The official podcast of RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society. Tune in for weekly discussions about risk management hot topics, interviews with leaders in the profession, and updates on RIMS events and education.
Site
RSS
Apple
Recent rankings
Latest chart positions across Apple Podcasts and Spotify rankings.
Shared links between episodes and podcasts
Links found in episode descriptions and other podcasts that share them.
Discover shows related to RIMScast, based on actual content similarities. Explore podcasts with similar topics, themes, and formats, backed by real data.
There is no related content for this show.
Applying ERM Theory with Elise Farnham
Episode 305
Tuesday, September 10, 2024 • Duration 25:20
Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.
Justin Smulison interviews Elise Farnham about how ERM has changed, how new policies like the SEC climate disclosures influence the ERM landscape, and Elise's risk philosophy. They discuss whether organizational leaders are placing more value on ERM programs, and the biggest challenge for a risk practitioner to turn theory into practice. When did you first understand how the fundamentals of risk management can be used to form decisions beneficial to an organization? What are some commonalities among the risk professionals you've come across in the RIMS virtual workshops (or RIMS events)?
Listen for insight on risk management basics and more wisdom for your organization.
Key Takeaways:
[:01] About RIMS.
[:15] About this episode.
[:30] Events! We've got the DFW RIMS 2024 Fall Conference and Spa Event happening on September 19th in Irving, Texas. Learn more about that event in Episode 299, which features an interview with the Texas State Office of Risk Management.
[:49] Also on September 19th is the RIMS Chicago Chapter's Chicagoland Risk Forum 2024. Register at ChicagolandRiskForum.org.
[:58] Registration opened for the RIMS Canada Conference 2024 which will be held from October 6th through the 9th in Vancouver. Visit RIMSCanadaConference.ca to register.
[1:11] Registration is also open for the RIMS Western Regional, which will be held from September 29th through October 1st at the Sun River Resort in Oregon. Register at RIMSWesternRegional.com.
[1:25] We want you to join us in Boston on November 18th and 19th for the RIMS ERM Conference 2024. The full agenda is live. It runs the gamut of ERM. Check it out! A link to register is on this page.
[1:40] All RIMS regional conference information can be found on the Events page at RIMS.org.
[1:46] The next RIMS-CRMP-FED Exam Course will be hosted along with George Mason University from December 3rd through the 5th. Links to these courses can be found through the certification page of RIMS.org and this episode's show notes.
[2:04] RIMS Virtual Workshops! On October 9th and 10th, Chris Hansen returns to deliver Fundamentals of Insurance. He's very popular in the Workers' Comp space. Other dates for the Fall and Winter are available on the Virtual Workshops Calendar of RIMS.org/virtualworkshops.
[2:27] Interview! We will be chatting with Elise Farnham of Illumine Consulting. Elise is very well known among the RIMS membership as she has been one of our instructors for the past 30 years!
[2:57] Elise will let us in on what it takes to apply and integrate ERM into an organization's framework and operations and we will talk about her ERM philosophies. Elise Farnham, welcome to RIMScast!
[3:24] This year, Elise celebrated her 51st year in the risk and insurance industry. It's been an amazingly great career. She started in claims in the mid-seventies. She got involved with RIMS when she started working with large corporate clients in the late seventies and early eighties.
[3:52] Elise took an interest in what RIMS was working to accomplish, reducing claims, all while she was working for a claims management firm. Elise has been working with RIMS since 1995.
[5:06] Elise became aware of the concept of ERM in the late nineties. She thought it would be a difficult job. ERM professionals have grown, frameworks have been developed, and we've seen some companies that lacked ERM fail spectacularly.
[5:44] It has become evident that every company has to take the resources and strengths that they have, look at their entire risk picture, and turn what could be a bad situation into something positive for their organization.
[6:17] Elise talks a lot in her classes about how to convert a problem into an opportunity that might help an organization. ERM has changed a lot in the last five years. Justin and Elise comment on how the pandemic may have helped companies realize the importance of ERM.
[6:42] All of a sudden, companies were faced with a type of loss that came out of the blue. COVID-19 was the "black swan" that we will remember and write about for years to come.
[7:00] How companies dealt with it, the resources they had to use, and changes to their work processes were all things that ERM considers.
[7:27] How does the SEC climate disclosure announcement change or influence the ERM landscape? It will impact how companies report their exposure. It will probably require some new technology to bring forward all of the information they will have to submit.
[7:53] Elise thinks that will be a challenge for companies because there is a rule they will have to follow. Collecting data from every bit of an organization will be a significant challenge. It may help organizations use a good ERM program. It requires penetrating the silos to follow the law.
[8:33] ERM will help companies to see the cumulative effect of risk. What if two bad things happen at one time? Getting more companies to have an ERM program will have a positive effect. It will be a lot of work to get there.
[9:02] Elise has always been an optimist. She always tries to look at how this can benefit us. Perhaps that's why she has embraced ERM. It's not about how we can get hurt but how we can use a bad situation to make things better for the organization. She knows how difficult it can be.
[9:55] Elise tells risk managers, "You don't want to be the one to go in and say, 'We just lost all of this.' You don't want that to happen. That's a horrible situation to be in."
[10:12] It's much better to say, 'I just saved you this much money because we have a policy in place, our people all know what to do, and this has never happened to us as it did to that other company.'" That's where Elise wants her risk managers to be.
[10:46] Elise believes that today, organizational leaders put more value on ERM programs. The catch is understanding the amount of work that has to go into one. It takes resources and people to explore the organization, down to the risk owner, who may be on the factory floor.
[11:17] The risk owner may not have risk management experience. Almost everybody has the philosophy that "it couldn't happen to us." Understanding that something bad could happen and preparing for it in advance will be a challenge for them.
[11:42] The C-Suite understands the value of ERM. It's a matter of applying the resources and following through. In her classes, Elise goes through the steps to take along the way. The feedback she gets is often, "Whew! That will take us a lot of time and effort!" They got the point!
[13:11] More webinars will be announced soon and added to the RIMS.org/webinars page. Go there to register. As always, registration is complimentary for RIMS members.
[13:23] The Spencer Educational Foundation's goal is to help build a talent pipeline of risk management and insurance professionals. That is achieved, in part, by a collaboration with risk management and insurance educators across the U.S. and Canada.
[13:37] Whether you want to apply for a grant, participate in the Risk Manager on Campus program, or just learn more about Spencer, visit SpencerEd.org.
[13:47] On September 12th, 2024, we look forward to seeing you at the Spencer Funding Their Future Gala at The Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City. Purchase your tickets in advance because there is no guaranteed seating!
[14:03] Our recent guest from Episode 293, Lilian Vanvieldt-Gray, will be our honoree.
[14:09] Lilian is the Executive Vice President and Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer at Alliant Insurance Services and she will be honored for her valuable contributions to supporting the future of risk management and insurance.
[14:26] That was a great episode, so after you finish this one, please go back and listen to Episode 293.
[14:32] Let's Return to Our Interview with Elise Farnham!
[15:14] Elise loves this business, and helping risk managers do a better job. It's very fulfilling.
[15:51] The philosophical aspect of risk management is very logical. The real-world work part of it is almost drudgery, pulling information from everywhere within an organization, making people understand that they could have a problem if we don't take care of it.
[16:16] Thinking of combining several problems at once is hard for some people to imagine. Bringing people into the real world of risk is one of the biggest problems; getting them to understand that, yes, this could happen to them.
[16:40] Elise's family members have called her for advice after some unforeseen event, saying "I didn't know this could happen!" Yet, the stats are out there. The stories are out there. It's just, "It could never happen to me!" Risk managers are still fighting that battle quite heavily.
[17:42] Elise first became involved with large corporate accounts in 1987. She worked with risk managers and saw how they had to identify risk, analyze that risk, come up with a solution for it, and then implement the solution. Those are the basics of risk management.
[18:03] The focus was always on hazard risk, not on opportunities that might be developed.
[18:10] Elise took the Associate in Risk Management (ARM) program, which helped her to define that knowledge and to understand better what her clients were going through.
[18:21] Then RIMS developed a program about risk management, providing fundamentals. Elise thinks the fundamentals are more important than ever, now, as there are a lot of new people in the industry, fresh out of college. They know the theory but haven't seen it applied.
[18:43] In her workshops, Elise always tries to apply this to the real world so that the day they go back to the office they have something they can apply immediately to their organization.
[19:11] What risk managers learn in Elise's workshops will change what they do in their organization. That's a big challenge.
[19:50] What Elise has noticed from teaching risk managers is their energy. They are ready to go. They are thirsty for this knowledge. They know they have concerns. They know there are some things they could do better.
[20:08] They just need the resources in their brains to make that happen. Elise talks to them about that. You can only make decisions based on what you know. If you don't know something, you can't include that resource in your decision process.
[20:27] Elise says it's great to see the wheels start to turn while she's teaching. All of a sudden, the aha moment hits. They have a strong desire to go back and do good things. It's a compliment when they tell her they have a list of things to do when they get back to the office.
[20:55] They want to have an impact within their organization. They are there to learn something new that will help their organizations. Elise loves teaching with folks who are like that. They are like sponges. It's fun to facilitate discussions with them about how to manage risk.
[21:58] Justin says it has been such a delight to catch up with Elise Farnham. The next two courses Elise teaches are Applying and Integrating ERM on September 25th and 26th, and Fundamentals of Risk Management on October 3rd and 4th. The links are in the show notes.
[22:17] Justin looks forward to more workshops hosted by Elise Farnham and thanks her for being such a wonderful instructor.
[22:31] Special thanks again to Elise Farnham of Illumine Consulting for joining us here today. Alise will lead Applying and Integrating ERM on September 25th and 26th and December 4th and 5th and Fundamentals of Risk Management on October 3rd and 4th.
[23:00] RIMS members enjoy reduced rates on registration, which is yet another value-add of a RIMS membership.
[23:09] It's RIMS plug time! The RIMS App is available to RIMS members exclusively. Go to the App Store and download the RIMS App with all sorts of RIMS resources and coverage. It's different from the RIMS Events App. Everyone loves the RIMS App!
[23:43] You can sponsor a RIMScast episode for this, our weekly show, or a dedicated episode. Links to sponsored episodes are in our show notes. RIMScast has a global audience of risk and insurance professionals, legal professionals, students, business leaders, C-Suite executives, and more. Let's collaborate and help you reach them! Contact pd@rims.org for more information.
[24:26] Become a RIMS member and get access to the tools, thought leadership, and network you need to succeed. Visit RIMS.org/membership or email membershipdept@RIMS.org for more information.
[24:43] Risk Knowledge is the RIMS searchable content library that provides relevant information for today's risk professionals. Materials include RIMS executive reports, survey findings, contributed articles, industry research, benchmarking data, and more.
[24:59] For the best reporting on the profession of risk management, read Risk Management Magazine at RMMagazine.com. It is written and published by the best minds in risk management. Justin Smulison is the Business Content Manager at RIMS. You can email Justin at Content@RIMS.org.
[25:20] Thank you for your continued support and engagement on social media channels! We appreciate all your kind words. Listen every week! Stay safe!
COVID-19 was the "black swan" we will remember for years to come. How companies dealt with it, the resources they brought to bear, and the changes to their work processes were all things that ERM considers. — Elise Farnham
I've always been an optimist. I always try to look at how this can benefit us. Perhaps that's why I have embraced ERM so much. — Elise Farnham
I just love this business and I love what we do. I particularly love to help risk managers do a better job. It's very fulfilling for me. — Elise Farnham
The stats are out there. The stories are out there. It's just, "It could never happen to me!" I think risk managers are still fighting that battle quite heavily. — Elise Farnham
The most important thing that I have noticed from teaching risk managers is their energy. They are ready. They are thirsty. They know they have some concerns. They know there are some things they could do better. They just need the resources. — Elise Farnham
RIMS Advocacy Updates 2024 with Mark Prysock
Episode 304
Tuesday, September 3, 2024 • Duration 29:06
Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.
Justin Smulison interviews RIMS General Counsel and VP of External Affairs Mark Prysock about the RIMS Advocacy, the RIMS Legislative Summit being postponed to Q1 2025 to work with a fresh Congress and Administration. Mark covers a few of the important legislative issues potentially affecting RIMS and RIMS members, including the Tomorrow's Workforce Act, the negative impact of increasing the tax burden on 501(c)(6) non-profit organizations like RIMS, and the national security issues at stake if nothing is done to make third party litigation funding transparent.
Listen for information and inspiration to get more involved in RIMS Advocacy.
Key Takeaways:
[:01] About RIMS.
[:15] About this episode. Justin introduces return guest Mark Prysock, RIMS General Counsel and VP of External Affairs.
[:42] Events! We've got the DFW RIMS 2024 Fall Conference and Spa Event happening on September 19th in Irving, Texas. Learn more about that event in Episode 299, which features an interview with the Texas State Office of Risk Management.
[1:00] Also on September 19th is the RIMS Chicago Chapter's Chicagoland Risk Forum 2024. Register at ChicagolandRiskForum.org.
[1:09] Registration opened for the RIMS Canada Conference 2024 which will be held from October 6th through the 9th in Vancouver. Visit RIMSCanadaConference.ca to register.
[1:21] Registration is also open for the RIMS Western Regional, which will be held from September 29th through October 1st at the Sun River Resort in Oregon. Register at RIMSWesternRegional.com.
Safety and Preparedness in 2024 with National Safety Council CEO Lorraine Martin
Episode 303
Tuesday, August 27, 2024 • Duration 36:40
Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.
Justin Smulison interviews National Safety Council CEO Lorraine Martin about National Preparedness Month, a new OSHA proposed statement on workplace safety in extreme heat, National Recovery Month, drug overdose deaths at work, and some related topics. Lorraine also invites you to the NSC Safety Congress & Expo from September 13th through the 19th.
Listen for information and insight from NSC CEO, Lorraine Martin.
Key Takeaways:
[:01] About RIMS.
[:14] About this episode. Justin introduces return guest National Safety Council President and CEO Lorraine Martin. She will tell us what's going on with safety and preparedness in the U.S. and the world.
[:44] Virtual Workshops! Applying and Integrating ERM is back and it will be hosted by Elise Farnham on September 25th and 26th and also on December 4th and 5th.
[:58] On October 9th and 10th, Chris Hansen returns to deliver Fundamentals of Insurance. Other dates for the Fall and the Winter are available on the virtual workshops calendar at RIMS.org/virtualworkshops.
[1:16] RIMS-CRMP Prep Courses! On September 10th and 11th, the RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep will be held with NAIT. There is another RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep on September 12th and 13th.
Why APIW President Dawnmarie Black Wants Professionals to Stop Saying They "Fell Into Insurance"
Tuesday, August 4, 2026 • Duration 38:28
Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.
In this episode, Justin interviews APIW President Dawnmarie Black about her role at Amwins and her journey to get there, starting with clerical work in her father's insurance agency. Dawnmarie speaks about the great training program she received early in her career, being mentored, joining an association board, and growing her career through being mentored, networking, connecting, building relationships, being mentored, and leadership. She emphasizes communication and transparency as the basis of relationships.
Justin and Dawnmarie discuss upcoming trends in risk, recruiting talent, and retaining professionals with a culture of trust and development. Dawnmarie speaks of Amwins's innovative outreach to underrepresented children and HBCUs about the insurance industry. Finally, Dawnmarie focuses on her association work and the upcoming APIW 50th Anniversary Gala on November 3rd in NYC.
Listen for themes of communication, connection, and relationship building.
Key Takeaways:
[:01] About RIMS and RIMScast.
[:16] About this episode of RIMScast. We will be joined today by Dawnmarie Black of Amwins. She is also the President of the Association of Professional Insurance Women (APIW). But first…
[:42] RIMS-CRMP Workshop. We are delighted to announce that on August 27th and 28th, RIMS President Manny Padilla will be leading the two-day in-person workshop at St. John's University at 101 Astor Place in New York City. A link to the registration is in this episode's show notes.
[1:02] RIMS-CRMP Virtual Workshops. RIMS will partner with PARIMA for the RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep on September 1st and 2nd. Registration links are in this episode's show notes.
[1:12] Also on the webinars page, you will see a two-part series hosted by the RIMS Membership Department. The "Classroom to Career" webinar series highlights how RIMS equips students with the knowledge, skills, and connections needed to thrive in risk management careers.
Reeling in Risk with Inland Fisheries Ireland CRO Colette Cummins
Tuesday, July 28, 2026 • Duration 45:16
Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.
In this episode, Justin interviews Colette Cummins, Chief Risk Officer of Inland Fisheries Ireland and a RIMS-CRMP Commissioner, on what it's like to be a CRO in an organization whose mission is protecting a national natural resource. Justin invites Colette to share her career journey, and she tells how she developed in credit risk management, audit, and enterprise risk management, and how she landed in the public sector, protecting the environment while guiding Inland Fisheries Ireland toward building a solid risk framework. Colette speaks of the surprises she found in the public sector, and the impressive risk mindset and commitment she finds at IFI.
Listen for principles of building out risk registers and a risk framework, whether in the private sector or a public sector agency.
Key Takeaways:
[:01] About RIMS and RIMScast.
[:16] About this episode of RIMScast. Our guest today is Collete Cummins. She is the Chief Risk Officer for Inland Fisheries Ireland and a RIMS-CRMP Commissioner. We're going to have a great dialog. But first…
[:42] RIMS-CRMP Workshop. We are delighted to announce that on August 27th and 28th, RIMS President Manny Padilla will be leading the two-day in-person workshop at St. John's University at 101 Astor Place in New York City. A link to the registration is in this episode's show notes.
[1:02] RIMS-CRMP Virtual Workshops. RIMS will partner with PARIMA for the RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep on September 1st and 2nd. Registration links are in this episode's show notes.
[1:12] On the webinars page, you will see a two-part series hosted by the RIMS Membership Department. The "Classroom to Career" webinar series highlights how RIMS equips students with the knowledge, skills, and connections needed to thrive in risk management careers.
Strategy and Change with Ward Ching and Aaron Olson
Tuesday, May 26, 2026 • Duration 25:17
Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.
In this episode, Justin interviews Ward Ching and Aaron Olson of Aon about their recent session at RISKWORLD 2026 and the book they co-authored, Strategy and Change: Finding Opportunity in Disruption Through Insight, Choice, and Risk. They discuss the dizzying, disruptive transformation in today's market, where conventional risk management frameworks, tools, and solutions have become increasingly ineffective. They explore technological innovation in terms of the new powers of next-generation microprocessors and the accompanying robustness of machine learning-based analytics. Aaron explains how he built an AI analysis agent over a weekend. Aaron and Ward discuss their book and how to use it to help you and your organization navigate disruption.
Listen for insight on how to use disruption without being disrupted in the risk ecosystem.
Key Takeaways:
[:01] About RIMS and RIMScast.
[:16] About this episode of RIMScast. Our topic is strategy and change in a world full of innovation and disruption, and we will be joined by our guests, Aaron Olson and our friend Ward Ching of Aon, but first…
[:45] RIMS Virtual Workshops. The next RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep will be held on June 9th and 10th. The next RIMS-CRMP-FED Exam Prep with AFERM will be held on June 16th and 17th. Links to registration are in this episode's notes.
[1:17] Folks, RIMS is back on YouTube. Our handle is @RIMSOfficialChannel. We've got plenty of videos there, including RIMScast, RIMScast Canada video podcasts, and other informative and entertaining content from RIMS. Subscribe to the channel today!
Safety Doesn't Take A Break with ASSP CEO Jennifer McNelly
Tuesday, May 19, 2026 • Duration 34:37
Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.
In this episode, Justin interviews Jennifer McNelly, CEO of the American Society of Safety Professionals, about her wide-ranging safety career, the ASSP publishing the first U.S.-Based standard on risk assessment and management, the ASSP's Standards-Based User Groups, and how safety practices are not about worker behavior but overall organization system safety improvement. Jennifer shares her excitement about National Safety Month and the upcoming Safety Conference + Expo 2026, from June 15th through 17th in Anaheim, California.
Listen for inspiration on closing the safety gap in your organization.
Key Takeaways:
[:01] About RIMS and RIMScast.
[:16] About this episode of RIMScast. We are releasing this episode ahead of National Safety Month in June, and our special guest is Jennifer McNelly, the CEO of the American Society of Safety Professionals, but first…
[:43] RIMS Virtual Workshops. The next RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep will be held on June 9th and 10th. The next RIMS-CRMP-FED Exam Prep with AFERM will be held on June 16th and 17th. Links to registration are in this episode's notes.
[1:25] Folks, RIMS is back on YouTube. Our handle is . We've got plenty of videos there, including RIMScast, RIMScast Canada video podcasts, and other informative and entertaining content from RIMS. Subscribe to the channel today!
Live from RISKWORLD 2026!
Monday, May 11, 2026 • Duration 38:51
Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.
