Canada, Manitoba recognize new professorship in agricultural risk management and insurance

The federal and Manitoba governments have lent their support to the recently created Guy Carpenter Professorship in Agriculture Risk Management and Insurance, citing the importance of advancing risk management in agriculture, which serves as economic driver in the province and across the country.

“We are proud of this endeavour that has governments and industry groups, the academic community and the private sector working together to develop new risk management tools for our hardworking farmers,” federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz says in a statement.

“We are committed to giving producers the resources they need to make insurance their first line of defence when it comes to managing their risk,” notes Ron Kostyshyn, minister of Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives.

The research conducted by the professorship – located in the Warren Centre for Actuarial Studies and Research, part of the University of Manitoba’s I.H. Asper School of Business – “will add tremendous value to the agriculture sector in Canada by contributing to innovative risk management policy,” Kostyshyn adds.

Lysa Porth, Ph.D., who started her role in the professorship February 1, most recently served as an assistant professor in the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at the University of Waterloo.

Dr. Porth was awarded her doctorate in 2011 from the University of Manitoba and the Warren Centre for Actuarial Studies and Research, and holds an MBA with a thesis option in management science and a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons.) in financial and actuarial studies from the Asper School of Business. She has also worked at the Great West Life Assurance Company, and the City of Winnipeg.

Her research covers topics ranging from crop insurance to price insurance, revenue insurance, livestock insurance, business interruption insurance and financial risk, weather insurance, weather derivatives, agricultural derivatives, and government agricultural and food insurance programs. 

“Her background and expertise in agricultural risk management will be a great addition to our university and faculty,” Michael Benarroch, dean of the Asper Business School and CA Manitoba chair, says of Dr. Porth.

In a statement last January, the university noted the establishment of the professorship was made possible through a gift of $750,000 from Guy Carpenter & Company. “We have the greatest respect for (Dr. Porth) and we are confident she will lead valuable research that will facilitate a deeper knowledge in this specialized field of study,” noted James McCarney, managing director of Guy Carpenter & Company, a global provider of risk management and reinsurance intermediary services.