Scout InsurTech Spotlight with Dr. Annette Hofmann

Annette Hofmann is the Founder and Co-Chairperson of the Risk Management Education Foundation, a non-profit initiative advancing education and saving lives through risk management expertise and charitable initiatives to spread and share knowledge in risk and insurance literacy. Annette was interviewed by Michael Fiedel, Co-Founder at Scout InsurTech and Co-Founder at PolicyFly, Inc.

Annette, who is the team behind the Risk Management Education Foundation, and why did you start the organization?

“The team is the three of us: myself, Chris Gassman, and John Black. It all started with a conversation I had with John on how to improve the sharing of risk competence. We were talking about hosting an event on insurance and risk management related to AI. John has a huge network and a lot of industry contacts, and I wanted to gain visibility for the Lindner Center for Insurance and Risk Management and work more closely with the industry. It felt like a win-win to us on the spot. 

Then Chris joined us, and we decided the general goal would be to help and educate the public. We all saw the need. There’s a general misperception about the risk management industry, and we wanted to do something to raise awareness and understanding. We're not doing this for profit; it's a nonprofit. We’re here to support the industry, students, our academic partners and help the world become a better and safer place.”

Why do you see a need for a commercial and academic partnership presently?

“These kinds of partnerships don’t exist very often, or at least not in the form we envision. Sure, some academic institutions work with the industry, and some focus on academic consulting, but that’s not what we’re doing here. Our goal is to come together to learn from each other and anyone who wants to join the conversation is welcome.

From my European background, I may notice more prominently how academia and industry often operate in different silos. As academics, we're deeply involved in research and publishing. We want to close gaps in the literature, but we don’t always know about the current challenges in the insurance industry. Some of the obvious ones come up like cyber and wildfire risks today, but those are just the tip of the iceberg.

There’s so much we could help with, but we’re not having those conversations. So, this foundation is about building these bridges, understanding each other’s worlds and using a shared vocabulary. That’s what we want to create, a space for dialogue and collaboration in the risk space.”

What should be the governmental role in all of this?

“We are including regulators in our efforts. For instance, at our first event on June 12th, we’ll have a few regulators join the conversation as we discuss the impact of AI on the insurance world. I’m hopeful it’s going to be a very fruitful discussion. Having the government engaged, whether through regulation, thought leadership or regular participation, can help expand the perspectives shared in our events and connect education with real-world implementation.”

Where do you see an opportunity for the industry to do a better job with risk management?

“Education is one of the great strengths of the insurance market. We have certifications and development opportunities. But, there’s a huge opportunity for more joint partnerships between academia and the industry to learn from each other.

Artificial Intelligence is both a new threat and a new hope. That’s why we’re focusing on it at our first event. I didn’t grow up with AI, but I’m excited to learn how to use it to everyone’s advantage, especially in the insurance space. We all stand to benefit from it.

Ultimately, it’s about understanding the real-world impact of our work. How many lives are we saving with a research article? - well, that depends on who reads it and who is able to implement a solution to a problem in the real world. Could we price policies more efficiently? - that depends on our knowledge and understanding of the underlying risk and its evolution over time. Can AI help with that? - I am pretty sure it can and will. We need these joint discussions to do better together.”

What do you foresee the Risk Management Education Foundation accomplishing in the next year, and where might the organization go from here?

“In this first year, I’m hoping to have at least one really good event per semester. These are events that bring together practitioners, academics, students and anyone interested. I want these gatherings to be about learning and sharing knowledge, and I hope projects will emerge from them that genuinely make the world a better, safer place.

Eventually, I’d love to see the events grow in attendance and numbers. Our first one is capped at 100 people because of the room size at the University Club, but we’re also looking into streaming and expanding our reach.

I want this foundation to be a platform where we share challenges and ideas and support future risk management professionals. Our students are the future, but many of them need to learn and understand what a career in risk management and insurance can look like. We’re talking about natural catastrophes, cyber risk exposures, terrorism, pandemics, floods and earthquakes, and insurance touches all of that.

So, part of our mission is to help students and professionals who want to learn more about risk management — and the public — understand the true importance and breadth of this field. And from there, who knows where it will grow. It starts with having these conversations, and that’s exactly what we’re doing."

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