Two Temple University students, Angel Song and Alana Vicale, have won the Captive Insurance Companies Association (CICA)’s ‘Next Generation Captive Insurance Solutions for New Risk Challenges’ essay contest for college risk management and insurance (RMI) students.
Song and Vicale were presented with the award for their essay titled “Captive Solution: Opioid epidemic in the US” at the CICA 2019 conference.
The contest, sponsored by Strategic Risk Solutions (SRS), required two-person teams to describe how and why a captive insurance company could be used as a cost-effective method of alternative risk financing for emerging risks and their corresponding loss exposures.
St. Joseph’s University students Kayla Cecchine and Brendan Tarte were awarded second place for their essay named “Captive Insurance: An Intimate and Efficient Risk Financing Solution to Climate Change and Tax Rulings Risks”.
Christian Ferrara and Charles Fisher from Appalachian State University, came in third place for their essay titled “Alternative Risk Solutions: Captive Insurance for Cyber and Supply Chain Risk”.
The three teams of finalists were also invited to present their essays at the conference.
Michael Zuckerman, professor at Temple University and CICA board member, said he was “very proud of Song and Vicale.
He added: “They’re excellent students. I was very impressed they were willing to participate and take the time because they’re both so busy.”
“They were very forward-looking in terms of the of the opioid crisis and the use of risk management and captive insurance company tools.”
Zuckerman said the competition was great for the industry and that he hoped to see it grow.
He said: “It was six students today, maybe it will be twelve a few years from now, and more and more students coming to the conference.”
Song described the contest as “a really great opportunity to use what we learned from class and from our research”.
She added: “We had a lot of help from industry professionals and it has been a pleasure to take part.”
Vicale commented: “I think we have both learned a lot and the contest challenged us to think in ways we didn’t think before.”
“It has been a really good experience for both of us and everyone has been very supportive. We are grateful that CICA gave us this opportunity to learn about a new and emerging risk.”