In this episode, Justin takes the opportunity of RISKWORLD 2026 to interview on-site two session co-presenters, Sandy Avina and Angel Guerra, and a fellow podcast host, Joel Appelbaum. Sandy and Angel co-wrote a book, Riskfetti: Risk Management for the Rest of Us, which comes out on May 18th. They discuss their careers, how they came to team up to write, and why this book, now. Justin and Joel discuss Joel's career in risk, from underwriter to Chief Content Officer at the International Risk Management Institute (IRMI) and podcast host of The Edge of Risk.
Listen for thought leadership on communicating risk to business professionals and translating complex risk research into media content.
Key Takeaways:
[:01] About RIMS and RIMScast.
[:14] About this episode of RIMScast. It was recorded live, on-site at RISKWORLD 2026, in Philadelphia. It's one of my favorite episodes of the year. We will be joined by a range of guests. But first…
[:43] RIMS Virtual Workshops. The next RIMS-CRMP-FED Exam Prep Course will be on May 13th and 14th. The popular CBCP and RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep Bootcamp will be held from May 18th through the 21st. The next RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep Course will be held on June 9th and 10th.
[1:02] Links to registration are in this episode's notes.
Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.
In this episode, Justin interviews the RIMS 2026 Risk Manager of the Year, Jeff Bray, about his award and his career at AMB, which merged with Prologis early in his career. Justin and Jeff discuss how risk management earns a strategic seat at the table, how Jeff revived the ERM Program at Prologis, tying it to the business model, and how cross-functional risk management works at Prologis today. Jeff speaks of resilience in the face of polycrisis and climate risk, and working on what he has control over while being aware of the rest.
Jeff shares his excitement for developing the next generation of risk professionals and about the amazing opportunity the risk profession holds for them today.
Listen for insight on ERM, resilience, and building relationships.
Key Takeaways:
[:01] About RIMS and RIMScast.
[:14] We hope you are listening to this episode of RIMScast while at RISKWORLD 2026, and we are gently reminding you to download the RIMS Events App to navigate the show successfully!
[:29] About this episode of RIMScast. This is our annual Risk Manager of the Year episode. We are delighted to be joined by this year's honoree, Jeff Bray of Prologis. If you are listening to this on its release day of May 4th, you might see him onstage at RISKWORLD. But first…
[:59] RIMS Virtual Workshops. The next RIMS-CRMP-FED Exam Prep Course will be on May 13th and 14th. The popular CBCP and RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep Bootcamp will be held from May 18th through the 21st. The next RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep Course will be held on June 9th and 10th.
[1:19] Links to registration are in this episode's notes.
RIMS Rising Risk Professional Award Winner Tyler Vaughan
Tuesday, April 28, 2026 • Duration 37:50
Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.
In this episode, Justin interviews RIMS 2026 Rising Risk Professional, Tyler Vaughan. Tyler explains the pizza-and-bonus-points incentive that got him to attend the risk management and insurance informational session in college, which launched his risk management career. Tyler shares what it was like beginning in the industry as COVID was shutting down offices. He encourages students not to seek a remote position, but a hybrid or office position, at least for the first couple of years of their careers, to grow knowledge and build a network.
Tyler shares his feelings about winning the RIMS 2026 Rising Risk Professional Award and his hopes for the future of the risk industry.
Listen for insight on building a risk management career, mentoring, and networking.
Key Takeaways:
[:01] About RIMS and RIMScast.
[:14] Public registration is open for RISKWORLD 2026, which will be held from May 3rd through 6th in Philadelphia. Visit RIMS.org/RISKWORLD to register.
[:27] About this episode of RIMScast. Our guest today is the RIMS 2026 Rising Risk Professional, Tyler Vaughan. I'm looking forward to discussing with him about how he is setting a high bar for the next generation of risk professionals. But first…
[:58] RIMS Virtual Workshops. The next RIMS-CRMP-FED Exam Prep Course will be on May 13th and 14th. The popular CBCP and RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep Bootcamp will be held from May 18th through the 21st. The next RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep Course will be held on June 9th and 10th.
[1:18] Links to registration are in this episode's notes.
[1:35] We want you to join us in Boston on November 18th and 19th for the RIMS ERM Conference 2024. The agenda is live. The keynote will be announced soon. We want to see you there! A link is on this page.
[1:50] All RIMS regional conference information can be found on the Events page at RIMS.org.
[1:57] If you want to present a session at RISKWORLD 2025 in Chicago, you are in luck! The deadline to submit your session has been extended to Monday, September 9th, 2024. A link is in this episode's notes.
[3:07] Justin is delighted to be joined by the moderator for that session, the Chief Marketing Officer for Canada at HUB International, Linda Regner Dykeman. Justin welcomes Linda to RIMScast and introduces the upcoming global webinar on staying agile that Linda will host.
[3:38] The webinar will be at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time on September 12th. Linda says they will be discussing current market trends and challenges. The industry has been able to produce some very strong profits over the last few years.
[3:52] The market needed correction after many years of unprofitability driven by weather events in the property line where rates seemed to be unsustainable. Casualty also had its issues, particularly with Directors and Officers Liability.
[4:10] As a result of the profitability the industry was able to achieve over the last few years, most carriers have become more competitive in growing their books of business. This competition is not being seen in all lines, segments, or geographies.
[4:27] Some catastrophe-prone zones such as BC and Alberta have not seen the same level of competition across the board. As the market transitions from a hard market to a competitive environment, there is some unusual and inconsistent behavior.
[4:44] Carriers in Canada are being more flexible with their appetite. London is looking to grow significantly over the next couple of years with goals of hitting $100 billion by 2025. Add to that NGAs who are seeing their market share change as local carriers become more competitive.
[5:02] As we transition out of what was considered to be a hard market, we see a lot of inconsistency in this market.
[5:11] Add to this the supply chain issues, which are not what they once were, the economy is flat with spending, once normalized for an increase in population, it reflects that of a market in a recession.
[5:25] We, as brokers, are finding competitive solutions to protect our clients. We have to pivot and swerve to discover the right opportunities.
[5:37] We had a significant rain event in Toronto, followed by one of the worst wildfires Jasper has ever seen, seemingly a once-in-a-hundred-year event; weather catastrophes are more severe and more frequent.
[5:50] How is this going to change the availability of capacity and pricing? Time will tell, as insurers try to figure out if their pricing models included the right loadings for these events.
[6:12] Being informed by what is happening in the market; the trends, the opportunities, what's available, and partnering with the right broker, will help a risk manager make an informed decision, appropriate for their business.
[6:34] The panelists have decades of experience and expertise across North America. They work with clients, markets, and other experts and bring a much broader perspective and experience to this session.
[6:49] Steve Pottle is the risk manager on the panel. He's been omnipresent in RIMS Canada for years. He's a former RIMS VP and is currently the Director for Risk and Safety Services at Thompson Rivers University. Justin says he's one of the best and Linda agrees.
[7:20] Linda will moderate. She'll ask the panelists questions HUB International has received from its clients, based on what they are seeing happening in the environment around them. She would also like the audience to pose some questions. Audience participation is encouraged.
[8:02] Interview! Justin introduces Mark Prysock, RIMS General Counsel and VP of External Affairs. Mark will provide a RIMS Advocacy update and talk about the legislative issues on RIMS's radar and the status of the next RIMS legislative summit. Mark, welcome to RIMScast!
[8:36] Mark Prysock is the hardest-working lawyer that Justin knows. Justin wants him to be on RIMScast weekly. Mark says he will try to be on at least once a quarter.
[9:13] The Legislative Summit has been postponed to Q1 2025 as the time Congress has left in 2024 is focused on passing continuing resolutions to keep the government open. It's not an ideal time for RIMS to come to D.C. with their legislative priorities.
[10:07] Q1 2025 will be great for RIMS to go to D.C. to talk about RIMS's priorities. The new Congress will be seated with new Committee Chairs and Ranking Members. There will be a new administration, so a lot of new Executive Branch jobs will have been filled.
[10:46] In Q4 2024, RIMS Advocacy will announce to RIMS members the date for the Legislative Summit of Q1 2025. It will be live, in person, on Capitol Hill, similar to the 2023 event. [11:03] RIMS Advocacy hopes to set up educational sessions on Wednesday in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce building, with a reception Wednesday evening with a fund-raising event for RISKPAC. On Thursday, everyone will descend on Capitol Hill and lobby RIMS's issues.
[11:46] RISKPAC has been going to a lot of fund-raising events for key members of Congress who sit on committees with jurisdiction over legislative issues that matter to RIMS. They focus on the Chairs, Ranking Members, and other committee members.
[12:15] RISKPAC has had some good one-on-one time with members of Congress and their key staff members to talk about RIMS's issues.
[12:31] Greg McKenna is the Chair of the RISKPAC Trustees Committee. He supports everything RIMS is doing on the legislative front and knows that RISKPAC plays a vital role in helping RIMS accomplish those legislative objectives. Greg has been a RIMScast guest.
[13:20] Mark discusses some association-specific issues. RIMS is working in a coalition with ASAE on the Tomorrow's Workforce Act. That legislation would liberalize 529 College Savings Plans to allow individuals to use them for post-secondary training and credentialing.
[14:21] The funds could be used for licenses and professional certifications like the RIMS-CRMP, for example. This is a successful bi-partisan, bi-cameral issue that has made good progress through the House. RISKPAC hopes something will get done by the end of 2024.
[14:53] If the Tomorrow's Workforce Act doesn't pass this year, RISKPAC will pursue it aggressively in the next session of Congress.
[15:05] The next issue is that Democrats and Republicans in the House and the Senate seem to believe that 501(c)(6) organizations like RIMS should be paying more taxes than they currently pay. The idea is to start taxing non-profits on their net income.
[16:16] A lot of associations like RIMS would be significantly negatively impacted if that happened. It would have an impact on a lot of organizations' abilities to offer programs to their members and in other ways.
[16:41] RIMS will participate actively with another ASAE coalition to educate members of Congress about why non-profits should remain untaxed. That is going to be an aggressive effort that is kicking off now and into 2025.
[17:08] Both houses of Congress have working groups figuring out the approach to this issue. When the new Congress is seated, we may see some legislative proposals. The association community thinks it is extremely important to ramp up an educational campaign now.
[17:36] RIMS has members who are part of not-for-profits or associations and they should be paying close attention to our developments and progress here. It's another reason RIMS members should join the Legislative Summit in 2025, to learn more about this sort of issue.
[18:09] One more quick break! The Spencer Educational Foundation's goal is to help build a talent pipeline of risk management and insurance professionals. That is achieved, in part, by a collaboration with risk management and insurance educators across the U.S. and Canada.
[18:26] Whether you want to apply for a grant, participate in the Risk Manager on Campus program, or just learn more about Spencer, visit SpencerEd.org.
[18:37] On September 12th, 2024, we look forward to seeing you at the Spencer Funding Their Future Gala at The Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City. Our recent guest from Episode 293, Lilian Vanvieldt-Gray, will be our honoree.
[18:53] Lilian is the Executive Vice President and Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer at Alliant Insurance Services and she will be honored for her valuable contributions to supporting the future of risk management and insurance.
[19:10] That was a great episode, so after you finish this one, please go back and listen to Episode 293.
[19:16] Let's Conclude Our Interview! RIMS CEO Gary LaBranche was the RIMScast guest on Episode 300. An item that was discussed on Gary's risk radar is third-party litigation funding (TPLF). Mark Prysock dives deeper into TPLF and what it means to RIMS members.
[20:21] TPLF is when third parties, such as hedge funds, private equity groups, or sovereign funds, invest in litigation with the idea that the litigation has a positive result, such as a settlement or payout, and the investor will get a nice return.
[20:47] The problem with TPLF is that right now, it is not in any way transparent. Judges and opposing parties often have no idea who is funding litigation. RIMS's focus has been on foreign entities' involvement in litigation.
[21:24] There is real concern about having foreign funds invest in litigation because it presents both national security concerns and economic concerns. If a foreign fund invests in litigation against a defense contractor, there is a risk of economic damage to the defense contractor.
[21:54] In some cases, foreign funds would see documents that are part of the discovery and litigation process, which could include highly confidential information. This is a matter of growing concern. Key individuals in Congress recognize that something has to be done here.
[22:22] What we've seen so far have been a couple of legislative proposals that focus on disclosure. Any third parties that would stand to benefit financially from any sort of contingency relationship in litigation would have to be disclosed to the judge and all parties to the case.
[22:47] If there is a litigation funding agreement, that agreement would need to be shared with the court. Mark does not think we will have much success in stopping TPLF domestically.
[23:10] RIMS's focus will be on the aspect of foreign manipulation of our courts and the extent to which foreign funds might be behind significant and very expensive litigation here in the U.S.
[23:45] Mark believes RIMS Advocacy will try to find ways to work with its friends in the insurance industry on this issue. Mark cites Chubb Limited's Chairman and CEO Evan Greenberg's keynote address at RISKWORLD 2024.
[24:03] Evan Greenberg mentioned TPLF as a significant problem from the industry's perspective but not one the industry can take the lead in addressing. It's an opportunity for RIMS to step forward and put together a coalition to work on this issue with the insurance community.
[24:37] Key members of the House and Senate are focused on this issue. That offers RIMS Advocacy a good place to start, working with them, their committee staff, and other members of Congress who would be willing to get behind and support some changes.
[25:04] Foreign funds from sanctioned nations that we don't want infiltrating the U.S. judicial system may be participating in TPLF.
[25:44] Justin hopes we make great progress in the next six months and that the Legislative Summit will have gone on as scheduled. Justin will keep members and listeners apprised of the date. Mark will come back to RIMScast in six months.
[26:15] Justin thanks Mark for joining us here on RIMScast.
[26:22] Special thanks again to my friend, Mark Prysock, RIMS General Counsel and VP of External Affairs. For more information about RIMS's public policy efforts, visit RIMS.org/advocacy and we will keep you updated on the RIMS Legislative Summit 2025.
[26:44] It's RIMS plug time! The RIMS App is available to RIMS members exclusively. Go to the App Store and download the RIMS App with all sorts of RIMS resources and coverage. It's different from the RIMS Events App. Everyone loves the RIMS App!
[27:18] You can sponsor a RIMScast episode for this, our weekly show, or a dedicated episode. Links to sponsored episodes are in our show notes. RIMScast has a global audience of risk and insurance professionals, legal professionals, students, business leaders, C-Suite executives, and more. Let's collaborate and help you reach them! Contact pd@rims.org for more information.
[28:00] Become a RIMS member and get access to the tools, thought leadership, and network you need to succeed. Visit RIMS.org/membership or email membershipdept@RIMS.org for more information.
[28:17] Risk Knowledge is the RIMS searchable content library that provides relevant information for today's risk professionals. Materials include RIMS executive reports, survey findings, contributed articles, industry research, benchmarking data, and more.
[28:32] For the best reporting on the profession of risk management, read Risk Management Magazine at RMMagazine.com. It is written and published by the best minds in risk management. Justin Smulison is the Business Content Manager at RIMS. You can email Justin at Content@RIMS.org.
[28:53] Thank you for your continued support and engagement on social media channels! We appreciate all your kind words. Listen every week! Stay safe!
Q1 2025 would be great for RIMS to go to D.C. to talk about legislative priorities. The new Congress will be seated with new committee chairs and ranking members. There will be a new administration, so a lot of new Executive Branch jobs will have been filled. — Mark Prysock
RIMS is working in a coalition with ASAE on the Tomorrow's Workforce Act. That legislation would liberalize 529 College Savings Plans to allow individuals to use them for post-secondary training and credentialing. — Mark Prysock
Democrats and Republicans in the House and the Senate seem to believe that 501(c)(6) organizations like RIMS should be paying more taxes than they currently pay. They are suggesting taxing non-profits on their net income. — Mark Prysock
There is real concern about having foreign funds invest in litigation because it presents both national security and economic concerns. If a foreign fund invests in litigation against a defense contractor, there is a risk of economic damage to the contractor. — Mark Prysock
[1:31] The next RIMS-CRMP-FED Exam Prep course will be hosted along with George Mason University on December 3rd through 5th, 2024. Links to these courses can be found on the Certification Page of RIMS.org and in this episode's show notes.
[1:46] Events! We've got the DFW RIMS 2024 Fall Conference and Spa Event happening on September 19th in Irving, Texas. Learn more about that event in Episode 299, which features an interview with the Texas State Office of Risk Management.
[2:04] Also on September 19th is the RIMS Chicago Chapter's Chicagoland Risk Forum 2024. Register at ChicagolandRiskForum.org.
[2:13] Registration opened for the RIMS Canada Conference 2024 which will be held from October 6th through the 9th in Vancouver. Visit RIMSCanadaConference.ca to register.
[2:26] Registration is also open for the RIMS Western Regional, which will be held from September 29th through October 1st at the Sun River Resort in Oregon. Register at RIMSWesternRegional.com.
[2:39] We want you to join us in Boston on November 18th and 19th for the RIMS ERM Conference 2024. The agenda is live. The keynote will be announced soon. We want to see you there! A link is on this page.
[2:55] The nominations are now open for the RIMS ERM Award of Distinction 2024. Nominations are due August 30th. A link to the nomination form is in this episode's show notes.
[3:09] If you or someone you know manages an ERM program that delivers the goods, we want to hear about it. A link is in this episode's show notes. All RIMS regional conference information can be found on the Events page at RIMS.org.
[3:26] Interview! I am delighted to be rejoined by National Safety Council President and CEO Lorraine Martin. Her timing is perfect for National Preparedness Month in September. We've got so much to discuss in the way of natural catastrophes and other risks.
[3:46] We will also talk about National Recovery Month, and how prescription opioids can impact employees and employers and why it is such an important business risk. That dovetails into last week's episode with the NCCI.
[4:02] We'll talk about the NSC's Safety Congress and Expo on September 13th through the 19th in Florida and we'll also talk a bit about Lorraine's background in the U.S. Air Force, her decades at Lockheed Martin, and how those shaped her risk perspective.
[4:24] Lorraine Martin, welcome back to RIMScast!
[4:45] Lorraine started her career in the U.S. Air Force. Justin thanks her for her service. After the Air Force, Lorraine spent nearly 30 years at Lockheed Martin.
[5:29] The Air Force and all the armed services ask their people to do high-risk things to protect our nation and support our allies around the world. As a member of the armed services, you understand how important safety is to those you protect, and the risks that go with that.
[5:55] Lorraine started in the Air Force in the early '80s. Being a five-foot female in the Air Force she had combat boots and survival suits that didn't always fit. She saw the need to keep everyone safe. That means being open and expansive to make sure to cover everybody.
[6:44] At Lockheed Martin, Lorraine ran some of the aircraft manufacturing programs. There was potential for serious injury and fatality (SIF), with energy, heights, and all kinds of things that need to be done safely.
[7:08] The products being built had to go do important things around the world, so they had to meet safety standards for operation and bring everybody home. Lorraine needed to understand safety in manufacturing and in the mission.
[7:30] Justin and Lorraine met after Lorraine joined the NSC as President and CEO in 2019. Less than a year later, COVID-19 hit the U.S. Lorraine has been at the NSC for five years. Time sometimes flew by and In some cases, it felt like the world stood still for everybody.
[8:13] On RIMScast in 2020, Justin and Lorraine talked about technology and the importance of reaching people, through podcasts, Zoom, or Teams. Lorraine is responsible for providing training so people can be safe. She had to learn how to do that when she couldn't be with them.
[8:40] The NSC had to become good at virtual training and helping customers and stakeholders understand what remote and virtual learning looks like. The world has come so far in understanding what people can do virtually. It's not everything! Human interaction is still critical.
[9:01] Lorraine says we learned so much, whether for drivers' fleet training or for folks doing CPR. The NSC was able to reach more people, which is great when you're talking about safety. In many cases, the NSC reached them in a more cost-effective manner for all involved.
[9:27] The NSC focused on what was happening to humans as they were being buffeted during this time, from 2020. On RIMScast, Lorraine and Justin had talked about mental health. The NSC pioneered some research that looked at how psychological safety impacts physical safety.
[9:55] Lorraine believes that since 2020, we've come so far in understanding that physical safety can be impacted by many different aspects of your life like distraction, fatigue, or substance abuse, that can cause you not to be on your game.
[10:22] The NSC honed in on the issue of a person not being on their game as being impaired, and they shouldn't do something that would put themselves or somebody else at risk.
[10:38] The NSC leaned into trainings around being able to identify impairment and giving people the skills to take action so they can take somebody out of harm's way. It's easy to say and hard to do but so critical.
[10:55] The NSC and RIMS both used the pandemic as an opportunity to dial up virtual offerings and dial back some live events. Many of the right live events have come back. There is some training that is important to be in person.
[11:18] In-person collaboration and interaction support mental health. Isolation as a result of the pandemic was a burden for many folks.
[11:47] The NSC received positive feedback on their SAFER initiative, ensuring people were safe in returning to work. A task force of stakeholders from government, non-profits, public health medical professionals, and Fortune 500 companies advised NSC and NSC advised workplaces.
