Dr. Lawrence S. Powell
Influencing Insurance Policy
While his honors, professional memberships, publications, and presentations are extensive, Lars Powell, Whitbeck-Beyer Chair of Insurance and Financial Services and associate professor in economics and finance, is a university standout for his national service to the insurance industry.
鈥淭he public service he provides at the national and state levels is exemplary,鈥� said his department chair, Dr. Andy Terry. 鈥淎t the national level, Dr. Powell has earned several service accolades in the last five years.鈥�
Last year he received a service award from the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies.
鈥淗is selection was not surprising given his outstanding work on behalf of our association and its 1,400 member companies,鈥� said Dr. Robert Detlefsen, vice president of public policy for the organization. 鈥淒uring the past several years, Dr. Powell has probably done more than any insurance scholar in the United States to inform the public policy debate surrounding critical issues pertaining to the business and regulation of property-casualty insurance.鈥�
He testified in 2010 about 鈥淧rohibiting Price Fixing and Other Anticompetitive Conduct in the Health Insurance Industry鈥� before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and in 2008 about credit-based insurance scoring before the U.S. House of Representatives鈥� Financial Services Committee.
Additionally, Powell is a SAFETY Act application economic reviewer for the Department of Homeland Security, via the Institute for Defense Analysis. In 2011, he organized the annual seminar of the Risk Theory Society, an international research group, and hosted it at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock. He鈥檚 also editor of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners鈥� Journal of Insurance Regulation.
On the state level, Powell serves on the Arkansas Association of Health Underwriters board as legislative chairman; Arkansas Insurance Commissioner鈥檚 Legislative Task Force, which convenes to discuss insurance-related bills; and Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers Education Foundation Board. He frequently provides continuing education lectures to insurance agents on a volunteer basis.
Powell is serving in his ninth year at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock. He earned a B.B.A. degree in finance and insurance from the University of South Carolina in 1996 and a Ph.D. in risk management and insurance with a minor concentration in finance from the University of Georgia in 2002.