AM Best Announces Winner of Student Challenge Competition

OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AM Best has announced Andrew Shaw and Madison Wescott of the University of Wisconsin-Madison as the winners of its 2021 Student Challenge. The nationwide competition tasked risk management and insurance students with creating innovative solutions for catastrophe risks.

Shaw and Wescott developed “Emergency Evacuation Assistance,” a parametric insurance solution to help families pay expenses related to an emergency evacuation.

“When natural disasters strike, a speedy evacuation is key for saving lives,” Shaw said. “Although evacuating on such short notice can be an inconvenience for most, it is nearly impossible for many who suffer from financial insecurities.”

Wescott added, “When you're in a potential catastrophe area, mere minutes matter when you need to get out. The parametric trigger will help us quickly get funds to people, because it's either an evacuation or it's not. There's no debate whether or not it fits under the policy.”

Shaw and Wescott’s “Emergency Evacuation Assistance” was selected as the winning solution by attendees of the 28^th Review & Preview Conference, AM Best’s invitation-only gathering of top-tier insurance executives.

“There is a lot of young talent out there. We saw that in this competition,” said Matthew C. Mosher, president and CEO of AM Best Rating Services.

For this inaugural competition, AM Best sought catastrophe risk solutions to insure against natural and man-made catastrophes (e.g., pandemics, industrial catastrophe, wildfire, hurricane, flood, nuclear). Solutions could take any form—from new products to public-private partnerships or alternative risk transfer instruments.

To view a video on the Student Challenge, please go to http://www.ambest.com/StudentChallenge.

The Student Challenge was sponsored by the AM Best Foundation, which financially supports charitable organizations that encourage education and thought leadership in insurance and risk management.

AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specializing in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

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