Speak Up if You Care …

If you’re like most insurance firms, your workforce is aging. Or, as a friend of mine recently put it, “There’s a lot of gray hair in the room.” Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but the reality is that more than half of many companies’ workers will be retiring in the next 10 to 15 years.

Have you wondered where you’ll find your next rising star? Who will perpetuate your agency? Who will be the CEO in 30 years?

I have taught Risk Management and Insurance (RMI) for 19 years, with 16 of those at University of North Texas (UNT). During that time, I’ve seen students go to work for direct writers, commercial and personal lines companies, and many private organizations as risk managers. Hiring companies consistently tell me is that a RMI degree is beneficial.

A student who has taken several courses in RMI before graduation is ready to hit the ground running, (versus an underwater basket-weaving major who has to be convinced that insurance is not an evil capitalist plot to destroy the common worker). One employer even likened the RMI degree plan to at least a year’s worth of on-the-job training.

With the high cost of training and turnover, why would you hire someone who isn’t sure they want to be a part of the industry? Whereas most of us stumbled into an RMI career, a student who has majored or minored in RMI has already demonstrated an interest and a commitment to working alongside the rest of us.

Currently, there are only a handful of dedicated RMI programs in the United States. The UNT program requires majors to take seven different courses in RMI, ranging from personal lines to life insurance to commercial casualty. These academic programs get you first-access to the best talent after graduation. It’s a great investment from a hiring standpoint. It also is very effective advertising and promotion to put your name in front of all those students and professors (all of whom buy or will buy insurance in the near future).

But, even a state-funded, nonprofit institution has to consider the bottom line impact of supporting any program, whether academic, athletic or community service-oriented. “Boutique” programs like RMI (and real estate, and financial services) are easy items to cut when times are difficult. There are a lot of schools around the country that, once upon a time, had thriving RMI programs. Now they offer one or two courses in it, if that much.

When you look at U.S. News and World Report’s ranking of the top five RMI programs in the country, the list usually includes Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, University of Georgia, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Georgia State and Temple. All are excellent programs. But, I find it a bit troubling that in a state the size of Texas, with two huge insurance markets (Dallas and Houston), that we don’t have a single school on that list. There’s not even a school that’s close to Texas on the list.

Yet, ask anyone who has hired my students in the past five to 10 years, and they will tell you that about 95 percent of the time (hey, nobody’s perfect) they are absolutely pleased with the decision to hire from our little ‘ol boutique program up here in Denton.

I have some hope for the future of RMI education across the country, because this fall, a university in Maine is starting up a program. And, Saint Joseph’s in Philadelphia is gearing up its program as well, with an endowed professorship named in honor Brian Duperreault (ACE).

Much closer to home, of course, University of Houston Downtown has made great strides toward opening an insurance center next year.

In each of those cases, the schools created a RMI program because the industry demanded it. Insurance agents, brokers and companies all spoke in a unified voice to say, “We value this, we need it, and we’ll do what we have to, to get it.”

If you care about keeping programs like these alive, then please start making your voice heard. There are lots of ways to be heard; here are the ones I recommend.

First, find the program in your area and get to know the faculty. Give the students there a first shot at jobs when you have them. And, participate in school-sponsored events even when you aren’t hiring.

Second, volunteer your time and your company resources when you can. Offer to host an intern for a day, or serve as a mentor to someone who may be a first-generation college student who could use some guidance. Offer to serve as a guest lecturer or substitute instructor for a faculty member.

Once, an oil company’s risk management department sponsored two students, plus a faculty member and his wife, to go to Bermuda. The students and professor were allowed to sit in on the insurance renewal negotiations with the brokers and insurers. What a learning experience. (I am not sure if I can find two students who are willing to go to Bermuda, but I would be glad to look if you asked me to).

Third, write a letter — or two. Send one to the dean, provost and/or president of a school that has an RMI program. Copy the other administrators, as well as the board of regents and maybe even your state representative. Just a short note that says, “I’m really glad you support RMI education. I value the program at your school because … I am doing this to help support it …”

Fourth, make sure your trade associations are actively supporting and promoting the RMI programs in your area. UNT has the support of several Texas organizations like Independent Insurance Agents of Texas, Insurance Council of Texas, as well as local chapters of RIMS, CPCU, NAIW, and many others. Meeting the professionals in these organizations has been a major reason many students changed their majors to RMI.

Finally, donate money specifically to RMI programs at the school of your choice. Universities do not route donations to small programs unless they are instructed to. I have never sent a check to my alma mater (University of Georgia) without specifying that it go to a specific scholarship fund (for insurance majors, of course). Otherwise, the department that got me started on what has been a very fulfilling career to date will never see a penny of it. Get those programs well-funded and secure in terms of their future.

Meanwhile, keep me in mind on that Bermuda deal.