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

In this episode, Justin interviews Morgan O’Rourke and Hilary Tuttle of RIMS Risk Management Magazine for the Q4 Edition Risk Year in Review. They discuss the biggest risk events we’ve seen in 2024, including natural disasters following climate change and even the recent murder of the UHC CEO. They give their forecasts for 2025, with cybersecurity being an expanding area of risk, combined with AI, and regulatory changes likely under the new administration.

Listen for categories of risk your organization is sure to face in the coming year.

Key Takeaways:

[:01] About RIMS.

[:14] Public registration is open for RISKWORLD 2025! RIMS wants you to engage today and embrace tomorrow in Chicago from May 4th through May 7th! Register at RIMS.org/RISKWORLD and the link in this episode’s notes.

[:30] About this episode, coming to you from RIMS headquarters in New York. This episode is our special 2024 finale! Hilary Tuttle and Morgan O’Rourke of RIMS Risk Management Magazine will join us to discuss the top trends and stories from 2024 and what to expect in 2025.

[:58] RIMS-CRMP Virtual Workshops On February 19th and 20th, there is a two-day virtual workshop for the RIMS-CRMP led by former RIMS President Chris Mandel and presented by the RIMS Greater Bluegrass Chapter, the 2024 RIMS Chapter of the Year.

[1:20] The next RIMS-CRMP-FED Exam Course will be held from February 4th through the 6th, 2025. Links to these courses can be found on the Certification page of RIMS.org and through this episode’s show notes.

[1:36] RIMS Virtual Workshops! Gail Kiyomura of The ART of Risk Consulting will host the “Fundamentals of Insurance” virtual workshop on February 19th and 20th, 2025.

[1:50] We’ve got ERM on our minds. On February 26th and 27th, Elise Farnham of Illumine Consulting will lead “Applying and Integrating ERM”. The “Managing Data for ERM” course will be hosted by Pat Saporito, starting on March 12th, 2025.

[2:12] A link to the full schedule of virtual workshops can be found through the RIMS.org/education/online-learning pages. A link is also in this episode’s show notes.

[2:25] Interview! The Q4 edition of RIMS Risk Management Magazine is my favorite of the year! It is The Year in Risk edition. We’ll have a chance to revisit all the risk highlights from 2024.

[2:42] Here to discuss what made the cut and trends we need to look out for in 2025 are RIMS Director of Publications and Risk Management Magazine Editor in Chief, Morgan O’Rourke and Risk Management Magazine Managing Editor, Hilary Tuttle.

[3:01] There is so much to discuss from cyber security to executive safety. As a show of appreciation to the RIMScast audience and subscribers worldwide, we’ve got so much great content in one huge episode, as opposed to spreading it out over two episodes.

[3:18] You don’t have to wait, it’s all here for you at once! Let’s get to it!

[3:30] Morgan O’Rourke and Hilary Tuttle, Welcome back to RIMScast!

[3:39] Morgan and Hilary are here to discuss The Year in Risk, which is the title of the Q4 edition of RIMS Risk Management Magazine. How does 2024 stand out from other years?

[4:04] Morgan starts looking back at the year’s events in October. He recalls the bridge collapse in Baltimore in March. There are always going to be hurricanes and natural disasters. There are always going to be cyber attacks. It’s just a matter of what flavor they are this year.

[5:15] Morgan categorizes big risk events. There are accidents, like the bridge in Baltimore that affect shipping, and natural disasters, including storms, earthquakes, and record heat. 2024 is the hottest year on record, with the hottest day in recorded history, July 22.

[6:38] The AXA Future Risks Report lists climate change as the number one risk. Climate change brings natural disasters to places that don’t normally see them, like wildfires in the Northeast.

[7:55] Hilary says there were a few hundred fires in New York City this year. The NYFD had to put together its first brush fire task force. In the first two weeks of November, they had 271 fires. Canada has had a terrible year for fires, continuing from its 2023 fire season.

[9:25] Climate change puts everybody at risk. The risk landscape expands so that everybody’s in the game. Paraphrasing Flannery O’Connor, Hilary says 2024 was a disaster in truth everywhere. Disasters are not new but they are occurring in different places and times than before.

[10:22] There were 11,000 fires in the Northeast this year, largely in October and November. It’s a different season and in a different region. The traditional risk models are thrown out the window.

[10:49] Morgan comments that this year we saw the earliest category 5 hurricane formed: Beryl in June. We’re starting to throw out more of the parameters for when you need to be prepared for something.

[11:21] We are seeing more geopolitical conflict, supply chain issues, and risks that didn’t seem impactful in regions that seemed stable and reliable. Thirty percent of shipping goes through the Red Sea. Shipping is 90% of the supply chain.

[11:55] Hilary says in the last year and a half, shipping through the Red Sea has become an untenable and sometimes uninsurable risk. Our standard expectations for doing business are going out the window or being upended. This has become more of a problem this year.

[12:42] There are risks we itemize as the things that are causing problems. Then there are bigger-picture risks you don’t necessarily identify when you’re thinking about your problems.

[13:01] You’re thinking about supply chain disruption and natural catastrophes and business interruption, but not about the climate change that may cause them.

[13:42] Morgan says people have to focus on the problem that’s in front of them. You have to deal with the acute issues before you can deal with the systematic ones. It’s hard to solve systematic problems.

[14:28] Morgan sees polycrisis as interconnected risks. Hilary sees the word as an easy way to allude to something that has been happening for a long time. She can’t think of a time in which you truly faced only one risk without having to think of multiple interconnected risks.

[17:35] Morgan edited the new RIMS Executive Report, “Understanding Interconnected Risks” authored by RIMS Strategic and Enterprise Risk Management Council members Michael Zuraw and Tom Easthope.

[17:48] The paper is available only for members until February 12th, 2025. Then it will be publicly accessible.

[18:16] Morgan says the key for the paper is in its practicality about how you should go about prioritizing risks and understanding where they connect within your operations to communicate with departments and executives and implement risk mitigation. It’s actionable.

[19:30] Morgan considers that the value of RIMS membership and Risk Management Magazine is in learning what to do about risks.

[20:02] Hillary objects to the term polycrisis. It over-intellectualizes a problem to the detriment of focusing on how to solve it or what to do about it.

[20:58] Plug Time! RIMS Webinars! Hub International continues its Ready for Tomorrow Series with RIMS. On February 20th, they will host “Ready for the Unexpected? Strategies for Property Valuation, Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity in 2025”.

[21:23] More webinars will be announced soon and added to the RIMS.org/webinars page. Go there to register. Registration is complimentary for RIMS members.

[21:34] RIMS is now accepting nominations for all awards other than Risk Manager of the Year 2025. The submission deadline is Monday, January 6th, 2025. To receive a RIMS award, all winners must be active members and in good standing.

[21:54] These awards are the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Chapter Leadership Award, the Harry and Dorothy Goodell Award, the Volunteer of the Year “Heart of RIMS” Award, the Richard W. Bland Memorial Award, the Chapter of the Year Award, the Rising Risk Professional Award, the Risk Management Hall of Fame, and the Cristy Award.

[...

Year In Risk 2024 with Morgan O’Rourke and Hilary Tuttle