Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.

In this episode, Justin interviews Megan Miller, the CEO of the Spencer Educational Foundation, and John Button, ERM strategist and RIMS-CRMP Workshop instructor. The episode is divided into two interviews. Justin and Megan review the Spencer activities coming up around RISKWORLD 2026 and later, with a focus on driving students into insurance and risk careers and on providing risk scholarships to build the industry. Justin and John focus on John's ERM and risk philosophies and the key skills and knowledge the next wave of risk practitioners will need as risk management moves into strategic risk modes. They discuss the RIMS-CRMP virtual workshops that John teaches, and James Lam's RIMS-CRO Certificate Program in Advanced Enterprise Risk Management, which John endorses. They talk about RISKWORLD 2026, which is coming up.

Listen for tips on inviting the next wave of students into the risk profession and preparing for upcoming trends in risk.

Key Takeaways:

[:01] About RIMS and RIMScast.

[:17] About this episode of RIMScast. We will be joined by Spencer Educational Foundation CEO, Megan Miller, and ERM strategist and RIMS-CRMP Workshop instructor, John Button. But first…

[:47] RIMS Risk Foundations Certificate Program. This beginner program will guide you through the risk landscape and help evaluate the purpose, function, and process of risk management. On completion, you will receive a Digital Risk Foundation certificate and 24 RIMS CE credits.

[1:07] Cohort Number One starts on February 10th and 11th, with "Fundamentals of Risk Management," and then, on February 25th, "Risk Taxonomy," followed by two on-demand courses. Register now because the next cohort will be held in August. A link is in the notes.

[1:28] RIMS members always enjoy deep discounts on the virtual workshops.

[1:32] Webinars The next RIMS webinar will celebrate Women's History Month by exploring the success of women in construction risk on March 6th. We'll be joined by a Chief Risk Officer, an underwriter, and a broker.

[1:45] They will explore their career paths, risk and safety philosophies, and lend some insight as to why this is the time for the next generation of leaders to rise. Visit RIMS.org/webinars and check out the link in this episode's show notes.

[2:00] RISKWORLD General registration is open for RISKWORLD 2026, which will be held from May 3rd through the 6th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Visit RIMS.org/RISKWORLD or RIMS.org. Register today to take advantage of those sweet advance rates through the end of this month!

[2:24] On with the Show! Returning to RIMScast is one of my favorite people, the CEO of the Spencer Educational Foundation, Megan Miller! Spencer Day is coming up on February 23rd. We want to hear all about what she has in store for us this month, and at RISKWORLD 2026.

[2:50] Megan Miller will also present a special introduction for the "Hard Hats and High Stakes" Webinar on March 6th. Let's get to it!

[3:08] Interview! Spencer Educational Foundation CEO Megan Miller, welcome back to RIMScast!

[3:30] Megan says the Spencer Educational Foundation had a great year in 2025. They surpassed their goals. They're riding into 2026 on top of the wave. They are also starting Year 1 of implementing their next Five-Year Strategic Plan through 2030.

[3:55] Megan says they have some big growth goals; they're hoping to raise $10 million a year by 2030. They ended last year at just over $4 million.

[5:13] Spencer Day on February 23rd is held in conjunction with Insurance Careers Month. The Insurance Careers movement is to get students thinking about careers in insurance.

[5:29] Holding Spencer Day during Insurance Careers Month raises awareness about what the Spencer Educational Foundation is doing to help drive more students into insurance careers.

[5:36] The Spencer Educational Foundation tries to raise at least $7,500 from individual contributors that day to fund an additional scholarship. If they can raise $7,500, they can give out one more scholarship in 2026 and set one more person on the path to a career in risk.

[6:18] At RISKWORLD, the Spencer Educational Foundation holds three events: Pickleball Social on Saturday, May 2nd, with sponsor Optum, the Gallagher Topgolf Golf Tournament on Sunday, May 3rd, and the 5K Fun Run on Tuesday, May 5th, with new sponsor Bold Penguin.

