Testing nature

Julie Rochman has a paper sign hanging next to her desk with a simple quote: “We will figure it out.” Figuring it out may mean setting a home on fire or creating a hurricane inside a test chamber.

The test chamber is an indoor 2-acre, 70-foot-tall laboratory that replicates natural disasters to provide data for the insurance industry. “Everyone who goes to the lab becomes like a 12-year-old boy,” says Rochman, the 52-year-old president and chief executive officer of the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety, commonly called IBHS.

The Tampa-based institute is a nonprofit organization that conducts research to help both sides of the insurance equation: It helps its members — mostly insurance companies — better assess risk, and it helps inform consumers on ways to mitigate theirrisks of property damage. It does this by studying all types of construction best practices, such as how to build or repair residential roofs, as well as disseminating tips, such as how to protect your home from wildfires.