9th Annual Insurance Public Policy Summit

Navigating U.S. and International Cross Currents

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The Speakers

David Cummins

Dr. J. David Cummins is the Joseph E. Boettner Professor of Risk Management, Insurance and Financial Institutions. He also serves as the Director of the Advanta Center for Financial Institutions, and as a member of the Research Roundtable.

Dr. Cummins is a prolific author. In a recent academic research article in the Journal of Risk and Insurance that analyzed the relative contributions to the field of risk, insurance and financial institutions of all scholars, Dr. Cummins was recognized as the Premier (#1) researcher in this discipline in the world.

Dr. Cummins’ research focuses on insurance economics; financial risk management; productivity and efficiency; and securitization. During his career, Dr. Cummins has written 85 articles in academic journals. He has published numerous articles in the premier Risk and Insurance journals, including: the Journal of Risk and Insurance, Geneva Papers, North American Actuarial Review, and Insurance, Mathematics and Economics. Apart from Insurance journals, he has also published in many premier journals in Finance and Economics, such as: The Journal of Banking and Finance, The Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, The Journal of Monetary Economics, The Journal of Financial Economics, The Journal of Law and Economics, Management Science, The Journal of Business, The Journal of Economic Perspectives, Econometrica, Economic Letters, The Bell Journal, Federal Reserve Bank Reviews and the Brookings Papers. Furthermore, he has authored, coauthored, edited and co-edited a total of sixteen books. He has authored and coauthored a total of thirty-four chapters in books and monographs.

In terms of teaching, Dr. Cummins’ greatest contributions have been in the doctoral area. He has chaired 41 doctoral dissertations and is currently chairing 11 students. Dr. Cummins is also extremely active in his profession. He has organized many conferences, and has been a panelist, discussant, moderator, and chair of many sessions in Risk and Insurance conferences. He is currently the co-editor of the Journal of Banking and Finance, which is a premier journal in the field. Also, he is the Associate Editor of eight journals in Risk & Insurance and Finance. Additionally, Dr. Cummins has held the highest office in the profession as the President of the American Risk and Insurance Association.

Martin Grace

Martin Grace Dr. Martin F. Grace is currently the Associate Director and Research Associate at the Center for Risk Management and Insurance Research Georgia State University. He is also an Associate in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Fiscal Policy Center. Dr. Grace’s research has been published in various journals in economics and insurance concerning the economics and public policy aspects of regulation and taxation. In particular, Dr. Grace has studied various aspects of the regulation and taxation of the insurance industry. Dr. Grace is a former President of The Risk Theory Society and he is a current associate editor of the Journal of Risk and Insurance.

Dr. Grace earned both a Ph.D. in economics and a J.D. from the University of Florida in 1987. He joined the faculty of the Department of Risk Management and Insurance as an Assistant Professor of Legal Studies in the fall of 1987. In 1993 Dr. Grace was promoted to Associate Professor with appointments in both Legal Studies and Risk Management and Insurance. In 1998 Dr. Grace was promoted to Professor of Legal Studies and Risk Management and Insurance and in 2002, Professor Grace was named the James S. Kemper Professor of Risk Management.

Mary Weiss

Mary Weiss Mary A. Weiss, Ph.D. is Deaver Professor of Risk, Insurance, and Healthcare Management at the Fox School of Business and Management of Temple University and President of the prestigious Risk Theory Society. She is a Past President of the premier insurance academic organization in the U.S., the American Risk and Insurance Association (ARIA).

She is Editor of Risk Management and Insurance Review and a Co-Editor for the Journal of Risk and Insurance. Her research, consisting of over 30 articles, has focused on financial services conglomeration, efficiency measurement of insurers, no-fault automobile insurance, reinsurance, regulation, and underwriting cycles. Her research has appeared in the Journal of Law and Economics, Journal of Business, Management Science, The Journal of Financial Intermediation, The Journal of Risk and Insurance, Journal of Banking and Finance, Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance Theory, and Contingencies.

Her articles have received awards from The Journal of Risk and Insurance, the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) and The Journal of Financial Intermediation. Mary has made numerous research presentations at the Annual Meeting of the American Risk and Insurance Association. Her research also has been presented at the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Brookings Institution, the Casualty Actuarial Society, Risk Theory Society, the Financial Management Association, the Western Economic Association, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Atlantic Economic Society, the Allied Social Sciences Association, and at conferences sponsored by the Federal Reserve Banks of Atlanta and New York.

She obtained her Ph.D. degree at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and has been on the faculty of Temple University since 1986. She was a Visiting Scholar at the Wharton School (2004-2006) and was selected as 2004 Distinguished Huebner Alumnus, Huebner Foundation, Wharton School. She served as a Distinguished Scholar at the NAIC’s Center for Insurance Policy & Research (a think tank) in 2009-2010.

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