How is Middle Tennessee’s business climate holding up, and how is MTSU training the next generation of financial risk managers? In this episode, we tackle two major regional topics: the brand-new Middle Tennessee Business Confidence Index (BCI) and MTSU’s top-ranked Actuarial Science program.

In Segment 1, Dr. Murat Arik (MTSU BERC) and Bishoy Mikhail (Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce) break down the inaugural BCI score of 60.1 for Q1 2026. We discuss why local business optimism is outpacing national benchmarks, while addressing critical regional constraints like housing affordability and infrastructure bottlenecks.

In Segment 2, Dr. Vajira Manathunga joins us to showcase MTSU’s Actuarial Science Program. Discover how MTSU earned dual top-tier recognitions as a SOA Center of Actuarial Excellence and a CAS Gold Level award winner—placing it among an elite tier of universities globally for risk management, finance, and data analytics.