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RIMS Kicks Off RISKWORLD 2022 Honoring Top Risk Professionals

SAN FRANCISCO—At today’s RISKWORLD 2022 opening ceremony and awards luncheon, RIMS recognized top risk management and insurance professionals with the society’s annual awards.

This year’s Risk Manager of the Year is Courtney Davis Curtis, assistant vice president of risk management and resilience planning for the University of Chicago. As reported in the cover story of the 2022 RIMS Awards Edition of Risk Management, Curtis oversees a small risk management team at UChicago that is responsible for insurance programs covering a wide array of risks, claims management and alternative risk financing and captive operations. In addition to weathering the pandemic and a couple of significant property losses in 2021, Curtis also co-led the sourcing and adoption of a new enterprise risk management framework. Additionally, she has made significant contributions to the broader risk community, serving as this year’s president of the University Risk Management and Insurance Association (URMIA), where she has instituted a new diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiative for risk professionals in the education sector.

“Courtney Davis Curtis’ risk management philosophy is spot on,” said RIMS President Patrick Sterling. “Risk professionals must make it their priority to deliver solutions and create pathways for strategic initiatives to move forward. Not only is Courtney’s tremendous success at the University of Chicago inspiring but her commitment to giving back to the global risk management community and sharing her experiences to advance this profession is beyond admirable. It is RIMS honor to present Courtney with the 2022 Risk Manager of the Year Award.”

Risk management legend and former RIMS President Lance Ewing earned the society’s most prestigious award, the Harry and Dorothy Goodell Award. Ewing, vice president of enterprise risk management and operations for the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, was honored for furthering the risk management discipline through outstanding service and achievement.

In recognition of outstanding programs implemented within her organization, the newest inductee into the Risk Management Honor Roll is Jana Utter, vice president of enterprise risk management for Centene Corporation.

“Collaboration is critical to risk management success and it is apparent that Jana Utter’s ability to bridge gaps across her company has created opportunities to build a strong, cross-functional program that accentuates risk management’s value at Centene,” Sterling said. “Through her volunteer work serving on RIMS committees, this society has benefited directly from her expertise and we could not be more proud than to induct Janna into RIMS Risk Management Honor Roll.”

The society also honored excellence among its chapters, which have been particularly pivotal for engaging the risk community with professional development and networking opportunities amid the pandemic. Lori Seidenberg, director and global head of real assets insurance risk management for BlackRock, Inc., and the current president of RIMS New York Chapter, received the Ron Judd “Heart of RIMS” Award for outstanding performance in furthering the risk profession through the society’s chapters. Several chapters were also recognized for offering exceptional resources, programming and professional opportunities for local members, including RIMS Chicago, RIMS Nevada, RIMS Upstate New York and RIMS Washington. The Atlanta chapter was named RIMS Chapter of the Year, an honor accepted by Tamieka Weeks, Atlanta chapter president and manager of insurance risk for Southwire Company.

Among rising risk professionals, the RIMS Rising Star Award went to Charles Vu, enterprise risk supervisor for California’s State Compensation Insurance Fund, who was honored as an up-and-coming leader in the risk management community for “demonstrating exceptional initiative, volunteerism, professional development, achievement and leadership potential.”

For more information on this year’s award winners and their experiences in risk management, RIMS members can also check out the April 2022 RIMS Awards Edition of Risk Management, available as a digital issue here and a special print issue for those attending RISKWORLD.

Saint Joseph’s University Wins Spencer-RIMS Risk Management Challenge

BOSTON—Students from Saint Joseph’s University won the Spencer-RIMS Risk Management Challenge at RIMS 2019. Comprising team members Joseph Angelina, Katherine Branson, Ashley Myers, Daniel Tan, and academic advisor Michael Angelina, the winners earned $4,000 for the risk management program they developed and presented at the conference here in Boston this week. Second and third place went to St. Mary’s University and Butler University, which won $3,000 and $2,000, respectively.

The case study for this year’s challenge came from Robert Zhang, RIMS board director and the risk and compliance director for IKEA China. Zhang tasked the students with identifying the top five risks of integrating new physical and digital commerce options for customers.

In determining a winner, the fine print proved critical, with the best presentations specifically focusing on the core part of the prompt: given digital transformation and shifting consumer preferences, what are the key risks involved as such a massive company innovates and evolves?

The winning team took a useful, strategic approach to risk management that could be flexible for the company to adapt and use going forward.

“They provided a true strategic view of IKEA’s risks as they transition from traditional brick-and-mortar into a multi-channel retailer, and they provided IKEA with a strategic framework that can be built out with tactical options,” said Andrew Bent, risk director at Sage and one of the challenge judges.

This year’s Spencer-RIMS Risk Management Challenge drew more entries than ever before, with teams from 28 schools initially submitting papers on the case study. And the competition was strong—according to Louis Drapeau, who served as a judge, they could not pick a top eight submissions, as anticipated, so they invited nine teams for the in-person presentation rounds here in Boston.

Poise and pertinent PowerPoint slides reflected the strong presentation skills of the top three teams, Drapeau noted. RIMS CEO Mary Roth had a similar impression, praising all of this year’s participants as impressive aspiring additions to the risk management community. “Beyond the remarkable presentations delivered by each university team, our Spencer-RIMS Risk Challenge students continue to demonstrate the highest-degree of professionalism and an exceptional grasp of sophisticated concepts,” she said.

