As I pack up my apartment and prepare to take the next step in my insurance career, I’ve been reflecting on the last two years at UW-Madison. It’s easy to focus on the degree itself, but the reality is that the best parts of this program were the people and the practical application of the coursework.
The curriculum here covered a wide spectrum of the risk landscape, focusing on the actual mechanics of the industry rather than just high-level theory. We explored the core of carrier operations in Ty Leverty’s simulation, managing the capital allocation and solvency required to keep a company afloat. From there, we mapped out how the global market absorbs massive tail events in Ben Collier’s CAT Risk and Reinsurance class, and examined how organizations take back control of their own exposure through Jim Swanke’s sessions on captives. It provided a comprehensive look at the specific levers that make the entire ecosystem function.
But mastering those models is only the first step. You still need people who have lived through the market cycles to tell you if your ideas actually hold up in the real world. I’m extremely grateful for mentors like Christy Kaufman and Phil Hoffmann. They were incredibly generous with their time and advice, and they provided the kind of reality check you can only get from the Badger alumni network. Whether we were exploring different career paths or they were making introductions across the industry, having their guidance was invaluable. I’m definitely going to miss having that kind of access and support built into my normal routine.
That combination of technical coursework and alumni mentorship is what made it possible to step outside Grainger Hall and actually apply what I was learning. It translated directly to my work at Creative Destruction Lab, where I got to sit down with founders and look at the operational reality behind their pitches during the hand-raise sessions. It also opened the door to my time at Munich Re Ventures in San Francisco, which was a firsthand look at how the global venture ecosystem evaluates and prices early-stage insurtechs.
I came into this program interested in how technology intersects with insurance, and I’m leaving with a much clearer picture of what this new landscape is actually going to demand. We are stepping into a massive transitional period. The next ten years won’t just be about rolling out new software; they will be about fundamentally rewiring how risk is structured, distributed, and managed on a global scale. Being at the forefront of that shift is exactly where I want to be. I’ll miss the daily debates with my cohort, but I couldn’t be more excited to get into the market and help build what comes next.
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