TROY – For five Troy University risk management and insurance students, two weeks in London was worth a lifetime in the classroom.

The students were part of a trip organized by RMI’s program director Dr. Carol Jordan and included Katie Lyons, a TROY graduate from Birmingham who is seeking a certification in Risk Management & Insurance, Brittany Thompson, a junior from Jack, Trent Cox, a TROY graduate from Opelika who is seeking a certification in Risk Management & Insurance, Justin Evans, a junior from Deatsville, and Dianne Henderson, a junior from Troy.

“Each year I take students to Lloyd’s, I am pleased at their immediate ability to ‘take it all in’ and comprehend the entire insurance transaction there,” Dr. Jordan said.

Each summer Dr. Jordan teaches the professional chartered property and casualty underwriter preparation class at Lloyd’s, and selects several students to accompany here. While on there, the students get to see the insurance and underwriting business first hand.

“It was amazing,” said Thompson. “I saw everything I had read about and seeing it first hand put everything in perspective. I learned how important relationships are in the insurance industry.”

Thompson said she and her fellow classmates were able to shadow brokers and underwriters.

Lyons said the learning began, literally, when they walked in the door.

“The first day we went to Lloyd’s we were given a tour of the entire facility,” she said. “The abstract information I had learned about Lloyd’s in the classroom are ‘the room,’ syndicates and ‘queuing up’ became instantaneously clarified.”

“I learned a great deal about how business is transacted within Lloyd’s and met several superb professionals who make it possible,” she added.

As impressed as the TROY students were with the London insurances professionals, Dr. Jordan said they were impressed with the students.

“This year’s group of students was exceptionally good, and several syndicates at brokerages in London would like to hire them.  That reaction from the London professionals must be a real confidence-builder for young folks from Jack, Slapout, Pell City, Opelika and Troy,” she said.

TROY’s RMI program is one of only two in the nation that offers “Surplus Lines and Reinsurance” and “Insurance Accounting” in its degree and certification programs. The program is designed to give graduates an educational foundation for careers in identifying and dealing with personal and corporate risk issues, employee benefit programs, personal property and liability and insurance operations, regulation and the insurance marketplace.

The five students now go on to internships in venues such as New York City, Chicago, Jupiter, Fla., Tampa, Fla. and Metairie, La.

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CUTLINE: Troy University Risk Management and Insurance students (left to right) Justin Evans of Deatsville, Katie Lyons of Birmingham, Brittany Thompson of Jack, Dianne Henderson of Troy and Trent Cox of Opelika take a moment for a photo in the famed Adams Room at Lloyd’s of London, a world renowned insurance house. The students spent two weeks learning from brokers and underwriters. (TROY photo/Lloyd’s of London)