S. Ming Lee, President and CEO
Ming Lee is President and CEO of AIR. He is responsible for setting AIR’s global strategy and overseeing its worldwide operations. Since joining AIR in 1996, Mr. Lee has previously filled a number of senior leadership roles and led several departments. He has directed AIR’s pioneering modeling support for insurance-linked securities since their introduction and was directly involved in many of the insurance industry's landmark securitization transactions. Mr. Lee has also led AIR’s work in the corporate, government and weather risk management sectors, where he assisted corporations and government agencies in assessing their exposure to natural and man-made catastrophes. Mr. Lee is a member of the Governing Board of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Global Earthquake Model initiative and sits on the board of Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER), which is on the forefront of research on global climate change and other issues in atmospheric science. A former U.S. Navy officer, Mr. Lee holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.B.A. from Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Uday Virkud, P.E., Executive Vice President
Mr. Virkud is responsible for worldwide business development, strategic growth initiatives and product development areas at AIR. He also oversees AIR’s London, Munich, Beijing and Tokyo offices. He has led the company's growth in several markets including US, Bermuda, Europe and Japan and developing markets in Asia. Over the years he has provided strategic direction to several of AIR's most successful product initiatives including CATRADER®, ALERT™, CATStation®, TruExposure™ and Agriculture risk modeling. Mr. Virkud has over 25 years experience in risk management and consulting, and has assisted numerous insurance, reinsurance and broker clients in understanding and managing their catastrophe risk. He speaks at many industry forums on catastrophe risk management best practices and the need for improved data quality in the insurance industry—in both developed and developing markets. Before joining AIR, Mr. Virkud was a business consultant helping start operations in Asia. He also worked as a transportation planning consultant for a large engineering and planning company in the Northeast. He holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, an M.S. in Engineering Management from Northeastern University, and an M.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Jayanta Guin, Ph.D. Senior Vice President, Research and Modeling
Dr. Jayanta Guin is responsible for operational and strategic management of the AIR Research and Modeling team. Under his leadership, the team has expanded the global coverage of natural catastrophe models and continues to enhance existing models. Dr. Guin has over 14 years of experience in probabilistic risk analysis for natural catastrophes worldwide. He has led the research efforts on a number of capital markets transactions that involved the transfer of risk due to earthquakes, cyclones and windstorms. Dr. Guin received his B.S. in Civil Engineering from Jadavpur University in India, and earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the State University (SUNY) of New York, Buffalo, with a specialization in dynamic soil-structure interaction and computational mechanics.
David Lalonde, FCAS, FCIA, MAAA, Senior Vice President, Consulting Services
Mr. David Lalonde is Senior Vice President responsible for the Consulting and Client Services group, the members of which work one-on-one with clients to help them understand their risk profile and identify where and how catastrophe loss information can best be used in decision-making. Mr. Lalonde has a wealth of experience in the securitization of insurance risk and the use of dynamic financial analysis models for pricing, reserving, and corporate planning. He is responsible for ensuring AIR models meet all regulatory standards and he regularly assists clients in responding to Department of Insurance requests for information relating to the use of catastrophe models in ratemaking. He has appeared as an expert witness in rate arbitration hearings and has provided catastrophe modeling expertise on due diligence teams.
Prior to joining AIR, Mr. Lalonde was a Director of Coopers & Lybrand. Before that, Mr. Lalonde was Chief Actuary at the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia. He is a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society, a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries. He earned his B. Math (Honors) in Actuarial Science with Statistics from the University of Waterloo. He is a member of the Casualty Actuaries of the Northwest. He is the Chair of the Casualty Actuarial Society Advisory Committee on Securitization/Risk, a Financing Member of the American Academy of Actuaries, an Insurance Securitization Task Force Member, and serves on the Actuarial Standards Board, and the Task Force on Complex Models.
Bill Churney, Senior Vice President, Business Development
Bill Churney is a Senior Vice President in AIR’s Business Development Group. He is responsible for providing support and service to AIR clients in the insurance, reinsurance and intermediary markets. Mr. Churney has been instrumental in helping AIR expand into new markets, including Latin America and South America and grow market share through providing superior service tailored to client's evolving needs. He is an expert in the area of how to derive maximum value from catastrophe models. Prior to joining AIR, he was product manager for a telecommunications services provider. Before that, he worked in operations management for an industrial supply distributor. Mr. Churney holds a B.A. in Economics from Haverford College and an M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.
Ashish Belambe, CPCU, Vice President, Product Development
Ashish Belambe is Vice President of AIR’s Product Management group and oversees existing product development, product quality assurance and new product initiatives. Mr. Belambe has more than ten years of experience in product development. Before re-joining AIR Worldwide in 2010, he spent four years as Vice President in the corporate catastrophe management unit with ACE USA. In this role at ACE, he was responsible for designing and implementing global multi-modeling pricing solution. He was also involved in data quality guidelines, model validation and corporate catastrophe risk management strategies. Prior to ACE, Mr. Belambe worked as a Product Manager for CLASIC/2™, AIR’s detailed catastrophe risk assessment software system. Mr. Belambe earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru College of Engineering, Maharashtra, India and an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Cleveland State University, Ohio. Mr. Belambe holds a designation as a Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU).
