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Temple University Students Winners of Risk and Insurance ‘Super Bowl’

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Pictured above, left to right, are RIMS Executive Director Mary Roth; Zakia Campbell, vice president, Spencer Educational Foundation and executive vice president, Willis NA; competition winners Cathleen Gabriel, Steven Costa and Martin Leicht; and Carolyn Snow, RIMS president and director of risk management for Humana Inc. Not pictured is winner William Thorsson. Photo by Joseph Zwielich

Four Temple University students are the new winners of the 2014 Spencer-RIMS Risk Management Challenge, a competition that began in January with 15 universities. Each team was presented with a risk management situation—a case study provided by Dan Kugler, the now retired risk manager for Snap-on Inc., and newly hired director of the Center of Risk Management-and Insurance at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. Each team was asked to make a presentation to “win” Snap-on’s broker business.

The teams submitted written papers prior to the Denver RIMS conference and the field was narrowed to nine schools. During the conference, the nine schools made oral presentations to a panel of 10 judges and three schools were named finalists: Temple University, Florida State University and Virginia Commonwealth University. Those finalists presented one last time in front of risk professionals at the conference.

The second-place winner of the challenge was Florida State University and the third-place team was Virginia Commonwealth University.

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 The first-place university received 00, second ,000 and third ,000.

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Kugler noted, “It was exciting to see a large contingent of colleges participating. This is like the Super Bowl for risk management and insurance! The RIMS conference was a great place for the students to demonstrate their abilities, and I only can see this competition growing. I was very pleased with how they analyzed Snap-on in a broad case study.”

Cathleen Gabriel, a senior from Temple University, a member of the winning team and one of 35 students who competed in the challenge said, “Looking back at my academic career, I never expected to compete and present on a national level.” She described working with teammates Martin Leicht, Steven Costa and William Thorsson as “an amazing experience in itself. I am very excited for each of our respective professional careers, especially after I have seen the work ethic and quality of each person.

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Two weeks shy of graduation, competing and winning the Spencer-RIMS Risk Management Challenge is a tremendous way to end a remarkable college career!” The team’s academic adviser was Michael McClosky.

Brion Callori, the newly-elected chairman of the Spencer Educational Foundation, said, “We are pleased to have provided RIMS with a grant to hold the risk management challenge. The competition showcased the knowledge, skills and abilities of tomorrow’s industry leaders and at the same time, provided the participants with a tremendous learning opportunity. The students from all 15 schools were well-prepared and insightful, and we congratulate Temple University on winning this distinguished competition.”

RIMS Executive Director Mary Roth said the Challenge is “an engaging way to showcase the brilliant minds of these future industry leaders.” In addition to providing students with a platform to show off their risk management talents, the competition “is also a reminder to established professionals at our conference about the importance of supporting the next generation of risk professionals.”

Finalists of the Spencer-RIMS Risk Management Challenge. Photo by Joseph Zwielich

Top Female Risk Managers Offer Insight on Success with the Board and Beyond

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DENVER—Four of the top risk managers gathered today to reflect on their career paths and tips for success in the panel “Women of Distinction: Risk Managers of the Year Share Their Wisdom.”

Noted for far more than their gender, Grace Crickette, Lori Gray, Sheila Small, and Laurie Solomon have all received top accolades in the industry and were all previously been named Risk Manager of the Year. While they all reflected on the strengths and skills that women bring to the field, they did acknowledge a number of challenges faced on the road to management positions, some of which should be no surprise to any woman in business. “When I was first made an executive, I had to see a clinical psychologist,” said Grace Crickette, SVP and CRO for AAA Northern California, Nevada and Utah.

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“He told me, ‘You have some really great traits to be in business—if you were a man.  As a woman, you’re probably going to have a pretty hard time.’”

Their insight stretched far beyond questions of being a woman in the workplace, however. In particular, their advice on how to earn the respect and recognition of the board offered key tips for any risk manager, male or female. “You need to focus more on building your reputation for work with the board,” Crickette said.

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“Help educate them. I make a point to send out an article—not written by me—at least once a month that offers something valuable to learn. In doing so, you also demonstrate what you know, understand, and can engage about.”

“Few people understand our companies across the whole organization as well as we do,” said Laurie Solomon, The Coca-Cola Company’s director of risk management. “Our biggest asset is that broad knowledge of the organization, how it works, what the biggest challenges are, and where there is the greatest potential for risk or growth.” That knowledge and comfort in the material at hand breeds confidence. Knowledge, experience, and confidence combine to create credibility, and that credibility is what facilitates access to the board and progress in your program and your career, she said.