[7:59] The 5K Fun Run will take place at Boathouse Row at 6:30 a.m.

[8:57] The Spencer Soirée will be held on Monday, May 4th, at 5:30 p.m. It's Spencer's big donor appreciation event. At the Spencer Soirée, Spencer announces the winners of the International Student Risk Management Challenge that takes place all day on Sunday, behind closed doors.

[9:16] On Monday morning, you'll have the opportunity to see the top three student teams present. Over 50 teams are competing. They submit their papers online, and the judges select the top eight teams to be flown to RISKWORLD. In 2025, half of the teams were international.

[10:01] For some students, it was the first time they had ever been to the U.S. It's an incredible opportunity. In 2024, the team from Hyderabad, India, won. Justin had them as RIMScast guests.

[10:20] The 2025 winning team was from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

[10:32] At the RISKWORLD conference, the top eight teams present behind closed doors on Sunday, and the judges select the top three. On Monday, those presentations are open to the public. It's impressive to hear the students talking through their cases. Come and watch!

[10:53] On Monday, at the Spencer Soirée donor appreciation event, the first, second, and third place winners are announced, with cash prizes. It's a big audience, and the students answer the judges' questions. Megan says that the students are poised and super bright.

[12:08] The 2026 Spencer Funding Their Future Gala will be held on Thursday, September 17th, back at the Waldorf Astoria, which was recently reopened after extensive renovations. Megan says it's stunning.

[13:30] There are two honorees for the gala, Sierra Signorelli from Zurich, and Marya Propis from RT Specialty. Marya was one of the earliest RIMScast guests. She has been heavily involved in Spencer.

[13:51] Megan says Zurich has been a strong partner of the Spencer Educational Foundation for a very long time. Sierra has taken on an expanded role at Zurich.

[14:09] Marya is the former board chair who hired Megan within the Spencer organization.

[14:35] For more information about the Funding Their Future Gala, listeners can reach out to Megan Miller or Brianne Kelly-Prensa at the Spencer Educational Foundation.

[15:00] Megan mentions some of the new names at the Spencer Educational Foundation. Brianne Kelly-Prensa is the new Development Manager, helping Megan with fundraising and finding new partnerships. Amisha Kitani is the new Program Administrator.

[15:31] Amisha was an intern at LVMH through Spencer's internship grant program.

[16:10] Megan was a Spencer scholarship recipient. While she was at Swiss Re, she received a Spencer scholarship for the part-time Master's program. Spencer was very instrumental in helping Megan complete her MBA.

[16:37] Spencer also has two board members who are Spencer scholarshop recipients: Robin Roeder and Cristina Vigilante. As Spencer grows and impacts more students, he loves to see them come back into the fold.

[17:13] Justin shares details about the presenters of the RIMS webinar on March 6th, "Hard Hats and High Stakes: Women Leaders Shaping Construction Risk Management," including a special introduction by Megan Miller. Megan is excited about it.

[19:01] The webinar is not only in honor of Women's History Month but also in advance of Construction Safety Awareness Week in May. Justin says this important sector deserves the spotlight.

[19:39] If you have any questions for Megan, find her at SpencerEd.org. Justin tells Megan, it is such a pleasure to see you again.

[19:56] Our next interview features John Button, CRMP, an Enterprise Strategic and Technology Risk Strategist for American Systems and an Instructor for the UCLA Extension Business School, specifically for implementing their Enterprise Risk Management course.

[20:24] John Button is one of the instructors for the RIMS-CRMP Virtual Workshop Series. John will be leading the March 10th and 11th Workshop, and the June 9th and 10th Workshop.

[20:39] We are going to get a glimpse into his risk perspective and philosophy. We're going to talk about strategic risk management and where he believes ERM is headed in the short and long term. Let's get to it!

[20:52] Interview! RIMS-CRMP Commissioner John Button, welcome to RIMSc...

Spencer Day 2026 | The Future of Strategic Risk Management