To say these are challenging economic times for insurers is to understate substantially the magnitude of the current situation. But it's not enough simply to recognize the challenges: Decisionmakers must understand today's economic trends and their causes in order to gain perspective into how those trends are likely to impact their company and industry sector. Only then can they mitigate losses and find new ways to capitalize on available opportunities.

In the "Economic Update and State of the Industry" session this afternoon at 1:45 p.m., Harry Starrett and John Johnston will offer a broad overview of the economy, particularly the financial crisis, with a perspective on how these economic realities likely will affect insurance companies across the spectrum of the industry. Starrett is client strategist at General Re - New England Asset Management, and Johnston is principal with UHY Advisors' Enterprise Risk Advisory Services Practice in New York.

"Everyone knows we're going through a traumatic period, and everyone can see the unprecedented government responses worldwide to try to correct it," Starrett says. "What we are going to try to do in this session is explore the fundamental root issues of what happened and what the ultimate shape of the recovery will be considering the impact of government programs, particularly over the next six to 12 months."