[12:30] The SAFER guidelines included ventilation, vaccination, and all of the things a business would need. It was a one-stop shop for policy statements, legal statements, and other best practices for workplaces to use to safely accommodate workers at work.
[13:10] The SAFER initiative is still going on. It's funded now by the CDC. NSC is now looking at long-term COVID, mental health and well-being, the overall long-term effects of a pandemic, and how workplaces prepare for whatever's coming in the future.
[14:06] Lorraine just listened to a piece on NPR about COVID-19. We're still learning. We've found a way so that most folks do not perish from it, but we don't know everything about it and probably won't for some time.
[14:28] In Long COVID there's some inflammation or reaction that's still happening long after the initial symptoms. Understanding it and what we can do either to prevent or treat it is still in front of us.
[14:46] Organizations that let NSC white-label guideline documents for distribution were mostly NSC member organizations. NSC has roughly 14,000 member organizations and companies. They get policies and information from NSC and they also give back so others could learn.
[16:01] All of the armed services are members of the National Safety Council. Some of them use NSC training for various things. Lorraine's past employer, Lockheed Martin, has been a member for a long time.
[16:13] NSC has groups called networks, made up of the larger companies, that look at big trends coming, to help the government prepare and give back to small and mid-sized companies. Lockheed Martin is in many of the networks as are other Fortune 100 companies.
[17:50] The RIMS ERM Conference 2024 will be held November 18th and 19th in Boston, Massachusetts. The agenda is live.
[18:01] The submission process is open for the RIMS ERM Global Award of Distinction. A link to the application is in this episode's show notes. The deadline for submissions is August 30th.
[18:12] So review your organization's ERM program. If you feel it was successful and you have the numbers and the data to back it up, compile that information and get ready to submit your ERM program for the ERM Award of Distinction.
[18:26] The Spencer Educational Foundation's goal is to help build a talent pipeline of risk management and insurance professionals. That is achieved, in part, by a collaboration with risk management and insurance educators across the U.S. and Canada.
[18:41] Whether you want to apply for a grant, participate in the Risk Manager on Campus program, or just learn more about Spencer, visit SpencerEd.org.
[18:52] On September 12th, 2024, we look forward to seeing you at the Spencer Funding Their Future Gala at The Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City. Our recent guest from Episode 293, Lilian Vanvieldt-Gray, will be our honoree.
[19:08] Lilian is the Executive Vice President and Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer at Alliant Insurance Services and she will be honored for her valuable contributions to supporting the future of risk management and insurance.
[19:25] That was a great episode, so after you finish this one, please go back and listen to Episode 293.
[19:31] Let's Conclude Our Interview! September is National Preparedness Month. NOAA has said that atmospheric and oceanic conditions continue to support an above-normal 2024 Atlantic hurricane season with a 90% probability of this result.
[20:57] Organizations must do a lot to prepare for extreme weather. Extreme weather is getting more common. It affects communities but also impacts people at work. Businesses must be prepared for their businesses to continue but also to protect their people from extreme weather.
[21:42] Businesses can act to protect their people from wildfires, tornadoes, storms, and heat. Heat is the deadliest weather event. Our world is getting hotter, the data shows. Many people work outside in extreme, dangerous heat.
[22:18] OSHA recently issued a proposed ruling, informed by input from the NSC and its members, to keep indoor and outdoor workers safe from heat injury and illness. Employers need to incorporate these weather events into their safety programs.
[22:59] You need a written heat injury and illness policy and prevention program. Document your emergency action plans. Practice them. Hold heat awareness training. Heat exhaustion and heat stress prevention is about being preventative. Know the signs, hydrate, and take shaded breaks.
[23:30] Education is hugely important to prevent heat illness. NSC has resources for employers to build their safety programs. Go to NSC.org and reach out. If you haven't put in some of these extreme weather precautions to protect your employees, Lorraine urges you to do so.
[24:13] September is also National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month. Overdoses are the leading cause of unintentional death in the U.S. Every day we lose 200 people to an unintentional death from an overdose, compared to 100 roadway deaths.
[25:16] Deaths on the job from overdoses have increased by over 600% since 2011. Overdoses make up nearly 10% of all deaths at work in the U.S. In some U.S. states the number is higher. In California, the rate of overdose deaths at work over the last 12 months was closer to 20%.
[26:09] Construction and agriculture are hard hit by overdose deaths. Sometimes it's the type of work being done. Last year the FDA made naloxone, an opioid reversal medication, available over the counter.
[26:39] The NSC advocates that naloxone be stocked in every workplace and all employees be trained in this life-saving reversal practice, just like with CPR or AEDs. You want to be able to administer this life-saving drug on the spot to bring someone back to life if you can.
[27:03] For those workplaces where they've had a fatality due to an unintended overdose, it's devastating for the workforce, the community, and families.
[27:11] We have this incredibly impactful drug and in most cases, the person has survived, and you can't hurt someone with it, whether or not they're overdosing or whether or not you've misdiagnosed them, you can't hurt them.
[27:28] The NSC provides training on its website on how to do naloxone. It's virtual, and it is in a workplace language. NSC also has drug policies, legal briefs, and good samaritan laws, state by state. If somebody says they need some guide, NSC tries to find it to put it on the website.
[28:26] Sixty-six percent of people with a substance use disorder of any kind have a job. The workplace is a great place to be intervening for them and having their back.
[28:45] A study from the Massachusetts Dept. of Public Health found that Massachusetts working-age residents were 35% more likely to die of an opioid-related overdose if they'd previously been injured at work.
[29:06] If you get hurt at work and then get prescribed an opioid, you can sometimes be on that path to a substance use issue just because you're trying to make sure that you can stay healthy and be at work. This is an important issue for our workplaces and employers to be part of.
[29:27] Employees in recovery are very good employees who miss fewer days of work than the average employee and they save employers money, once they are back at work. Lorraine encourages employers to ensure employee safety, help in recovery, and get them back to work.
[30:11] Labor Day is coming up. NSC offers a message for the Labor Day weekend on how many people may lose their lives if people don't drive well this Labor Day weekend: 457 across the nation. Every single death on a roadway is preventable. When you drive, do so safely.
[31:50] Justin says to look for the link to the NSC 2024 Labor Day message in this episode's show notes.
[31:58] The NSC Safety Congress & Expo will be held in Orlando, September 13th through the 19th. Lorraine will talk to the stakeholders and be on the stage. It's the big NSC show of the year. There is also a fundraiser around it, the NSC board meeting, and professional development.
[32:29] The main show is on the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, the 16th through the 18th. Speakers include Doug Parker, the head of OSHA, technical sessions, and a huge Expo floor.
[32:43] There will be a cool speaker who is a blind adventurer who climbs mountains, and who will share resilience and safety-related messages. Go the the NSC Safety Congress link in this episode's notes. Lorraine looks forward to seeing everyone this year, there in Orlando.
[33:12] Everyone is definitely united at the NSC Safety Congress & Expo!
[33:14] Lorraine, it has been such a pleasure to see you again and to speak with you to get your perspective and insight. Thank you for rejoining us! Hopefully, the next time we have you on RIMScast, it won't be four years between visits.
[33:37] Special thanks again to NSC CEO, Lorraine Martin for reasoning us here on RIMScast. We love the NSC here at RIMS; they do great work. The NSC Safety Congress & Expo will be held from September 13th through 19th in Orlando, Florida. A link is in this episode's show notes.
[34:01] Also in our show notes, you will find the prior interview with Lorraine Martin. She is a wealth of information and perspective.
[34:09] It's RIMS plug time! The RIMS App is available to RIMS members exclusively. Go to the App Store and download the RIMS App with all sorts of RIMS resources and coverage. It's different from the RIMS Events App. Everyone loves the RIMS App!
[34:44] You can sponsor a RIMScast episode for this, our weekly show, or a dedicated episode. Links to sponsored episodes are in our show notes. RIMScast has a global audience of risk and insurance professionals, legal professionals, students, business leaders, C-Suite executives, and more. Let's collaborate and help you reach them! Contact pd@rims.org for more information.
[35:28] Become a RIMS member and get access to the tools, thought leadership, and network you need to succeed. Visit RIMS.org/membership or email membershipdept@RIMS.org for more information.
[35:48] Risk Knowledge is the RIMS searchable content library that provides relevant information for today's risk professionals. Materials include RIMS executive reports, survey findings, contributed articles, industry research, benchmarking data, and more.
[36:02] For the best reporting on the profession of risk management, read Risk Management Magazine at RMMagazine.com. It is written and published by the best minds in risk management. Justin Smulison is the Business Content Manager at RIMS. You can email Justin at Content@RIMS.org.
[36:24] Thank you for your continued support and engagement on social media channels! We appreciate all your kind words. Listen every week! Stay safe!
We just said, "We're going to be the place, if you need anything to navigate the return to work, we're going to have it for you." And if we didn't have it, companies would give us theirs and enable us in many cases to white-label it and provide it to the world. — Lorraine Martin
We have a lot of resources for employers to build their heat safety programs. — Lorraine Martin
Right now, overdoses are the leading cause of unintentional death in the U.S. Deaths on the job from overdoses have increased by over 600% since 2011. Overdoses make up nearly 10% of all deaths at work. — Lorraine Martin
For those workplaces where they've had a fatality due to an unintended overdose, it's devastating for the workforce, the community, and families. — Lorraine Martin
Driving is the most dangerous thing we do every day and it's even more dangerous during these longer weekends. Buckle up, follow the speed limit, don't get distracted, and drive sober. — Lorraine Martin
[1:28] Participants will gain insights into industry trends, career pathways, and practical tools that help them confidently step into the evolving world of risk management after graduation. These sessions will be hosted on September 1st and 9th.
[1:41] These sessions are member exclusives and are complimentary for RIMS members, of course. So, if you are interested in becoming a member, this would be the time. Visit RIMS.org/membership.
[1:51] RIMS is back on YouTube. Our handle is @RIMSOfficialChannel. We've got plenty of videos there, including RIMScast, RIMScast Canada video podcasts, and other informative and entertaining content from RIMS. Subscribe to the channel today!
[2:08] On with the Show! Our guest today is Dawnmarie Black. She is the Senior Vice President and Client Relationship Manager at Amwins, and she is the President of the Association of Professional Insurance Women (APIW).
[2:26] We'll talk a bit about her career journey, what she believes it takes to attract and retain talent in insurance and risk management, and the interconnected risks that are on her radar. Let's get to it!
[2:39] Interview! Dawnmarie Black, Welcome to RIMScast!
[2:48] Justin says, you know Dawnmarie Black from Amwins, and she is also the President of the Association of Professional Insurance Women (APIW). Justin is wearing their pin.
[3:21] Dawnmarie is a Client Relationship Manager at Amwins. She builds relationships with retail trading partners. It's a strategic national, corporate relationship across the U.S.
[3:35] Dawnmarie works and collaborates with their market placement teams or carrier strategy teams and Amwins internal brokers.
[3:44] There's a lot of collaboration to ensure that Amwins brokers are finding the opportunities and so the client and Amwins understand how Amwins fits into their strategic priorities, and to grow both businesses.
[4:04] Dawnmarie says she and her team are there to support the retail brokers and also support Amwins's internal brokers in their growth initiatives.
[4:13] Dawnmarie joined Amwins in September of 2025.
[4:32] Dawnmarie's father owned an insurance agency in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She worked at his agency from age 16. She went to Allegheny College in Meadville and worked at a local agency. She did a lot of mailroom, file room, cold calling, and CSR work.
[4:59] Dawnmarie thought she would ultimately move up in her father's agency and someday be the succession plan. He sold it, and Dawnmarie went to work for Chubb in their training program. It was a phenomenal start into this industry. They had a great training program.
[5:16] Dawnmarie says a lot of her group are still colleagues and friends today, which set the stage for her career.
[5:21] Dawnmarie says she moved through underwriting and brokerage, she built and launched an IT system at Aon, and went back to underwriting for a while. Most recently, Dawnmarie was the head of market development for the Americas at Lloyd's of London.
[5:54] Dawnmarie says it was an incredible role to understand what's happening in the global marketplace, at a 30,000-foot view, working with coders in the U.S. very closely. This is how she got to Amwins. She was promoting the Lloyd's market to the Amwins leadership team.
[6:37] Justin finds it fascinating that Dawnmarie was not the successor to her father but made her own way in the insurance industry. She learned it from the ground up. She has touched every part of the industry except for claims. She has come full circle, working with retailers again.
[7:04] Dawnmarie says it has been a very interesting and fulfilling journey. She feels like it has placed her well to be in a position like this, to be working with Amwins's retailers.
[7:36] Dawnmarie says she establishes trust with people through communication and transparency. She tells it like it is. She also will go the extra mile, out of her way to make sure things get done. At Amwins, there is a service leadership culture.
[8:01] Dawnmarie says she is there to help; to help direct, to help move things, or to help resolve things, at a very strategic, macro level. That fills her cup. She owns up to what she is promising.
[8:19] Dawnmarie says, if she tells you she is going to get something done, she will get it done, to the best of her ability, or there will be a very good reason why it hasn't been done. It's important to communicate that.
[8:39] Dawnmarie says she thinks that the next generation of leaders exhibits these qualities. They are thoughtful and demanding and have high expectations. When Dawnmarie entered the industry, the culture required her to prove herself. There was a way to approach the business.
[9:14] Dawnmarie says the Chubb training program was 12 weeks in their training center in Warren, New Jersey. You learned the policy forms, how to work with insureds, and understand needs. You understood risk. You learned underwriting and pricing.
[9:36] The emphasis was understanding the business. Unfortunately for our young risk professionals, there are not as many programs like that available today.
[9:49] Dawnmarie says you find companies that are putting training programs together. Amwins has an underwriter development program that is outstanding. A lot of the business produced in Amwins comes from those who have come through the UDP or a broker development program.
[10:05] Dawnmarie says our industry has gotten away from the super-formalized training programs, probably to the detriment of our younger professionals, but we're all stepping in and finding ways to fill those gaps.
[10:30] Justin concludes that Dawnmarie had an analog, hands-on, pen-and-paper training program.
[11:06] Dawnmarie joined the APIW early in her career. She would go to two or three monthly luncheons a year. Then she left APIW for a few years.
[11:26] About 10 years ago, while she was at Lloyd's, Dawnmarie was asked to join the board of APIW and get more involved. There, Dawnmarie held the roles of Co-head of Programming, then Treasurer, and ultimately, she was asked to step into the President position.
[11:46] Dawnmarie says she has seen the incredible evolution of APIW, going from 500 members to 3,500 members in 11 chapters across the U.S. with 60 corporate sponsorships. APIW has grown since the first time Dawnmarie was involved.
[12:20] Dawnmarie says that in her early 40s, she went to her first Women's Leadership Conference by the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF). There weren't a lot of events like that then. Dawnmarie was struggling to figure out what she wanted in her career.
[12:50] At this Women's Leadership Conference, a woman spoke on the importance of getting involved, joining boards, and growing your network. Dawnmarie had always done that organically, but she hadn't done it thoughtfully. It was client-driven.
[13:08] Dawnmarie went back to management and said that IICF board positions go to sponsor companies. She asked if Lloyd's would sponsor IICF and could she be chosen as the board member? That's where she got her first board experience.
[13:24] Dawnmarie moved up and ended up Co-chair of the Boston Chapter. She learned a lot, and it prepared her for APIW.
[13:41] A Quick Break! Many fantastic RIMS events are coming up in 2026. This is a last call for registration for the Second Annual RIMS Texas Regional Conference, which will be held from August 10th through the 12th at the Grand Hyatt on the San Antonio River Walk.
[13:58] Visit RIMS.org/Events for registration information. The hotel cutoff date was July 10th. Reservations may still be made after the hotel cutoff date, subject to availability; however, the negotiated group rate is no longer guaranteed, so reserve now.
[14:14] The 11th Annual Chicagoland Risk Forum will return to the Old Post Office on Thursday, September 24th, 2026. Visit ChicagolandRiskForum.org for more information.
[14:25] The RIMS Western Regional Conference will be held from October 4th through the 7th in Seattle, Washington. The agenda is live, and registration is open. Visit RIMSWesternRegional.com and the link in this episode's show notes for more information.
[14:41] Save the dates: October 18th through the 21st. We will be in Quebec City to celebrate the 50th Live RIMS Canada Conference. Booth sales are open, and sponsorship opportunities are still available. Advance registration is open now.
[14:58] Visit RIMSCanadaConference.ca for more information. Also, remember to check out RIMS.org/Canada for our spinoff show, RIMScast Canada, hosted by National Conference Committee Chair, Aaron Lukoni.
[15:13] The RIMS ERM Conference 2026 will be held on November 19th and 20th in Columbus, Ohio. Registration is now open.
[15:22] Through August 21st, you can nominate a program for the RIMS ERM Global Award of Distinction. If you know of an ERM Program that is award-worthy, we want to hear about it. A link to the nomination form is in this episode's show notes. Visit RIMS.org/ERM2026.
[15:41] We're already looking to RISKWORLD 2027, which will be held over four days in New Orleans, Louisiana, from April 18th through the 21st! The call for session proposals is now live and will stay active through August 21st.
[15:56] RIMS members can exclusively register by September 4th for the best rate. And get first access to the hotel block. Hotel reservations open on October 28th, ahead of public registration. Sitting this out is the real risk! The link to registration is in this episode's show notes.
[16:16] Let's Return to Our Interview with APIW President Dawnmarie Black!
[16:40] Dawnmarie says that the importance of building relationships with communication and transparency applies to risk managers as well.
[16:49] Dawnmarie says that risk managers getting to know their brokers and underwriters, building relationships, telling their story, building trust, and understanding the insurance and why a specific carrier is being suggested goes a long way if there's a claim or wording issue.
[17:47] Dawnmarie says with the relationships established, with the ability to pick up the phone and say, "We need to have a conversation," you've already set the stage.
[18:11] Dawnmarie says emerging risks the insurance industry needs to pay attention to in the next three to five years include addressing AI. Will AI drive margins down? We need to leverage it to do our jobs better. We can't just decide that we're simply going to depend on it.
[18:37] AI exists. It's there as a tool. We need to prepare our people to be able to assess it, analyze it, understand it, and program the prompts. The best prompt writers are getting the best results.
[18:56] It doesn't mean it's a perfect result, so you need the ability to communicate, analyze, and explain why the output makes sense and how it applies.
[19:20] Another emerging need is for more and more data and the ability to depend on that data, using AI to help understand it and being able to explain the data to the board why they can take a larger retention, or why we need more cover in this area.
[19:54] Dawnmarie talks about weather-related events. Catastrophic events aren't going away; they're getting worse. Illinois has had more convective storms this year than any other state. It's unexpected and unprepared for.
[20:16] The unexpected storm volume creates a shift for the underwriters, clients, and brokers, making sure they have the data to understand what's been exposed and what's been impacted.
[20:30] The models need to address these shifts. We need, as an industry, to be pushing for that: the stronger the models, the more differentiated the models we can have.
[20:42] Maybe that's where AI plays a great role, helping us in the changing and adaptation. These are trends Dawnmarie watches. She is so impressed with the data that Amwins has to work with.
[21:06] When you have that good data, the world opens up to capital and new strategies. It makes a big difference in where an organization will go strategically. That impacts everybody.
[21:23] Sponsorships! You can sponsor a RIMScast episode for this, our weekly show, or a dedicated episode. RIMScast is proud of its longstanding relationships with AXA XL, Global Risk Consultants, Alliant, Zurich, and more.
[21:44] Links to many of these episodes are in the show notes. RIMScast sponsorships can be bundled with whitepapers and webinar sponsorships.
[21:52] RIMScast has a global audience of risk and insurance professionals, legal professionals, students, business leaders, C-Suite executives, and more. Let's collaborate and help you reach them!
[22:05] Reach out to Ted Donovan at TDonovan@RIMS.org or reach out to Sales at Sales@RIMS.org. Let's find the best opportunity for you and your organization.
[22:18] Let's Conclude Our Dialog with APIW President Dawnmarie Black!
[22:54] To help make insurance careers more appealing to young professionals and career changers, Dawnmarie asks you to stop saying, "I just fell into insurance." We have a story to tell.
[23:13] There is a reason someone came into this industry. It probably wasn't planned, but how they got started and why they stayed; we need to talk more about why people stay in insurance. Because they love it! It is a wonderful ecosystem for growth and travel. It's stable.
[23:37] APIW just held Intern Days, one in New York, one in Chicago. This was their first year in Chicago, and about 20 people came. It was their second year in New York. About 50 came.
[23:51] Dawnmarie says we do this out of our budget. There's no charge for it. We bring the interns together for four hours. They do a leadership panel, networking, and answering questions.
[24:04] Dawnmarie says a lot of other associations do this. She mentions RISE Professionals. They had a terrific Leadership Conference and Gala in Florida.
[24:20] That's an opportunity for young professionals to come together with very good programming around leadership. Networking with their peers and colleagues. Dressing up and going to a gala and celebrating. Dawnmarie has heard only positive feedback about that.
