UNC Charlotte students Yancey Hicks and Andrew Miner, both Finance majors, have been selected as national Anita Benedetti Student Involvement Program Scholars by the Risk Management Society (RIMS). This award provides Hicks and Miner the opportunity to attend the RIMS 2015 Annual Conference in New Orleans.
RIMS is providing 30 outstanding students studying risk and insurance management an opportunity to attend the conference. This group of 30 students is provided airfare, hotel expenses, registration, and a small stipend. Out of hundreds of applicants from across the country, the Belk College is honored to have two students selected.
“I am fully committed and highly motivated to pursue a career in the insurance industry and have worked hard to prepare through my academics, extensive internship experiences, attendance at conferences and leadership in Gamma Iota Sigma,” said Hicks. He also expressed his excitement for the networking opportunity that the conference will provide.
Miner expressed his excitement to share what he will learn with others in the honor society for Risk Management and Insurance (RMI) students, Gamma Iota Sigma. “The most rewarding piece will be the ability to share my experience with other students in Gamma Iota Sigma and around the Belk College interested in insurance," he said.
What started as a pilot program in 1987 has grown to be an amazing opportunity for students to gain experience in their field of study. The RIMS Student Involvement Program was renamed the Anita Beneditti Student Involvement Program in honor of Anita Benedetti. Benedetti was the former Deputy Executive Director of the Risk and Insurance Management Society and the President of the Spence Educational Foundation, Inc.
UNC Charlotte offers a program in risk management and insurance in the Belk College of Business. This program is offered as part of the undergraduate Finance major and has a strong foundation in finance. The program also integrates knowledge from various areas of business including marketing, accounting, management, and management information systems. Key concepts from a broad curriculum, including mathematics, social science, philosophy, law, natural science and economics are also incorporated into the RMI program. The risk management and insurance program enhances classroom instruction with experiential opportunities on a regional, national and international scale. Students regularly attend events interacting with risk professionals in North Carolina and Washington, DC. Each year students travel to London to study the international insurance market and Zurich to learn about reinsurance and insurance-linked securities. Students also travel around the United States attending various industry conferences and similar events.
The risk management and insurance program is sending five additional students to the 2015 RIMS annual conference in New Orleans thanks to the generosity of Carolinas RIMS, the local risk and insurance management chapter.
Faith Neale, Associate Professor of Risk Management and Insurance at UNC Charlotte, is appreciative of this opportunity for the students noting that “the national RIMS conference is an incredible experience for students giving them a full understanding of the depth and breadth of risk management in today’s dynamic business environment. This is a life changing event for many of these students who, after attending educational sessions and interacting with risk professionals in both a professional and casual environment, realize that they have the skills and ability to be highly successful in this discipline.”
Top: Yancey Hicks, bottom: Andrew Miner