IRMII sparks interest in risk management, insurance careers
The pan-University Institute for Risk Management and Insurance Innovation attracts the talented multidisciplinary students the industry needs.
Her dissertation about reducing the consequences of drought-related hydropower shortfalls mentioned the word “insurance” about 200 times.
Yet “I never, ever, thought that I would end up in insurance,” admitted Rosa Cuppari ’20 (MS) ’25 (PhD), an environmental science and engineering scholar who is now a business analyst for Starwind Specialty Insurance.
Specialty insurance covers niche risks that standard policies don’t: cyber threats, environmental hazards, pollution and renewable energy, for example.
“In academia, you can say, ‘Oh, look, here’s a problem. Here’s my nifty, cool solution.’ But you don’t have to think about how many people would buy it,” Cuppari said. “Now I’m being pushed into that new territory, which feels like a very natural extension of the research I was doing.”
Cuppari came to Carolina because of the work of Greg Characklis, William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and founder of the Center on Financial Risk in Environmental Systems.
A research showcase by that center impressed several Carolina alumni in the insurance industry so much that they approached the University about expanding the center’s work. UNC Research launched the pan-University Institute for Risk Management and Insurance Innovation in August 2024, absorbing the Center on Financial Risk in Environmental Systems, with Characklis as its director.
“The combination of those three types of support — the industry money, generous assistance from the University and our contracts and grants — put us in a good position to start to recruit some talented students,” Characklis said.
More than 200 students from a range of fields — physics, data science, business, environmental science, among others — have enrolled in courses for IRMII’s minor in risk management, which is housed at the UNC School of Data Science and Society, and more than 80 students, graduate and undergraduate, are engaged in research. This semester, IRMII students can take a new “launch lab” class, developing risk management products that industry experts will judge ala “Shark Tank.” In June, a group of IRMII students will spend a week in London as global fellows, meeting with professionals from across the industry.
IRMII shows how academia and industry can work together for mutual benefit, creating return on investment for both.
Rosa Cuppari ’20 (MS) ’25 (PhD) is now a business analyst for Starwind Specialty Insurance. (Submitted photo; Graphic by University Creative)
“IRMII has a unique role within the risk management and insurance sector in that it is designed to be responsive to industry needs, training both graduate and undergraduate students in the types of cutting-edge data science and analytical techniques required to better quantify, price and manage society’s increasingly complex risks,” said Tony Ursano, managing partner and co-founder of Insurance Advisory Partners, and chair of IRMII’s industry advisory board.
Encouraged by Ursano, Bill Goldstein, CEO of CRC Underwriting, became IRMII’s executive adviser and recruited Cuppari to work at Starwind.
“To be part of developing future leaders in the industry became extremely interesting to me,” Goldstein said. “The students that we’re attracting are multidisciplinary — super high caliber, academically fantastic, intellectually curious.”
Students Jackson Lefler and Victoria Farella joked that they came to an IRMII interest meeting for the free food but stuck around for the career possibilities. IRMII director of industry engagement Rachel Baum’s presentation about insuring renewable energy projects at Nephila Climate really impressed them.
“Through their strategies, their portfolio management, the company was able to implement several gigawatts of renewable energy in Bermuda. I didn’t know you could do that,” said Farella, a senior in the quantitative energy systems track of environmental science. When she graduates, Farella will work for the Marsh McLennan Agency as an environmental consultant.
Lefler liked Nephila’s approach so much that he went on to intern at the company’s office in Nashville, Tennessee. “I wanted to be able to do something more than just business,” said Lefler, a junior majoring in environmental science and minoring in business. “I wanted to have an impact.”
