2008 National Hurricane Conference
Closing General Session
April 4, 2008

INSURANCE ISSUES

8:30 a.m.

The State of the Insurance Industry and Projections for 2008

Dr. Robert P. Hartwig, President, Insurance Information Institute, New York , NY

9:00 a.m.
Panel Discussion: Who Will Pay for Future Catastrophic Events?
Blain K. Rethmeier, Senior Vice President, Public Affairs, American Insurance Association, Washington, DC; Jeff Brewer, Property Casualty Insurers Association, Des Plaines, IL; and Robert Detlefsen, Vice President of Public Policy, National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, Washington, DC

9:30 a.m.

Reducing CAT Losses by Building Stronger and Safer Homes

Julie Rochman, President and CEO, Institute for Business and Home Safety, Tampa , FL

9:45 a.m.

Wind vs. Flood Damages: An Analysis of the Coverage Litigation

David Lee Harrell, Deputy Insurance Commissioner, State of Mississippi , Jackson , MS

10:00 a.m.

Coffee Break

10:30 a.m.

GLOBAL WARMING AND HURRICANES

Limitations in Historical Hurricane Data Sets on Climate Studies

Dr. Chris Landsea, Science and Operations Officer, National Hurricane Center , Miami , FL (invited)

Numerical Models, Tropical Cyclones, and Climate Change

Thomas R. Knutson, Research Meteorologist, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, NOAA, Princeton , NJ

11:30 a.m.
2008 Hurricane Season Forecast
Phil Klotzbach, Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, CO

11:45 a.m.
The History of Seasonal Forecasting
Bill Gray, Professor of Atmospheric Science, Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, CO

Noon

Conference Adjourns