Events

Below is the IRUA’s preliminary 2021/2022 Calendar of Educational Events to include our webinars, conferences and our New Reinsurance Syllabus Series. Further details will be posted as they become available so come back and visit us again!

IRUA 2021/2022 Calendar of Events

LUNCH & LEARN:  ALL ABOUT BIOMETRIC INFORMATION AND PRIVACY

February 13, 2020, Trans Re, NYC

There is a new wave of class actions being filed against employers and other companies who collect biometric information. What is Biometric Information? Biometric information includes eye scan, fingerprints, voiceprints, and face scans. The Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) regulates the privacy and protection of one’s biometric information. BIPA related class actions may impact General Liability, Professional and Management Liability policies, Cyber and Workers’ Comp policies. Underwriters and Claims professionals need to take into account new exposures created by BIPA.  Do you know everything related to BIPA exposures?

Lisa Handler Ackerman, an attorney in Wilson Elser’s Chicago office, will discuss BIPA and its potential exposures during this Lunch and Learn.  BIPA, which is currently the only state law protecting biometrics containing a private cause of action thus leading to a surge of class action litigation arising under the Act.  The discussion will cover the specific legal issues litigated under BIPA and liability for private entities such as Facebook, Shutterfly and Google; employers; and biometric time clock vendors.

Speaker Bio
Lisa Handler Ackerman is a partner in the Chicago office of Wilson Elser.  A significant portion of Lisa’s practice involves counseling employers on personnel issues and defending them in employment-related claims, including class actions and multi-party lawsuits. Lisa’s practice centers on “hot button” employment issues such as claims brought under the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), wage and hour laws, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as it relates to employees and equal access, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).  She also handles tort, contract claims, including covenants not to compete, and whistleblower claim.  Lisa represents clients before administrative agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the U.S. Department of Labor, and various state agencies throughout the country.  Lisa regularly litigates cases in state and federal courts and has represented clients before the U.S. Supreme Court.

This program can be submitted for review to the Institutes®CPCU – Risk and Insurance Management for CPCU credit.

A NOTE WHEN REGISTERING:
Registration For Members: The non-member rate is set as the default rate. You must be logged in as a member in order to receive the member rate.

Registration For Non-Members: Please complete the registration form as it appears once you click on “To Register”.

Location: One Liberty Plaza, 165 Broadway, New York, NY 10006

Registration Fees:
Member: $95
Non-Member: $115

IRUA’s FREE WEBINAR!

REGISTRATION: To register for this FREE webinar, just send an email to Jerry Wallis, IRUA Executive Director at jwallis@irua.org. Capacity is limited so register early.

DEMOTECH AND A FLORIDA MARKET UPDATE
February 17, 2022 ♦ 12:00 – 1:00 pm (EST) ♦ Presented Via Zoom

IRUA and Demotech, Inc. are jointly presenting the 2022 Conference at the Marriott Harbor Beach Resort, Fort Lauderdale, Florida over April 25 – 27, 2022.

Demotech’s President, CEO and Co-Founder, Joe Petrelli, will be a featured speaker as well as a moderator of several sessions. This FREE Florida Market Update Webinar will demonstrate Demotech’s critical role in the coastal property insurance marketplace. This webinar will especially benefit IRUA members and attendees who may want a preview prior to the Conference.

Barry J. Koestler, II, CFA, Chief Ratings Officer, and Robert M. Warren, CPCU, CPA (Inactive), Client Services Manager will also represent Demotech.

Demotech is the second largest rating service in the United States based upon count of uniquely rated insurers. It was the first to review and rate independent, regional and specialty insurance companies commencing in 1989.  Their focus on business models, not size, has attracted several Insurtech companies. Demotech recognizes that a company’s business model and reinsurance program (quantity and quality reinsurance™), not its financial size, are essential to its financial stability.

Joseph Petrelli, ACAS, ASA, MAAA has been engaged in the Property & Casualty Insurance industry since 1969, attending the College of Insurance as a work study student, beginning his career at the predecessor to Insurance Services Office, and then holding positions at Agway Insurance Company, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, and as a consulting actuary prior to founding Demotech in 1985.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in Actuarial Science from The College of Insurance (now within St. John’s University) and a Master in Business Administration from The Ohio State University.

This presentation will include a discussion of critical balance sheet metrics, thoughts on the characteristics of effective horizontal and vertical reinsurance programs as well as many of the qualitative items that are included in Demotech’s annual review process.

REGISTRATION: To register for this FREE webinar, just send an email to Jerry Wallis, IRUA Executive Director at jwallis@irua.org. Capacity is limited so register early.  

