Dr. Ed Overman devoted his career as an academician to the field of insurance education. His early years, 1945-1953, he served in two universities as instructor of insurance and economics, at Oklahoma State and The Ohio State University. In the latter university, he taught the mandatory course in insurance principles and practices required of all students before graduation from the College of Commerce. It has been estimated that he taught more than 5,000 students in that insurance course at Ohio State.
In 1953, he joined the American Institute for CPCU as assistant to Dean Harry J. Loman, founder of the Institutes in Philadelphia. He served for 13 years as Loman’s assistant, and following Loman’s retirement in 1966, Dr. Overman was elected president and CEO of the Institutes where he served until his retirement in 1987. He continues today to serve as Lifetime Member of the Institutes Board of Trustees. In 2003, he marked his 50 years of service to the Institutes.
In 1960, he pioneered in the creation of the first coordinated body of theory and thought describing the newly emerging field of risk management. Subsequently, he and his associate, Dr. George Head, worked with the national Risk and Insurance Management Society to create a technical or specialized designation, Associate in Risk Management (ARM).
The next specialty designation that he supervised during the 1961-63 years was AIC, Associate in Claims. This program was developed with the sponsorship of the National Association of Independent Loss and Claims Adjusters. He directed many other specialty designations over the years, from Associate in Underwriting to Associate in Reinsurance Operations.
Dr. Overman was responsible in the l980’s for the creation of a complete body of new knowledge describing the theory and practice in the field of property-liability insurance, which is now assigned as study in the preparation for the CPCU professional designation.
Throughout his career, he has published a total of 58 collegiate level textbooks in the field of property-liability insurance and risk management. Many of these textbooks became the principal source of introductory and advanced technical textbooks in insurance theory and practice in the United States.