BY LAURA K. ROE

Imagine an absolute necessity for the survival of a developing country. Banking, most definitely, but insurance? Insurance may not be as visible as banking, but developing countries could not prosper without it, according to Harold D. Skipper, C.V. Starr Chair of International Insurance and a professor in Georgia State's Risk Management and Insurance Department. For 17 years, Skipper has researched international insurance issues and has become an expert in the field that many policy makers - in the United States and abroad - turn to for advice. Looking around his office in the College of Business

Administration one can see momentos from his life in Geneva and Paris and his frequent travels to Europe, Asia and beyond. Exotic masks smile from the corner of his room - like friends tempting you to travel to the Far East.

"1981 was a turning point for me in terms of my career. I had a mild interest in international issues prior to living in Geneva and working within the UN structure," says Skipper, who took a three-year leave of absence from Georgia State to work with the UN.

He leans back in his chair and looks out reflectively before replying, "What was a mild interest then became a passion."

Justifying his last statement, Skipper explains more thoroughly the impact Geneva and the UN had upon his interest in international insurance issues.

"Just living abroad - the stimulation of living in a different culture and struggling with the language and especially at the UN. I worked daily with people all over the world. For a country boy from south Alabama, this was heady stuff!"

As an economics affairs officer with the United Nation's Special Programme on Insurance, Skipper assisted developing countries with market structure issues.

"You have to take care in how you regulate that business (insurance) because you can't allow unfettered competition. When dealing with an intangible like insurance, it's almost too easy for consumers to be misled. The typical consumer has no easy way of knowing whether what is being presented is accurate and whether the insurance company backing it is sound. On the other hand, too many governments in developing and developed countries alike have imposed stifling regulation. You have to strike a balance," he says.

His light blue eyes appear much larger from beneath his glasses and they widen as he explains, "It's a problem in developing countries and it's a fundamental problem with insurance worldwide."

"The insurance company and its employees and its agents are always well informed. And there have been many frauds because you have to pay up front. Normally when you buy something, you get it right then. But with an insurance policy, you pay for it and you get a piece of paper....Even in the U.S., reputable companies can really allow things to get out of hand," Skipper adds.

In order to avoid this type of manipulation and fraud, Skipper has conducted research and written reports with the goal of inspiring change.

But change requires legwork, which Skipper has had some experience in doing as a member of several advisory committees to the U.S. insurance regulators and of several U.S. government delegations to intergovernmental meetings.

"The purpose of these delegations is to advise the U.S. Federal Government in matters pertaining to international insurance trade issues. So, you in effect advise the U.S. official who then speaks for the government," explains Skipper.

Although Skipper no longer serves on these U.S. delegations, his presence on them - academics are rarely invited to serve - was noticed by the organizations themselves. Skipper now serves as a consultant to the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) - the trade organization for developed countries with market economies, and was invited two years ago to make a policy presentation before a UN committee on financial services.

Of late, however, he is immersed in teaching and writing at the College ­ he and his departmental colleagues have just completed a textbook on international risk and insurance. But he still travels often because "no one can consider him or herself even remotely international without spending much time outside your own borders."

After his travels, he brings his experiences into the classroom ­ where he said he strives to inspire his students. This summer Skipper is in Singapore as the Shaw Foundation Visiting Professor at Nanyang Technological University where he is lecturing, advising the faculty on curriculum, and forging new links between the Georgia State and NTU insurance and actuarial science programs, both of which are preeminent. When asked about his summer in Singapore, Skipper replies, "You can feel the dynamism of East Asia - we (Georgia State) must be there!"

Skipper frequently travels to promote Georgia State's programs. Last summer Skipper and his wife, Toni, traveled for five weeks visiting insurance scholars, governmental officials and business executives in Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, China, Malaysia and Hong Kong.

With all of this international travel and with his love for diverse cultures, why does Skipper remain here at Georgia State's College of Business Administration?

"I ultimately decided to come back to the University," says Skipper, reflecting on the time when he was asked to remain at the UN permanently in Geneva.

"I'm an academic and Georgia State has given me so much."

As he has returned threefold to his students and faculty.

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