George Davis, FCAS, MAAA, Vice President, Business Development
George Davis is a Vice President in AIR’s Business Development Group. He works with clients on solutions for catastrophe risk management, with a focus on strengthening business processes for more effective and efficient decision-making. A particular area of emphasis is exposure data quality. He led the ISO-wide collaboration to create the TruExposure™ solution combining multiple data resources and analytic tools. Previously he played a lead role in developing AIR’s capabilities in property valuation which are now embodied in the 360Value solution. For his work with clients he brings a strong background in company operations, including a wide variety of actuarial, field office and home office management experience. Prior to joining AIR, he was Vice President for Home Office Personal Lines at OneBeacon Insurance Group and Executive Vice President at CU Homeland Insurance Company. He was also Chief Actuary at Commercial Union Insurance. Mr. Davis is a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society and Member of the American Academy of Actuaries. Mr. Davis has B.A. in Mathematics from Boston College and an M.B.A from Northeastern University’s executive program.
Paul Devlin, Senior Vice President, Treasurer and General Counsel
Paul Devlin manages the legal, financial, human resources, and administration of the company. Previously, Paul served as Chief Operations Officer and General Counsel to the Institute for Business & Home Safety, a non-profit corporation funded by the property and casualty insurance industry. He has been a licensed attorney since 1982 and is a chartered property casualty underwriter. Paul graduated from Boston University School of Law and earned his B.A .in Economics from Dartmouth College.
Peter Lewis, Vice President, Technical Services
Peter Lewis is Vice President of Technical Services at AIR Worldwide. He is responsible for developing and executing information technology initiatives in support of AIR’s business operations. He also leads AIR’s technical support team, who are responsible for maintenance and support of AIR’s hosted and desktop applications. Mr.Lewis is a Microsoft® Certified Professional specializing in systems support and database administration. Prior to joining AIR, Mr. Lewis worked as a Systems Engineer for Allmerica Property Casualty Company and Wausau Insurance Company. He holds a B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from Northeastern University.
Robert Newbold, Vice President, Consulting and Client Services
Robert Newbold is a Vice President in the Consulting and Client Services group. His primary responsibilities include software support and the delivery of catastrophe modeling services for insurers, reinsurers, brokers, government, private corporations, and the capital markets. Prior to joining AIR, he worked at Deloitte Consulting as a Senior Consultant to the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare and an Information Analyst at Electronic Data Systems Corp. Mr. Newbold earned an M.B.A. and an M.S. in Information Systems from Boston University’s Graduate School of Management. He received a B.S. in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia.
Stephen Offsey, Ph.D., Vice President, Marketing
Dr. Steve Offsey provides leadership on all marketing initiatives and spearheads the company’s global marketing strategy. Before joining AIR, Dr. Offsey served as VP Products for Verbind, where he helped transition the organization from a solution provider to an enterprise software vendor. The transition culminated in the successful sale of the technology. Previously, Dr. Offsey directed the worldwide Client Partner Organization at LeadingSide, an e-business consulting and web development firm, where he served as a member of the executive team and oversaw the strategic consulting practice. He earned a B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.B.A .and Ph.D. from Cornell University.
Beverly Porter, Vice President, Marketing Communications
Beverly Porter is Vice President, Marketing Communications. In this role, she is responsible for AIR’s global communication strategy, including the development of all print and online collateral, as well as AIR’s monthly newsletter, AIR Currents. Ms. Porter helped take AIR communications to the next level by making significant enhancements to AIR’s model documentation and suite of collateral to provide more transparency than ever before. Prior to joining AIR, Ms. Porter held a variety of research positions, including Project Manager on grants awarded by the National Institute of Mental Health and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Prior to that, she was Operations Manager and Systems Analyst for Homeowner Financial Services. Ms. Porter received an M.A.P.E. in Economics from Boston University.
AIR Regional Leadership
Praveen Sandri, Ph.D., Managing Director, AIR Worldwide India Private Limited
Dr. Praveen Sandri is responsible for managing strategic operations in India, including overseeing the client services and business development teams and providing strategic input to AIR’s research efforts. He previously specialized in the structural and wind engineering aspects of the AIR’s hurricane modeling technology. Dr. Praveen Sandri earned a Ph.D. and an M.S. in Civil Engineering at Texas Tech University in the area of wind/structural engineering. He earned a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Osmania University, India.
Milan Simic, Ph.D., Senior Vice President and Managing Director, AIR Worldwide Ltd.
Dr. Milan Simic is responsible for managing strategic operations in London, including overseeing the client services and business development teams and providing strategic input to AIR’s research efforts in the UK and Europe. His previous experience includes 19 years in risk assessment, engineering consulting, research, and teaching. Dr. Simic is a Chartered Engineer through the UK Institution of Civil Engineers. He earned his MSc in Hydraulic Structures from the University of Belgrade and a Ph.D. in Earthquake Engineering from the University of Bristol.
Yorn Tatge, Managing Director, AIR Worldwide GmbH
Mr. Yorn Tatge is Managing Director of AIR Worldwide GmbH in Munich, Germany. He is responsible for servicing clients in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Scandinavia, and Eastern and Southeastern Europe. Mr. Tatge has more than 16 years of catastrophe modeling experience. Before re-joining AIR Worldwide in January 2006, he spent eight years in Converium’s risk modeling department, most recently serving as a Senior Vice President. Prior to Converium, Mr. Tatge worked for six years as senior consultant and account manager for AIR Worldwide. During this time he was a member of the AIR research team that developed the first ever European Winter Storm Model and he also headed the AIR London office for its first two years. Mr. Tatge received his master's degree in business administration and economics from the University of Hannover, Germany.