Florida State University’s Chuck Nyce is one of the most visible professors on campus.
As department chair of the Risk Management & Insurance Center through FSU’s College of Business, Nyce’s expertise on hurricane coverage is highly in demand, especially in the state of Florida.
In the 2024-25 academic year, Nyce has shared his knowledge with national outlets that included CNBC, CNN, ABC News, FOX, Newsweek, Politico, The Weather Channel and several more. It’s a role that he embraces, understanding the importance of offering guidance in the key area of catastrophic risk financing through big media outlets.
“Over the last three years, I’ve made a concerted effort to try and get out in front of these stories,” Nyce said. “And these are the types of questions they ask all the time: ‘What can consumers do to protect themselves?’’’
To answer that question, Nyce emphasizes that insurance is critical.
“Consumers have to understand that the federal government and the state government are not going to come in and bail them out after the fact,” Nyce added. “The programs that our government run are not substitutes for insurance. They are designed to supplement insurance. So people who make the decisions not to insure because it’s too expensive, they’re going to bear lot of this cost when an event occurs.”
One of the nation’s most sought-after experts in risk management, Nyce had a winding road into the profession. Always knowledgeable with numbers, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics at La Salle University in Philadelphia. From there, a mentor advised him to pursue a profession in actuarial science, a field that uses math and statistical methods to analyze financial risks in the insurance industry.
Despite the great pay and low stress, it was a stagnant job where much of the day was spent in front of the computer screen — the type of position that didn’t fit his style. The aftermath of Category 5 storm Hurricane Andrew in 1992 made him realize that he could apply his abilities to the more engaging and public-facing field of catastrophic weather events and their impacts on insurance.
It’s a move that over 30 years later has led him from staring at a small screen to appearing on many television screens and streaming devices.
“With enough practice you get used to it,” Nyce said of his media presence. “This is not what I envisioned at any point during my life. I never thought I’d be doing media presentations and going to conferences and presenting, trying to change the public policy on how we manage these hurricane risks in Florida.”
Nyce has seen the conversation change around insurance coverage over the last decade. With four major hurricanes hitting the Sunshine State since 2022 — most recently Helene and Milton in 2024 — the emphasis on hurricane coverage has returned. State legislators renewed their focus on the topic after Florida went through a relatively peaceful period from 2006 to 2017.
“Florida is hurricane central,” Nyce said. “We have the highest catastrophe risk in the world for hurricanes. The frequency and severity of hurricanes…there’s nothing else like it in the world. We are a peak zone. The world looks to us to solve this problem.”
“Florida is hurricane central. We have the highest catastrophe risk in the world for hurricanes. The frequency and severity of hurricanes…there’s nothing else like it in the world. We are a peak zone. The world looks to us to solve this problem.”
– Chuck Nyce, Department Chair of the FSU Risk Management & Insurance Center
His primary piece of advice for policyholders in the state: Know the details of your deductible, which is the damages property owners are responsible for after a loss.
As a professor, Nyce enjoys teaching just as much as reshaping public policy in Florida. He teaches a risk management course for nearly 500 students and often finds a transformation in what they’ve learned by the end of the semester.
Part of his motivation is equipping students with the skills needed to thrive in their profession.
“For students, there’s three things in life that you should be worried about right now: knowledge, skills and abilities,” Nyce said. “I can’t help you with your abilities. That’s God-given. That’s natural. But I can help you with your knowledge and your skills. You’re here at FSU for three or four years, so what knowledge and skills are you building that someone’s going to pay you for when you graduate?”
At the helm of the nation’s fourth-ranked risk management and insurance program, Nyce is a driving force behind FSU’s cutting-edge research. Whether it’s morning headlines or evening broadcasts, chances are you’ll catch him breaking down the latest insurance insights — one interview at a time.