efforts to improve the
agency's severe weather forecasting and warnings. A graduate of the
University of Oklahoma, John has served as a forecaster for several
states before assuming his current position.
Among his professional activities, John was a
leading organizer of recent conferences sponsored by the National
Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Science
Foundation, and the American Meteorological Society.
Ryan Ogaard |
Ryan Ogaard, senior vice president, model product
management, RMS, Inc.
As catastrophe models play increasingly important
and visible roles in measuring insurers’ capital and pricing
adequacy, issues around model change, transparency, and uncertainty,
combined with the need for large-scale data handling and computation
power have gained a high profile in the industry.
RMS, Inc. has long been at the forefront of cat
model development, and our second speaker oversees development of RMS’s
global suite of catastrophe risk models.
Ryan Ogaard, RMS's senior vice president of model
product management, will address the challenges of using cat models and
the ways in which modeling technology and best practices are evolving to
meet these challenges.
Before joining RMS, Ryan spent more than 20 years
with reinsurance intermediaries.
At Sedgwick Re he was one of the founders of the
Instrat Analytics group, which pioneered the application of simulation
modeling. At Guy Carpenter he served as head of the Global Analytics
group from 2002 through 2009.
Andrew Castaldi |
Andrew Castaldi, senior vice president, Swiss Re
Whenever a catastrophe happens in the Western
Hemisphere, Andy Castaldi and his team of scientists, engineers, and
other experts quickly go to work investigating its impact on insurers.
In addition to being Swiss Re's head of catastrophe
perils for the Americas, Andy has held leadership positions on several
boards and committees of national and international organizations
focused on reinsurance and catastrophe management.
Among other things, Andy works directly with primary
insurers to develop private flood insurance programs.
At the Main Event, he will address the prospects and
potential pitfalls of insuring flood damage in private markets, with a
focus on new underwriting tools and pricing techniques that make this
peril more insurable.
Tuesday, April 17
Peter Francese |
Peter Francese, renowned demographer
Peter Francese, founder of American Demographics
magazine, is a widely recognized expert in demographics and consumer
markets. He speaks frequently on those topics, including addresses to
insurance audiences.
Peter has authored several books on targeting
consumer markets, and recently authored two important reports: 2010
America: What the 2010 Census Means for Marketing & Advertising, and
The MetLife Report on American Grandparents, the latter a work he
undertook in his role as demographic trends analyst for the MetLife
Mature Market Institute.
Peter will be drawing on those reports and his other
work in a presentation on emerging demographic trends specially
developed for the 2012 Main Event. Attendees will learn how shifts in
household structure, function, and income will affect the level of risk
faced by different households, and the ability of those households to
manage that risk.
Linda Brobeck
|
Linda Brobeck, FCAS, MAAA, principal, Brobeck
Analytics Consulting
Taken together, changes in the natural and human
environment of America lead to new and evolving risks in homeowners
insurance. At the same time, new tools, techniques, and data have
intensified competition in that line.
Few people have as comprehensive an understanding of
the factors affecting homeowners insurance as Linda Brobeck.
For more than a decade, Linda was senior actuary at
the Allstate Research and Planning Center in Menlo Park, Calif., where
she directed a team of data scientists from a variety of academic
backgrounds.
Before that, she spent 10 years in personal lines
pricing at Allstate's Illinois headquarters.
Linda will follow up on points made in Peter
Francese's preceding presentation, and add her own observations on
economic trends. The presentation will address how these factors are
likely to impact loss experience and pricing in homeowners insurance.
Every year, attendees at the Main Event hear AAIS
staff members report on recent and impending updates to AAIS programs.
Members and non-members alike benefit from the description of AAIS
initiatives in product development, data acquisition, and pricing
precision.
Among the most valued components of the Main Event
are the roundtable discussions where attendees share ideas with AAIS
staff and their peers from other companies. The 2012 roundtables
include:
-
Personal Lines, featuring--
--A review of updates to the AAIS traditional composite Homeowners rating plan;
and
--Discussion of topics raised in the morning session on Homeowners.
-
Commercial Lines; featuring--
--A review of the latest Businessowners forms revision; and
--A preview of newly-revised Commercial Properties forms.
-
Farm & Ag Insurance, featuring discussion
of the proposed new Agricultural Property Program, scheduled for
development in 2012.
(The inland marine segment of this year's conference
will be an all-day program, without a separate roundtable. For a
description of the inland marine segment,
click here.)
