Storm Exchange to Acquire Weather Ventures Ltd.
Names Prominent Meteorologist Dr. John A. Dutton Chief Scientist,
Opens Weather Research Facility on Penn State Campus
NEW YORK & STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (Business Wire EON) April 15, 2008 --
Storm Exchange, Inc., a
company that helps businesses improve their performance in the face of
increasingly volatile weather, announced that it will acquire Weather
Ventures, Ltd., a firm providing information, strategies and
decision system designs for managing weather and climate risk in the
public and private sectors. The acquisition will expand Storm Exchange's
weather and climate research capabilities and add a highly-regarded
group of atmospheric scientists to the firm's management team.
Simultaneously, Storm Exchange will open a weather
research center at The Pennsylvania State University, home of the
nation's leading meteorology department.
Weather Ventures CEO Dr. John A. Dutton, Professor Emeritus of
Meteorology and Dean Emeritus of the College of Earth and Mineral
Sciences at The Pennsylvania State University, has been named Chief
Scientist of Storm Exchange. Dr. Jeremy Ross, Weather Ventures lead
researcher, has been named Vice President, Weather Research and
Operations, and will oversee the Storm Exchange Weather Research Center
located at Penn State.
“By joining forces with Drs. Dutton and Ross,
we've added expertise and experience in atmospheric science to advance
the breadth of our weather risk
management solutions. This relationship will allow us to lead the
capital markets into categories of weather risk that were previously
unattainable,” said David
Riker, Storm Exchange CEO. “We expect to
see long-term dividends from our new research center that will be at the
epicenter of both meteorological and weather risk research.”
Weather Ventures has been on the vanguard of atmospheric research for
the past 10 years, launching a number of groundbreaking initiatives such
as The World Climate Service, which provides global probabilistic
forecasts of seasonal climate variations; Battlefield Weather
Probabilities, which were developed for the U.S. Army Research
Laboratory to provide high resolution forecasts of battlefield weather
conditions; and a Wildfire Weather Decision System, which was developed
with the sponsorship of the USDA
Forest Service to gauge wildfire risks.
A prominent authority on atmospheric science, Dr. Dutton is the author
of a variety of articles on the dynamics of atmospheric motion as well
as two advanced meteorology text books. Prior to joining the faculty of
Penn State, Dr. Dutton was an officer in the Air Weather Service of the
U.S. Air Force. He is also a fellow of the American Meteorological
Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr.
Dutton has been active in the University Corporation for Atmospheric
Research and in the National Academy of Science. He chaired the National
Research Council Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate while it
produced the report, The Atmospheric Sciences Entering the
Twenty-First Century, and most recently chaired an academy committee
that produced a report, For Greener Skies - Reducing the
Environmental Impacts of Aviation. Dr. Dutton also serves as a
member of the Fundamental Sciences Review Committee for the Pacific
Northwest National Laboratory. He holds B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees
from the University of Wisconsin - Madison.
As Chief Scientist, Dr. Dutton will lead the development of new Storm
Exchange weather indices and pioneer the development of new weather
modeling and prediction methodologies to help businesses gauge their
company-specific exposures to various weather scenarios.
“This is the opportunity of a lifetime to
bring the most advanced concepts from atmospheric science to the heart
of contemporary business management,” said Dr.
Dutton. “We are on a clear path to eliminate
weather-related financial risk from many corporate balance sheets. Our
aim is to take financial risk out of weather risk.”
Dr. Ross, who will head the Storm Exchange Weather Center, was
previously lead researcher for Weather Ventures and manager of research
and development for ZedX Inc., an information technology company
specializing in the development of weather-dependent decision-support
products. He obtained B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in meteorology from
The Pennsylvania State University.
“With weather becoming more volatile than
ever, this is an extraordinarily exciting time to be in the risk
management business,” said Dr. Ross. “I
look forward to Storm Exchange helping companies leverage the cutting
edge of meteorological research to manage their day-to-day and seasonal
weather risk.”
About Weather Ventures, Ltd.
Weather Ventures develops probabilistic forecasts of weather and climate
variations designed to assist government and private clients manage
weather and climate risk in high-value activities. When linked with
computer models describing client activities, the Weather Venture
forecast systems provide estimates of the probability of success, the
value at risk, and the cost and consequences of various risk management
strategies.
Weather Ventures works closely with distinguished scientists at Penn
State and other universities and with two private sector partners.
About Storm Exchange, Inc.
Storm Exchange, Inc. operates an online financial market to help
businesses (and in some cases their end consumers) better plan for and
manage their weather-related risks.
Nearly one-third of the U.S. economy is sensitive to the weather. And
while businesses routinely hedge
risks such as currency and interest rate fluctuations, when it comes to
the variability of the weather, most are operating blind. That's because
until now most companies have not had the knowledge or tools to develop
a clear understanding of the true measure and financial cost of their
weather losses. Storm Exchange was founded to fill this large, but
unmet, corporate need.
The Company gives corporations, governments and other clients the
specialized industry knowledge, data-driven indices, analytical tools
and capital market access they need to execute a contract to effectively
hedge their weather-related risks. The result is increased control
weather-impacted operating results and stronger, more predictable
financial performance.
Find out more about Storm Exchange at www.stormexchange.com.
Release Summary:
Storm Exchange, Inc., a company that helps businesses improve their
performance in the face of increasingly volatile weather, announced that
it will acquire Weather Ventures, Ltd., a firm providing information,
strategies and decision system designs for managing weather and climate
risk in the public and private sectors.
Keyword Tags:
atmospheric research, climate change, climate map, climate research,
commodities, global climate change, hedge, risk management, usda,
weather forecast, weather research, weather risk
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