Ashley Martin and Max Bernstein from Saint Joseph’s University have received first place honours in the Captive Insurance Companies Association (CICA) college student essay contest, winning a cash prize of $2,500.
Juniors Martin and Bernstein proposed a group captive as a solution to provide insurance coverage for 30,000 college student housing rentals across the US.
The winners were announced today during a webinar hosted by CICA Essay Contest sponsor Strategic Risk Solutions (SRS).
During the webinar, the three finalist teams presented their essays and fielded questions, followed by the announcement of the winning team.
Jake Smedley and Joseph Simmons of Temple University were awarded second place with their captive proposal for classic auto sales and collision centres, while third place was awarded to Natalie Kojababian, one of last year’s winners, and Terra-Lynn Tokiwa from the University of Southern California, who focused their captive solution on college student housing.
Second place and third place will receive a cash prize of $1,500 and $1,000, respectively.
All three essays will be published in the next issue of Captive Insurance Times, available to download on 14 April.
Both Martin and Bernstein, risk management majors with second majors in accounting and finance, say their understanding of captives went from limited at the outset of the contest to appreciating the benefits of captives and the interesting work resulting from solving risk management concerns with captive insurance.
Commenting on the essay contest, Dan Towle, CICA president, says: “Each year I get more excited about the quality and the professionalism of the cases the students present.”
This year the entire contest was conducted during the pandemic. Towle explains: “These students showed amazing dedication, tackling the contest while navigating many school-related changes and collaborating remotely. That’s the kind of drive and creativity the captive industry needs.”
Brady Young, CEO of SRS, comments: “We are pleased to support CICA in this overall effort to raise the awareness level about captives to college students and use the contest as a ‘carrot’ to engage them in learning more about the strategic and operational aspects of captives to solve real word insurance and risk management challenges.”
“Whether they work directly in the captive industry or not, the knowledge and awareness they gain will help them in whatever role they take on as these graduates start their careers,” Young adds.
Last year, Kojababian and Megan Moore were named the winners after they proposed a group captive insurance solution to provide liability coverage for cannabis association members.
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