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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OLDWICK - APRIL 04, 2022 01:50 PM (EDT)
AM Best has announced that Julia Berdzik and Elizabeth Colpe, both from Saint Joseph’s University, are the winners of AM Best’s 2022 Student Challenge for their proposal to help small businesses mitigate closures from infectious disease outbreaks.
The nationwide competition tasked risk management and insurance students with creating innovative solutions for insurance risks. Other than Berdzik and Colpe, Paul Dunlap of Illinois State University and Alexander Pearson of Florida State University were finalists in the competition, which was open to undergraduate and graduate students and who were invited to submit as individuals or in teams of two.
With their infectious disease remediation proposal, Berdzik and Colpe noted that many small businesses were beset by unexpected and additional costs related to health and safety measures during COVID-related closures, on top of lost revenue.
“About half of U.S. small business operate with less than 15 days of cash reserves,” said Berdzik. “As we know, these businesses were closed a lot longer than two weeks before eventually reopening, so they were decimated financially.”
Colpe added: “Our coverage would include qualified sanitary services and distribution of funds for personal protective equipment and testing, as well as tech support, all of which would be contracted with companies prior to events occurring so that these services would be guaranteed since demand can cause shortages at the time of an occurrence.”
AM Best’s 2022 Student Challenge is sponsored by the AM Best Foundation, which financially supports charitable organizations that encourage education and thought leadership in insurance and risk management.
“Insurance is a purpose-driven industry, and you can see with all these students’ submissions what is meaningful to them and how they want to make a positive impact on individuals, businesses and communities,” said Matthew C. Mosher, president and CEO of AM Best Rating Services. “I hope they continue to focus on learning and exploring the many possibilities the insurance industry offers to find one that best fits their interests and strengths.”
To view interviews with Berdzik and Colpe, as well as the other finalists, please visit http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=rpstudentchallengefinal322 .
AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specializing in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City.