Schools with an Exceptional Insurance & Risk Management MBA Faculty
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Students with an analytical mindset can be excellent candidates for a master’s in business administration in risk management and insurance. This type of program helps students to identify and mitigate risk, make sound investment decisions, and draw up successful financial plans. Moreover, an MBA trains students in valuable areas of business, such as marketing, accounting, leadership, law, and ethics.
An MBA in risk management and insurance consists of courses such as managing risk across an enterprise, property and casualty risk management, and insurance and risk management in the present day and age. Students in this track gain a global overview of business and can be well-equipped to make strategic business decisions. Upon completion of the program, they can take up roles as management analysts, information assurance analysts, information security officers, and market research analysts.
The following guide profiles exceptional insurance and risk management professors, with four schools, in particular, that stand out among the rest.
Florida State University
Founded in 1851, Florida State University helps students develop expertise in the sciences, technology, arts, humanities, and professions. The public university based in Tallahassee is dedicated to excellence in teaching, research, creative endeavors, and service and is classified as a research university, recognized by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Alumni include Rhodes Scholars, members of the U.S. House of Representatives, senators, U.S. ambassadors, governors, and generals and admirals for the U.S. military.
While the school’s College of Business is one of the youngest of its kind, its reputation for excellence has helped it become one of the largest. The university is consistently ranked as a top business school by the U.S. News & World Report. The Florida State master of business administration (MBA) equips students with the skills, expertise, and professional network needed to advance in today’s fast-paced business world. The risk management and insurance program at the Florida State University College of Business develops a student’s ability to analyze issues from different perspectives, encourages critical thinking, and emphasizes discipline needed for a career in risk management and insurance.
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Cassandra Cole, PhD
Florida State UniversityDr. Cassandra R. Cole serves as the director of the master of science in risk management and insurance program in Florida State University, where she teaches a seminar in risk and its control, the fundamentals of risk and insurance, and a doctoral seminar in risk and insurance theory and leads the risk management and insurance internship program. Prior to joining Florida State University, she worked at the University of Georgia.
Dr. Cole’s areas of expertise include retirement adequacy, retirement plans, insurance regulation, and corporate governance. She is a member of several professional organizations such as the American Risk and Insurance Association and the Southern Risk and Insurance Association. She also has published her work in well-known journals such as the Journal of Insurance Issues, the Journal of Insurance Regulation, and the Journal of Risk and Insurance. Notably, she received the RMIR Best Perspectives Article Award and the State Farm Companies Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Award.
Dr. Cole completed her doctorate in risk management and insurance from the University of Georgia and her bachelor of business administration in insurance from Howard University.
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Charles Nyce, PhD
Florida State UniversityDr. Charles Nyce is an associate professor of insurance and risk management at Florida State University. He teaches courses on alternative risk financing, risk in business and society, a risk management and insurance internship, special topics in risk management and insurance, and principles of risk management and insurance.
Dr. Nyce’s areas of expertise include corporate risk management, catastrophic risk financing, and alternative risk financing. His work has appeared in prominent journals such as the Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, the Journal of Risk and Insurance, and the Journal of Insurance Regulation. He also has won various awards, such as the Outstanding Faculty Member Award and the Terry-Sanford Research Award. He is a member of the American Risk and Insurance Association and the CPCU Society.
Dr. Nyce completed his doctorate in insurance, risk management, real estate, and finance; his master’s in insurance and risk management at the University of Pennsylvania; and his bachelor’s in mathematics with a minor in computer science, risk management, and insurance at LaSalle University.
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St. John’s University, Peter J. Tobin College of Business
St. John’s University is a Catholic school that was founded in 1870 in Brooklyn, New York. In the 1950s, the school was relocated to its current campus in Hillcrest, Queens. The school is a primarily doctoral and research university but also provides undergraduate programs. Notable alumni include several former governors of New York and California, a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and other distinguished politicians, as well as an NBA Hall of Fame legend. The university is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools and has 13 specialized accreditations.
