Pioneer of Global CAT Modeling Named Woman of the Year.

Business Editors

NOTE TO MEDIA: Photo is available in a Smart News Release(TM) on

Business Wire's Home Page at www.businesswire.com and at

www.newstream.com

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 12, 2001

AIR president and CEO Karen M. Clark has been honored as Woman of the Year for 2001 by the Association of Professional Insurance Women (APIW). The 25th recipient of this prestigious award, Ms. Clark was chosen for being an "industry innovator" and for her "commitment to supporting women and advancing women's careers within the industry," according to Catherine Kalaydjian, current president of the APIW.

Ms. Clark began her insurance career in the R&D department of Commercial Union Insurance Companies. It was there that she became interested in catastrophe risk assessment and management, undertaking the development of a simulation model designed to estimate property losses from potential hurricane activity. "At the time, companies were paying remarkably little attention to their catastrophe risk," said Ms. Clark, "a fact due, perhaps, to the lack of significant events in the 70's and early 80's."

In 1987, using her own resources with no financial backing or outside funding, Ms. Clark formed AIR to further develop and extend this new catastrophe loss estimation technology. Today, AIR models cover all major natural hazards, including hurricanes, earthquakes, winter storms, tornadoes, hailstorms and flood, for more than 30 countries throughout North America, the Caribbean, South America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. The suite of software applications based on AIR models have become the industry standard tools used by companies to proactively develop their strategies for pricing, underwriting, claims management, individual risk selection, risk transfer and overall portfolio risk management.

"Having first met Karen in 1992 as a client of AIR, I was immediately impressed by her creation of the first tool (CATMAP(R)) that enabled reinsurers to quantify their catastrophe exposures on an objective basis," said Louise A. Ryan, past APIW president and currently vice president at AIR. "Her continued dedication to developing the most advanced scientific methodologies and building them into the most user-friendly software form the cornerstone of AIR's success. Karen's energy, dynamism and vision make her a fabulous role model," Ms. Ryan added.

"I'm truly honored at having been selected," said Ms. Clark, "particularly in light of how many other deserving women there are in the industry today." The APIW award follows on the heels of Business Insurance's selection of Ms. Clark last October as one of the top 100 women in the insurance industry.

Applied Insurance Research is the technological leader in providing catastrophe modeling services and computer software solutions (CATMAP(R)/2, CLASIC(TM), CLASIC/2(TM) and CATRADER(R)) to the insurance, reinsurance and capital markets. Offices are located in Boston, London, Seattle and Hyderabad. The company's Web address is www.air-worldwide.com.

Note: A Photo is available at URL:

http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/photo.cgi?pw.041201/bb5