Release Date: Oct-17-2013
New Education Initiative Encourages Students to Pursue Careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)
DENVER – October 17, 2013 – Valen Analytics, a provider of proprietary data, analytics and predictive modeling to help insurance carriers manage and drive underwriting profitability, today officially announced its membership in the leading STEM education nonprofit, Change the Equation. Comprised of the nation’s top executives, Change the Equation is a non-partisan, CEO-led initiative to improve the quality of STEM learning in the U.S. Motivated by its membership in Change the Equation, Valen has established Tomorrow’s Talent Challenge to inspire youth to pursue a math education and explore careers in insurance analytics and technology.
Advanced data and analytics are critical to running a profitable insurance operation and competition for the top mindshare of the best talent is increasing substantially. The industry is estimated to have 400,000 positions to fill by 2020, and 20 percent of experienced underwriters will retire in the next few years. At the same time, only 69 percent of the nation’s high school graduates are receiving their college diplomas within four years and there’s a projected shortfall of 3 million workers with college degrees by 2018. Valen is launching Tomorrow’s Talent Challenge to coalesce an industry response that addresses the need for more PreK-12 students to pursue STEM education and college degrees, and to attract the next generation of tech-savvy and bright young people to innovative careers in insurance.
“As data and analytics continue to play an integral role in every industry, now is a critical time to educate tomorrow’s analytics talent,” said Dax Craig, CEO of Valen Analytics. “We joined Change the Equation because it is the premier organization helping the nation’s leading companies make philanthropic contributions that will move the needle in addressing the talent shortage. In addition, we’ve launched Tomorrow’s Talent Challenge to focus specifically on the needs of the insurance industry. Insurance may not be the first industry young people think of when preparing for college, and we want to educate students on the vast and exciting career opportunities that are available.”
Change the Equation’s coalition of CEOs work together to foster widespread literacy in STEM that sparks an innovative spirit in students and prepares them for postsecondary options. The organization provides the opportunity for companies to connect with each other, identify opportunities to maximize their philanthropic STEM investments, and capitalize on Corporate America’s commitment to improving STEM learning nationwide.
“We are excited to welcome Valen Analytics to Change the Equation and look forward to their leadership to connect insurance CEOs with other national leaders who are helping young people consider leading-edge careers that depend on mastery of STEM,” said Change the Equation CEO Linda P. Rosen. “If we don’t encourage our children and students to get excited about math as well as science, technology, and engineering, we are denying them the chance to reach their potential and be prepared for a future filled with opportunity.”
The first of many opportunities to be a part of this new initiative comes at the Insurance Analytics Symposium where attendees will receive a Tomorrow’s Talent Challenge card along with a $5 bill at the event registration table. Attendees are encouraged to do their part to educate the next generation of analytics talents by taking the $5 challenge card to the Valen Analytics booth on the show floor. For every attendee who makes a donation at Valen’s booth, Valen will add another $5 to the scholarship fund geared to benefit high school students interested in pursuing careers in the STEM field.
For more information about how Valen’s membership in Change the Equation can help insurers address the industry’s talent shortage, please visit the site here.
About Valen Analytics
ValenAnalyticshelps carriers manage and segment their portfolios in order to drive underwriting profitability. Valen’s InsureRight Platform is the only solution with proprietary insight into portfolio metrics and risk characteristics to identify pockets of pricing inadequacy and redundancy. A dynamic portfolio management tool provides access to Valen’s contributory database containing policy level analysis not available elsewhere. The Valen contributory database is anonymized and has scored over 20 million policies using robust predictive models in Homeowners, Workers’ Compensation, Commercial Auto, Telematics, Commercial Package, and BOP. Learn more about Valen at http://www.valen.com/.
About Change the Equation
Change the Equation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, CEO-led initiative that is mobilizing the business community to improve the quality of STEM learning in the United States. CTEq’s coalition of members strives to sustain a national movement to improve PreK-12 STEM learning by leveraging and expanding its work focusing on three goals: improving philanthropy, inspiring youth and advocating for change.