St. John’s recently joined the Wounded Warriors Project, a non-profit initiative that aims to help ease the transition of injured soldiers back to civilian life.

St. John’s University’s School of Risk Management, Insurance and Actuarial Science along with Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF) and other major insurance leaders will take part of the educational component of the project, called the Warriors to Work Insurance Industry Workforce Development program.

During a seminar held in mid-August at the Manhattan Campus, 11 veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan met with insurance company representatives who shared their experiences in the field with the soldiers. Two professors from the School of Risk Management (SRM), Albert Beer and Richard Bennett, gave classes on risk and the risk management process, underwriting and ratemaking, and more topics in the 2-day program. On the third day, human resource professionals from the participating insurance companies held mock interviews so the veterans would be better prepared for future job interviews.

Ryan Kules, program manager of the Warrior to Work program, said he thought the program was “excellent” and the reactions of the veterans were positive.”They learned about life insurance and were opened up to new aspects of this career,” he said.

Maureen Furlong-Weber, Director of SRM at the Manhattan Campus, said that they would like to do more with their partnership.

“It’s a one time thing but we are exploring ways of doing more,” she said. For more information on the project, go to www.woundedwarriorproject.org.