[24:38] APIW supports RISE. RISE supports the APIW Mentorship Program. You'll see a lot of interconnectivity among the insurance associations. They partner to share great programs rather than duplicating efforts. It helps both associations.
[25:01] The market in Charlotte rallies around Community Matters. There was a week-long session two weeks ago bringing in young children from under-represented communities to learn and understand about insurance.
[25:20] Dawnmarie says those kinds of programs where we're reaching out to talent, not only through traditional risk management schools, but looking at non-traditional avenues and non-traditional diversity avenues, and the HBCUs. The Black Sisterhood does incredible work.
[26:05] Justin gives a shoutout to the Spencer Educational Foundation. Dawnmarie says they have done such an incredible job in rallying the industry.
[26:22] At the Spencer dinner, when the young professionals get up to speak, they are inspirational in their careers and their appreciation for the opportunities to come into this industry. Justin doesn't know how they found time to sleep, doing all they did while in college.
[26:57] Justin and Dawnmarie discuss some of the speakers. He says, you hear these young people and wonder if they partied at all in college or were they just working on their risk management career? Justin notes there is the monetary incentive of scholarships and grants.
[27:41] Dawnmarie speaks of the incredible amount of work ethic she sees in the students who have come through the Spencer Educational Foundation program. Justin says they inspire him to work a little harder.
[28:08] Justin asks how we can keep the newer professionals engaged and committed to a long career. Dawnmarie says what seems to be important to them is that sense of community.
[28:24] We all come to work to work, but there's also the culture that you create, the culture of trust, and the idea that there are mentorship opportunities, and more senior people in the organization looking out for you, helping propel your career and answering your questions.
[28:48] Dawnmarie says that is key when you've got the younger generation, and you've got an experienced generation. In our industry, we have four or five different generations rolling through, all who come at things slightly differently.
[29:03] Dawnmarie says it's about understanding where people are coming from. She speaks of investing in talent development programs and professional programs, allowing talent the opportunity to become involved in outside associations, and encouraging networking.
[29:40] Dawnmarie closes this thought with the Amwins program, RTTP. They have people on the retirement track, senior brokers with books of business, and they have young people who are coming through the Broker Development Program.
[30:14] Two get matched up. There's a relationship formed. The client is taken care of because there's succession planning and consistency. The two are learning from each other. The books are passed off.
[30:28] There's respect for the experience that the senior broker brings to the table, and there's respect for what that young person is learning. Dawnmarie hasn't seen a lot of that across the industry. One of the things that enticed her about Amwins is that approach to the generations.
[30:54] Justin says kudos to Amwins. He has met some Amwins folks at Riskworld, and they're lovely. A Justin and Dawnmarie have in common is Liz King Kramer, a former APIW President. Liz gave Justin an APIW pin.
[31:18] Dawnmarie says Liz is the best! She has been mentoring Dawnmarie for over four years. Liz was Treasurer before Dawnmarie, and President before Dawnmarie. Liz helped Dawnmarie learn in both roles. She's become a terrific friend and partner.
[31:42] Munich Re just hosted a Golf Day for women. Dawnmarie was on a Panel with Liz King Kramer and Sabrina Hart, and then they did a golf clinic. Liz is an incredible leader for APIW.
[31:59] Dawnmarie says an APIW President's term is two years. Dawnmarie is at two years; however, she is going to extend for one more year. Then Tracey Vasile, who is an Industry Liaison and First Vice President, is going to step in. They will transition together.
[32:27] The APIW is having its 50th Anniversary Gala on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, at the Edison Ballroom in Manhattan on 47th Street. Everyone's gearing up. They are working on a wonderful video. Dawnmarie says it's going to be a night to remember; everybody dress up and celebrate!
[32:56] Dawnmarie says the women who are involved, chapter heads from the various cities, the 2026 Woman of the Year, 14 past Women of the Year, and Cecilia Norad, the Founder of APIW, are all coming for an incredible lineup of programming, a beautiful dinner, and a beautiful event
[33:47] Dawnmarie says it's for making connections and strengthening those connections.
[33:51] Dawnmarie has had the opportunity to sit as a founder on Women In Specialty and Excess (WISE), an amazing emerging organization, and it was simply too much for her between being President of APIW and being part of WISE, so she stepped back.
[34:07] Dawnmarie said what it made her realize is that the professionals in this industry, it could be any of the associations, step up, look outside of their sphere, and create these opportunities for other people to connect in these associations.
[34:26] Dawnmarie says when she thinks about 50 years, she thinks about all the work that has gone into standing up WISE or what Amy Cooper did with RISE, and where she's taking it. Fifty years of doing it really says a lot.
[34:40] Dawnmarie says it's a time to pause and think: where are we going for our next 50? Because we're going to be here and we're going to be delivering the program, the networking, the development, and the leadership.
[34:52] Dawnmarie says that is what we're excited about. We're looking at the past, the current, the future, and bringing in the young professionals; the people who helped build it and the young professionals, bridging that divide.
[35:36] Dawnmarie says she has a level of comfort on stage. During COVID, she learned that she struggles with virtual presentations.
[35:47] Dawnmarie used to get nervous in front of people; now she gets excited because she feels the energy in the room, she's creating the conversation, and engaging people. It is such a different experience. In a way, she's grateful for the virtual experience. It's taken away the fear.
[36:12] Justin says, Dawnmarie, it has been a pleasure to connect with you here on RIMScast. A quick reminder for everyone: The APIW's 50th Anniversary Gala will be on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, at the Edison Ballroom at 47th Street in Manhattan.
[36:28] Justin says, Dawnmarie will be there. If you attend, please let her know that you heard this RIMScast interview, and that's what piqued your interest to get there. I look forward to seeing you at RIMS events and Spencer events, too.
[36:41] Dawnmarie thanks Justin and RIMS and says, 350 of us at the Gala, maybe more. We look forward to seeing you there.
[36:54] Special thanks again to Dawnmarie Black of Amwins and APIW for joining us here on RIMScast. APIW's 50th Anniversary Gala will be on November 3, 2026, at the Edison Ballroom in New York City. Visit APIW.org.
[37:10] The countdown ticker for the Gala is on the page. Check it out and let them know you heard Dawnmarie on RIMSCast!
[27:18] Plug Time! Become a RIMS member and get access to the tools, thought leadership, and network you need to succeed. Visit RIMS.org/membership or email membershipdept@RIMS.org for more information.
[37:35] Risk Knowledge is the RIMS searchable content library that provides relevant information for today's risk professionals. Materials include RIMS executive reports, survey findings, contributed articles, industry research, benchmarking data, and more.
[37:51] For the best reporting on the profession of risk management, read Risk Management Magazine at RMMagazine.com. It is written and published by the best minds in risk management.
[38:05] Justin Smulison is the Business Content Manager at RIMS. Please remember to subscribe to RIMScast on your favorite podcasting app. You can email us at Content@RIMS.org.
[38:17] Practice good risk management, stay safe, and thank you again for your continued support!
[1:28] Participants will gain insights into industry trends, career pathways, and practical tools that help them confidently step into the evolving world of risk management after graduation. These sessions will be hosted on September 1st and 9th.
[1:41] These sessions are member exclusives and are complimentary for RIMS members, of course. So, if you are interested in becoming a member, this would be the time. Visit RIMS.org/membership.
[1:51] RIMS is back on YouTube. Our handle is @RIMSOfficialChannel. We've got plenty of videos there, including RIMScast, RIMScast Canada video podcasts, and other informative and entertaining content from RIMS. Subscribe to the channel today!
[2:08] On with the Show! Our guest today is Colette Cummins. She is the Chief Risk Officer for Inland Fisheries Ireland. The IFI is the dedicated state agency for protecting, managing, and conserving Ireland's inland fisheries and sea angling resources.
[2:26] Colette is the agency's first CRO, but she's not new to risk management. We're going to hear about her career journey and why she feels that this position was custom-made for her, combining her love for environmental awareness with her risk management knowledge.
[2:42] Colette is also a RIMS-CRMP Commissioner, and on September 24th, you can hear from her directly, along with Elliott Long, another RIMS-CRMP Commissioner, in the informational session, "A Conversation with RIMS-CRMP Commissioners Who Hold the Credential." [2:58] That's a free informational session. Visit RIMS.org/CertificationWeek for more information. A link is in this episode's show notes. But we're here to talk with Colette about her fascinating career and risk philosophies. Let's get to it!
[3:13] Interview! Colette Cummins, Welcome to RIMScast!
[3:28] Colette was told once that she is excessively optimistic. She's very positive. She took it as a compliment.
[4:18] Colette started fresh out of university in credit analysis and credit risk management. She worked in a few financial services organizations. It gave her a taste for risk management at a high level. It was around portfolio analysis and the credit history of customers.
[4:51] The role Colette was in wound down, and she was looking to move into a different area in the company, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, in the financial services subsidiary. An opportunity came up to work in internal audit. She decided to try it for a year. She stayed in it for 15 years.
[5:32] In the middle of those 15 years, Colette had an interim stint in Operational Risk Management for a year and a half, and she loved it.
[5:47] Colette says, in Operational Risk, you're seeing down at a tactical level how to manage and monitor risk. It was very much around risk monitoring.
[6:01] Colette explains why she stayed in internal audit for 15 years. Ten years were spent in various internal audit management roles in the financial services subsidiary. It was a tough time for HPE in terms of meeting the new regulatory challenges in Ireland and Europe for financial services.
[6:41] Colette was asked to take on the Head of Internal Audit role. She did that for five years. She went into Internal Audit for one year in 2008. In 2015, she worked in Operational Risk. In 2017, she was asked to come back to take over as Head of Internal Audit.
[7:11] It was a challenging situation because new EU regulations were coming in for banks and financial services businesses. It was a lot of pressure to meet these. There was a lot of scrutiny from Irish regulators. It was a challenging environment for Internal Audit.
[7:53] When Colette moved in as Head of Internal Audit, it was a pivotal role in terms of steering the organization through that regulatory time. It was a great learning experience and very helpful now that she's in a public sector role.
[8:09] Colette says, the whole time she was Head of Internal Audit, she was thinking, "How do I get back to Risk? How do I get out of here?" She loved Operational Risk.
[8:27] Colette networked heavily within the organization. She got the opportunity to move out of Financial Services up into the global HPE organization as an Enterprise Risk Manager. She got that role through networking. She enjoyed that ERM role and did it for about five years.
[9:26] Colette says it was a strategic role. She was working with the heads of each business unit, reviewing their risks. It had a very heavy emphasis on reporting to the audit committee and the board on what was happening in risk management in the business units.
[9:58] Colette didn't feel as if she was effecting change or driving new strategies within the organization, but she learned a huge amount about negotiating with senior management and a lot about the fundamentals of risk management.
[10:18] For the last year or two of her role, Colette wondered what she was doing there. She had a sense of wanting to stay in risk management but wanting to do something different, maybe something more value-add and less commercially driven.
[10:39] Colette says towards the end of 2025, HPE announced it was cutting resources and implementing cost-cutting initiatives. As part of that, her role was made redundant. At first, it was a big upheaval and quite a shock after 22 years with the organization.
[11:03] Colette says that upheaval turned into a great opportunity. It was the push she needed to ask herself where she wanted to go and what she wanted to do. It was an opportunity to try something completely different.
[11:28] Colette says she didn't know anybody in the public sector. She had no contacts. But in Ireland, you cannot in any way canvass for jobs in the public sector. Everything is heavily regulated with very strict anti-corruption regulations.
[11:54] Colette says she had no knowledge of the organization. She had no intention of applying for a role for at least six months. But she started looking at what was out there. She was going to put some time into development and building out her CV and getting some qualifications.
[12:33] Colette says she had been thinking she would like to do something in the public sector; something more meaningful and less commercially-driven. She wanted to do something with more autonomy, more impact, and more control over risk at the organisation.
[12:54] Colette says, one Wednesday afternoon, she was looking, and she saw this job that had just come up. It's in exactly the right location, it's public sector, and it's IFI, an environmental body. Colette said, "Wow! This is it!" Forgetting her six months off, she had to go for it.
[13:19] Colette interviewed for the job when she hadn't yet finished her old role at HPE. She was hugely busy, trying to wrap up her role and interviewing. The interview process for the public sector in Ireland is extremely rigorous and tough. She was successful in the role.
[13:43] Colette says she just had a couple of weeks off and then went straight into it in March of 2026. She has been CRO at Inland Fisheries Ireland for four months now.
[14:06] Colette says IFI is the state organization that is responsible for protecting the fish stock in Ireland. Ireland is a country with a lot of waterways. IFI is responsible for protecting the fish in 45,000 miles of rivers, 128,000 hectares of lakes, and 3,500 miles of shoreline.
[14:43] It's doing everything to protect and restore the fish stock in those areas. Historically, the organization was very much about protection, preventing fishermen from overfishing and from fishing illegally, especially protected species. IFI has a substantial staff who patrol the rivers.
[15:17] Now IFI is working on pollution, reacting to any pollution episodes and ensuring that they're investigated and stopped. Colette says that prevention measures sit with a different state body. The Environmental Protection Agency works on the prevention of pollution.
[15:41] Colette says because the IFI has staff on the ground, it will see pollution coming in, react to it, and get in touch with the EPA to say, We've seen something coming into this river at this location. We need your team out here to source and stop it.
[16:08] The IFI staff on the ground takes samples of the water and has them ready for when the EPA team comes to look at it. Another huge element of what the IFI does is restoring the habitat and creating the perfect environment for the fish. They research how the stock is developing.
[16:35] The IFI research teams go out and do things like electrofishing, where they stun the fish for a few seconds to take a scale from the fish, test it, and work out the genetic trail of the fish and where they've come from. There's a huge amount of information they take from that.
[16:58] The IFI works on the rivers, as well. Salmon, in particular, always go back to where they spawned. You need to keep that route open for them. If a barrier, like a dam, has been built, the IFI team works with construction companies to remove those.
[17:19] The IFI has a wide series of activities: patrolling, protection, pollution, habitat restoration, and research. Colette is sure risk professionals hearing this are saying, That's a lot of risks!
[17:37] Justin points out that the IFI covers thousands of miles. It's not just the particulars of the job but also the volume and area it has to cover.
[18:03] Colette says the other element is that fishing or angling is part of Ireland's tourist industry. The IFI promotes fishing, without overfishing, obviously, and supports and partners with the local fishing organizations.
[18:28] A Quick Break! Many fantastic RIMS events are coming up in 2026. You can register now for the Second Annual RIMS Texas Regional Conference, which will be held from August 10th through the 12th at the Grand Hyatt on the San Antonio River Walk.
[18:44] Visit RIMS.org/Events for registration information. The hotel cutoff date was July 10th. Reservations may still be made after the hotel cutoff date, subject to availability; however, the negotiated group rate is no longer guaranteed, so reserve now.
[19:00] The 11th Annual Chicagoland Risk Forum will return to the Old Post Office on Thursday, September 24th, 2026. Visit ChicagolandRiskForum.org for more information.
[19:11] The RIMS Western Regional Conference will be held from October 4th through the 7th in Seattle, Washington. The agenda is live, and registration is open. Visit RIMSWesternRegional.com and the link in this episode's show notes for more information.
[19:28] Save the dates: October 18th through the 21st. We will be in Quebec City to celebrate the 50th Live RIMS Canada Conference. Booth sales are open, and sponsorship opportunities are still available. Advance registration is open now.
[19:44] Visit RIMSCanadaConference.ca for more information. Also, remember to check out RIMS.org/Canada for our spinoff show, RIMScast Canada, hosted by National Conference Committee Chair, Aaron Lukoni.
[19:59] The RIMS ERM Conference 2026 will be held on November 19th and 20th in Columbus, Ohio. Registration is now open.
[20:08] An announcement seeking nominations for the RIMS Global ERM Award of Distinction will be made public in July. Visit RIMS.org/ERM2026.
[20:19] We're already looking to RISKWORLD 2027, which will be held over four days in New Orleans, Louisiana, from April 18th through the 21st! The call for session proposals is now live and will stay active through August 21st.
[20:34] RIMS members can exclusively register by September 4th for the best rate. And get first access to the hotel block. Hotel reservations open on October 28th, ahead of public registration. Sitting this out is the real risk! The link to registration is in this episode's show notes.
[20:54] Let's Return to Our Interview with Inland Fisheries CRO and RIMS-CRMP Commissioner Colette Cummins!
[21:05] Justin comments that fish is a critical food source, so IFI has to make sure that they're clean, healthy, and they keep repopulating. Colette agrees but says that it's less about food and more about environmental protection.
[21:23] Colette says some species have been reduced a huge amount in the last number of years because of things like pollution, habitat destruction, etc. It's really about environmental protection, restoring that stock, and bringing it back to where it should be for a natural balance.
[21:42] Colette says her CRO role is new at IFI. That's what made it even more exciting for her. She says, when she came in, it was basically a blank sheet. IFI had dealt with risk by using a third party to give them a risk management model and some training.
[22:10] Colette says the IFI was trying to work with that in-house, without any risk management expertise. It brought in a bit of a risk mindset, but essentially, Colette had a clean sheet to start with. She came in in March, and now she's building out the risk register.
[22:36] Colette's first task was to design the risk framework. Colette loves risk management and has done lots of various elements of it, but she's never had complete autonomy, where she was driving change in the organization.
[22:55] By full autonomy, Colette means she owns everything. Anything that happens to do with risk comes to her.
[23:01] Up until now, Colette's role has been designing the framework: establishing how the organization is going to manage risk, building that out, getting people on board with that framework. It's split into six departments within the organization.
[23:29] Each head of that department, or ELT member, will own their risk register, or their list of risks. Colette is working closely with them to ensure they have all their risks listed within that register and that they fully understand them.
[23:48] Colette is looking at their controls and helping them devise new controls, looking at how the risk matches the risk appetite of the organization, and working with the next level of management beneath them to help them develop their risk registers to report up to the ELT.
[24:40] Colette says IFI had been trying to recruit a CRO for some time. She wishes she had known! She would have applied last year. She just happened to see it. The existing model wasn't working. There was a real need.
[25:00] The audit committee and board were saying they weren't happy. They said they needed to see risk management alive in the organization. Colette had to dive straight in, hit the ground running, and start building it out straightaway. It was exactly the challenge she was looking for.
[25:18] Colette says it's so good to have that autonomy and responsibility, but also accountability. She is completely accountable for everything that happens with risk. Colette gets each member of the ELT to develop their risk register and report that up to the audit committee.
[25:45] If anybody is doing anything where they want to think about risk, they talk to Colette. It's not complicated. They don't go to somebody else. Everybody knows, if it's got the word "risk," they come to Colette. Colette says the full visibility of everything is great.
[26:19] Colette says she's starting with a very simplistic model to build the registers. She says it's drawn more from ISO, but it's a very simplistic model to get the organization started. Colette moved from a private-sector global IT company to the public sector.
[26:56] The one thing that is challenging is that things move much slower in government. It moves much slower, and that's probably even more so in Ireland than in Europe and maybe than in the U.S.
[27:16] You could come in and see this is the change that is needed, and think you could go ahead and effect that change within a couple of weeks? Oh, no you don't! You need to take everything slowly and get the right approvals and authorizations, etc.
[27:29] Colette says she is starting with a really simplistic model: set out your risks, set out your controls, set out your mitigating actions, and then, we're going to get the organization working on that with that framework.
[27:43] Colette hopes to do it within six months, but knowing the public sector, it could be a year. Then start building in other elements to it to make it a more mature and sophisticated framework.
[28:19] Every change has to be approved by the Audit and Risk Committee (ARC). If Colette wants to make a small tweak in the existing framework, it goes back to the Audit and Risk Committee, which meets every three months.
[28:51] Colette presented to the ARC in June. She presented how she wanted to move forward. There was no question. She knew they were going to approve it. She couldn't just go ahead and put the framework in place.
[29:08] It needs to go through the protocols and have the conversation with the ARC and just take it nice and slow to effect any change. That is one challenge that's different for Colette. But otherwise, she can bring all of her experience from different areas and use every bit of it.
[29:37] One More Quick Break! RIMS has launched RIMS, The Foundation for Risk ManagementTM. The Foundation is dedicated to shaping the future of the profession. Contribute to strengthen the global risk management community and invest in the future of the industry.
[29:57] The Foundation also supports the Spencer Educational Foundation but has a different mission. The Foundation focuses on providing opportunities for those professionals who have already decided to enter risk management and are just getting started.
[30:11] You can learn more about the Foundation by visiting RIMS.org/FRM.
While you're there, be sure to check out information about the Susan Meltzer Scholarship Fund, which was established to honor Ms. Meltzer, who was RIMS President in 1999 and 2000.
[30:30] Susan Meltzer was a cherished RIMS President and contributed so much to RIMS and the greater risk community. Learn more at RIMS.org/FRM.
