Captivating Success at Butler
Something is in the water at Butler University. Businesses are thirsting for fresh perspectives and unique skills from their incoming employees, and the new Andre B. Lacy School of Business at Butler provides the clear, cool water that companies are seeking.
Many elements make the experiential business program what it is today. The two required internships, engaging in Real Business Experience by creating and selling a viable product, and the career mentors that guide students through those experiences are just some of the elements that make the program so unique. These tools and experiences allow the students to gain access to “real life, real business” skills that will make them marketable in the job market.
However, a new element is coming down the pipe. Something so innovative that it will take the insurance industry and the business world by storm. The Davey Risk Management Program of the Lacy School of Business at Butler University will be running the first ever student-run captive insurance company.
What is a Captive Insurance Company?
A captive insurance company is a type of insurance company wholly owned and controlled by its policyholder(s) and insureds with the purpose of protecting the owner’s risks. To put it simply, Butler would be the owner of their distinct insurance company used to help transfer and retain certain risks.
“Our Student-Run Captive Insurance Group was born from our intent to grow students for success. In less than a decade, the insurance industry is set to experience a major talent drought when a large portion of baby boomers retire. According to Insurance Business America, one-quarter of the insurance workforce is scheduled to retire by 2018.
The need for outstanding and experienced graduates in the Risk Management and Insurance field is apparent. Building an incredible experiential opportunity for students to gain hands-on experience will set the industry and our students up for success.”
Zach Finn, Clinical Professor & Director of the Davey Risk Management Program, is the man behind the vision of this student-run captive insurance company. He says that the student-run business will be useful for marketing the Risk Management Program and the business school, fully embracing the principle of experiential learning, and also creating a pipeline for high school students to become interested in insurance through insurance education.
“This is, frankly, one of the most advanced educations in insurance you can get,” Professor Finn said. “It is allowing us to generate students that are well ahead of their peers as far as how quickly they can perform on the job, and get up to speed for promotional opportunities.” Professor Finn is also looking ahead to use the captive as a platform to make Indianapolis a hub for insurance education by partnering with local colleges and universities to offer classes that will lead to professional certifications and designations that will be useful to students going into the industry.
Some of the members involved and engaged with the captive will be the members of the university’s general council, Butler’s chief financial officer, Bruce Arick, faculty, and the students.
The captive has already received a generous gift of $250,000 from MJ Insurance and Michael M. Bill. However, Graham Honaker, senior development officer in Advancement at Butler University, is working closely with Zach Finn to generate more funding for the captive insurance company.
“In my opinion, the most under-the-radar, gold nugget, superstar program we have [at Butler] is insurance,” Honaker said. He says fundraising for the captive is fun to sell to donors because of Finn’s passion for the insurance industry and bringing the opportunities and benefits back to students.
One of the challenges Honaker faced was understanding how a captive insurance company worked. The donors have to be sold on the impact of the student-run business to raise money, and Professor Finn can fill that gap by informing Honaker and the donors about how it works and the significance of it all. Honaker says that the biggest impact will affect the students.
Erin Bundy, a rising senior Finance and Risk Management/Insurance double major for Butler’s Class of 2017, has felt the impact of Professor Finn’s passion for the program. Bundy started as an exploratory business major coming into college. She found out about the risk management program through meeting Professor Finn.
“I did not know much about insurance, and I thought it was boring,” Bundy said. “I also didn’t know much about risk management. It is a lot of problem solving, organizing, and helping people, and I decided that I enjoy that aspect of Risk Management and Insurance.”
The captive is now expected to be fully operational by the 2018–2019 academic year. In the Fall of 2016, there will be a Captive Feasibility & Business class available for students to take. Erin will be taking that class in the fall, and is expecting some pretty exciting things.
“The first semester will be more research based,” she said. “I am expecting a lot of research on where the captive should be domiciled, feasibility, what products we should offer, and pricing.”
Bundy is also excited to be a part of something that has a first-mover advantage over other schools around the world. “Saying in a job interview that I helped develop Butler University’s student-run captive is pretty sweet,” she said.
It is clear that Zach Finn’s passion for captivating young minds to the opportunities in the insurance industry has had a major effect on the students that take his classes. He is so passionate about the students that he advocates for them when insurance professionals seem to dismiss their talent and knowledge.
“Our students have such a deeper understanding than what most even realize — to say they are running a captive means so much; half of the industry’s eyes would immediately glass over,” Professor Finn said. “It is important to me in that it demonstrates to the industry what students can do.”
The Andre B. Lacy School of Business is sitting on a well of crisp cool water that is ready to spring forth with a captivating and innovative opportunity for current and potential students.
It is said that you can lead horses to water, but can’t make them drink. What the Andre B. Lacy School of Business is doing is making the water captivating enough to want to.