The accelerated, online MBA in risk management and insurance from the Peter J. Tobin College of Business prepares students to apply what they’ve learned into their place of work, all the while gaining a better understanding of the functional areas of business. Upon completion of this master’s program, graduates have an in-depth understanding, real-world insights, and industry knowledge that can help them ace a wide variety of management roles.
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Mark J. Browne, PhD
Peter J. Tobin College of BusinessDr. Mark J. Browne is the distinguished Robert Clements chair in risk management and insurance in the Tobin College of Business at St. John’s. He teaches classes in property risk management, cases in insurance, corporate risk management, and insurance research.
Dr. Browne’s work has been published in top-notch journals such as the Journal of Risk and Insurance, the Journal of Insurance Regulation, and the North American Actuarial Journal. He is also a member of several professional organizations such as the American Economics Association and the American Risk and Insurance Association. Notably, he received the Beta Gamma Sigma Dean Award for Teaching Excellence and the Larsen Award for Teaching Excellence.
Dr. Browne earned his doctorate, master’s, and bachelor’s in risk management and insurance from the University of Pennsylvania. In his doctoral degree, he minored in economics and statistics.
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W. Jean J. Kwon, PhD
Peter J. Tobin College of BusinessDr. W. Jean J. Kwon is the Edwin A.G. Manton endowed chair professor of international insurance and risk management at the St. John’s University in the School of Risk Management. He teaches courses on the principles of risk and insurance, insurance industry structure and operations, and trading risk global reins.
Dr. Kwon’s research efforts focus on insurance regulation and supervision, mergers and acquisitions in insurance, financial and operational analysis of group insurance companies, and global, regional, and national insurance market analysis. He has been published in prominent journals such as the Journal of Insurance Regulation, the Hitotsubashi Journal of Commerce and Management, and the Asia-Pacific Journal of Risk and Insurance of which he is the editor. Dr. Kwon also helped establish the Asia-Pacific Risk and Insurance Association (APRIA) in 1997. He is a Fulbright Insurance Specialist and a three-time winner of the Research Excellence Award from the International Insurance Society and the Geneva Association.
Dr. Kwong completed his doctorate at Georgia State University and his MBA at St. John’s.
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University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business
Consistently ranked among the top ten universities in the country, the Ivy League University of Pennsylvania enrolls 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students each year into its world-renowned programs and professional schools. In 1881, American entrepreneur and industrialist Joseph Wharton established the world’s first collegiate school of business at the University of Pennsylvania, called the Wharton School.
The Wharton MBA is one of the top MBA programs in the world and has earned a global reputation by educating some of the best minds in business for more than a century. Wharton’s research and curriculum focus on productivity, growth, and social progress. The school’s long list of notable alumni includes a U.S. president and the CEOs of Google, Apple, LinkedIn, SpaceX and Tesla, General Electric, Boeing, Oracle, UPS, Pepsi, and BlackRock, among others.
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Jean Lemaire, PhD
Wharton School of BusinessDr. Jean Lemaire teaches insurance and risk management topics at the Wharton School, such as the fundamentals of actuarial science and actuarial statistics. He is currently the distinguished Harry J. Loman professor of insurance and risk management.
Dr. Lemaire’s current research examines merit-rating systems in automobile insurance and the impact of firearm deaths on life expectancies in the United States. His research has been published in well-respected journals such as the European Actuarial Journal, the Journal of Risk Management, and the Asia-Pacific Journal of Risk and Insurance. He has lectured in almost 60 countries on actuarial science and insurance regulation and is the recipient of the Wharton Hauck Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Wharton Undergraduate Excellence in Teaching Award.
Dr. Lemaire has a doctorate in mathematics, a master’s in actuarial science, and a bachelor’s in applied mathematics—all from the Université Libre de Bruxelles. He also holds an operations research certificate from the same school.
