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Four Industry Luminaries Inducted into Risk Management Hall of Fame at RIMS 2012

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Last year at the RIMS 2011 Annual Conference & Exhibition in Vancouver, RIMS and Chartis launched the Risk Management Hall of Fame. John Pinner, Eldrich Carr, Douglas Barlow, Donald Barrett  and Cheri Hawkins were the first five inductees. Today, they were joined by four others who have spent their lives and careers advancing the discipline: Marc Darby, David Haight, Edith Lichota and Ronald Strine.

“With nearly 150 combined years in the risk management profession, this year’s group of inductees have achieved professional excellence while demonstrating a genuine commitment to advancing the discipline,” said RIMS Executive Director Mary Roth. “It is with great honor that we recognize the careers of these four individuals and welcome them into this elite group.”

Peter Eastwood, president and CEO of Chartis for the Americas, agreed. “This year’s inductees have not only served their companies, but have helped shape the risk management discipline,” he said, “and we are proud to congratulate them on this achievement.”

Below are some highlights from each of their careers.

Marc Darby

Marc Darby’s career at Bombardier spanned almost 30 years before he retired in 1998 as director of risk management and insurance. He increased the profile of the risk manager at the company and helped form a multi-discipline risk management team as Bombardier evolved from a manufacturer of recreational vehicles to a world-leader in the aerospace and rail transit industry. Marc was the president of RIMS from 1983-84, president of Quebec Risk and Insurance Management Association (QRIMA) from 1975-76, winner of the RIMS Harry and Dorothy Goodell Award in 1997 and named to the Business Insurance Risk Management Honor Roll in 1992. He remains an active member of RIMS and QRIMA.

David R. Haight

Before retiring in 1998, David R. Haight has spent more than 35 years as a risk professional at companies including Gould Inc., Ceco Corporation and CF Industries, Inc. He helped form the Northeastern Illinois Chapter of RIMS in 1978 and later served as president. He also served a term as president of the Minnesota Chapter. He was an active RIMS member from 1964-98 and now holds an honorary membership with the organization.

Edith F. Lichota (1929 – 1994)

Edith Lichota began her risk management career in the mid-1960s with a small company in western Ohio, Work Wear, tackling product liability litigation issues. In the 1970s, as assistant treasurer of Carborundum Corp. she fought against the New York State Insurance Department Regulations that would have limited corporations’ risk financing options. In the early 1980s, Ms. Lichota became vice president of government affairs with INA, during which time she supported development of the then-new captive law in Vermont. In 1987, she became the first woman ever named “Risk Manager of the Year” by Business Insurance, one year after having been named “Woman of the Year” by the Association of Professional Insurance Women. Before she passed away in 1994, she also won the highest awards handed out by RIMS, the RIMS Richard W. Bland Memorial Award, and the RIMS Harry and Dorothy Goodell Award.

Ronald E. Strine

Ronald Strine retired from Aetna Life & Casualty in 1992 after 26 years of service, 14 as senior casualty underwriter for Fortune 500 companies and 12 as the director of corporate risk management. In 1979, afte promoted to the position of manager of insurance, safety and security, Ron immediately changed the department’s name to “Corporate Risk Management” and was subsequently promoted to the position of director, a responsibility that included overseeing insurance, safety and security for over 45,000 employees and 100 affiliated companies around the world.

In 1988, Ron was appointed by then Secretary of State George Shultz to the newly created Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) where he was the only risk manager among the council of senior security directors. After earning his CPCU designation in 1970, Ron began a 25-year relationship with The Insurance Institute of America (now The Institutes) as a grader for CPCU and IIA examinations. He also taught RM 54 for many years at the University of Connecticut and later developed the University of Hartford Graduate School curriculum for their course in risk management. He retired in 2005, having served 44 years in the industry.

The Most Influential People in Corporate Governance

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Each year, the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) publishes the Directorship 100 — a “combination of leading corporate directors, corporate governance practitioners and public policy leaders who are recognized as the most influential people in the boardroom and the corporate governance arena.”

The NACD Directorship surveyed 15,000 public company directors and executives to form the final 100 honorees.

“The esteemed boardroom leaders on the Directorship 100 share a common characteristic as proactive agents of change in the boardroom community, shaping the future of corporate governance at a time when American business looks to restore investor confidence and restore economic growth,” said NACD CEO and President Ken Daly.

Among the top 100 honored are a select group of D&O insurers and governance advisors, including:

  • Robert C. Cox, Chubb Group
  • Mark Lamendola, Travelers
  • Timothy J. O’Donnell, ACE USA
  • Daniel W. Riordan, Zurich Financial Services
  • Michael W. Smith, Chartis
  • Richard A. Bennett, The Corporate Library
  • Gavin Anderson, GovernanceMetrics International
  • Steve Harvey, Martha Carter, Carol Bowie, Patrick S. McGurn, ISS Governance Services
  • Robert McCormick, Glass Lewis & Co.

The association noted that it has seen a shift in the type of leader exerting the most influence on corporate governance. For the first time, professionals in the “regulators and rule makers” category received the most nominations.

