Catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide announces the availability of Public Risk Services, a new consulting service to support the needs of public sector institutions and stakeholders charged with managing catastrophe risk. John W. Rollins, vice president at AIR Worldwide, will head the new service group.

"Many public groups, including insurance commissioners, wind and earthquake pools, model evaluation commissions, federal insurance programs, prudential and solvency regulators, and quasi-governmental organizations, are increasingly concerned with the micro and macro impact of disasters," says Rollins. "Some are increasingly bearing the risk on behalf of taxpayers. By offering a dedicated service to these important organizations, we're fully committed to better serving the public sector as it manages catastrophe risk."

AIR is establishing Public Risk Services to serve three distinct roles:

• Ambassadorial — a dedicated liaison to stakeholders in the public sector, keeping them abreast of AIR's research, software, and consulting activities
• Educational — focus on educating public institutions on the role and value of catastrophe models, including AIR products and services
• Center of Excellence — a knowledge nexus regarding the role, structure, and risk-sharing frameworks of public risk pools

Rollins brings more than 20 years of experience as a property/casualty actuary in a variety of environments, including personal and commercial lines insurance companies and global and regional consulting firms. In a previous tenure, he developed and led significant wind loss analysis and mitigation projects for the Mississippi Insurance Commissioner and the Florida Division of Emergency Management.