Historical data relating to natural catastrophe has been recorded over the centuries and such chronicles can help assess information to estimate the future frequency of occurrence of events, or their expected annual impact.
However, times have changed and technical advancement has ensured that evolving cat models can help with risk assessment at granular levels across many important perils around the globe. Models can be used to quantify event frequency and severity through substantial event catalogs that include a wide range of events that we may have seen versions of in the past as well as events that we have not observed but that are plausible. The models are then able to layer on vulnerability modules to project damage and financial engines to assess insured losses.
But, it is widely acknowledged that science and technical careers are male dominated with only 13% of the overall UK workforce* being women in STEM, and there are relatively few female role models as a consequence.
With topics to focus upon, each will shed light on why they chose this career path, how they started, what inspired them, greatest achievement and tips for the next generation.
At this event, attendees will hear about the history of cat risk, how the planet is coping with climate change and in what way this affects modeling and how cat modelling is revolutionizing the way insurers, reinsurers and financial institutions manage their catastrophe risk.
https://www.stemgraduates.co.uk/women-in-stem*
Our Speakers:
Robin Wilkinson is senior vice president and managing director of Casualty Analytics for Verisk’s extreme event solutions team and has more than 20 years’ experience in legal risk management and has developed risk models for the aviation industry, legal compliance, early predictive models, portfolio accumulation tools, and policy models.
Robin founded and served as CEO of Arium Risk Architecture, which was acquired by Verisk in 2017. She began her career as a corporate lawyer, working first in private practice and last serving as head of Legal Services at British Airways Plc.
Robin holds a JD from the New York University School of Law and a BA in philosophy from Reed College, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa.
Dr. Imelda Powers is a Managing Director of Guy Carpenter. Her interests in mathematics, science, geography, public policies and travel fit well with her career in catastrophe exposure management; first in US, then in UK, and most recently in China. Over thirty years, she has serviced insurers, government entities and reinsurers worldwide. Her focus include fit-for-purpose catastrophe exposure modelling tools, public and private risk transfers, and the global reinsurance markets. Prior to joining Guy Carpenter, she was Executive Vice President of the Catastrophe Modelling Group in TowersWaston. She chaired the first Financial Working Group for the industry-sponsored loss modelling platform, OASIS. She is on the Education Committee of the International Society of Catastrophe Managers (ISCM).
Dr. Powers has published in academic and industry journals. She received her PhD in Operations Research, with a concentration in game theory, from Yale University.
Emma Watkins is Head of Exposure Management & Aggregation at Lloyd’s, where her teams’ responsibilities are to understand and control catastrophe risk, at the individual syndicate and market levels. This includes oversight of cyber, terrorism, liability and natural catastrophe perils, as well as the development and implementation of the Lloyd’s Catastrophe Model and Lloyd’s Catastrophe Risk Operational Framework.
Prior to joining Lloyd’s, Emma held leadership positions in EM and Catastrophe Modelling at Aspen Re, Liberty Syndicates, WRB Underwriting and The Channel Syndicate, including setting up the Exposure Management function at WRB and gaining Lloyd’s approval for this area of the managing agency. She began her career 20 years ago in Treaty Reinsurance Underwriting at Wellington, after gaining a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford. Emma is a Chartered Insurer and Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute, and holds the CCRA and CCRMP designations.
Jane Toothill is the Managing Director of JBA Risk Management, market-leading global specialists in flood mapping, modelling and analysis. She has 23 years’ experience in modelling and managing natural hazard and catastrophe risk and now leads the UK operations at JBA.
Jane studied geology at Bristol and holds a PhD in Environmental Science from Lancaster University. After university she joined EQECAT as a catastrophe model developer and project manager and from there moved to Guy Carpenter, where she set up and headed the European Model Development Team. She has also acted as a natural catastrophe advisor to Zurich Financial Services along the way.
Outside of work, Jane enjoys exploring the great outdoors and is a qualified International Mountain Leader.
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