Simon Lecture 2025
Dear Friends,
Michigan State University is a cutting-edge university when it comes to innovation and collaboration, and nowhere is that reflected more than in our students, our alumni, and our industry partners. In that spirit, the Simon Lecture every year brings speakers to campus that broaden our perspective of how insurance impacts not just our lives, but also multiple industries.
John Scotti, with his decades in the insurance business and his role in establishing insurance and risk-management programs in professional sports, is a prime example of just that - how both people and technology drive innovation and collaboration. Thanks to John’s foundational work in developing risk management programs in sports, teams and players are able to achieve peak performance while ensuring their health, safety and ability to provide us with a top tier product.
John’s talk was personal and engaging, reaching back to his early days in founding Team Scotti and coming back to the current state of professional sports such as major league baseball. In sharing some of his experiences, where he found himself in the middle of contract analyses for household names in pro sports, John pulled the curtain back a little on how risk-management is highly valued by managers and players and is crucial to deal-making. In line with that deep respect, no less than the winningest living manager in Major League Baseball, and 2014 Hall of Fame inductee, Tony La Russa delivered John’s introduction via video.
As is our tradition, we had a student speaker open the evening with a short technical lecture. Joey Larabee, current MS student in Data Science (as well as Graduate Certificate in Sports Analytics) delivered remarks on his latest work on the implied Pythagorean exponent in professional hockey. As with John’s talk later in the evening, Joey’s presentation invited many follow-up questions from the audience. And just like John, Joey answered these questions with kindness and interest in the folks asking them.
It has been hard to summarize the deep impact the 2025 Simon Lecture has left on our program, but we are certain of one thing – it is a great day to be a Spartan!
With gratitude to Ron and Mary Simon, John and Kathi Scotti, Joey Larabee, and the entire team at the MSU Actuarial Science Program, we wish you a happy and healthy 2026 and look forward to seeing you again this November.
Finally, as a special treat, please find Tony La Russa’s intro video below.
Go Green,
Albert Cohen
Director, Actuarial Science Program
SPONSORSHIP
Thanks to our sponsors:
If you are interested in donating and sponsoring future editions of the Simon Lecture, please contact Jessie Pung, senior director of development for the MSU College of Natural Science, at pungjes1@msu.edu or make your gift at natsci.msu.edu/simon-lecture/