Insurance Information Institute Adds Three to Research Staff

October 14, 2005

Three new economists have joined the Insurance Information Institute, as part of the group’s effort to enhance its research and analytic capabilities.

Dr. Marcellus W. Andrews, economist, will concentrate on property/casualty insurance, with a focus on auto and homeowners insurance issues. Prior to joining the I.I.I., he was a Senior Research Fellow at the New America Foundation. Dr. Andrews has also served on the faculty of Wellesley College and the School of Public Affairs at Baruch College, City University of New York as the first holder of the Lillian and Nathan Ackerman Chair of Equality and Justice in America.

Dr. Andrews earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration at the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce at the University of Pennsylvania and an M.A., M.Phil. and Ph.D. in economics from Yale University.

Dr. L. James Valverde, Jr., director of economics and risk management, will focus primarily on issues and concerns within the industry where risk and uncertainty are pervasive and problematic elements, including specifically, strategic decision-making, enterprise risk management, catastrophe/disaster management and terrorism.

Dr. Valverde was a Visiting Economics Fellow and Assistant Director at the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO). He has also held senior executive positions at several international consulting firms and served on the faculty of the London School of Economics and the MIT Sloan School. Dr. Valverde earned his Master of Science degree from Stanford University, and his S.M. and Ph.D. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr. Steven Weisbart, economist, will be specializing in annuities and pensions, and life, disability and long-term care insurance. Prior to joining the Insurance Information Institute, Dr. Weisbart was Vice President at Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association-College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF) in New York. He has also served as Associate Professor of Insurance in the Department of Risk Management and Insurance in the College of Business at Georgia State University.

Dr. Weisbart received his Ph.D. and Master of Arts degrees in economics from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was an S.S. Huebner Foundation Fellow. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Cornell University. Dr. Weisbart also holds the Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) credential.

All three economists will be working with Dr. Robert Hartwig, chief economist. “We are very fortunate to have three such qualified additions to the I.I.I. staff,” said Dr. Hartwig. “They come to the I.I.I. at a time when the insurance industry faces a variety of extraordinary challenges ranging from record catastrophic loss to the threat of terrorism. Increasing our intellectual capital is imperative as we work to create a better-informed public policy debate while helping the public and media understand the many complexities of the industry’s current situation.”

As part of the new organization, Jeanne Salvatore has been promoted to senior vice president of public affairs and will be managing the media relations function of the I.I.I.

The Insurance Information Institute is a nonprofit communications organization supported by the insurance industry.

For more detailed biographical information and photos, go to http://www.iii.org/media/photos/

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