*****Connection information will be emailed to you on Wednesday February 16th, 2022 so please look for it then!*****

For Details of the Conference Agenda, Hotel Bookings, Sponsorship Opportunities and Conference Registration, please visit our website at: www.irua.org

REINSURANCE CASUALTY UNDERWRITING AUDITS *
February 24, 2021  ♦  12:00 pm – 1:00 pm  ♦ Powered via Zoom

Guest Speaker
Lewis Paul

This virtual seminar is geared to all levels of experience on conducting casualty underwriting audits of ceding companies.  We will cover areas including pre-audit preparation, key areas of focus during the audit, and wrap up strategies.  Your presenter has 45 years of reinsurance underwriting and executive management experience; and managed the underwriting audit team at PartnerRe for 18 years before retiring at the end of 2020.  He is now acting as a consultant on reinsurance underwriting and providing underwriting auditing services.

Registration Fees:
Members: IRUA corporate member professionals – $75
IRUA Individual Members: (not associated with an IRUA member company)- $75
Non-IRUA members – $95

Please Note: Before registering and if you are not sure if your company is an IRUA member, please see the “crawler” on our homepage that features all IRUA member companies.

A NOTE WHEN REGISTERING:
Registration For Members: The non-member rate is set as the default rate. You must be logged in as a member in order to receive the member rate.

First Time Registrants: If you are registering for an event for the first time and are from a member company, please email Jerry Wallis: jwallis@irua.org or Maria Sclafani: mcs@irua.org to be set up as a member so that you can log in and receive the member rate. Once logged in, the system will identify you as being from a member company and the non-member rate will automatically change to the member rate.

A full day presentation will focus on Cyber as an underwriting exposure to multiple lines of business; property, casualty and specialty.

We will discuss cyber coverage modules, pricing, risk analysis, accumulation modeling and international regulatory changes. The seminar is  targeted towards senior, intermediate and junior level professionals with little cyber know how.

In addition, this program can be submitted for review to the Institutes®CPCU – Risk and Insurance Management for CPCU credit.

CLICK HERE To Download Agenda
CLICK HERE To Download the Attendance List
CLICK HERE To Download Speaker Profiles

Presentations
Cyber Liability & Data Breach
Established & Emerging Cyber Coverages, Gaps, Underwriting of Midsized Risks
Cyber Statistics, Modeling & Pricing
Cyber Exposure & UW of Large Risks
Key Cyber Risk Insurance Coverage, Data Breach, and Standing Decisions 2017
War Exclusions and Cyber Threats From States and State-Sponsored Hackers

Registration Fees
Members – $525
Non-Members – $675

Presenting IRUA’s First Webinar of 2024!

A WALL STREET VIEW OF THE
INSURANCE/REINSURANCE INDUSTRY UPDATE

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2024
1:00 – 2:00 pm (EST US & Canada)
Presented Via Zoom

Guest Speaker
SETH BAIR
Managing Director
Head of Insurance and Asset Management Investment Banking
Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, a Stifel Company

It’s the New Year so time again for this extremely popular, and the first, IRUA 2024 session!  Mr. Bair will be presenting an update on KBW’s view of the Insurance/Reinsurance industry.  This session is always insightful and timely. We all look forward to hearing his analysis and views and the potential effects on, and prospects for, the publicly traded insurance and reinsurance market. Will there be a “Class of 24”; what are the prospects for Cat Bonds and the ILS and Alternative Capital markets?  These and other topics will be discussed and reviewed.

SETH BAIR BIOGRAPHY

THIS WEBINAR IS AN EXECUTIVE LEVEL PROGRAM AND NOT PART OF OUR BASIC SYLLABUS SERIES OF EVENTS

Registration Fees
Members: IRUA Corporate Member Professionals – $80
IRUA Individual Members: (Not Associated with an IRUA Member Company)- $80
Non-IRUA Members – $110

TO REGISTER
Visit the IRUA Website at:  www.irua.org OR

CLICK HERE

Note:  Connection details will be emailed the day prior to the meeting to all registered attendees.  The Sharing of connection information/links and/or presentations from IRUA webinars is strictly prohibited.

A NOTE WHEN REGISTERING:
The non-member rate is set as the default rate. You must be logged in as a member in order to receive the member rate.  Should you encounter any issues registering, please contact Maria Sclafani at: mcs@irua.org

Best Regards,

IRUA’s Education Committee

CATASTROPHE MODELING FOR UNDERWRITERS & BROKERS*
Tuesday, March 22, 2022 ♦ 12:00 – 1:00 pm (EST) ♦ Presented Via Zoom

Presented By

SUSAN DENIKE, Guy Carpenter
 Managing Director, North America Catastrophe Advisory

and

SARAH MACIOROWSKI, Guy Carpenter
Assistant Vice President

CLICK  HERE TO REGISTER

Cat modeling is part of all broker’s or underwriter’s work but what does it all mean?  Your presenters will explain what the components, acronyms and key metrics mean and how data drives modeling results.  Hear about different models – including for emerging risks – their output, and how they can be interpreted and applied.  This webinar is suitable for all involved in both property and casualty cat products and lines, including casualty clash and workers compensation.