[30:39] Let's Return to Our Interview with Colette Cummins!
[30:53] Colette Cummins is speaking with us today from County Kildare, about 30 miles outside Dublin, Ireland. The IFI offices are on the edge of Dublin, the capital of Ireland. Colette says the land is actually greener and more beautiful than the travel brochures could describe.
[31:30] Colette says Ireland is full of rich waterways, which keeps her in a job. She lives near Dublin but is originally from the Southwest of Ireland, which is by far the most beautiful. The coastline is stunning. It's where most Irish go on holidays. It's gorgeous.
[32:00] Colette says the accent in the Southwest of Ireland is different. Colette's husband from the middle of Ireland requests subtitles when he visits her family in the Southwest. Colette describes the difference between the accents in the South and North of Ireland.
[33:05] Colette says the IFI Corporate Risk Register has generic risks around AI, cyber, training, and resources.
[33:33] One of their biggest risks is health and safety. Staff are going out and patrolling rivers. They will sometimes come across fishermen who are happily overfishing and not keen to meet a patrolling officer who tells them they shouldn't be taking all this fish and depleting the stocks.
[34:08] There is a health and safety risk with the patrolling officer being out on a river on boats. There is a health and safety risk in meeting an acrimonious and adversarial fisherman.
[34:28] Because IFI does research, they have staff in labs, using high-tech equipment, with a health and safety risk. They have engineers looking at the rivers and habitats and maybe some constructions in the rivers that need to be removed. They have a health and safety risk.
[34:37] These are new risks and things for Colette to get her head around. How do we do this? How do we manage that? And the other side is regulation. There are a lot of different regulations that impact IFI.
[35:22] Colette says, In the public sector, your reputation is critically important, because you're the face of the state. Reputation is an impact factor you need to build into every risk. If IFI does something wrong, it could end up in the national media the day after. IFI uses taxpayers' money.
[36:15] Colette says another huge category of risk for IFI is procurement, ensuring they are using taxpayers' money in the right way and not misusing it.
[36:50] Colette says that prioritizing risks comes back to the goals. In procurement, there is the risk of spending money in a way that's not compliant. There is also the risk that there are too many procurement controls and the business can't move fast enough or do what it needs to do.
[37:24] Colette says it comes to the organizational goals. What is the impact on the organizational goals? Which risk is going to have a greater detrimental impact on the organization's mission? One caveat: the health and well-being of the staff override everything.
[37:55] Health and safety risk trumps everything. IFI would be completely averse to any risk that will impact the health and safety of the staff. Health and safety trumps every other risk.
[38:16] Justin says he and Colette met recently for the RIMS-CRMP series where everyone can see her on September 24th. Justin says Colette is very positive and upbeat and speaks about her role with a lot of enthusiasm and joviality.
[38:39] Colette says there are 330 people in IFI. It's not commercially driven, so a lot of people are at IFI because they love the work. For some people Colette works with, it's a vocation. They would nearly do the same job without being paid because they have such passion for it.
[39:11] Colette met with the research team on site at the rivers to get a better understanding and just to see the passion they have for the job. Using her risk knowledge to help them do their jobs better and to help them protect themselves from risks was rewarding and enjoyable to Colette.
[39:45] Colette says being able to use her experience across the organization is just fantastic. Colette has a lot of different experience, and to bring it all together and use it every day when she is challenged with a new task is fantastic and very rewarding.
[40:27] Colette says this is the field staff's very busy time because this is when all the fishing is happening, this is when pollution is more likely to happen, and when the temperatures go up, the fish are under pressure, so you have to try and protect the waters.
[40:42] Colette says the research staff was delighted to hear that someone was coming down from the head office to go out and make the time to really understand the organization. They were very anxious to show her everything. There is such pride in the organization.
[41:!5] Justin says a lot of the risk professionals listening are in the private sector, and he asks Colette what would most surprise them about risk management in a public environmental organization.
[41:40] Colette says a lot of the differences in the public sector are what you would expect: things move slower, and the protocols.
[41:49] What surprised Colette the most is what a strong risk mindset they have. There's a good understanding of risk already, even through the layers of management. They can look at what's going on, the processes, and the activities and ask, "What are the risks here?"
[42:16] There is also a commitment to risk that Colette was not expecting. She was expecting to meet a research manager who wanted to research and leave risks to Colette. She hasn't had that anywhere. They all ask her to talk with them about their risks. "Am I managing them right?"
[42:39] Colette says there is knowledge and commitment, and that has been the biggest surprise for her. It obviously makes her job a lot easier.
[42:48] Justin says this is excellent. It has been such a pleasure to meet you these last couple of days. We're going to see you during RIMS Certification week on September 24th.
[42:57] Justin says, You will be co-hosting the informational session, "A Conversation with RIMS-CRMP Commissioners Who Hold the Credential." You're such a breath of fresh air. We really appreciate your contributions, and I learned a lot speaking with you today and yesterday.
[41:12] Justin says, You have a fascinating job, and I hope that you have a chance to attend a RIMS event, maybe lead a session, and connect with our live audiences, as well. Colette says she would love to at some stage in the future.
[43:32] Special thanks again to Colette Cummins of Inland Fisheries Ireland for joining us here on RIMScast.
[43:38] You can hear Colette again on September 24th during RIMS Certification Week for the special informational session, "A Conversation with RIMS-CRMP Commissioners Who Hold the Credential."
[43:49] That session will be held at 10:00 a.m. Eastern. Visit RIMS.org/CertificationWeek. The link is also in this episode's show notes. We've got sessions on the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th of September. We look forward to seeing you there.
[44:05] Plug Time! Become a RIMS member and get access to the tools, thought leadership, and network you need to succeed. Visit RIMS.org/membership or email membershipdept@RIMS.org for more information.
[44:22] Risk Knowledge is the RIMS searchable content library that provides relevant information for today's risk professionals. Materials include RIMS executive reports, survey findings, contributed articles, industry research, benchmarking data, and more.
[44:39] For the best reporting on the profession of risk management, read Risk Management Magazine at RMMagazine.com. It is written and published by the best minds in risk management.
[44:52] Justin Smulison is the Business Content Manager at RIMS. Please remember to subscribe to RIMScast on your favorite podcasting app. You can email us at Content@RIMS.org.
[43:05] Practice good risk management, stay safe, and thank you again for your continued support!
[1:36] On with the Show! Our guests today are, respectively, the Executive Vice President at Aon Corporation and a Managing Director at Aon Corporation. They are Aaron Olson, making his debut on RIMSCast, and our good friend Ward Ching, also a former RIMS-CRMP Commissioner.
[1:52] They presented a session at RISKWORLD 2026, titled "Strategy and Change: Understanding Disruptive Innovation Through Insight, Choice and Risk." They recently published a book, Strategy and Change: Finding Opportunity in Disruption Through Insight, Choice, and Risk. [2:11] We will talk about the risk management practices, philosophies, and frameworks that went into the book and the session, what it took for Mr. Olson to build an AI agent, and how you can assess whether this is the sort of business decision for your organization. Let's get to it!
[2:32] Interview! Aaron Olson and Ward Ching, Welcome to RIMScast!
[3:12] Aaron says Ward and he work together at Aon, and they work with risk managers around the world. They also do some academic work. Ward, at USC, Marshall School of Business, and Aaron, at Northwestern, just outside Chicago.
[3:25] Aaron says that for 20 years, he's been working as a member of the faculty there, part-time, teaching on the topic of the intersection of strategy and leadership.
[3:38] About 10 years ago, Aaron did some research and published a book focused on the intersection of strategy and leadership. He looked at different companies and examples to learn how individuals lead strategy.
[3:55] Ten years later, Aaron and Ward talked about it regarding the clients they work with and the challenges risk managers working in those organizations face. In the last 10 years, the world has gotten a lot more complicated and volatile, and is facing more and more risk.
[4:16] Aaron and Ward decided to do some new work. This time, it's not strategy and leadership; it's strategy and disruptive change.
[4:27] They looked at what lessons they could learn from COVID, from the supply chain, and from the unpredictable rising cost of doing business. What can we do about that?
[4:42] How can companies be successful? How can risk managers be successful? What is the changing, evolving role of risk in the midst of that?
[4:53] Ward says one of the interesting things is that disruption has always been part of the economic environment. It is now a hyper-important part of economic decision-making in every industry vertical.
[5:12] Ward's research in the disruptive innovation space started with a paper for RIMS that he did with Paul Walker several years ago on the issue of enterprise risk management tools and capabilities. Paul and Ward did the research, looking at all the tools.
[5:38] Then February 2020 rolled around, and the world went completely dark. Everybody predicted that there was exposure to a pandemic, but nobody had any thought of how it would go from ranking number 25 or 50 on risk registers to number one, overnight.
[6:14] Paul and Ward asked each other what was underneath this. Why did all of our tools fail? They found an interesting literature base around disruptive innovation. Ward says a lot, if not all, of our core disruptive events throughout history started with a technological innovation.
[6:38] Aaron and Ward went further, looking at all the disruption in the marketplace now: new silicon chips, our speed toward AI, agentic AI, the things we can do now with data that we couldn't do or see five years ago. That's creating a very interesting, disruptive environment.
[7:10] Disruption needs to be considered as part of the decision calculus for most organizations. Similarly, disruption is a new risk issue that has not been well understood, measured, or evaluated in the past. That's what Ward and Aaron were trying to look at.
[7:30] In the book and at RISKWORLD, Ward and Aaron looked at it from several perspectives: How is disruption creating advantage? How is disruption creating new opportunities? How is it changing the way we think about risk, risk management, and risk mitigation?
[7:58] Aaron says one of the things we uncovered as we got into this was that going back 10 years ago, on any given day, your average executive was maybe dealing with one crisis or issue coming at them.
[8:14] Aaron says that today, an executive coming into the office or dialing in on Zoom is probably dealing with two or three simultaneous challenges, and that has a compounding effect. Technology is an accelerant and also an amplifier.
[8:37] The combination of speed and severity means that organizations deal with an external environment that has multiple concurrent risks. Then you have internal execution risks, and they, too, are more complicated.
[8:52] Take AI, as an externality, but also inside. All kinds of new risks are surfacing as AI is changing workflows, processes, and the nature of people's jobs and work. That is a level of complexity we have not had to deal with in most of our professional lifetimes.
[9:12] Ward says most of the tools that we use to mitigate those risks are now obsolete. When you look at a heat map, it is point-specific. You look at various risks along a series of axes. These point-specific numbers or locations don't answer the question, "So what do you do?"
[9:59] You understand where the risk might be, on a frequency, severity, or likelihood scale, but if you were the CFO, you would be asking, "What investment do I have to make to move something that's at an extraordinarily high, or even uninsurable space, into someplace more acceptable?"
[10:18] Those comparative static tools don't give you enough information to make significant decisions, especially now that a problem may have adjacencies that impact a decision, so that needs to be broader in terms of its context and execution. A lot of those tools don't work now.
[10:41] A Quick Break! There are so many other wonderful RIMS events coming up in 2026. The 2026 Florida RIMS Educational Conference will be held from July 28th through August 1st at the lovely Ritz-Carlton in Naples, Florida. A link to the event is in this episode's show notes.
[11:02] Register now for the Second Annual RIMS Texas Regional Conference, which will be held from August 10th through 12th at the Grand Hyatt on the San Antonio River Walk. Advance rates are available through June 5th.
[11:16] The 11th Annual Chicagoland Risk Forum will return to the Old Post Office on Thursday, September 24th, 2026, in Chicago. Visit ChicagolandRiskForum.org for more information.
[11:29] The RIMS Western Regional Conference will be held from October 4th through the 7th in Seattle, Washington. Registration is open, and you can also submit a session. Visit RIMSWesternRegional.com and the link in this episode's show notes for more information.
[11:46] Save the dates October 18th through the 21st. We will be in Quebec City to celebrate the 50th Live RIMS Canada Conference. Booth sales are already open. Early-bird registration will open in June.
[12:01] Visit RIMSCanadaConference.ca for more information. Also, remember to check out RIMS.org/Canada for our spinoff show, RIMScast Canada, hosted by National Conference Committee Chair, Aaron Lukoni.
[12:15] The RIMS ERM Conference 2026 will be held on November 18th and 19th in Columbus, Ohio. Details will follow on RIMS.org.
[12:24] Let's Return to our Interview with Ward Ching and Aaron Olson!
[12:33] Aaron built the strategy agent at Aon. Aaron shares how it was done. He was a one-man team on this project. Aaron tells about vibe coding. He took a routine that he and Ward have been doing for years, and he realized that an agent could do some of that work.
[13:36] Aaron and Ward have been working together for a couple of years. On the academic side, they wrote a book and codified some of the work they do with their clients. Aaron says they took a framework and turned it into a simple worksheet.
[13:53] Aaron now uses that worksheet to prepare for clients. It's an analysis tool for what is going on in that client's industry, what key issues they need to deal with, and what insights, decisions, and risks Aaron will discuss with them.
[14:09] As Aaron started to look at agents, he realized that he didn't have to do all that work himself.
[14:16] Aaron uses ChatGPT. There's an ability within ChatGPT to create a Custom GPT. It asks you to follow a set of instructions. It isn't coding, just guidance.
[14:36] Aaron wrote out his guidance, uploaded his worksheet, and constructed prompts. A prompt is a good question to ask. Aaron preloaded some good prompts to get an agent.
[14:52] Aaron, Ward, and others use this agent, which they call the Strategy and Change Diagnostic. They input the client's name and problem, the type of conversation they want to have with the client, the situations they are focusing on, and the present disruptive changes.
[15:16] Aaron asks the agent, "What are the things we should be focusing on?" It comes back with a lot of the work Aaron would have had to think through himself. It's pulling on the logic he taught it and pulling real-time, relevant financial information from the internet.
[15:43] Aaron says it would have taken a team of people working for months to get the same result. We're living in a different world.
[15:52] Ward says that Aaron can change the persona of the agent. The agent is looking at it from one point of view. It can look at it from a different point of view or a competing point of view. All of those will generate additional insights into what the client's issues might be.
[15:14] Aaron built the Strategy and Change Diagnostic over a weekend and refined it by trying it out with some real situations. Aaron thinks this type of agent is in the future for all of us.
[16:27] Ward says, Strategy and Change: Finding Opportunity in Disruption Through Insight, Choice, and Risk, and the recent RISKWORLD 2026 session, cover disruption and disruptive innovation in a clinical way, and case studies, new tools, and responsibilities that are coming out.
[16:54] Ward talks about the necessary skills. Many people in risk management are asking what skills and capabilities they need to be successful going forward. That's a big issue. What is the impact of AI? What is the impact on data analysis and on the types of things they need to do?
[17:19] Risk professionals wonder if they should be coders, actuaries, or engineers. Ward says, the answer is yes. They need to be all of those, going forward. That's a big issue in question.
[17:28] Justin says an editorial strategy shift at RIMS is that it's no longer just about identifying risk. It's how to leverage it to do your job better. It's what you need to know now to enable you to succeed later. It's not just about the "what." It's about the "why" and the "how."
[17:52] Another Quick Break! The Spencer Educational Foundation's Risk Manager on Campus application period is now open, and it will close on June 30th. Grant awardees, colleges, and universities are typically notified in September.
[18:14] The Course Development Grant application deadline for Interval Number 2 will be on June 15th, 2026. Award notifications will be sent out in late July.
[18:27] General Grant applications are open, and the application deadline is July 30th. Internship Grant applications open on August 15th and close on October 15th.
[18:39] Links to each of these grants are in this episode's show notes. Visit SpencerEd.org for more information.
[18:48] The Spencer 2026 Funding Their Future Gala will be held on Thursday, September 17th, from 6:30 to 10:00 p.m. at a different venue this year. It will be at the fabulous Waldorf Astoria in New York City.
[19:03] Sponsorship opportunities and benefits are available now. A link to the Funding Their Future Gala is in this episode's show notes.
[19:12] Be on the lookout for some of the honorees and Spencer Board members to join RIMScast in June and July.
[19:21] Let's Conclude Our Interview with Ward Ching and Aaron Olson!!
[19:32] Aaron says this is the second book he has written and the first book he has written with Ward. They enjoyed the opportunity to bring together some things they had been doing in their respective professional backgrounds.
[19:46] The book is an investigation into what is driving us to live in a world that's more complicated and faster-moving, where risk is different, and we need to work differently because of it.
[20:01] They go into practical things with three different lenses on the issues we all face in a world of disruptive change. The lenses are insight, choice, and risk. They get to the practical aspects of what that means for us.
[20:15] They address success in a world that's more complicated, is moving faster, and has a lot more volatility that's not going away. They use case examples. They look at real organizations. What happened to GE over the last decade? How did they navigate changes in their industry?
[20:35] How did S&P Global evolve from a very different business a decade ago? They were McGraw-Hill, the publisher. These are real companies that have faced real challenges, and they've taken proactive approaches that have evolved the way they do business.
[20:52] The book brings it down to individuals and how you lead through that kind of change. There are practical things and a few tools to use.
[21:05] Ward adds that it points to some additional literature to think about.
[21:09] Clayton Christensen at Harvard did a lot of interesting work associated with the innovator's dilemma, in which he was asking the question, "How do organizations that have been innovative throughout their lifespans, when they continue to be innovative, fail?"
[21:28] Ward says it has to do with disruptive elements in the marketplace. It raises the question of how you, in risk management, can help the organization think slightly disruptively to help it push through the biases and barriers that might cause it to have difficulties going forward.
[21:40] The issue of understanding disruptive innovation is part of the new toolkit that the next generation of risk professionals is going to have to have, sharpened up, with a strong acumen around, to help their organization succeed going forward.
[22:09] Those are some of the more subtle elements of the book. It also talks about a risk ecosystem as opposed to separate distinct property and casualty, wealth, well-being, and more.
[22:27] They're not in separate locations; they're in an ecosystem. The data is showing us how they interact with each other. New skills, new capabilities, and new perspectives are highlighted in the book.
[22:57] If you are looking for the slides from their RISKWORLD 2026 presentation, open up the RIMS Events app and go to the Attendees Service Center. Also visit RIMS.org/ASC. Navigate over to their names, and you should find it.
[23:13] Be sure to check out the links in this episode's show notes for the past appearances of our friend Ward Ching.
[23:20] Plug Time! You can sponsor a RIMScast episode for this, our weekly show, or a dedicated episode. Links to sponsored episodes are in the show notes.
[23:48] RIMScast has a global audience of risk and insurance professionals, legal professionals, students, business leaders, C-Suite executives, and more. Let's collaborate and help you reach them! Contact pd@rims.org for more information.
[24:07] Become a RIMS member and get access to the tools, thought leadership, and network you need to succeed. Visit RIMS.org/membership or email membershipdept@RIMS.org for more information.
[24:24] Risk Knowledge is the RIMS searchable content library that provides relevant information for today's risk professionals. Materials include RIMS executive reports, survey findings, contributed articles, industry research, benchmarking data, and more.
[24:41] For the best reporting on the profession of risk management, read Risk Management Magazine at RMMagazine.com. It is written and published by the best minds in risk management.
[24:54] Justin Smulison is the Business Content Manager at RIMS. Please remember to subscribe to RIMScast on your favorite podcasting app. You can email us at Content@RIMS.org.
[25:06] Practice good risk management, stay safe, and thank you again for your continued support!
[1:43] If you plan to submit a session for the RIMS Canada Conference 2026, today, the air date May 19th, is your last day to do so. Visit RIMS Canada to submit your session. We hope to see you in Quebec City, October 18th through the 21st.
[2:02] On with the Show! June is approaching, and that means National Safety Month. That is also observed in several parts of the world. Who better to speak about safety than Jennifer McNelly, the CEO of The American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP)?
[2:20] Jennifer is an accomplished executive with more than 35 years of leadership experience in associations, government, and industry. She has been the Society's CEO since 2018, leading the global organization of more than 36,000 occupational, safety, and health professionals.
[2:36] Jennifer has some new risk management standards to discuss, under the safety umbrella. I also thought we would benefit from hearing her philosophies on safety and how the ASSP encourages its members to embed safety into their organization's culture. Let's get to it!
[2:55] Interview! ASSP CEO, Jennifer McNelly, Welcome to RIMScast!
[3:29] Jennifer McNelly and Gary LaBranche, CEO of RIMS, run into each other often at ASAE. They have talked about connecting. Jennifer is excited to be here on RIMScast to talk about collaboration, partnership, and keeping everybody safe at work.
[4:04] Jennifer asks every safety professional she connects with, "Tell me your story." She says she is an amalgamation of many stories that have led her to be the CEO of ASSP. She started in the political world. She says you've got to build strong partnerships to move things forward.
[4:26] That is the foundation of the mindset Jennifer brings to the ASSP. After politics, she spent time in the U.D. Department of Labor in the capacity of public-private partnerships. That's how you move things forward.
[4:41] This was followed by a deep commitment to the people in this nation who make things through leadership at the Manufacturing Institute and Global Stages. All of Jennifer's career has been at the intersection of people and the world of work, and making the world a better place.