RIMS Bestows Top Industry Honors and Awards

SAN ANTONIO—At today’s RIMS 2018 Annual Conference & Exhibition Awards Luncheon, the risk management society kicked off the week by issuing its top marks of distinction for leadership and achievement in the industry.

Ward Ching, managing director of the western region at Aon Global Risk Consulting, received RIMS’ most prestigious honor, the Harry and Dorothy Goodell Award. Named after RIMS’ first president, the award recognizes outstanding service and achievement in furthering the goals of the society and the discipline of risk management. “This year’s winner is an outside of the box thinker, customer focused, and always willing to put others before himself,” said RIMS President Robert Cartwright, Jr. “He created a brand new culture of safety for Safeway, has saved companies billions of dollars and is creating risk management programs for universities across the country.”

This year’s inductee to the Risk Management Hall of Fame is Berry Griffin, former RIMS president from 1979.

“RIMS stands as the premier risk management association in the world and has grown its network to over 10,000 professionals because of individuals like Berry Griffin, Jr.,” said RIMS CEO Mary Roth. “Dedicated, passionate and genuinely invested in demonstrating the value of risk management, Berry’s contributions continue to drive conversation and evolve risk practices. It is an honor to induct this longstanding RIMS leader into the Risk Management Hall of Fame.”

Celebrating the impact of an involved membership both past and future, the RIMS Rising Star Awards went to Lindsey Harris, risk manager at Dollar Tree Stores, and Jaci Mennenga, manager of corporate risk management at COUNTRY Financial. Harris and Mennenga were honored for demonstrating exceptional initiative, volunteerism, professional development, achievement and leadership potential.

Among those recognized for exceptionalism on a chapter level, Randy Jouben, risk manager at Fairfax County Government and active member of RIMS Potomac Chapter, received the Ron Judd “Heart of RIMS” Award. The first ever RIMS EChO Award for enhancing chapter outcomes went to the Oregon Chapter. For their continued service with RIMS and exceptional support of the society’s strategic initiatives, Andrew Bent, risk manager at the Sage Group PLC, and Lori Seidenberg, head of global real assets insurance at BlackRock, Inc., were named to the RIMS Ambassadors Group.

Tomorrow morning, the society will continue to recognize some of the risk management industry’s top talent at the RIMS Risk Manager of the Year Award Breakfast. RIMS Risk Manager of the Year and Risk Management Honor Roll aim to raise the profile of the risk management profession and the outstanding programs practitioners have implemented within their organizations. This year’s Risk Manager of the Year is Rebecca F. Cady, vice president and chief risk officer at the Children’s National Medical Center. Additionally, three risk professionals will will be named to the RIMS Risk Management Honor Roll: Sandy Aspinall, Jr., vice president of global risk management for Comcast Corporation; Jennifer Hills, director of the office of risk management services for King County (Washington); and Joseph Meaney, Jr., vice president of global insurance and risk engineering for The AES Corporation.

And the 2017 RIMS Awards Go to…

PHILADELPHIA—At today’s RIMS 2017 Awards Luncheon, the society issued its top honors for achievement in the risk management and insurance industry.

Scott B. Clark, area senior vice president and enterprise risk management consultant at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., received the society’s most prestigious honor, the Harry and Dorothy Goodell Award. Named after RIMS’ first president, the award recognizes outstanding service and achievement in furthering the goals of the society and the discipline of risk management.

Richard Hackenburg and Glen Frederick were this year’s inductees into the Risk Management Hall of Fame, presented in conjunction with AIG.

In his 45-year risk management career, including leadership roles at Willis and XL Insurance, Hackenberg’s received the 1993 Goodell Award and served as president of RIMS in 1985 and later as chairman of the Spencer Educational Foundation, where he remains a director emeritus.

Frederick, former director of risk management client services with the government of British Columbia, received the Goodell Award in 2011 and, the same year, the Donald M. Stuart award for outstanding contribution to the risk management profession in Canada. He served as chair of the RIMS Canada Council in 2006 and co-chair of the RIMS Canada Conference in 2003. Frederick’s 30-year career also included leading implementation of the enterprise risk management strategy for the Vancouver organizing committee (VANOC) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to manage risks associated with the 2010 Olympic Games—the first to use an ERM strategy, which is now required for all Olympic games.

“Industry heroes like Richard Hackenburg and Glen Frederick were selfless, giving back to the risk management community and paving the way for future practitioners,” said RIMS CEO Mary Roth. “It is an honor to join AIG in inducting these risk management stalwarts into the Risk Management Hall of Fame.”

The RIMS Rising Star Award, issued to risk management professionals who are under 35 or have less than seven years of experience in the industry, was given to William Lehman. An insurance specialist at Cook Group Incorporated, Lehman was recognized for demonstrating exceptional initiative, volunteerism, professional development, achievement, and leadership potential.

Debra Samuel, manager of insurance and risk management at Arconic Inc., was recognized for exceptional service to strengthen and support the strategic initiatives of RIMS with the RIMS Ambassadors Group award. This year’s Cristy Award for the highest marks on the three Associate of Risk Management exams went to Michael Ratto, risk procurement manager at Kraemer North America.