In Focus
In Focus contributors are distinguished subject matter specialists from AIR's multidisciplinary teams of scientists and engineers, actuaries and statisticians, software developers and business analysts. Our internationally respected experts come from many different backgrounds, with a wide range of perspectives and experiences, but they are all innovative thinkers at the leading edge of their chosen professions.
Following are contributors for our blog:
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John Elbl was a Vice President in AIR's Business Development Group. Prior to joining AIR, he was the Global Head of Catastrophe Modeling at Zurich Insurance Company. Before that, he was a Reinsurance Underwriting Manager at Empire Fire and Marine. Mr. Elbl holds a M.S. in applied Mathematics from University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, and a B.S. in Mathematics from Kansas State University. John is no longer with AIR. |
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John Kenney is a vice president in the business development group on the extreme event solutions team at Verisk. He is responsible for providing service and support to clients within the insurance and reinsurance broker markets. John holds an MBA with a concentration in finance and operations management from Northeastern University and a BA in economics from the University of Connecticut. |
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John-Paul Glutting is a senior scientist at Verisk. He has a background in public health, bioinformatics, and GIS. Before joining Verisk he worked at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute on computational vaccinology projects (RANKPEP) and the Cochrane Collaboration. His current focus is on human mobility and disease transmission dynamics in global populations. John-Paul has a Master’s degree in public health from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and an MS in geographical information science from the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam (Netherlands). |
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Jonathan Holden is vice president of product management for global property at Verisk. He is responsible for developing portfolio-level exposure data solutions for the U.S. and international markets. Prior to joining Verisk’s global property team, Jonathan led the product management group on the extreme event solutions team at Verisk. He holds an MS in hydrology from the University of New Hampshire and a BA in geology from Franklin and Marshall College. |
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Jonathan Kinghorn is a senior editor in the marketing and communications group at Verisk. Previously he was web content manager at Abt Associates in Cambridge, MA. Jonathan earned a BA from Leicester University and a graduate diploma in museum studies from Manchester University. |
 | Jonny Green joined AIR Worldwide in June 2015 as part of the Consulting and Client Services Group. He previously spent more than six years as an infantry officer in the British Army and served an operational tour to Afghanistan. Jonny completed his Master of Engineering at the University of Cambridge. |
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Juan Duan joined AIR's London office as a Research Associate in July 2014. She studied at Imperial College London, earning an MSc in Hydrology for Environmental Management and then a Ph.D. in Hydrology, investigating uncertainty in statistical downscaling of rainfall. On graduation, Juan worked for a large international engineering consultancy as part of their flood modeling team before joining AIR. Juan is no longer with AIR. |
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Dr. Julia Borman manages the regulatory and rating agency client team for Verisk’s extreme event solutions team, assisting clients in working with regulators and rating agencies on a variety of projects including data calls, using modeling in rating plans, and stress tests for climate change. Julia holds a PhD in economics and a Master of Economics from North Carolina State University and a BA in economics and mathematics from St. Mary’s College of Maryland. |
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Julia Cheong joined AIR in 2014 and is a Product Consultant III in our Product Management Department. Previously, Julia held a position as a Research Analyst at Boston University, where she was responsible for building a predictive model to project the financial impact of aid and admissions strategies. Julia earned a B.A. in Economics and Psychology from Tufts University and an M.S. in Computer Science from Boston University. Julia is no longer with AIR. |
 | Julia Krezel joined AIR's marketing team in July 2014 as a Senior Product Marketing Manager leading marketing efforts for AIR solutions in North America. Previously, Julia worked with Freddie Mac in the Investments and Capital Markets department. She holds a B.A. in Economics from Northeastern University and an MBA from Boston University's Graduate School of Management. Julia left AIR in 2017. |
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Julio Beier joined AIR's Munich office in 2014 as a Client Services Associate. Previously he worked as a research assistant at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research (Department of Marine Geodynamics - Submarine Hazards) and at the RWTH Aachen University (Institute of Neotectonics and Natural Hazards). Julio received his MSc degree in Marine Geosciences from Kiel University. He is no longer with AIR. |
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Kaitlin Reiss is a manager in the consulting and client services group on the extreme event solutions team at Verisk. She supports the U.S. primary insurance market segment and is also involved with Analyze Re and cyber. Kaitlin earned her BA in actuarial science from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with minors in mathematics and statistics. She is a Certified Extreme Event Modeler (CEEM) and is in the process of becoming an Associate in Reinsurance (ARe). |
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Dr. Kamban Parasuraman is a senior principal engineer and manager on the extreme event solutions team at Verisk. He specializes in developing insurance risk analytics for interconnected risks. Since joining Verisk, Kamban has contributed to World Bank resilience studies and authored thought leadership reports with industry partners. Previously, Kamban held a variety of roles in research and development, consulting, and ILS structuring. Kamban’s research has been published in leading journals and conferences. He also serves as a peer-reviewer for leading geophysical and machine learning journals and conferences. Kamban holds a PhD in civil engineering with specialization in hydrology and water resources engineering from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. |