[4:58] Jennifer says now she gets to do that with unbelievable honor for those who get up and run the world's economy every day, ensuring they get to go home as they were and better than when they walked in the door.
[5:11] Jennifer says that's about economic contribution, keeping everybody safe, and the commitment and heart of every safety professional. Safety brought her in the door, with a very unique lens of how we need to work together to send everybody home.
[5:32] Jennifer has been with ASSP for eight years, moving into her ninth year. She brings energy, passion, and connection to what ASSP is doing. She likes to think of herself as the catalyst for impact, to make workers' safety, health, and well-being an inherent right for everybody.
[6:11] Jennifer says everyone's got a safety story. Often, the thing that hits the headline is the "Somebody did …" and there was a whole set of events.
[6:23] Hence, today's conversation, anchored in the importance of risk identification, risk management, and integration into thinking every day by everyone.
[6:33] It's not just one thing that starts it. It can be the mindset of someone who's had a bad morning and lost childcare for their family. It can be about a system in process. It can be about a bad piece of equipment. It can be a bunch of other things, but what we hear is the headline.
[6:53] Jennifer says our goal is to unpack the story and get to the root cause and improve it, for everyone.
[7:00] Jennifer says the ASSP has over 35,000 members globally. A lot of the membership is in the industrial space. They have partners in insurance, and those who service as well as those who produce. ASSP calls this the Safety Ecosystem.
[7:26] Justin says RIMS sees that Enterprise Risk Management is leading the way for the future of the profession. Justin asks how Jennifer sees safety risk integrating more deeply into ERM frameworks.
[7:42] Jennifer said in 2019, early in her career at ASSP, her pitch to the Board of Directors was for moving safety professionals and workers from basic compliance to a complete integration of human capital, total worker health, and principles like prevention through design.
[8:10] Risk Enterprise Systems are critical to that objective. ASSP just released a new standard, "ANSI/ASSP Z310.1 Risk Management — Guidelines for Assessing and Managing Risk."
[8:34] It's about management systems, operating in an organizational context, and creating and documenting a comprehensive approach. It's about stakeholder engagement, culture, and inclusivity.
[8:49] It also has an important mindset: Change always happens. Therefore, it's about dynamic operations, not static operations; about how you use clear and available information to lead forward, and consider culture and human factors, always with continuous improvement.
[9:11] Jennifer says we can't move forward without all those factors integrated into Enterprise Risk.
[9:18] The ASSP's Z310.1 Committee is comprised of 28 organizations. ASSP plays an important role in the marketplace. Its logo is a shield, and its members are guardians of workplace safety. Every one of them is a workplace superhero.
[10:05] Jennifer loves all superheroes because she loves the potential of hope that each one of us has that power.
[10:12] One of the things that is unique about ASSP's market position is its global-based standards. It brings companies together around the table to flesh it out. It's not a single company.
[10:34] Jennifer says injuries, serious incidents, and fatalities happen in an environment that's complex, dynamic, and always changing. By bringing together those who are doing the work, we gain consensus.
[10:49] Justin says there is a link to the press release in this episode's show notes. The press release mentions how ANSI/ASSP Z310.0 builds off the ISO 31000 standard. There's a lot of value in it for RIMS members. Please check out the link in this episode's show notes.
[11:17] Justin notes that ANSI comes with a lot of heft. The RIMS-CRMP is ANSI-accredited. RIMS is the only globally recognized risk management program through ANSI.
[11:37] Jennifer says that early in her career, she sat on ANSI's 17024 PCAC, the group that approved those kinds of standards. She is a firm believer in business driving business outcomes. They know what works.
[11:54] The workers doing the work and the business conducting the business know what works. Jennifer talks about cross connections and says we should be talking and doing more together. Each of us has a critical role.
[12:42] A Quick Break! There are so many other wonderful RIMS events coming up in 2026. The 2026 Florida RIMS Educational Conference will be held from July 28th through August 1st at the lovely Ritz-Carlton in Naples, Florida. A link to the event is in this episode's show notes.
[13:04] Register now for the Second Annual RIMS Texas Regional Conference, to be held from August 10th through 12th at the Grand Hyatt on the San Antonio River Walk. Advance rates are available through June 5th.
[13:18] The 11th Annual Chicagoland Risk Forum will return to the Old Post Office on Thursday, September 24th, 2026, in Chicago. Visit ChicagolandRiskForum.org for more information.
[13:31] The RIMS Western Regional Conference will be held from October 4th through the 7th in Seattle, Washington. Registration is open, and you can also submit a session. Visit RIMSWesternRegional.com and the link in this episode's show notes for more information.
[13:49] Save the dates October 18th through the 21st. We will be in Quebec City to celebrate the 50th Live RIMS Canada Conference. Booth sales are already open. The call for educational sessions has been extended to May 19th, the air date of this episode.
[14:06] Submit your session today. Early-bird registration will open in June.
[14:12] Visit RIMSCanadaConference.ca for more information. Also, remember to check out RIMS.org/Canada for our spinoff show, RIMScast Canada, hosted by National Conference Committee Chair, Aaron Lukoni.
[14:27] The RIMS ERM Conference 2026 will be held on November 18th and 19th in Columbus, Ohio. Details will follow on RIMS.org.
[14:37] Let's Return to our Interview with ASSP CEO Jennifer McNelly!
[14:44] Jennifer says standards bring consensus together, but members are asking how to use the standards and what to do with them.
[15:03] Members want the playbook because they are busy, underresourced, and over-expected. They have a stressful work environment. The ASSP launched Standards-Based User Groups in January of this year.
[15:20] The ASSP's partners collaboratively spend close to $7 million a year investing in keeping the standards updated. How do you move the standards to market? What do you do with them? There are hundreds of thousands of companies around the world that use the standards.
[15:38] To somebody who is just starting that journey, it's a challenge. The ASSP's Standards-Based User Groups dig into the company's maturity, the maturity of the safety professional, and help them move one step further.
[15:59] The point of Standards-Based User Groups (SBUGs) is to make the standards accessible. Jennifer says there are a couple of unique angles to the approach they are taking.
[16:29] The ASSP's Standards-Based User Groups approach starts where serious incidents and fatalities happen, fall from heights and energy controls, two things where there is a lot of technical expertise in lock-out, tag-out, and fall prevention standards.
[16:51] Jennifer says there is a disruption happening in business and in safety, the impact and influence of Big Data, AI, and analytics. The third SBUG is AI and Safety. Through technology partners, by integrating the Standards, it will level up what people have access to.
[17:23] The ASSP's traditional routes are through the safety professionals. By putting Standards-Based User Groups in the hands of the reporting systems they have to use every day, that is scaling in a way that has never been done before.
[18:06] The focus of the Standards-Based User Groups is scaling great knowledge in a framework denied by the industry.
[18:16] Justin says it becomes a strategic risk management function. Jennifer says it is built into enterprise systems to drive action and make better decisions.
[18:30] Another Quick Break! The Spencer Educational Foundation's Risk Manager on Campus application period is now open, and it will close on June 30th. Grant awardees, colleges, and universities are typically notified in September.
[18:51] The Course Development Grant application deadline for Interval Number 2 will be on June 15th, 2026. Award notifications will be sent out in late July.
[19:06] General Grant applications will open on May 1st, 2026, and the application deadline is July 30th. Internship Grant applications open on August 15th and close on October 15th.
[19:18] Links to each of these grants are in this episode's show notes. Visit SpencerEd.org for more information.
[19:27] Let's Conclude Our Interview with the American Society of Safety Professionals CEO Jennifer McNelly!
[19:47] Justin points out that June is National Safety Month. Jennifer thinks every day is National Safety Day! National Safety Month puts a consistent spotlight on safety. She believes safety professionals need more celebration.
[20:34] Jennifer loves to tell their stories. She is grateful to any safety professional and to anybody in the ecosystem listening today. Thank you for everything that you do.
[20:48] June is coming, and we are not done. Jennifer often talks about the gap. She uses the roots of ASSP and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire as a real example that the gap is always going to exist.
[21:12] Jennifer speaks of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. It is the roots of the ASSP. There remains a building on the corner of NYU where about 149 individuals perished jumping out of windows because the doors were locked. It is the foundation and grounding of safety in the U.S.
[21:36] Jennifer repeats that it is a real example of the gap. A couple of years ago, the ASSP Board of Directors went to the dedication of the building. Every year, Taps is played, and the ladder goes up, and it stops at the sixth floor.
[21:49] You see the bunting and the gap between where we are today and where they were then. Someone next to Jennifer said, "But it needs to go higher!" That's the point. There is always a gap because business is dynamic and ever-changing.
[22:06] Our responsibility as safety professionals and associations is to fill the gap and get ahead of it. With serious incidents and fatalities, the data has been flat for 10 years. Let's do something different.
[22:23] Let's think about the principles of prevention through design and crack the C-Suite decision-making. Jennifer talks about safety as good governance. How safety succeeds is about the economic decision-making process.
[22:44] Jennifer says it's got to be built into business in every way, shape, and form. Safety is never a moment or a one-and-done. It is a part of every part of business decision-making.
[23:07] NIOSH does tremendous research on the future of work and how dynamic it is. Every year, Jennifer calls senior executives and talks through critical things. She does that because research says one thing and the ASSP membership says another. There's a gap.
[23:28] Often, in that gap, Jennifer hears the term "research to practice." That leads back to the Standards-Based User Groups. What does the research say, what does the data say, and how do you scale it?
[23:42] There are several forces at play when looking at what's shaping the world of work. There's workforce instability; a fluidity that never existed before. It's one of the biggest emerging risks Jennifer sees.
[24:02] Next is the fact that safety is not a metric. Then there's the pace of change and technology, and the influence of leadership. Jennifer believes that leadership happens in every role and function. How do we empower individual and corporate leadership?
[25:15] If a company is doing minimal compliance with the law, data tells us that's not enough. Jennifer said a volunteer was excited to tell her they had removed cell phones from a site. But cell phones can be used to photograph risks you hadn't seen.
[25:54] First, understand what problem you are trying to solve. Is it technology looking for a problem, or a problem looking for a solution that the technology enables? That's the approach ASSP is taking.
[26:13] If we continue to have individuals die every year, falling from heights, how do we solve that through technology, because somewhere in that complex system, things are not where they need to be. That's a statement of forward motion.
[26:39] Jennifer says she thinks there is a huge opportunity, but it needs to be ethically used, transparent, and clear what problem we are trying to solve. AI in safety isn't new. ASSP worked with MakUSafe AI for three years as they started studying technology advancements in safety.
[27:04] Jennifer says wearables have been around "forever." They're a good practice. Someone has seen the problem and identified the solution, and our challenge is replication, application, and scale. ASSP is striving toward that and how technology can enable it.
[27:24] Jennifer says guardrails are something we hear from membership all the time. Jennifer wants it to be done in a way that integrates it seamlessly, not a new shiny penny. Jennifer is very careful to make sure changes are made at every level. This isn't a blame-the-worker approach.
[27:53] This isn't Big Brother is watching somebody in the workplace. This is about empowerment in an era of action. How does information become a learning opportunity to understand A + B + C + D?
[28:18] Jennifer says when she thinks of behaviors and actions, she thinks of the C-Suite decision-making.
[28:26] What does the Board of Directors governing an enterprise know and understand about the human capital management and decision-making on the capital investment side of safety in the workplace?
[28:39] Justin notes registration is open for Safety 2026, held from June 15th through 17th in Anaheim. It's the 65th Annual Conference and Expo. Jennifer calls it a Safety Revival! For Safety members, coming together to learn, connect, and grow gives a unique sense of belonging.
[29:19] Jennifer calls it a battery-filling, energizing, impact like no other. It's a great opportunity to see what is on the leading edge and solve problems. The Expo is not a sales pitch. Everybody on that floor has to have a reason and something to share with safety professionals.
[29:45] Jennifer describes the 200 classes. There are over 700 program applicants each year. There's too much content and not enough time. There's top-notch technical content and the opportunity to connect with someone that you know you can call and get an answer from.
[30:20] Jennifer's favorite thing is to run around, hear stories, and take selfies. It truly is a welcoming and impactful event.
[30:32] Jennifer says she's the reason people stop the second they walk in the door. She reminds them why they're there. Last year, she wore an ASSP pickleball outfit to show it's about not just being together but also having fun. Sometimes we forget that connection and fun.
[31:14] People are going to learn, but have a great time while you're doing it! Jennifer says she will see everybody onstage! Anaheim will be the place to be!
[31:29] The link to the 65th Annual Conference and Expo for Safety 2026 is in this episode's show notes. Justin says it has been such a pleasure to connect with you, finally, and get the word out for National Safety Month. We're priming for National Safety Month.
[32:07] Special thanks to ASSP CEO Jennifer McNelly for joining us here on RIMScast! There are lots of links in this episode's show notes. Visit ASSP.org for more information, as well as the Safety 2026 Conference at Safety.ASSP.org.
[32:27] Also in this episode's show notes are the links to RIMS coverage of Worker Safety and prior coverage of National Safety Month. A lot of this information is evergreen, so I hope you'll check it out.
[32:39] Plug Time! You can sponsor a RIMScast episode for this, our weekly show, or a dedicated episode. Links to sponsored episodes are in the show notes.
[33:08] RIMScast has a global audience of risk and insurance professionals, legal professionals, students, business leaders, C-Suite executives, and more. Let's collaborate and help you reach them! Contact pd@rims.org for more information.
[33:25] Become a RIMS member and get access to the tools, thought leadership, and network you need to succeed. Visit RIMS.org/membership or email membershipdept@RIMS.org for more information.
[33:43] Risk Knowledge is the RIMS searchable content library that provides relevant information for today's risk professionals. Materials include RIMS executive reports, survey findings, contributed articles, industry research, benchmarking data, and more.
[34:00] For the best reporting on the profession of risk management, read Risk Management Magazine at RMMagazine.com. It is written and published by the best minds in risk management.
[34:14] Justin Smulison is the Business Content Manager at RIMS. Please remember to subscribe to RIMScast on your favorite podcasting app. You can email us at Content@RIMS.org.
[34:26] Practice good risk management, stay safe, and thank you again for your continued support!
[1:41] Folks, RIMS is back on YouTube. Our handle is @RIMSOfficialChannel. We've got plenty of videos there, including RIMScast, RIMScast Canada video podcasts, and other informative and entertaining content from RIMS. Subscribe to the channel today!
[2:00] On with the Show! We are live on the exhibit floor at RISKWORLD 2026 at the Philadelphia Convention Center. There's a lot of great energy. That energy transferred from the stage to our booth! My first guests are from our LA RIMS Chapter, Sandy Avina and Angel Guerra.
[2:23] Sandy and Angel co-presented the session on Tuesday, May 5th, "Between Truth and Trauma: Investigating the Invisible." RIMScast caught up with them right after they came off the stage to discuss the state of mental health claims and get a preview of their new book.
[2:37] Sandy and Angel co-authored the book coming out on May 18th. It's called Riskfetti: Risk Management for the Rest of Us. We're going to have a lot of fun! Let's get to it!
[2:44] Interview! Sandy Avina and Angel Guerra, Welcome to RIMScast!
[2:58] Angel says this is her third RISKWORLD and she loves it! She last attended two years ago in San Diego. Sandy says this is her first time at RISKWORLD. She's trying to experience everything, and it's like trying to put ten pounds of sugar in a five-pound bag. She's getting there.
[3:17] Sandy is The Riskfluencer on TikTok.
[3:25] Angel has a business, Beauty and Beast in Business.
[3:28] Together, Sandy and Angel make Riskfetti.
[3:41] Angel started in the mailroom of SRS 20 years ago, moved through Claims, Operations Management, and Global Risk Management, and is now a VP at Arrowhead Evaluation, which does independent medical and risk consulting.
[4:11] Angel's variety of experiences lets her see everything and gives her knowledge of risk management and the ability to manage a program well.
[4:31] Right out of college, Sandy joined California's workers' compensation state fund as an adjuster. She loved it and started to learn other lines. She now works for California Schools JPA, a public risk pool supporting K-12 and community colleges.
[4:54] Sandy leads the California Schools JPA claims program for property liability and workers' compensation. She loves it.
[5:03] Sandy and Angel connected through LinkedIn.
[5:25] Sandy and Angel presented a RISKWORLD session on developing the defense for psychological claims. Sandy says we're seeing the change in legislation for allowing mental-mental claims and not just physical-mental claims.
[5:35] Dr. Ron Heredia was also on the panel. He spoke on how to crack defenses and properly investigate. There are red flags and also very truthful claims. As professionals, check your unconscious bias. Think about fact-finding without a specific agenda.
[6:12] Justin points out that May is Mental Health Awareness Month in the U.S. Sandy partners wth Kind Souls Foundation, a non-profit that provides a warm, emotional support line for anybody with a work-displacing event. Sandy notes the struggles of the Sandwich Generation.
[6:56] Angel says we see people are being a lot more open about mental health and self-care, but there's still a stigma to it. It's important to recognize that, not just in May, but throughout the year.
[7:15] Justin mentions a guest from a couple of weeks ago who served in the Canadian military. He was very open about his Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. They had a wonderful conversation about it. Justin doesn't want to bring it up if somebody doesn't want to talk about it.
[7:40] Sandy says, when you have the conversations more often, and they're more open, people feel more comfortable bringing it up.
[7:50] Sandy and Angel's session was "Between Truth and Trauma: Investigating the Invisible." Angel says a lot of people told them they were very happy with the session. They see increases in legislation that allow for more mental-mental claims, and it's a challenge to keep up.
[8:11] Angel says having Dr. Ron Heredia with them gave a view of what it looks like from the employer's side. Are you investigating those claims, recognizing the importance of very clear documentation? If it's not in writing, it didn't happen. Have a doctor help with questions to ask.
[8:43] Riskfetti: Risk Management for the Rest of Us is coming out on May 18th. Sandy says she and Angel both started in claims, and they found that a lot of employers they spoke to didn't know risk management. They didn't understand their coverage or insurance, or how it works.
[9:12] Sandy says a lot of the education in the industry today is very academic and is meant for the risk managers. Employers are not going to go get their CPCU or take webinars on coverage or understanding endorsements. They assign someone else to do it. It's split in the organization.
[9:35] Sandy says nobody is speaking to that audience from a layperson's perspective in a way they'll be receptive to. Sandy said we wanted to make that information accessible, so we created a book that is fun, engaging, and more accessible for business owners.
[9:49] Angel says they used case studies, fun stories of claims they had managed or others had managed. It's very engaging. People say they've read the book and laughed. It's for HR Managers, Safety Managers, and CFOs, who don't understand insurance but have responsibility.
[10:41] Angel's advice for beginning risk professionals: Find a community of individuals who are willing to support you and talk about the hard things and cheer you on when you're not sure if insurance or claims is where you want to be. It's not an easy industry, but a wonderful industry.
[11:00] Sandy's advice for the young generation is to make content about this industry. If you are working in this industry, make your TikToks and post on socials. We need to hear from that generation. It democratizes the flow of information. They already do it for their personal life.
[11:18] Sandy says, talk about your experience. I want to know what it's like for somebody coming into the industry right now. I know what it was like 23 years ago; I want to know what it's like now. That's the best way to get that information out there. We want to know those opinions.
[11:40] Justin says, I love what you're doing. You've got a lot of great energy! Angel, Sandy, thank you so much for joining me on RIMScast. You were wonderful guests! I hope to see you again next year.
[12:04] A Quick Break! There are so many other wonderful RIMS events coming up in 2026. The 2026 Florida RIMS Educational Conference will be held from July 28th through August 1st at the lovely Ritz-Carlton in Naples, Florida. A link to the event is in this episode's show notes.
[12:25] Register now for the Second Annual RIMS Texas Regional Conference, to be held from August 10th through 12th at the Grand Hyatt on the San Antonio River Walk. Advance rates are available through June 5th.
[12:39] The 11th Annual Chicagoland Risk Forum will return to the Old Post Office on Thursday, September 24th, 2026, in Chicago. Visit ChicagolandRiskForum.org for more information.
[12:53] The RIMS Western Regional Conference will be held from October 4th through the 7th in Seattle, Washington. Registration is open, and you can also submit a session. Visit RIMSWesternRegional.com and the link in this episode's show notes for more information.
[13:10] Save the dates October 18th through the 21st. We will be in Quebec City to celebrate the 50th Live RIMS Canada Conference. Booth sales are already open. The call for educational sessions has been extended to May 18th. Early-bird registration will open in June.
[13:29] Visit RIMSCanadaConference.ca for more information. Also, remember to check out RIMS.org/Canada for our spinoff show, RIMScast Canada, hosted by National Conference Committee Chair, Aaron Lukoni.
[13:44] The RIMS ERM Conference 2026 will be held on November 18th and 19th in Columbus, Ohio. Details will follow.
