Juniors Ashley Martin and Max Bernstein proposed a group captive as a solution to provide insurance coverage for 30,000 college student housing rentals across the country.

MINNEAPOLIS ─ MAR 31, 2021 ─ Saint Joseph’s University juniors Ashley Martin and Max Bernstein received first place honors in the 2021 Captive Insurance Companies Association (CICA) college student essay contest “Using Captive Insurance to Better Manage Risk, Improve Your Bottom Line.”

The winners were announced today during a webinar hosted by CICA Essay Contest sponsor Strategic Risk Solutions. During the webinar the three finalist teams presented their essays and fielded questions, followed by the announcement of the winning team. Second place went to Jake Smedley and Joseph Simmons from Temple University and third place to Natalie Kojababian and Terra-Lynn Tokiwa from the University of Southern California.

“Each year I get more excited about the quality and the professionalism of the cases the students present,” CICA President Dan Towle said. “This year the entire contest was conducted during the pandemic. 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,” Towle added.

Brady Young, CEO Strategic Risk Solutions, said “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.”

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.

In addition to presenting at the webinar, the teams also win cash prizes, $2,500 for first place, $1,500 for second placed and $1,000 for third; and will have their essays published by Essay Contest Media Partner Captive Insurance Times.

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