Simon Lecture 2024

Dear Community Members

What a wonderful event our 2024 Simon Lecture turned out to be. Old friends and new friends alike descended upon the Graduate Hotel in East Lansing on November 15, to mingle, dine, and hear two excellent presentations. 

The first talk came from Detroit Catholic Central’s Investment Club, detailing their history, achievements, and future aspirations. We learned that giving back to their school is core to the students’ mission, as is developing their investing acumen. 

Their faculty advisor, Anthony Cornish, has done a fantastic job working with the club. After the talk, the audience asked plenty of questions of the students, which they answered well. 

Giving young researchers a platform to communicate their work is deeply important to Ron and Mary Simon, as it is to us at MSU, and we thank the students and Tony for sharing their work with us.

Following dinner, our 2024 Simon Lecturer presented her work on risk taking in driving simulation. Ann Hofmann is an internationally known speaker on risk management and economics, and her talk highlighted how i-racers in a competitive league view risk over different time and certification horizons. The audience asked multiple questions, sparking a lively and engaging discussion.

We want to thank Ann, who in addition to her multiple leadership roles at the University of Cincinnati and the American Risk and Insurance Association, also took the time to chat with all audience members who approached her before and after the talk. We’re not sure, but it’s possible a few new research ideas were developed in those conversations!

In closing, thank you to our Aon and Auto-Owners Insurance for sponsoring the event, our wonderful partners in the Actuarial Program and the College of Natural Science, and Ron and Mary Simon for making this event happen. We are already planning for 2025 - see you again very soon!

Go Green,

Albert Cohen, PhD

 

KEY NOTE SPEAKER 

 

                                     

 

Annette Hofmann is the Great American Insurance Group endowed Chairholder and Director of the Lindner Center for Insurance and Risk Management at the University of Cincinnati. Professor Hofmann serves as a member of the Board of the American Risk and Insurance Association and is currently Editor-in-Chief of the Risk Management and Insurance Review, a journal published quarterly by WILEY. She previously held the Robert F. Corroon Chair in Risk Economics at the Maurice R. Greenberg School of Risk Management, Insurance and Actuarial Science at St. John's University in New York. She also held risk management and insurance faculty appointments at business schools in Germany before coming to the U.S. Her research involves applying microeconomics and data science techniques to the analysis of risk and markets dealing with risk, decision-making under risk, risk literacy, insurance markets, health care markets, and innovations in managing risks. Dr. Hofmann has published over fifty articles in her field and is a passionate academic researcher and leader of the Lindner Insurance and Risk Management Program and Center at UC.

 

 

SPONSORSHIP

Thanks to our sponsors: 

 

 

Interested in being a sponsor for the 2025 Simon Lecture?

Reach out to Jamie Sablotny (jlsablot@msu.edu) or make your gift here (natsci.msu.edu/simon-lecture/