Kelley Center for Insurance Innovation

Experiences:

• Student interns work alongside insurtech start-up founders who are building solutions that support the insurance industry at the Global Insurance Accelerator.
• Disruption Days brings the campus community together to celebrate insurance careers each February. Authors, innovators, and investors share their experiences and illustrate future opportunities. A case study competition provides cash prizes as students learn about innovations impacting insurance, develop presentations, and enhance their business skills.
• The Drake Risk & Opportunity Forum brings insurance industry Chief Financial Officers, Chief Investment Officers, Chief Risk Officers, Deputy General Counsel, Controllers, and many levels of actuaries to campus to hear subject matter experts share their perspectives on timely risks and how they lead to business opportunities. The Forum provides the opportunity for students to engage with risk management professionals to both network and consider career options.
• Students learn alongside industry leaders at the Global Insurance Symposium. The multi-day event annually brings together innovators, executive officers, and regulators from around the world to provide thought leadership to the industry. Since 2014, it has drawn more than 3,200 attendees from 13 countries. 
• The Archie Boe lecture is an endowed lecture series that focuses on ethical decision-making in business. Past lectures have addressed issues such as diversity, equity, and inclusion, climate change, 'big data', and the use of genomic information in insurance pricing. The lecture is named to honor a Drake alumnus and former Chairman of Allstate Insurance Company.
• Students interested in insurance employment are encouraged to become active in the Chi chapter of Gamma Iota Sigma, Zimpleman's award-winning professional fraternity in Risk Management, Insurance, and Actuarial Science. The organization hosts guest speakers, sponsors professional development events, and hosts the Drake Symposium, which attracts more than 100 actuarial students from 20 universities across the United States and Canada.  

The Zimpleman College of Business Insurance Innovation Lab hires students as interns to research innovation applications in insurance. Students select a topic and work throughout the school year to develop a presentation for insurance company executives. Students learn from insurance carriers, insurtech founders, authors, and their own independent research.

Past presentations have included:

• An Insurance Carrier's Guide to Insurtech Engagement
• How IOT is Adding Proactivity to Insurance
• Sustainability in the Insurance Industry

Furthermore, their work has been published in the Drake Management Review.

The Kelley Center hires student interns to work alongside experienced faculty to research timely insurance topics. Recent research has explored career opportunities in the Iowa insurance industry.