It is planned to cover the following aspects:

• Why cat models exist and how they’ve evolved
• Basic building blocks (Hazard, Vulnerabilities, Financial aspects)
• What lines of business are typically modeled?
• Secondary modifiers
• Core perils traditionally relied on vs secondary / emerging perils – how do Sub-perils factor in? i.e. storm surge, fire following
• Understanding model uncertainty – model miss, what is and is not intended to be in the “out of the box” results

Interpreting results:

• Acronyms – AAL, OEP, AEP, PML
• Loss perspectives  – GU, GR, RL, TR

How are results used?

• Insurance / Reinsurance, pricing, buying decisions, regulatory responses, rating agencies, etc.
• How do companies use catastrophe models to inform reinsurance transactions?

Ms. Denike is based in Morristown, N.J.  She is  a Managing Director in Guy Carpenter’s Global Strategic Advisory group and specializes in the analysis of catastrophic risk. She began her career with Guy Carpenter more than 30 years ago as a property facultative broker.  After nearly 10 years in that role, she  transitioned to Analytics working in an advisory role in the development of EQECAT’s catastrophe modeling software, at the time a joint venture between Guy Carpenter and EQE.  Since that time, she has focused on managing the deployment of analytics, modeling and placement support for large, complex global accounts across a wide array of classes of business.  Susan graduated from the University at Albany (SUNY) with a degree in Business Administration and subsequently obtained her CPCU designation. 

Ms. Maciorowski is based in Guy Carpenter’s Minneapolis office. She works with a wide spectrum of clients in the analytics department, specifically the catastrophe modeling section. As part of this department, Sarah works with small mutual companies to large, global E&S companies to clean, model, and interpret exceedance probability results using multiple commercial model vendors. Sarah also is a part of Guy Carpenter’s Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) team, where she creates customized maps for clients to better visualize their portfolio. Her GIS skills enable her to supplement traditional analytic responses to client questions with spatial solutions as well.  Sarah studied applied mathematics, business, and stochastics in Chicago’s South Side at the Illinois Institute of Technology where she graduated early. Sarah’s four years of catastrophe modeling experience coupled with her nearly three years of GIS experience fuels her to continue finding the best solutions for Guy Carpenter’s clients.

* The asterisk at the end of this session title denotes that this is another in our “Reinsurance Basic Syllabus Series” of programs, forming part of the “Reinsurance Basic Syllabus”.  This initiative is bringing a series of twelve topics geared towards those professionals who have only recently joined this great industry or who have just a few years of experience.  It is intended to be a “Reinsurance Primer Series” of basic topics and which will be offered on a rolling two-year cycle.  A Certificate will be issued to participants who complete 10 of the 12 topics.  

Registration Fees:
Members: IRUA corporate member professionals – $75
IRUA Individual Members: (not associated with an IRUA member company)- $75
Non-IRUA members – $95

Please Note: Before registering and if you are not sure if your company is an IRUA member, please see the “crawler” on our homepage that features all IRUA member companies.

A NOTE WHEN REGISTERING:
Registration For Members: The non-member rate is set as the default rate. You must be logged in as a member in order to receive the member rate.

First Time Registrants: If you are registering for an event for the first time and are from a member company, please email Jerry Wallis: jwallis@irua.org or Maria Sclafani: mcs@irua.org to be set up as a member so that you can log in and receive the member rate. Once logged in, the system will identify you as being from a member company and the non-member rate will automatically change to the member rate.

IRUA/REINSURANCE  NETWORKING GROUP

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2019

Ethics in Arbitration: Is it an oxymoron?
Arbitrator “ Disclosures” and Other Bad Behavior in the 21st Century

Michael Goldstein & Ann Halden of the Mound Cotton Wollan & Greengrass Law Firm & Bill Goldsmith of AIG led this lively meeting of the Reinsurance Networking Group.

Presenters
Michael Goldstein, Partner
Mound Cotton Law Firm

Ann Halden, Special Counsel
Mound Cotton Law Firm

William Goldsmith
Reinsurance Counsel
AIG

Location:  Mound Cotton Wollan & Greengrass, LLP, One New York Plaza, New York, NY
Time:  12:00 Noon – 2:00 pm

Registration Fee for Members & Non-Members:  $55