Karen Clark & Company Launches CATLAB™

Boston, MA – December 20, 2016

Workshops Support Insurers Using the New Open Catastrophe Loss Models

Karen Clark & Company (KCC) today announced the launch of CATLAB^™ Workshops to support insurers who are using innovative, "next gen" catastrophe modeling tools. CATLAB is an immersive educational experience through which catastrophe modeling professionals acquire more in depth knowledge on the inner workings of the models than is possible in other environments.

"Soon after KCC introduced the first open loss modeling platform, we recognized that insurers require new and innovative product support techniques in order for them to fully leverage all of the advanced capabilities in RiskInsight," said Karen Clark, KCC President and CEO. "Annual Users Conferences are not sufficient for insurers that are customizing model components and building their own proprietary models and views of risk on an open platform. The CATLAB Workshops are hosted in an informal and intimate setting where participants have direct access to scientific and engineering experts to answer questions, explain, and actually show how the model assumptions and components are fine-tuned to better reflect an insurer's actual experience and book of business."

Several major insurers sent participants to the first CATLAB Workshop held in Boston earlier this month. Focused on Tracking Live Hurricanes in Real Time, the workshop sessions explored several in depth topics including: how the National Hurricane Center and other organizations forecast hurricane tracks before landfall, how to generate the wind footprints and estimate losses for storms before and after landfall using the most up-to-date scientific formulas, and how to leverage detailed claims information to customize the catastrophe model damage functions.

"CATLAB was definitely a helpful and fun experience," said Travis Geyer, Catastrophe Analyst for American Strategic Insurance. "The in-depth discussions and demos really helped me learn a lot, and I was able to put the skills and knowledge I gained to work immediately."

KCC scientists and engineers are on hand throughout the CATLAB Workshops so participants get immediate answers and input on how to address their needs and leverage the full power of open loss models. There are no secrets with open models so insurers can see how the science is implemented and how their loss estimates are calculated.

"The CATLAB workshop enabled me to dive deep into the scientific formulas underlying the KCC Reference Models so I know exactly how the wind footprints are created for live hurricanes," said Melicie Desflots-Rosenheim, Senior Catastrophe Analyst for American Integrity Insurance. "I learned how to vary the meteorological parameters as a storm progresses so I can have confidence in the estimated wind speeds, claims, and losses. Most of all, I appreciate the openness of the KCC modeling experts and how their primary goal is to make sure we have the most accurate loss estimates possible."

"RiskInsight's advanced capabilities enable us to communicate loss estimates to the executive leadership team, the board, and other stakeholders with speed and accuracy while an event is unfolding," said Gloria Hendrickson, Senior Vice President of Risk Management, American Integrity Insurance. "By participating in KCC's CATLAB for Live Events, my team and I were able to get a deeper understanding of the functional capabilities of the system, which gives us even greater confidence in the loss estimates we are communicating to our various stakeholders."

KCC will host CATLAB Workshops on a monthly basis starting in March 2017.