Credibility also has tremendous impact on a risk manager’s success in the public sector as well. Last year’s Risk Manager of the Year, Lori Gray of Prince William County, emphasized the human component of this. The risk assessment process, she said, offers a prime opportunity to establish credibility and strong working relationships by meeting critical players face to face.

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“Risk assessment is your opportunity to meet people in person and ask what keeps them up at night. You are developing critical relationships while getting an honest, first-hand perspective of the exposures that should be on your radar,” Gray said. “Going out and meeting department heads is critical because one of your chief jobs is to sell. You are selling yourself and selling your program.”

Gaining recognition may be one of the greatest challenges for the future of risk managers and risk management as a whole. “Part of the challenge we face as an industry is to get recognition of risk management as a pool for future CEOs and COOs,” said Crickette. “The skills and insight we have would make for fantastic officers, but people just do not think of us for those opportunities. The industry has a lot to do to promote our potential.”

Lessons from an Olympic Champion

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DENVER—When RIMS keynote speaker Bonnie St. John was five years old her right leg was amputated below the knee because of a medical condition. For most people, it would have been a devastating disability, but St.John was not most people. Instead she became, of all things, a competitive skier. As a member of the 1984 U.S. Paralympic team, she was the first African-American to win an Olympic medal as a ski racer, taking home bronzes for slalom and giant slalom and a silver for overall performance. In effect, she said that made her the second fastest woman on one leg that year.

It was an impressive achievement to say the least and her thoughts on the experience were even featured on a Starbucks cup that read, “I was ahead in the slalom. But in the second run, everyone fell on a dangerous spot. I was beaten by a woman that got up faster than I did. I learned that people fall down, winners get up, and gold medal winners just get up faster.”

St. John said that, for her, a normal life wasn’t an option, but “normal is overrated.” Rather, she challenged risk managers in the audience to follow her example and aim higher in their careers. “Be you,” she said. “Be extraordinary.”

St. John expressed a lot of admiration for risk management’s ability to prevent disasters, thanking them for all the things that didn’t happen last year. But after reviewing a list of the past year’s risk events, understandably wondered if risk managers were just “incredible pessimists” given all the bad things they have to deal with. Upon further reflection, though, she said she came to the fitting conclusion that risk managers “practice a special brand of optimistic pessimism.” They know bad things will happen but they are also confident that they can take steps to prevent disaster, which seems to be as accurate a description of a risk manager’s mentality as any I’ve ever heard.

But as valuable as she thought risk managers were, St. John thought that there was still room for them to become world class by taking advantage of expertise of their peers, something she called a “community of champions.” By becoming more “helpable” and receptive to learning and growth opportunities, risk managers could achieve even greater success. “What’s possible for you is more than you can imagine.”

Coming from a one-legged ski champion, it was a lesson that was hard to ignore.

Jordan Belfort Delivers Keynote at RIMS 2014

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DENVER—In his opening keynote address at RIMS 2014, Jordan Belfort, the infamous “Wolf of Wall Street,” spoke about the moment when his successful business career took a wrong turn. It wasn’t a big dramatic moment that set off major regulatory red flags, but rather a minor ethical lapse that went largely unnoticed.

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The problem was “the ethical line moved,” he said, and it became easier and easier to compromise on his standards until eventually he was thrown in jail for securities fraud.

This proverbial death by a thousand cuts should sound familiar. It is the same thing that happened during the subprime mortgage crisis when greed got the better of mortgage brokers as they stopped really evaluating the credit worthiness of prospective borrowers. And it is the same thing that happens in any organization when complacency sets in and risks are overlooked. As Belfort said, it is the result of “human beings not using common sense” and relying too much on models to make decisions for them.

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For risk managers, it is a reminder to never lose sight of the details because details are what can create the biggest headaches.

For Belfort, it took 22 months in jail, millions of dollars in restitution payments and a family upheaval for him to learn the lesson that, “success in the absence of ethics and integrity is not success—it’s failure.”

Belfort said he regrets the harm he caused with his reckless and unethical behavior and cautioned those that are new to the business world to always do a gut check of the business they are involved in and not take it for granted that someone else is making sure everyone stays honest. “If something doesn’t smell right, it’s probably not right,” he said.

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He also advised students to master the art of persuasion and communication. It’s a skill that is great for salespeople who are trying to get a client to see positive potential, but it is also great for risk managers who are trying to communicate risk and make sure that the organization takes appropriate measures to address it.

But the point, ultimately, is that ethical behavior leads to greater success than just going for the quicker buck. Contrary to Gordon Gekko’s motto, “greed is not good,” Belfort said. “Passion is good.” At the very least, it certainly beats prison.