- IBHS Adds Kim Bass to Business Protection Team
TAMPA The Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) today announced that Kim Bass has joined the organization as Director of Commercial Issues, a new position.
We are very pleased that Kim has joined IBHS, because we are actively looking to expand our work in commercial property loss mitigation. Her tremendous experience with, and passion for, risk management in this segment of the marketplace will be great assets to us and the various audiences we serve in months and years to come, said IBHS President & CEO Julie Rochman.
Ms. Bass comes to IBHS with a wealth of diverse commercial insurance experience. Most recently, she was an owner of Get Real Holding Corp. and Freedom Property Company working with clients on real estate due diligence, acquisitions, sales, and risk management issues. Prior to that, she was a vice president at Marsh, Inc., responsible for risk analysis, design and implementation of commercial insurance programs. In the past, Ms. Bass has worked with a mutual insurance company, an agency, and private and publicly owned brokerage firms.
We are excited about the opportunity to work with Kim in her new role, said Don Tolly, product design and underwriting director at American Family Insurance and chair of the IBHS Commercial Committee. Committee members have spent the last few years focusing on business continuity and disaster planning, and with Kim's knowledge and experience we are looking forward to expanding into new areas.
Along with its research and communication efforts to protect commercial property from extreme natural events and maintenance-related problems, IBHS encourages business owners to assess risks and develop contingency plans for anything that could disrupt day-to-day operations. Through its Open for Business® program, IBHS provides free resources directly to the business community and through its insurer members.
For more information visit the IBHS Web site http://www.DisasterSafety.org/.
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IBHS is an independent, nonprofit, scientific and educational organization supported by the property insurance industry. The organization works to reduce the social and economic effects of natural disasters and other risks to residential and commercial property by conducting research and advocating improved construction, maintenance and preparation practices.
- IBHS Commends Homeland Security Chair for Leadership on Disaster Mitigation
TAMPA The Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) today commended U.S. Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS) for his leadership on disaster mitigation, and IBHS also offered its scientific expertise as he promotes initiatives to make American communities more resilient.
At the Hurricane Science for Safety Leadership Forum this month in Orlando, Fla., Rep. Thompson, Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, vowed to support programs to build safe new homes for coastal families who have been displaced by storms and to retrofit existing homes so that every American can be better protected from disasters.
In a December 15 letter to Rep. Thompson, IBHS President and CEO Julie Rochman offered to provide the Chairman with research focusing on home resiliency that IBHS conducted immediately after Hurricane Ike. IBHS works to promote property protection on behalf of our insurance company members, and we are committed to conducting the necessary research to develop applied science solutions to create stronger, more resilient communities, said Rochman.
We are very encouraged by Chairman Thompson's interest in mitigation efforts and look forward to acting as a resource for him about available mitigation technologies that definitely can make our country more disaster-resistant.
During his remarks in Orlando, the Chairman cited houses on Bolivar Peninsula, Texas, that withstood the wrath of Hurricane Ike in September, even though the majority of homes in that area were destroyed. The homes that remained were built to the IBHS Fortifiedfor safer living® standard, a national program that provides engineering guidance to exceed building codes and construct homes with added resistance against the hazards they face.
IBHS engineers are completing their assessment of the performance of these homes as well as commercial structures that were impacted by Hurricane Ike on the Bolivar Peninsula, in Galveston, Houston, and the surrounding areas. Similar field research was conducted in Houma, Louisiana, in the wake of Hurricane Gustav.
IBHS also is pursuing a number of applied scientific research and communication initiatives to promote property protection by home and business owners, encourage better land use planning, and improve the adoption and enforcement of effective building codes, including construction of a multi-peril, world class research facility that will inform the science behind recommended advancements.
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IBHS is an independent, nonprofit, scientific and educational organization supported by the property insurance industry. The organization works to reduce the social and economic effects of natural disasters and other risks to residential and commercial property by conducting research and advocating improved construction, maintenance and preparation practices.
- IBHS Launches Disaster Safety Blog
TAMPA - The Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) today announced the creation of a new blog on its Web site, DisasterSafety.org.
The Disaster Safety Blog is updated daily with topical events, the latest in property protection research initiatives, and other information supporting the organization's mission to create stronger and more resilient communities, with the ultimate goal of reducing property losses.
Postings also give readers an inside look at IBHS' activities such as post-catastrophe damage investigations and construction of its new multi-peril, one of a kind research facility.
The methods we use to communicate are constantly evolving, said IBHS President and CEO Julie Rochman.Some things warrant a news release, while others make for good discussion and are better-suited to a blog post.The Disaster Safety Blog allows us to keep a wide variety of interested audiences up-to- date, not only on what is making headlines and how it relates to our work, but also about trends and topics that our members, policymakers and the public need to know.
IBHS hopes the blog will help highlight the risks that natural and man-made disasters, as well as more common and routine causes of loss, pose to homes and businesses, and increase the understanding about the steps that can be taken to reduce those risks and their impact.
According to Ms. Rochman, More people are living in harm's way than ever before.We collectively and individually need to work toward solutions that make us less vulnerable to the natural events that can and will have a dramatic impact on our lives.
If, by reading the IBHS blog, more people are motivated to take preventive actions that will help them maintain their homes and businesses and minimize disruptions to their daily routines, we have conquered one more hurdle as we strive to make communities more resilient.
Visit www.DisasterSafety.org/blog.
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IBHS is an independent, nonprofit, scientific and educational organization supported by the property insurance industry.The organization works to reduce the social and economic effects of natural disasters and other risks to residential and commercial property by conducting research and advocating improved construction, maintenance and preparation practices.
- National Wildfire Summit Charts a Course for Collaboration to Reduce Catastrophic Losses
TAMPA - Thirty representatives from the fire services communityand the insurance industry gathered in Tampa, Fla., Monday for aNational Fire Safety-Property Insurance Wildfire Summit.
This day-long summit was organized by the Institute for Business & Home Safety following discussions with California State Fire Marshal Kate Dargan. The two organizations met when IBHS conducted research into the 2007 Witch Creek Wildfire in Southern California. The research resulted in the publication of Megafires: The Case for Mitigation, which details how homes performed during the wildfire that resulted in $1 billion in insured losses.
"The purpose of the summit was to reinvigorate the relationship between fire services and the insurance industry," said IBHS President & CEO Julie Rochman. "We want to identify areas where insurers and fire officials can work together to reduce the kind of catastrophic losses experienced in the Witch Creek Wildfire."
The summit was quite successful and resulted in the development of a list of long- and short-term deliverables, which the assembled organizations agreed to pursue.
Organizations attending the summit included American Family Insurance,American Insurance Association, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), Congressio