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Olivia S. Mitchell, PhD
Wharton School of BusinessDr. Olivia S. Mitchell is a professor of business economics and public policy at the Wharton School. Presently, she teaches courses in risk management, managerial economics, employee benefits, social insurance, and business insurance and estate planning.
Her research examines the economics of public and private pensions, employee benefits, social insurance, and risk and crisis management. Notably, she served as a commissioner on the President’s commission to strengthen social security. Dr. Mitchell has written articles for top journals such as the Journal of Financial Economics, the Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, and the Journal of Risk and Insurance. She also has won several honors, including the Carolyn Shaw Bell Award and Fidelity Pyramid Research Institute Award.
Dr. Mitchell completed her doctorate and master’s in economics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and her bachelor’s in the same subject from Harvard University. She has several honorary degrees, including an honorary master’s from the University of Pennsylvania.
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University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison was founded in 1848, and its School of Business was founded more than 50 years later. This public research university is one of the country’s Public Ivy universities, a designation for the top public universities that provide a collegiate experience comparable with the Ivy League.
The Wisconsin School of Business is widely known for its academic rigor and excellence and the curriculum is driven by current research. The esteemed faculty prepares Wisconsin graduates for leadership positions in their careers. Students develop exceptionally strong critical thinking and analytical skills and benefit from a wide variety of interactions with business professionals in risk management, insurance operations, consulting, brokerage, and healthcare fields. The school’s notable alumni include the CEOs of Symantec, Cisco Systems, Kimberly-Clark, Toshiba, and owners of Major League Baseball teams, among many others. The Wisconsin School of Business’s Department of Risk and Insurance was also designated a Global Center of Insurance Excellence by the International Insurance Society.
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Joan T. Schmit, PhD
University of Wisconsin–MadisonDr. Joan T. Schmit serves as the American family insurance distinguished chair in risk management and insurance at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She teaches courses on the principles of risk management, advanced topics in risk management, managing the legal environment, and independent readings and research. Before she joined the University of Wisconsin–Madison, she worked at the University of South Carolina.
Dr. Schmit is an expert in insurance regulation, enterprise risk management, microinsurance, reputation risk, and the interaction of law and economics in the context of insurance and risk management. She has been published in the Journal of Risk Finance, the Journal of Risk and Insurance, and the Journal of Insurance Regulation. She also is a member of several professional organizations, including the International Cooperatives and Mutuals Insurance Federation and the International Insurance Society.
Dr. Schmit completed her doctorate in insurance at Indiana University, as well as her MBA and bachelor of business administration in risk management and insurance at the Wisconsin School of Business.
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Justin Sydnor, PhD
University of Wisconsin–MadisonDr. Justin Sydnor is the distinguished Leslie P. Schultz professor in risk management and insurance at the Wisconsin School of Business and an applied microeconomist specializing in behavioral economics. He teaches undergraduate courses in risk analytics and behavioral science, property risk management, and graduate courses in advanced topics in risk management, the principles of risk management, a seminar in actuarial science, and risk management and insurance.
Dr. Sydnor’s research focuses on applied microeconomics, insurance markets, psychology and economics, risk and decision making, and industrial organization. He is a part of the American Economic Association and the American Risk and Insurance Association and has published his work in coveted journals that include the American Economic Journal, the Journal of Risk and Insurance, and the Journal of Human Resources. He is the recipient of the Weatherhead Undergraduate Teaching Award and the Lewis-Progressive Junior Faculty Fellowship.
Dr. Sydnor has a doctorate in economics from the University of California, Berkeley and a double bachelor’s degree in economics and German from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
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Methodology
We used the following criteria to select professors for inclusion in this list:
- University affiliation: Professors must be actively teaching at an accredited university in the U.S.
- Publication: They have published their research in influential peer-reviewed journals and presented it at industry conferences.
- Institutional and peer recognition: They have received awards, distinguished titles, notable grants, and research funding.
- Professional commitment: They have built curricula and programs, become leaders in professional organizations, volunteered extensively in their communities, and/or consulted for companies in the field.