The College of Business and Industry will play host to MSU’s 20th annual Insurance Day Tuesday at 4 p.m. and Wednesday at 5 p.m. at the Bost Extension Center. The event offers students the opportunity to interact with leaders in the risk management, insurance and financial planning fields.
It will include panel discussions and presentations by professionals including combat veteran, FOX News personality and best-selling author Oliver North.
It will also include the announcement of more than 30 scholarships for students in the insurance and finance field.
The scholarships have been awarded from insurance companies, organizations and individuals from across the country.
MSU program director for risk management, insurance and financial planning Tammi Riddle said the scholarships will add up to nearly $30,000.
“I’m very proud of that large number, and it continues to grow,” Riddle said.
The event’s planners said they expect an attendance of more than 800 people.
Professor of finance and event organizer Edwin Duett said Insurance Day will offer an “all-star line-up.”
“There will be attendees from 15 different states and a couple of different countries,” Duett said. “It’s hard to explain the prestige of this group of speakers.”
He said the sponsors wanted to do something special for the event’s 20th anniversary.
North will speak about his experiences with crisis leadership.
“We’re very excited to have North participate,” Duett said. “We’re talking about crisis leadership and insurance deals with a lot of crisis.”
Other speakers include MSU President Robert “Doc” Foglesong, Gov. Haley Barbour, adjunct general Harold Cross, Mississippi Insurance Commissioner George Dale and director of the Hurricane Insurance Center and special counsel for the Insurance Information Institute Bill Bailey.
“Many of the presenters are presidents or CEOs of different companies,” Duett said. “We also have the senior editor of one of the leading insurance publications in the country.”
Dale said the insurance commissioners of Louisiana and Arkansas will assist him with his presentation.
He said he hopes the audience can see insurance with the same perspective of other states.
“[The commissioners] will discuss the issues facing insurance departments in states as well as nationally,” Dale said. “We’ll also discuss some of the responsibilities of [the insurance industry].”
Bailey said he plans to discuss the impact the damage from Hurricane Katrina has had on the insurance industry and also the availability and insurance of property on the coast.
“This is a very difficult time for insurance and the insurance companies both,” Bailey said. “Some of the companies have lost up to 10 years worth of profit.