Wetlands Watch Director to Give Keynote at ODU Insurance Center Founders’ Day Luncheon

Skip Stiles

Skip Stiles, executive director of Wetlands Watch and a frequent collaborator with Old Dominion's Climate Change and Sea Level Rise Initiative, will be the keynote speaker for the ODU Insurance Center Founders' Day Luncheon on Wednesday, Nov. 6.

The Founders' Day event, held annually to recognize and honor members of the local insurance community for professional educational achievement, will be held in the Hampton/Newport News Room of Webb Center, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Space is limited.

Stiles, along with ODU researchers, is among the leading voices expressing concern about the increasing flood risks posed by rising sea levels and sinking ground to the Hampton Roads region, as well as many other low-lying population centers on the East Coast. A recognized expert who has provided congressional testimony on sea level rise adaptation issues, Stiles will describe what the area is doing, plans to do and should be doing to mitigate and adapt to these risks.

Members of the local insurance community will receive recognition for achieving academic designations such as associate in claims, associate in risk management, certified financial planner and professional financial planner.

The luncheon will also include the announcement of student recipients of scholarships provided by the Norfolk-Tidewater chapter of the Society of Financial Service Professionals, the Tidewater chapter of the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters Society and the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisers Tidewater.

Founders' Day also provides the insurance industry an opportunity to demonstrate support for ODU's Insurance Center programs, with an endowment that helps prepare the next generation of workers for jobs in insurance, risk management and financial services careers, and providing support for faculty research into insurance and risk management.

For more information about the ODU Insurance Center Founders' Day Luncheon, or to reserve a space, contact Dennis Harvey at dharvey@odu.edu.

The Insurance Center, established in 1980, has evolved into what is now the Insurance and Financial Services Center of Old Dominion University, with the following broad objectives:

• To increase the number of students who choose the insurance and financial services (IFS) track of the finance major;
• To increase scholarship awards and internship opportunities for ODU students who are in the IFS track;
• To provide educational and financial support for faculty in conducting research and in preparing students for insurance, risk management and financial services careers;
• To increase the interaction of students and the insurance, risk management and financial services industries by regularly bringing industry speakers to ODU classes and clubs; and
• To develop and offer non-degree educational programs and seminars, such as professional financial planning, for the profession and for the general public.

For information about the Insurance and Financial Services Center, contact director Michael McShane, associate professor of finance, at mmcshane@odu.edu