For students entering the Insurance and Risk Management (IRM) industry, earning highly respected professional designations are critical to career growth and professional development.

IRM students at the University of Houston-Downtown’s Marilyn Davies College of Business learn in their courses that such credentials shows their depth of knowledge of the industry. In addition, such designations lead to employment offers and even future advancement.

To that end, nine students from the IRM program have shown that they are on the pathway to success by earning the University Associate Certified Risk Manager (UACRM) designation from The National Alliance for Insurance Education and Research.

Priscilla Oehlert, Director of the UHD Insurance & Risk Management Center said, “The UHD Bachelor of Business Administration in Insurance & Risk Management program offers designation courses so that credentials, such as the UACRM, can be earned and to help set UHD IRM majors and graduates apart from others in the insurance industry.”

Students earning the UACRM designation are Ana Escribano, Tim Harris, Nurbek Karshygayev, Kris Murphy, Patrick Ogude, Jr., Pierre Phillips, Jasmine Silinzy, Michael Stein and Stephanie Westmoreland.

The program prepares IRM majors for insurance careers including underwriting, loss control, claims adjusting, insurance appraisers, auditing, risk analysts, brokers/agents, personal financial planners and others. These careers are provided by a stable industry seeking talented propects.

Michael Stein, a senior business major, who works as a risk analyst for Transocean Offshore Drilling, said he’s already putting what he has learned to good use.

“This designation helps me as a risk professional because it gives me specialized knowledge that will help me add more value to every client relationship,” he said. Stein will graduate with his degree in August and will continue his current role with Transocean with his sights set on eventually becoming a risk manager.

“This certification means a lot of me,” the father of two toddler girls said. “It was a lot of hard work and a lot of hours studying, but well worth it. I know it will certainly will benefit me as I move forward in my career.”

William J. Hold, CRM, CISR, President and CEO of The National Alliance said he is proud of the students' accomplishments.

"We would like to congratulate the newest UACRM class at UHD," Hold said. "We started the University Associates Program to cultivate a capable future workforce and inspire the next-generation of professionals in search of meaningful insurance and risk management careers and and I can’t wait to see how the designation fuels their future successes in the risk and insurance industry.”