Catastrophe modeler unveils resilience practice

AIR Worldwide on Monday said it had formed a global resilience practice to support risk reduction and resilience efforts to better prepare for and recover from catastrophes.

The Global Resilience Practice will assist companies, governments, and agencies around the world.

Boston-based AIR said it is establishing the global resilience practice to help organizations apply catastrophe modeling to disaster risk financing and establish alliances with organizations that can provide data for AIR model development. The practice will also look to strengthen relationships with regulatory bodies and rating agencies worldwide, AIR said in a statement.

Daniel Kaniewski will lead the new practice and serve as vice president of global resilience. He will continue his work at GWU while working at AIR and will be based in Washington.

“I’m extremely excited to join an innovative company like AIR and take on the challenge of developing the company’s public risk strategy,” he said in the statement. “I look forward to assisting organizations in applying catastrophe modeling to financing disaster risk and to expanding AIR’s already strong collaborations with the United Nations, the World Bank, the U.S. National Flood Insurance Program, insurance regulatory bodies across the globe, and distinguished research groups.”