[13:52] Our final guest is Joel Appelbaum, Executive Vice President and Chief Content Officer at IRMI, the International Risk Management Institute! Joel is the host of IRMI's podcast, The Edge of Risk. He was formerly a Chief Risk Officer.
[14:10] We are going to talk all about our shared interests and the importance of risk management education, and some of the trends that are emerging, some that are overhyped, and what he's seeing on the risk landscape. Let's get to it!
[14:23] Interview! Joel Appelbaum, Welcome to RIMScast!
[14:28] Joel Appelbaum is the Executive Vice President and Chief Content Officer for IRMI. Joel says he is used to asking the questions; he says it will be really cool to be asked the questions.
[14:47] Joel is the host of The Edge of Risk. When they launched, six years ago, the idea was to come up with more relevant content, quickly, by talking to leaders. In the last year, it has grown by 60%. There's a need for insurance podcasts. It's still growing.
[15:24] Justin notes that Elise Farnham was a recent guest. Elise teaches for RIMS. Justin says insurance podcasts share the same space, and there's some natural crossover. Justin and Joel sat together the day before at the main stage keynote.
[15:53] Justin asks Joel about his having been an Enterprise Chief Risk Officer, when Enterprise Chief Risk Officers first came into vogue. He felt there were not a lot of resources for being a good ECRM, after coming from an underwriting background with CPCU and IRMI.
[16:22] It was a challenging time. Joel cites Adam Grant's theme of low ego but honestly trying to help. Joel remembers bringing up to his boss that IT could be a risk, and being yelled at by his boss for about an hour for yellow-flagging IT.
[16:53] Joel loves where Enterprise Risk Management has gone. It's necessary to identify risks in a positive way and deal with them proactively.
[17:06] Joel says when it started, it was a rough job. Asking people what keeps them up at night, and sharing that with the board regularly, people weren't ready for it. It's a necessary and important job, but Joel found it to be one of the most challenging, alone on an island.
[17:30] Joel thinks everyone who's been an Enterprise Chief Risk Officer or Risk Officer will tell you they do it with very few resources. Joel is glad to have an organization like RIMS to help.
[17:50] Joel says he was in a lot of positions that IRMI serves. He was a Product Officer, an Enterprise Chief Risk Officer, a Chief Underwriting Officer, and a Chief Actuary. He did a lot of great things with a lot of great people. None of that prepared him to be a Chief Content Officer.
[18:17] Being a Chief Content Officer is about writing and deep research. Joel works with people who research all day.
[18:29] Joel learned that there's a disconnect between deep research and understanding coverage and analysis well, and practical insights and thought leadership for how it works in the real world. Parsing it and putting it together, and communicating it is the challenge.
[18:53] Joel says it was a bit bumpy coming in and changing the way that IRMI approached things. Joel speaks of his joy of working for Jack Gibson at IRMI.
[19:15] Joel says trying to put all the research into writing, keeping it up to date, making it useful, and changing it from just research to practical insights was challenging. It's been a great challenge, and he loves it.
[19:29] Joel says he loves being at IRMI and working with people in the industry every day, trying to understand what they need.
[20:16] Joel says he struggled with translating research into print, CE courses, and conferences. That takes time, and they need to be updated with the times, as well. A podcast can be simple. Yesterday, Justin and Joel came up with six or seven relevant questions and were ready to go.
[20:48] Joel says podcasts fill the gap for the on-demand, necessary knowledge somebody might be seeking on the go. Joel's 30-something children listen to podcasts in the car or while they're exercising. You don't have to sit. Joel likes to do 20- or 30-minute Edge of Risk podcasts.
[21:35] Joel says you can cover a very specific, timely topic. It doesn't take the effort of doing a research project or writing a book. Getting it to print takes time. If something changes in war, terrorism, or cyber, you can have a new podcast out in a day.
[21:54] Justin says he finds it very gratifying when a guest's words on RIMScast are cited in a white paper. Seeing a reference to something he has done is very gratifying. Joel agrees.
[22:10] Joel feels like it's such an honor to meet with thought leaders in the industry, sit down with them, and ask them questions. Joel says he gets great knowledge, meeting them, and learning a little bit about them personally.
[22:43] Joel says it's gratifying when young professionals come up to him saying they know him from the podcast. Justin mentions people hearing him talking in the halls at RISKWORLD or RIMS events and recognizing him as the RIMScast guy or the webinar host guy.
[23:26] Joel says AI has been a little overhyped. We all need to understand how to use it, but it isn't going to provide all the answers. A guest on his podcast told him at RISKWORLD they're going all in on AI for learning.
[23:55] Joel says he gets that AI can be a quick fit for the answer you need. It's the right tool for the right time, but all risk managers know you have to have a lot of tools in your tool kit. AI doesn't replace foundational knowledge.
[24:16] Joel's MBA helped him understand the other disciplines in the organization, to know when he was getting good information or bad information, and how to talk the language.
[24:35] Joel believes that RIMS certifications and IRMI certifications help risk managers and insurance professionals understand the foundational knowledge. Then they know if they're getting a good answer from the AI.
[24:50] Joel says that AI is trained on the internet. The internet has some flaws. Joel predicts AI will hit a learning curve. You're not getting the latest and greatest insights from RIMS or IRMI just writing a white paper on a new topic. Are you getting your AI from a reliable data source?
[25:25] Joel advocates for using AI on IRMI material. They have an AI agent in beta now. IRMI has ReferenceConnect for its customers. AI is a good tool, but it's overhyped as a solution for everything. It's not going to solve all the problems.
[26:00] It's a great tool if you're using it to gather data. Joel went to a great session at RISKWORLD with LineSlip about bringing all your different brokers' information together so you can get real insights. AI is a great tool to be used at the right place, at the right time.
[26:23] You can't have it write all your letters because it doesn't sound like you.
[26:37] Justin says an issue that's top of mind for him is PFAS, forever chemicals, because we need water to live. The second our water supply is bad, we've got much bigger problems.
[26:52] Joel says Marsh did a presentation at an IRMI conference talking about how widespread the PFAS problem is. It should be on everybody's risk radar. Joel has put more filters in all of his houses.
[27:21] Justin says Third-Party Litigation Funding is an emerging risk for RIMS. Joel has also done several podcasts on that. Liberty Mutual likes to call it Legal System Abuse. They had a great podcast on it with The Edge of Risk.
[28:04] Joel says the concerning aspects are inflated awards and nuclear verdicts. ISO has introduced a new endorsement on disclosing third-party litigation funding. We've always needed tort reform. Joel thought that as an Enterprise Risk Manager, 20 years ago.
[28:39] Joel says if you look at how all the other countries do it, the United States has a problem. It's really important to solve it. Insurance is a fundamental backstop and assistance to business. If the problem continues, insurers may start declining. How do you find solutions?
[29:10] Joel thinks one of the solutions is to determine the appropriate amount of an award. Does $200 million make up for something where $2 million would suffice? [29:33] Justin says that he and Joel met up at the keynote with Adam Grant. They both enjoyed the keynote. Adam Grant spoke of unpleasant truths we may not want to hear. There's a difference between being loyal and being honest.
[30:26] Joel doesn't have a problem delivering the unpleasant truths, but it has not always been great for his career. Joel says that in a lot of big corporate organizations, people want their allies with them. A new Chief Officer comes in and brings loyal friends with him.
[30:54] Four or five years of being coddled later, the officer is gone. Joel worked for CNA for four different CEOs. Joel learned that integrity matters. He says if you communicate out of frustration or anger, it comes across wrong.
[31:35] Joel says what he loved about Adam Grant's message is that people need to deliver the truth in a way that is kind and fair, and not fake. The people who tell you what you want to hear and that you're the greatest ever are the people you need to "get rid of."
[32:08] Joel tells people that the knife gets sharper against the steel. Joel wants somebody who's sharpening the skill. He has to work harder for it. That's who he likes to surround himself with. Joel has his "board of governors" he goes to for help as a sounding board.
[32:58] Leaders who surround themselves with yes-people are not going to last long. Justin asks about the compliment sandwich. Joel likes it if it doesn't come off as fake. Ask AI what's a fair way to deliver this, a compassionate way to give feedback. AI can give unbiased feedback.
[33:45] Justin shares an experience where he successfully used AI to shorten and change the tone of an angry email message before he sent it. He was very pleased with the result, and the response was "OK." Joel admits he has delivered a lot of career-shortening emails.
[34:44] AI should be thought of as a sounding board. Justin thinks the students coming into the profession probably already do so. Joel says certain types he has worked with don't handle negative feedback well from their peers. AI might be the best way for them to respond.
[35:25] Joel has been to about 10 RISKWORLDs. He says the vibe this year is awesome. He feels there's a lot more opportunity for small connections. He loves the smaller talks. The conversation pods are great. There's always lots to learn, interesting people, and friends.
[36:07] I love what you do at IRMI. Thank you for joining our show, RIMScast! I think very highly of your show. We've had a lot of the same guests. You're wonderful, and I appreciate all of your support!
[36:35] Thanks again to all of our guests here on this special episode of RIMScast, produced live on-site at RISKWORLD 2026. We look forward to seeing you all in New Orleans next year for RISKWORLD 2027!
[36:47] Be sure to check out last week's episode of RIMScast, featuring Risk Manager of the Year, Jeff Bray of Prologis.
[36:53] Plug Time! You can sponsor a RIMScast episode for this, our weekly show, or a dedicated episode. Links to sponsored episodes are in the show notes.
[37:22] RIMScast has a global audience of risk and insurance professionals, legal professionals, students, business leaders, C-Suite executives, and more. Let's collaborate and help you reach them! Contact pd@rims.org for more information.
[37:40] Become a RIMS member and get access to the tools, thought leadership, and network you need to succeed. Visit RIMS.org/membership or email membershipdept@RIMS.org for more information.
[37:58] Risk Knowledge is the RIMS searchable content library that provides relevant information for today's risk professionals. Materials include RIMS executive reports, survey findings, contributed articles, industry research, benchmarking data, and more.
[38:14] For the best reporting on the profession of risk management, read Risk Management Magazine at RMMagazine.com. It is written and published by the best minds in risk management.
[38:28] Justin Smulison is the Business Content Manager at RIMS. Please remember to subscribe to RIMScast on your favorite podcasting app. You can email us at Content@RIMS.org.
[38:40] Practice good risk management, stay safe, and thank you again for your continued support!
[1:58] Folks, RIMS is back on YouTube. Our handle is @RIMSOfficialChannel. We've got plenty of videos there, including RIMScast, RIMScast Canada video podcasts, and other informative and entertaining content from RIMS. Subscribe to the channel today!
[2:16] RISKWORLD 2026 is underway in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania! If you are here or on your way, be sure to download the RIMS Events App. It is free and publicly available. This will help you set your agenda and provide ample navigation through the Philadelphia Convention Center.
[2:36] RIMS has also released its RISKWORLD Playlist, available through Apple Music and Spotify. Whether you want to get in the zone before RISKWORLD or relive the energy after it, these official RISKWORLD Playlists are available to keep the energy going.
[2:53] Links are in this episode's show notes.
[2:57] On with the Show! This is our special Risk Manager of the Year episode of RIMScast! This year's honoree is Jeff Bray.
[3:08] Jeff is the Senior Vice President and Head of Global Risk Management at Prologis, a global leader in logistics real estate, with 1.3 billion square feet across 20 countries on four continents, and more than 6,500 customers focused on moving goods around the globe.
[3:24] That is a lot of responsibility for one person, but don't worry, he's got a mighty team who shoulder it with him.
[3:31] We're going to learn all about his work, the leaps and bounds he's made over the last 20 years, his involvement with the Spencer Educational Foundation, and what it takes to succeed in an increasingly uncertain world. We're going to have a lot of fun! Let's get to it!
[3:46] Interview! RIMS 2026 Risk Manager of the Year, Jeff Bray, welcome to RIMScast!
[4:07] Justin and Jeff met recently for his profile in RIMS Risk Management Magazine.
[4:14] This episode is released on Day 1 of RISKWORLD. When people are listening to this, they might be seeing Jeff onstage accepting his award. Jeff says, first and foremost, he is looking forward to RISKWORLD; the award is a nice cherry on top.
[4:37] Jeff is 20 years into his career, and he has only missed a few RISKWORLDs.
[4:45] Jeff joined AMB Property Corporation in 2005, not knowing anything about risk management and knowing only environmental insurance, a few weeks before Hurricane Katrina. It was trial by fire. Then, Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Wilma hit. It was a transformational year.
[5:34] There were two years in a row of serious hurricanes affecting the property insurance market. The challenges AMB had experienced transformed the way the insurance and risk management program has been run ever since.
[6:02] AMB merged with Prologis a few years later, following a great financial crisis that occurred in June 2011.
[6:32] Jeff says Prologis is an owner of logistics real estate. They don't operate any of the buildings. Jeff's purview is the 1.3 billion square feet of real estate in 20 countries, with around 60,000 assets.
[6:47] Prologis has a couple of billion dollars a year of development activity. They have a renewable energy business and a digital infrastructure.
[7:32] Jeff says it's critical to see properties first-hand. Warehouses are different in different countries, and seeing them helps solve problems when they arrive. Early on, he attended a captive owners conference in Bermuda, and meeting many peers accelerated his learning.
[9:03] Through serving the business, Jeff built trust with senior leaders and the board. Jeff started by figuring out what people wanted or needed and helped them achieve it. He built strong relationships with every group; he's in lockstep with legal, finance, and business teams.
[10:33] Jeff's risk team has seven members. He also has two members of the corporate security team. He has worked hard to grow the team as needed. He sees an opportunity with technology to scale the team's capabilities to focus on critical tasks. He's grateful for the team's efforts.
[11:49] Risk management is centralized at Prologis. They operate as a consistent global program. Jeff is in San Francisco, with team members in the Bay Area, Denver, and one in Dallas.
[12:45] Jeff says he takes advantage of every crisis and pays close attention to every near-miss. It's a reminder that this is why what we do is important. Sometimes it's all hands on deck. What can we do differently next time?
[13:35] One big near-miss was a fire that arose from customer operations in a building, which didn't amount to much because the sprinklers operated properly. Jeff participates in Prologis's global safety board. They pay close attention to anything like a contractor injury.
[14:06] June is National Safety Month. The Head of Safety of Prologis's Development Team plans Safety Month activities. Every project and team member will be involved. It sends a good message. They make it very clear to every contractor they hire that safety is paramount.
[14:49] Justin says the leader of the ASSP will soon be a guest on RIMScast. Safety should be observed every month. Jeff says in the past, safety was something they focused more on when something happened, but now it's ingrained in the way they operate. It's not treated separately.
[15:44] Jeff reestablished Prologis's ERM program. His ERM Committee is a sounding board with seven or eight global leads. The members are the Head of Internal Audit, the Head of Info Security, and others, who work closely across the risk register to ask, "What are we missing?"
[17:14] The challenge in reactivating the ERM committee was getting the relevance right. For the first meeting or so, they brainstormed. Now it's operating at the right frequency with the right dynamic input. It will continue to evolve in every meeting.
[17:55] They meet annually with the Audit Committee, and some years they meet with the Board of Directors. It evolves from the day-to-day Risk Register, working with the business teams. The Audit Committee and the Board are very invested in what the ERM Committee does.
[18:34] ERM at Prologis is tied to what's relevant to the CFO, the Chief Legal Officer, and other stakeholders. With the CFO, it's tied to earnings per share and net operating income impact. Jeff is always looking at what the business is looking to accomplish and how ERM can support it.
[19:17] A Quick Break! The 2026 Florida RIMS Educational Conference will be held from July 28th through August 1st at the lovely Ritz-Carlton in Naples, Florida. A link to the event is in this episode's show notes.
[19:40] Register now for the Second Annual RIMS Texas Regional Conference, to be held from August 10th through 12th at the Grand Hyatt on the San Antonio River Walk. Advance rates are available through June 5th.
[19:55] The 11th Annual Chicagoland Risk Forum will return to the Old Post Office on Thursday, September 24th, 2026, in Chicago. Visit ChicagolandRiskForum.org for more information.
[20:08] The RIMS Western Regional Conference will be held from October 4th through the 7th in Seattle, Washington. Registration is open, and you can also submit a session. Visit RIMSWesternRegional.com and the link in this episode's show notes for more information.
[20:26] Save the dates October 18th through the 21st. That is when the 50th Annual RIMS Canada Conference will be held in Quebec City. Booth sales are already open. The call for educational sessions is open through May 8th. Early-bird registration will open in June.
[20:44] Visit RIMSCanadaConference.ca for more information. Also, remember to check out RIMS.org/Canada for our spinoff show, RIMScast Canada, hosted by National Conference Committee Chair, Aaron Lukoni.
[20:59] Check RIMS.org for an announcement about the RIMS ERM Conference 2026. It will be up soon!
[21:07] Let's Return to Our Interview with RIMS 2026 Risk Manager of the Year, Jeff Bray!
[21:24] Justin asks what Jeff loves about RISKWORLD. Jeff loves the people, the interactions in the hallways, even when racing from session to session, and meeting to meeting. There's no better place to meet people and build meaningful relationships over the years.
[21:45] Jeff says there's no better place to get apprised of what's coming up in the risk industry and reconnect with our most important relationships.
[22:17] Jeff says RISKWORLD is a connection point where a group of risk professionals from around the country can get together.
[22:31] Jeff's team members, the Head of Risk and the Head of Claims, have attended RISKWORLD for the last few years.
[23:07] Justin asks about cross-functional risk management. Jeff says that he can't imagine a problem crossing their desk that Risk Management can solve solely by themselves, figure out, and move on. Generally, they will engage Legal, HR, and the Business Teams.
[23:28] Jeff says that's hugely important to be able to solve problems effectively, and in a way that enables the business.
[23:55] Jeff thinks the perspective on risk has changed over time. The needs have changed over time. At the beginning of his time at AMB and Prologis, there was a focus on insurance because they were expanding to new countries and standing up a global program.
[24:17] Within 90 days, Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma hit, and Jeff was learning about disaster recovery and response. He saw the teams in action and how it can be a competitive advantage if they can get their properties up and running quicker than someone else.
[24:37] That's absolutely a competitive advantage to Prologis, and that's been in their DNA ever since.
[24:53] Justin asks about Jeff's dashboard. It's a Claims dashboard, created by the Claims team, so Jeff can look at the Claims activity every day.
[25:16] Jeff says Prologis retains a bunch of risk itself. It's Prologis's money. It concerns not only Jeff, but also the Finance Team and others. None of them likes surprises. Jeff manages it like a business, managing actual claims against the forecast.
[25:53] Jeff says it's been phenomenal. He's asking for more dashboards!
[26:08] Jeff discusses the impacts of technological innovation on his role. One of the biggest pieces was onboarding Archipelago, a tool to intake Statement of Value information and other property characteristics and deliver it to an insurance company in a reliable and verifiable way.
[26:33] Jeff says during that period, they went through $40 to $50 billion of acquisitions, so Archipelago was a game-changer in a way that insurance companies couldn't believe.
[26:48] Prologis would bring on a portfolio in September and was ready for its December renewals with the full Schedule of Values. Jeff says it was about, "What questions am I asking myself, and how do we solve for that?"
[27:03] Jeff was looking beyond the Cap Modeling results to what other information he could get out of the data, from the newness of the assets, different specifications, and different protections in place, and quantifying that in a way that was meaningful for the insurers.
[27:25] When Prologis onboarded Archipelago, there weren't any other systems available to do what was needed. They were developing something that hadn't been in place yet. Prologis was part of the development team.
[27:43] Jeff says the Claims dashboard is driven by Origami, which has been an important partner of Prologis.
[27:55] Prologis has always been focused on the combination of good data and leveraging technologies to interpret that data. That's been very important to Prologis.
[28:15] Another Quick Break! The Spencer Educational Foundation's Risk Manager on Campus application period is now open, and it will close on June 30th. Grant awardees, colleges, and universities are typically notified in September.
[28:42] The Course Development Grant application deadline for Interval Number 2 will be on June 15th, 2026. Award notifications will be sent out in late July.
[28:57] General Grant applications will open on May 1st, 2026, and the application deadline is July 30th. Internship Grant applications open on August 15th and close on October 15th.
[20:08] Links to each of these grants are in this episode's show notes. Visit SpencerEd.org for more information.
[29:17] Let's Conclude Our Interview with RIMS 2026 Risk Manager of the Year, Jeff Bray!
[29:43] Jeff says the younger risk professionals are absolutely more well-versed in technology. The challenge is not to let technology become more important than understanding the basics of the business.
[30:00] Jeff says you still need to understand what that policy says and what the submission process looks like, so you can get the right outcomes out of the technology. Most of the folks Jeff works with are younger than he is.
[30:21] Jeff says what they're doing with AI, dashboards, and other insights is super impressive. They balance that with learning the fundamentals.
[30:47] In a new risk professional, Jeff looks first for curiosity and questions. When Jeff hit stagnant parts of his career, he had stopped asking questions, so today, he asks a lot of questions. Curiosity is key to investigating what's happening in the company to solve problems.
