As executive vice president leading HUB's national construction practice, Kirk Chamberlain (pictured) has spent decades navigating uncertainty in one of the most complex sectors of the insurance world.
But beyond his professional accomplishments, he has carried that risk management mindset into an unlikely arena: educating displaced children in war-torn regions.
In 2017, Chamberlain co-founded World Refugees School (WRS). The school's mission? To provide accredited, portable education to millions of kids whose academic futures were interrupted by displacement.
The idea began around a decade ago, while Chamberlain worked with Marsh. Witnessing Europe absorb waves of Syrian refugees, he grew frustrated with traditional corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives that relied heavily on donations of food, clothing, or unaccredited educational programs.
“We realized these kids weren’t just missing a semester,” Chamberlain told Insurance Business. “They were losing their entire academic careers.” The average refugee child, he said, spends 16 years displaced: “Without accredited schooling, they’d have nothing to show for it.”
Chamberlain joined forces with two visionary partners: Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari and a pioneer in gamified learning, and Waleed Tahabsem, head of International Technologies Group, one of the world’s first distance-learning companies.
Together, they designed a system that could not only deliver education in unstable environments but ensure it counted. By partnering with City & Guilds in the UK, WRS became the first NGO in the world to offer internationally accredited education to refugee children in the Middle East.
“I’ve got a lot of connections historically to that part of the world, so it’s always personally been a place I was familiar with,” said Chamberlain, who spent several years in the Middle East serving roles in Marsh and Aon, among other firms.
“I felt there was a lot of opportunity to fix a lot of problems. Some are macro and will outlive me, but some of these areas were where we thought we could make a difference.”
WRS built 18 mobile classrooms – 40-foot trailers outfitted with desks, satellite uplinks, and digital learning tools – and deployed them to Northern Syria.
At its peak, Chamberlain said WRS was educating 4,000 to 5,000 children a day, effectively replacing the destroyed public school system in that region. For many, it was the first time they could work toward a diploma that would follow them across borders and into higher education.
For Chamberlain, his career in insurance didn’t just run parallel to his philanthropic mission; it was foundational to it. “At the end of the day, everything came back to risk,” he said.
“Where do we deploy the classrooms? How do we move them if there’s fighting? How do we fundraise without leaving donors exposed? It’s all the same conversation we have every day in construction. Different jargon, different objective, but the process is very similar.”
His ability to navigate risky terrain proved invaluable. Drawing from HUB’s nonprofit and construction verticals, Chamberlain tapped into networks of professionals who understood how to de-risk complex projects in fragile environments.
Like many nonprofits, WRS was forced to suspend operations during COVID-19. Funding dried up just as global need spiked. The mobile classrooms, fully built and battle-tested, are now in storage, waiting for redeployment.
Chamberlain believes the insurance sector is uniquely positioned to lead this charge. Every major carrier and broker invests in charitable giving, often individually and diffusely. He argued that a more coordinated effort could make a significant difference.
He notes that much of the heavy lifting—the technology, accreditation, and proof of concept—has already been completed with an $8 million initial investment.
“The infrastructure exists, the accreditation exists, and the risk has already been absorbed,” Chamberlain said. “What we need now is corporate support to bring it back to life.
“The risky part is over. Now it’s about scale. Corporate funding could immediately put thousands of children back in school with a certified education that will follow them wherever they go.”
Beyond restarting operations in Syria, Chamberlain sees opportunities in other countries, including Jordan, Myanmar, and the Philippines.
“There are tens of millions of kids in fragile communities, remote islands, and informal settlements who lack access to formal education," he said. "Our platform can serve them too.”
Chamberlain acknowledged the scope is daunting, but he frames it in familiar terms for his peers: risk, resilience, and return on investment.
““What we’ve been really trying to do is shift the narrative about refugees,” he said. “When we started visiting these camps to scope these projects, what I realized, especially in Jordan with the Iraqi and Syrian refugees, was that most of the people who live in these camps are middle-class people.
“Just like me living in Chicago, they are business owners, doctors, lawyers, and professionals. So, we’re trying to reframe refugee education as an investment.”