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Dr. Karthik Ramanathan is a vice president and principal engineer in the research and modeling group on the extreme event solutions team at Verisk. He works primarily on the vulnerability of civil engineering systems to atmospheric hazards including wind, inland and coastal flooding, hail, and tornadoes. He heads a group that models the risk from atmospheric perils to the built environment across the globe and has participated in numerous post-disaster damage surveys. Karthik holds a PhD in civil engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a special focus in earthquake engineering, a master’s degree in structural engineering from the University of Pittsburgh, and a master’s degree in structural engineering, mechanics, and materials from the Georgia Institute of Technology. |
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Dr. Kazi Farzan Ahmed is a senior scientist and manager for Verisk’s extreme event solutions team, working with the agricultural risk modeling group. Kazi earned a PhD and an MS in environmental engineering from the University of Connecticut and a BS in civil engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. |
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As vice president and managing director of Verisk’s insurance solutions office in Tokyo, Dr. Kazuya Fujimura is responsible for business development, marketing, and client services in Japan and Korea. Kazuya has been involved in the research and development of earthquake and typhoon models for the region for many years. His work contributed to his team being named a “Service Provider of the Year” at the 2020 Asia Insurance Industry Awards. He holds a PhD in civil and earthquake engineering with a specialization in structural reliability and an MA in statistics, both from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MEng and a BEng in civil engineering, both from Kyoto University. |
 | Kevin Hill joined AIR in 2010 as an Atmospheric Scientist in our Research Department. Prior to AIR, Kevin worked as a Graduate Research Assistant for the Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC. Kevin acquired his B.S.in Meteorology from the State University of New York at Brockport. In addition, Kevin has earned both an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC. (Note: Kevin Hill left AIR in 2016.) |
 | Kevin Long joined AIR in 2006 and is Senior Director, Public Relations & Social Media. Prior to AIR Kevin worked as a Public Relations Consultant with clients in the technology, medical devices, and telecommunications industries. He holds a B.A. in Communications from Marist College. |
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Kieran Borrett worked in the business development group, helping clients to manage risk through leveraging Verisk’s products and services. Prior to joining Verisk, Kieran worked within the UK’s Environment Agency modeling and hydrology team. As part of this role he worked in the national response centre issuing warning during flood events. Kieran has left Verisk. |
 | Kierste Miller joined AIR in 2013 as an Analyst in our Research Department. Most recently, she held a position as a Research Assistant in the Division of Epidemiology, Human Genetics, and Environmental Sciences Department at the University of Texas School of Public Health, and as a Public Health Intern at the Texas Department of State Health Services. There she analyzed data related to the 2009 Influenza H1N1 A outbreak. Kierste earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computational Biology from the University of Texas. (Note: Kierste Miller left AIR in 2016.) |
 | Korbinian Breinl joined AIR in spring 2015. Prior to AIR, he worked at Allianz SE Reinsurance as a catastrophe risk analyst, with a particular focus on stochastic weather models and flood model development. Korbinian holds an MSc degree in Physical Geography and a Ph.D. in Geoinformatics. He has published research articles in the fields of Hydrology and Meteorology in various international peer-reviewed journals. (Breinl left AIR in 2016.) |
 | As a Senior Engineer in AIR's Research and Modeling group, Kyle Butler developed, improved, and maintained the wind vulnerability components for the AIR Hurricane Model for the United States and the AIR Tropical Cyclone Model for Australia. He participated in AIR's post-disaster damage surveys, including one in 2011 for Cyclone Yasi in Australia. Prior to AIR, he worked as a Doctoral Research Assistant, developing prototype wind tunnel systems to simulate thunderstorm and gust type outflows for the Nat Haz Modeling Laboratory at the University of Notre Dame. He earned his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. (Note: Kyle left AIR in 2014.) |
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Dr. Les Muir is a senior scientist in the research and modeling group on the extreme event solutions team at Verisk. He holds a PhD in atmospheric sciences from Monash University and a BS in mathematics from the University of Queensland. h University. |
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Lucy Phillips was a senior risk consultant in Verisk's London office. She worked in the ILS Team and was involved in a number of issuances and resets, in maintaining the catastrophe bond database, and providing support to European ILS clients. Lucy earned a BSc in environmental science and an MSc in applied meteorology and climatology from the University of Birmingham. She has left verisk. |
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Dr. Luis Sousa is a manager in the research and modeling group in Verisk’s London office. He specializes in earthquake engineering and probabilistic seismic risk, and since joining Verisk in 2017, has expanded his focus to flood and wind vulnerability and wildfire risk. Luis also supports Verisk’s Global Resilience Practice and open platform initiatives. He holds a PhD in earthquake engineering and seismic risk from the University of Porto, in cooperation with the Institute for Advanced Study of Pavia (IUSS), Italy, and an MS in structural engineering from the University of Porto, Portugal. |