[31:18] Jeff says connecting the dots is something he still works on today. We live in a complex world. There's generally not one threat or risk that operates in a silo. Risks are connected. Someone who can understand how different risks might be interconnected will be critical.
[31:43] Jeff says that being hungry, learning, and striving to do more than the person who started next to you is more important than ever.
[32:06] Jeff says polycrisis is an interesting term, and he fully believes in it. He spends a fair amount of time thinking about what he has control over and what he doesn't have control over. Jeff says Prologis doesn't let the polycrisis drive its strategy on a day-to-day basis.
[32:45] Jeff says awareness is key, and knowing how you can respond as an organization.
[33:02] On mitigation and navigation, Jeff says, it's like being on defense versus offense. Risk mitigation works if it's a very simple solution. Putting a floodwall in a building to prevent flooding is a great mitigation.
[33:15] Most risks are not that simple, and they require navigation. They require keeping options open and multiple solutions. Navigation lends itself to how risks evolve and how we respond to those risks.
[33:40] Jeff says Prologis is an owner of 1.3 billion square feet of real estate, with two to three percent of the world's GDP flowing through its buildings. Supply chain resilience is key. Prologis focuses on climate risk, but Jeff wants to look at it from more of a resilience perspective.
[34:04] Jeff's perspective is about what Prologis should be worrying about, and how that affects how they build a building and how they operate an asset. Climate risk is front-of-mind to this day for many of Prologis's investors.
[34:17] Investors want to know what Porlogis is doing about things and how they are looking at exposures. So Prologis has always tried to be on the front end of that discussion with investors. The decisions Prologis makes just need to make good business sense.
[34:41] As long as Prologis can communicate, this is a concern, and this is how it translates into a business impact or impacts performance. That remains key, and we are in an environment that is evolving in frequency and severity. It's something Prologis pays close attention to.
[35:16] Solar panels are part of Prologis's sustainability goals. Thicker rooftops are needed. Solar panels affect how air conditioning is used and the temperature levels within a building. It affects how Prologis might construct the building to have a better working environment.
[35:51] Jeff says it all ties together, which comes back to a more resilient and better-performing portfolio.
[36:00] Justin asks about earthquake resilience for new construction. Prologis has a lot of property on the California coast and has been focused on earthquake risk for the life of the company, doing voluntary retro-fittings and seismic upgrades.
[36:33] That's not to get reduced insurance premiums but to take steps to reduce interruptions that may occur for Prologis's customers' activities when an earthquake does arise. It's about taking Prologis's objectives and aligning them with the business, not to save premiums.
[37:16] Jeff is very excited by the level of abilities he sees in college students. He was recently at Old Dominion for Risk Manager on Campus. This industry has an amazing amount of opportunity. Risk is at the crossroads of finance, operations, legal issues, and HR.
[38:27] Jeff's words to students and aspiring risk professionals: "There's an incredible amount of opportunity. What risk strategy means today is very different than what it meant 15 years ago. It's a hidden gem of an industry, still today."
[38:44] Justin congratulates Jeff on being named RIMS Risk Manager of the Year 2026. Nobody accomplishes anything by themselves. Is there anyone you want to thank? Jeff says thanking a whole host of folks might take its own podcast.
[38:59] Jeff thanks his team across Risk, Resilience, and Claims, and the deep bench of external risk advisors, from broker placement to consulting, technology partnerships, and the insurers. He couldn't do this without all of those team members. He's very grateful for it all.
[39:49] Justin says, I look forward to meeting you and seeing you up onstage and cheering you on. I hope we can continue to stay in touch because you've got so much knowledge to share with the global risk community, here through RIMScast. Thank you so much for your time!
[40:16] Special thanks again to Jeff Bray, the 2026 RIMS Risk Leader of the Year. We are delighted for him and congratulate him once again. Be sure to check out last week's episode, featuring RIMS Rising Risk Professional, Tyler Vaughan.
[40:32] In May, we intend to have Honor Roll Awardee, Emily Buckley, back on RIMScast. Check RIMS Risk Management Magazine for the Awards Digital Edition, which also features profiles on the Chapters of the Year and other special awards. More winners will be on RIMScast in 2026.
[40:55] I hope everyone who's listening in Philadelphia at RISKWORLD is having a blast! Next week's episode will feature interviews recorded live while in Philadelphia. Let's relive the magic!
[41:08] Plug Time! You can sponsor a RIMScast episode for this, our weekly show, or a dedicated episode. Links to sponsored episodes are in the show notes.
[41:37] RIMScast has a global audience of risk and insurance professionals, legal professionals, students, business leaders, C-Suite executives, and more. Let's collaborate and help you reach them! Contact pd@rims.org for more information.
[41:55] Become a RIMS member and get access to the tools, thought leadership, and network you need to succeed. Visit RIMS.org/membership or email membershipdept@RIMS.org for more information.
[42:13] Risk Knowledge is the RIMS searchable content library that provides relevant information for today's risk professionals. Materials include RIMS executive reports, survey findings, contributed articles, industry research, benchmarking data, and more.
[42:29] For the best reporting on the profession of risk management, read Risk Management Magazine at RMMagazine.com. It is written and published by the best minds in risk management.
[42:43] Justin Smulison is the Business Content Manager at RIMS. Please remember to subscribe to RIMScast on your favorite podcasting app. You can email us at Content@RIMS.org.
[42:55] Practice good risk management, stay safe, and thank you again for your continued support!
[1:47] Folks, RIMS is back on YouTube. Our handle is @RIMSOfficialChannel. We've got plenty of videos there, including RIMScast, RIMScast Canada video podcasts, and other informative and entertaining content from RIMS. Subscribe to the channel today!
[2:05] This is a last call for registration for RISKWORLD 2026, from May 3rd through the 6th in Philadelphia! Our opening keynote is thought leader Adam Grant. Our closing keynote is NFL Hall-of-Famer and Emmy-award-winning broadcaster, Michael Strahan.
[2:22] Visit RIMS.org/RISKWORLD to register. Connect, Cultivate, and Collaborate with 10,000 of your risk management peers.
[2:32] RIMS has also released its RISKWORLD Playlist, available through Apple Music and Spotify. Whether you want to get in the zone before RISKWORLD or relive the energy after it, these official RISKWORLD Playlists are available to keep the energy going.
[2:48] Links are in this episode's show notes.
[2:52] On with the Show! Our guest today is the Global Risk Manager for Cook Group in Indiana. He is the RIMS Rising Risk Professional for 2026. We will be seeing him onstage receiving his award at RISKWORLD. It's Tyler Vaughan.
[3:11] Tyler has already made an impact on the risk profession and RIMS. We're going to learn about what it took to lead the Northeast Ohio Chapter to greatness, mentors who have lifted him, and how his RIMS participation has made him a more confident risk leader. Let's get to it!
[3:31] Interview! 2026 RIMS Rising Risk Professional Tyler Vaughan, welcome to RIMScast!
[3:48] Tyler says he appreciates being named the RIMS 2026 Rising Risk Professional. It's humbling and a bit surreal.
[3:64] Tyer looks back to when he joined the industry in 2018 as an intern. He joined the Northeast Ohio RIMS Chapter. He didn't think risk management was a profession where you expect public recognition; most of it happens behind the scenes.
[4:12] Tyler says in risk management, success often looks like nothing bad happened. Within different corporations, you're protecting against bad things happening. To have RIMS recognize Tyler as the RIMS 2026 Rising Risk Professional means a lot to him. He's very thankful for it.
[4:37] Justin says there are several professions where the idea is that no news is good news. If you don't get any feedback, that means you're doing everything fine. Justin says an award like this, and all the RIMS awards, are nice and well-deserved.
[5:19] Tyler tells how he became involved in risk management. He was studying corporate financial management at the University of Akron College of Business. The professor of a challenging course held an informational session on risk management and insurance.
[5:58] Tyler wasn't interested until the professor announced pizza and bonus points. Tyler couldn't turn that down. The professor, Dr. Jill Bisco, comes from the industry. She had been on the carrier side for many years. She was one of Tyler's first mentors. He still talks to her.
[6:17] At that informational session, Tyler learned of how much opportunity the risk management and insurance industry has. He signed up for more information that day.
[6:26] Dr. Bisco talked about Gamma Iota Sigma, the collegiate actuarial science risk management business fraternity. Tyler signed up to be an officer.
[6:39] Tyler went through the chartering ceremony the next semester, and then the University of Akron officially adopted a risk management insurance program, and Tyler was one of the first students to sign up for that path.
[6:50] Pizza and bonus points are still relevant to college students. Tyler says, take advantage of those opportunities. You never know what might come from it. Tyler later organized sessions with food. He used Chick-fil-A when pizza didn't bring a good crowd.
[7:24] The Risk Management and Insurance Program at the University of Akron had an event called Risky Business, where they brought in different industry professionals.
[7:33] One of those industry professionals was Kristen Peed. Tyler was looking for an internship. Kristen was looking for her umbrella after the event, and Tyler took it to her and asked her name. Tyler says pizza, bonus points, and an umbrella got him where he is today.
[8:08] Kristen had just come off the board of the Northeast Ohio Chapter. Justin says Kristen was on the RIMS board for years and is the RIMS Immediate Past President.
[8:36] Kristen taught Tyler that risk management is about people. She balances technical expertise with emotional intelligence. Tyler learned from her that the best professionals are the ones who can translate complexity into clarity and build trust across the organization.
[8:56] Tyler says, across the industry, it's all about relationships. Kristen taught him that early on. Kristen has had many interns, and they share a community, and she connects with each of them, so they have a network within a network.
[9:13] Kristen taught Tyler that we're only as successful as those that we bring up in the industry as well. It's full-circle for Tyler, now being seven years out of college, and giving back to whom he gives now. Any time someone reaches out to Kristen, Kristen loops Tyler in. They talk weekly.
[9:44] Throughout the steps Tyler has taken in his career, Kristen has been there. It means something to find that mentor with whom you really connect, whether it be through RIMS Mentor Match or local university mentors.
[9:59] You may go through some that aren't an exact fit, and that's OK. Mentorship can't be forced. Look for that person that you want to learn from, build from, and find success from.
[10:25] Tyler says he is far more comfortable in public speaking now because of his experiences with Kristen and his experiences in risk management than when he joined the profession. Tyler avoided taking a public speaking class that was offered in high school. He was not extroverted.
[10:56] Tyler was somewhat shy going into college. In going to the risk management and insurance pizza and bonus points session, he was nervous to meet people. But it was the push to get out of his comfort zone.
[11:14] Dr. Jill Bisco, Kristen Peed, and other mentors taught Tyler that pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone is where you grow as a professional and personally. Tyler has made not only industry connections but also some of his best friends by putting himself out there.
[11:38] Public speaking still makes Tyler a little nervous. He says it's cool to look back and see how much he has grown as a professional by putting himself out there.
[12:24] Tyler went to the University of Akron and then started on the carrier/underwriting side as an underwriter. He went through a graduate development program at Westfield Insurance, close to home.
[12:43] Tyler learned small business underwriting at Westfield and moved to Zurich for middle market underwriting. From there, a mentor of his from Akron University, Kirk Gross of Safelite, came to Tyler with an entry-level opportunity as a Business Continuity Analyst.
[13:14] From there, Tyler has grown to where he is today. After Safelite, Tyler was with Avery Dennison as an Insurance Risk Analyst. Now he is with Cook Group, which owns Cook Medical, in Indianapolis.
[13:31] Tyler's focus has been depth and versatility. He wants to continue to strengthen his technical foundation. He's gaining exposure across many areas, being a risk manager at a large company in the medical space.
[13:47] This exposure includes operational risk, governance, and resilience. It's about emerging risks and how much they've changed recently. In the long term, Tyler hopes to play a role in shaping how organizations integrate risk into strategic-level decision-making.
[14:02] Tyler would love to lead a team, continue to mentor the younger professionals, and continue doing what he can for the profession, whether it's leadership or workforce development, and change what the future of this industry looks like.
[14:23] Tyler has been sitting on the RIMS Rising Risk Professional Advisory Group for five years. He notes that it has changed a lot. It's an ever-evolving landscape that Tyler wants to contribute to, long-term.
[14:43] Tyler says risk management and insurance has been a conservative-minded industry. He would like to see it having an inclusive mindset, moving forward, working in different types of teams, and taking on different types of risks.
[14:55] Tyler says risk management is not just buying insurance, it's protecting against the unknown geopolitical environment, the macroeconomic environment, and cyber. When Tyler joined this industry seven years ago, it was totally different. It takes a proactive mindset.
[16:22] A Quick Break! The 2026 Florida RIMS Educational Conference will be held from July 28th through August 1st at the lovely Ritz-Carlton in Naples, Florida. A link to the event is in this episode's show notes.
[15:45] The 11th Annual Chicagoland Risk Forum will return to the Old Post Office on Thursday, September 24th, 2026, in Chicago. Visit ChicagolandRiskForum.org for more information.
[15:59] The RIMS Western Regional Conference will be held from October 4th through the 7th in Seattle, Washington. Registration is open, and you can also submit a session. Visit RIMSWesternRegional.com and the link in this episode's show notes for more information.
[16:16] Save the dates October 18th through the 21st. That is when the 50th Annual RIMS Canada Conference will be held in Quebec City. Booth sales are already open. The call for educational session proposals is open through May 8th. Early-bird registration will open in June.
[16:35] Visit RIMSCanadaConference.ca for more information. Also, remember to check out RIMS.org/Canada for our spinoff show, RIMScast Canada, hosted by National Conference Committee Chair, Aaron Lukoni.
[16:51] Let's Return to Our Interview with RIMS 2026 Rising Risk Professional Tyler Vaughan!
[17:21] Tyler mentions some unknowns regarding the Middle East: supply chain risk, physical personnel risk, and cyber. Cyber was a new risk when Tyler joined the industry.
[17:41] Tyler did a course in college on the TJ Maxx data breach of the late 2000s. He thought that every company is protected against this now; we aren't going to see a data breach again. Everyone can see that's not the case. The unknowns of cyber keep Tyler interested.
[18:40] Unknowns can slow things down. Geopolitical conflict potentially affects every business unit within the corporation: HR, Marketing, the supply chain, and procurement. For your company's success, you protect against disruption with insurance and strategic conversations.
[19:24] Tyler entered the risk profession just as COVID was hitting. He says he joined Westfield and had training in a classroom before getting a desk. Then they were told that they were going to work from home for a couple of weeks. He never went back to the office at Westfield.
[20:43] Tyler says working from home took self-motivation. In the first couple of months. Tyler didn't have the collaboration of meeting with underwriters, management, and leadership at the company that he needed to learn the profession.
[21:16] Thinking back to his college time, Tyler says that for students, it must have been very different to excel in a remote environment.
[21:56] Students often ask Tyler if he knows of any fully remote opportunities. Tyler was fully remote at Safelite. He needed personal interactions. He suggests a hybrid approach. In the early stages of a career, for learning, be in the office for a couple of years before going fully remote.
[23:27] A hybrid approach is Tyler's favorite. Be strategic about the times when everyone is in the office versus remote. That's how Tyler looks at the future environment.
[23:57] Another Quick Break! The Spencer Educational Foundation's Risk Manager on Campus application period is now open, and it will close on June 30th. Grant awardees, colleges, and universities are typically notified in September.
[24:23] The Course Development Grant application deadline for Interval Number 2 will be on June 15th, 2026. Award notifications will be sent out in late July.
[24:38] General Grant applications will open on May 1st, 2026, and the application deadline is July 30th. Internship Grant applications open on August 15th and close on October 15th.
[24:50] Links to each of these grants are in this episode's show notes. Visit SpencerEd.org for more information.
[24:58] Let's Conclude Our Interview with RIMS 2026 Rising Risk Professional Tyler Vaughan!
[25:15] Tyler says he's excited to receive his award, but there's a lot of pressure to be on stage in front of the global risk community at RISKWORLD. What if he tripped? He was emailing Joshua Salter of RIMS. Joshua assured him they would walk him through it, don't even think about it.
[25:35] Tyler says it's so cool to have that network behind him and the support he has had through his career thus far. He thinks receiving that award will be very full-circle. He can't wait to see future professionals win the award. He recalls his friend Megan Smalter winning it last year.
[26:08] Tyler says it's different seeing your friends succeed. You find real value in that. He hopes his friends who attend RISKWORLD will apply next year.
[27:26] Tyler says in-office exposure is important for preserving the risk knowledge from some of the seasoned professionals, so their techniques and wisdom are not lost when they retire. Take advantage of one-on-ones with other experienced professionals besides your direct leader.
[27:46] Learn through documentation, informal mentoring, and collaborative problem-solving. Individuals who have been there longer than you are there to help you learn. They want to see you succeed.
[27:58] Tyler suggests being proactive about how you reach out to individuals and to keep this knowledge in notes. Tyler started writing on a notepad. Now he uses a shared drive. If you move to a new opportunity, transfer your notes from your work computer to the people you leave.
[28:37] Be strategic and meet as many professionals as you can. Introduce yourself. Tyler recently told students at a Spencer event to have their elevator speech ready. Know whom you want to talk to and take advantage of that.
[29:08] Tyler is a judge on the Spencer Risk Challenge. There are very talented students coming from around the world to present. It's very interesting to hear the different ways they think about the case study. Tyler loves engaging with the students.
[29:39] Tyler says that last year's team from South Africa came to support the South African team in the Top Eight this year. It's awesome that RIMS partners with Spencer on the Challenge.
[30:07] Justin notes that Megan Miller of Spencer Educational Foundation has been on RIMScast speaking of the Spencer events lined up for RISKWORLD.
[30:43] Tyler says to young risk professionals, don't be discouraged if you don't have it all figured out at first, whether it's the job or your path in the industry. There's no one correct way to go about this industry on the carrier side, risk management, or broker side.
[31:08] It's what you make it. The opportunities are here, so you do not have to settle. If you're not in the right fit, you can explore your opportunities. If you need more knowledge, don't be afraid to ask questions. It means something to know that you're utilizing your resources to learn.
[31:45] Invest in relationships. Your network is your net worth. It takes time and effort to build your brand and who knows you. Tyler says it's worth it in the long run, and you make some of your best friends.
[32:19] Justin reminds us that Michael Strahan is the closing keynote at RISKWORLD. Tyler hopes to meet him backstage. Adam Grant is the opening keynote. Lots of other highly-regarded people will also present at RISKWORLD.
[33:08] Tyler says the opening session is always a grand time where you will see everyone who will be attending.
[33:15] Recently, Tyler worked with the Rising Risk Professional Advisory Group to create the Rising Risk Professional/Student Track. That will be uploaded to the RISKWORLD site and app. The group was strategic about the best sessions to suggest to students. Tyler will attend.
[33:59] Tyler says the Student Networking Luncheon has grown since he attended as a student. That is an event for all the students to attend. Probably upwards of 120 people will attend.
[34:22] It's a roundtable session where industry professionals will move from table to table to tell you their story in this industry and answer questions. If you're not able to attend some of the other sessions on the student track, attend this luncheon.
[34:42] Justin says we've got links to that with the information in this episode's show notes.
[34:55] Tyler, thank you so much for joining us! It's obviously a well-deserved award for you this year. I look forward to meeting you in person, in Philadelphia, and seeing you continue to do great things for the risk community!
[35:14] Special thanks again to RIMS 2026 Rising Risk Professional Award Winner Tyler Vaughan for joining us here on RIMScast. We will eventually update this episode's show notes with a link to the Awards Edition of RIMS Risk Management Magazine.
[35:31] Be sure to tune in next week, when we are joined by the RIMS 2026 Risk Manager of the Year. I don't know if I'm allowed to say who it is yet, but if you know, then you know. Subscribe to RIMScast through your favorite podcasting app so you don't miss one single episode!
[35:52] Plug Time! You can sponsor a RIMScast episode for this, our weekly show, or a dedicated episode. Links to sponsored episodes are in the show notes.
[36:21] RIMScast has a global audience of risk and insurance professionals, legal professionals, students, business leaders, C-Suite executives, and more. Let's collaborate and help you reach them! Contact pd@rims.org for more information.
[36:38] Become a RIMS member and get access to the tools, thought leadership, and network you need to succeed. Visit RIMS.org/membership or email membershipdept@RIMS.org for more information.
[36:56] Risk Knowledge is the RIMS searchable content library that provides relevant information for today's risk professionals. Materials include RIMS executive reports, survey findings, contributed articles, industry research, benchmarking data, and more.
[37:13] For the best reporting on the profession of risk management, read Risk Management Magazine at RMMagazine.com. It is written and published by the best minds in risk management.
[37:26] Justin Smulison is the Business Content Manager at RIMS. Please remember to subscribe to RIMScast on your favorite podcasting app. You can email us at Content@RIMS.org.
[37:39] Practice good risk management, stay safe, and thank you again for your continued support!
