UNC Launches Risk Management Institute with IAP’s Ursano Chair of Advisory Board

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced it is launching an Institute for Risk Management and Insurance Innovation, an interdisciplinary research and innovation center.

“The new institute will conduct research that improves our understanding of society’s emerging financial risks and our ability to better manage these risks, even as we prepare a new breed of student to become leaders in the risk management and insurance industry,” Greg Characklis, a professor of environmental sciences and engineering who will lead the institute, said in a statement.

The program aims to foster collaboration among researchers who seek to develop new ways to manage risk, along with educational programs for students interested in careers in risk management and insurance, the university said.

Some 25 firms have made financial commitments for the program for research and training, said Vice Chancellor for Research Penny Gordon-Larsen.

Industry partners will be members of the advisory board, which will be chaired by alumnus Tony Ursano, co-founding managing partner of Insurance Advisory Partners, a merger and acquisition advisory firm with offices in New York.