Risk Management Links of the Day: 01.05.10

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geoengineering

  • Geoengineering in regards to the environment and climate change has increasingly been gaining mainstream interest over the past year after spending most of its days mired in obscurity or outright condemnation. I’ve personally written about it twice in the past few months both in regards to Bill Gates’ discussion on thwarting hurricanes and SuperFreakonomics‘ assertion that widespread geoengineering to slow climate change is a good solution. Still, the concept remains widely misunderstood and obviously has both positive and worrisome components. To help everyone become better informed about the concept, the MIT Technology Review has taken an exhaustive look at the possibilities of society geoengineering our way out of climate change.
  • Rick Nason teaches an ERM class and while skeptical of the practicality of teaching this within an MBA curriculum, he has a question for you: “ERM has created a lot of excitement, but very few successful examples. Explain why you believe ERM has so few successful implementations.” Head over there to answer. And show your work. (via RiskCzar)
  • Les Krantz breaks down the 200 best and worst jobs in the U.S. in his “Jobs Rated Almanac.” And you know what’s number one? Actuary. “Actuaries, who evaluate the financial impact of risk on an organization, fared best because they work during standard business hours and in favorable conditions — indoors and in places free of toxic fumes or loud noise — as opposed to those jobs toward the bottom of the list such as iron worker, dairy farmer and the biggest loser from last year’s study, lumberjack.” Google “Norm MacDonald,” “Weekend Update” and “worst job” to find out what ranked dead last this year — again.

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Risk Management Links of the Day: 12.17.09

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credit suisse sanctions 536 million

  • Forbes published a good piece on how Credit Suisse has aided clients from rogue nations like Iran, Cuba, Burma and Libya sidestep U.S. sanctions for nearly a quarter century, an infraction that will cost the Zurich bank $536 million for violating the the International Emergency Economic Powers Act as well as New York State law. “Credit Suisse first started dealing with rogue regimes that were sanctioned by the U.S. government in 1986, when the Zurich-based bank began to assist Libyan customers in evading sanctions by executing payment orders without stating their names, according to U.S. authorities. Later Credit Suisse started to refine its methods, processing payments for clients in sanctioned countries with payment messages that concealed the identity of customers by using false codes. Credit Suisse did this kind of business for other clients in countries that faced U.S. sanctions, including Sudan, Libya, Burma, Cuba, and Charles Taylor’s Liberia, the Treasury Department says.”
  • The SEC approves enhanced disclosure about risk, compensation and corporate governance. “The Securities and Exchange Commission today approved rules to enhance the information provided to shareholders so they are better able to evaluate the leadership of public companies. Beginning in the upcoming annual reporting and proxy season, the new rules will improve corporate disclosure regarding risk, compensation and corporate governance matters when voting decisions are made.”
  • RSA Insurance Group and the WWF (the environmental group, not the wrestling association that was renamed the WWE) began a three-year partnership that will center on conducting joint research efforts into all things Mother Nature and risky.
  • The percentage of commercial insurance buyers who have an exposure insured with Chartis has dropped from 90% in July to 80% now. Still a high number, but a significant drop. Although Barclays is saying that most of those who are still on board with the AIG insurance arm now plan to stay. “Of commercial buyers that insure with Chartis, Barclays said roughly 75% of those customers plan to stay with the unit despite AIG’s troubles, up sharply from 40% of customers who said they would stay with Chartis in July.”
  • A guy named TJ Sullivan who is CEO of CampusSpeak, Inc. has dubbed the crackdown on Greek life shenanigans on campus as “the risk management era.” He explains in more detail: “The emphasis was on rules and policy adherence. It dominated everything: chapter services strategies, fraternity education, volunteer training and duties, consultant training, board meetings, etc. Someone a lot smarter than I will write a book about this, and I’m sure opinions will vary on whether or not it was a good, important era, or a harmful one. Was there any net benefit? Some will say that fraternities and sororities grew stronger during this time. The values congruence crowd will continue to crow about how risk management draws us closer to the values we were founded upon (a weak argument, I’d say). Others will say fraternities and sororities lost their fun, their innocence, and their relevance. One thing for sure, lawyers and insurance agents made a lot of money. Yet, students are still dying from alcohol poisoning and hazing on a regular basis.”
  • A new Swiss Re Sigma study analyzes commercial liability insurance. “Emerging risks due to technological and social developments are a constant challenge: new insights into and changing standards around food safety, environmental pollution, employment practices and the compensation of financial loss are, for example, risks that insurers closely monitor. Roman Lechner, co-author of the sigma study, said: “Fortunately, none of these emerging risks has evolved into the next asbestos — yet.”

UPDATE:

  • MF Global was fined $10 million by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for three risk management failures related to supervision. “The $10 million penalty imposed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is the latest fallout from rogue wheat-futures trades in 2008 that forced the company to take a $141.5 million charge, triggering a restructuring that led to the departure of its chief executive, Kevin Davis.”
  • In his latest View from the Press Box, Sam Friedman gives us some 20/20 hindsight on his previous predictions for 2009. “Way back on Jan. 5, I peered into my crystal ball for the likely Top-10 Property and Casualty Insurance Stories of 2009. Before I reveal what turned out to be my actual picks here on Dec. 21, let’s see how accurate my predictions were.”

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