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

In this last episode of 2025, Justin interviews Morgan O'Rourke and Hilary Tuttle of RIMS Risk Management magazine on the most impactful risks of 2025 and what's expected in 2026. They discuss the difficulty of reporting on the rapid pace of risk change. Morgan and Hilary discuss the most impactful natural events of 2025: wildfires in California and Canada, Hurricane Melissa, and flooding. They discuss the economic risks posed by the unusual tariff changes in 2025 and how supply chains and inflation are affected. These risks are covered in the Q4 edition of RIMS Risk Management magazine online now.

Morgan and Hilary will return for the first episode of 2026, launching on January 5th.

Key Takeaways:

[:01] About RIMS and RIMScast.

[:17] About this episode of RIMScast. This is our final episode of 2025, and who better to spend it with than Morgan O'Rourke and Hilary Tuttle of RIMS Risk Management magazine?

[:44] We will discuss some of the top risk management stories of 2025 and what they might mean for 2026. They will rejoin us for the first episode of 2026! But first…

[:55] RIMS-CRMP and Some Prep Courses. The next virtual prep course will be held on January 14th and 15th, 2026. These are virtual courses. Links to these courses can be found through the Certification page of RIMS.org and through this episode's show notes.

[1:12] RIMS Virtual Workshops are coming up. On January 21st and 22nd, Chris Hansen returns to deliver the course, "Managing Worker Compensation, Employer's Liability and Employment Practices in the US".

[1:26] The full schedule of virtual workshops can be found on the RIMS.org/education and RIMS.org/education/online-learning pages. A link is also in this episode's notes.

[1:38] RIMS members always enjoy deep discounts on the virtual workshops.

[1:48] The RIMS-CRO Certificate Program in Advanced Enterprise Risk Management is hosted by the famous James Lam. This is a live virtual program that helps elevate your expertise and career in ERM.

[2:01] You can enroll now for the next cohort, which will be held over 12 weeks from January through March of 2026. Registration closes on January 5th. Or Spring ahead and register for the cohort that will be held from April through June, 2026. Registration closes on April 6th.

[2:20] Links to registration and enrollment are in this episode's show notes.

[2:27] On with the show! The annual Year in Risk Review edition of RIMS Risk Management magazine is now available. Visit RMmagazine.com for more information.

[2:39] I wanted to dive deeper into some of the pages and the stories that made major headlines in risk management this year. Morgan and Hilary are rejoining us as part of our annual tradition.

[2:54] We're not just looking back; we're also going to talk about how these events should be some warning signs and provide some extra insight for risk managers around the world.

[3:05] Interview! This is our final episode of the year, and we're going out with a bang with two of my favorite people!

[3:12] Morgan O'Rourke and Hilary Tuttle, welcome back to RIMScast!

[3:23] Justin saw Morgan and Hilary, just a month ago in Seattle, at the ERM Conference. Morgan says it was raining the whole time, but it was a good conference. It was well-attended, and everybody enjoyed themselves, and the attendees got a lot out of it. It was a great event!

[3:51] Hilary also thought it was great! The turnout was fantastic! There was some great feedback on a lot of the sessions. There were some packed rooms! People seemed pleased with the programming. Hilary didn't see the sun until she left, but she enjoyed the city!

[5:12] Morgan and Hilary's goal for attending the ERM Conference is to gather good ideas for articles. They look for presenters who might be good content contributors in other formats. They look to get a sense of what is new and what is emerging.

[5:24] Morgan and Hilary talk to members about what they're seeing in practice and what's concerning to them. Morgan says if there's a packed room for a session, it's clearly a topic that's resonating, which bumps it to the top of the list of things to pursue, since there's interest in it.

[6:17] Justin notes that Morgan's always there in the sessions with pen and paper. He's old school!

[7:36] Morgan says the hardest part of reporting on risk is the breadth of the risks they cover. Everything has a lot more nuance and a lot more effect. This incident happened, which had 57 knock-on effects.

[7:47] Morgan explains why distilling that down to something that makes sense in article form is a huge challenge and compares writing about risk to the experience risk managers have with everything they deal with.

[8:10] Morgan says that, at the end of the year, spotlighting the year in risk coverage is a challenge. How do you get the entire economic, geopolitical situation down to 200 words?

[8:37] Hilary says the velocity of change is a challenge when covering risk. Unlike in everyday news coverage, they have to add an amount of value or takeaways for a reader who is looking to do something about risk. Developing that value, at the speed of risk, is particularly challenging.

[9:15] Hilary continues. Crises are compounded now. You can't ignore a lot of those factors that make a crisis a bad issue. Hilary cites hurricanes, rapid intensification, which is a knock-on effect of climate change, lax building codes, and people building more in certain regions.

[9:38] Hilary says you have to add so many layers to explain why this crisis is happening now. It becomes a lot more challenging to figure out how it impacts insurance. You have to take into account different exclusions or the way the policies are created. There are a lot of moving parts.

[10:04] Morgan says, It's not just your picture. It's the picture of your suppliers and your customers, who might be across the country or around the world. All of their risks become your risks or, at least, will impact your business.

[10:33] Justin compliments the digital layout of RIMS Risk Manager magazine. He speaks of how Morgan and Hilary go to RIMS events looking for inspiration for content and content contributors.

[11:05] Morgan says, We're only as good as the information we've learned through the people we've met, or what we've read. We're not practicing risk managers. Hearing from experts who deal with it every day is the strongest way to get good content that resonates with our readers.

[12:17] Morgan says wildfires were probably the most costly insured loss of 2025. Hilary says that earthquakes were the most costly in terms of the loss of life. The LA fire was the largest single economic loss. There are lots of expensive homes in Southern California.

[13:26] Canada has had wildfires raging almost non-stop for two or three years. Wildfires are no longer secondary perils. They're a prime source of loss. Severe convective storms, in the aggregate, probably caused more damage than wildfires this year.

[14:04] Hilary says severe convective storms have been in the top 10 for seven out of the last 10 years. Morgan says this was one of the top convective storm years. In natural disasters, you're not looking just at hurricanes and earthquakes, but also fires, floods, and more.

[14:32] Hilary talks about secondary factors, like tremendous wind events in California, increasing the rate at which fires spread, making containment difficult. Things were moving fast. A lot of buildings were burning. It took three weeks to put out two of the largest fires.

[15:05] Canada faced different challenges. All but two provinces had record, above-average fire seasons. Some fires impacted remote areas where getting people out is logistically extremely difficult. Seventy-something First Nations communities had to be evacuated.

[15:35] If you're dealing with areas that are largely only accessible by air, getting communities of people out for long periods is logistically very challenging, with a devastating human impact. They're very different fires.

[15:52] Hilary says it was quite a year. Morgan ties it back to the impact of climate change. It starts with drought, and it's exacerbated by winds. Then you've got these weird things that pop up where Mother Nature says, Hey, I've got a weird twist for you!

[16:13] Quick Break! RISKWORLD 2026 will be held from May 3rd through the 6th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. RISKWORLD attracts more than 10,000 risk professionals from across the globe. It's time to Connect, Cultivate, and Collaborate with them. Booth sales are open now!

[16:35] General registration and speaker registration are also open right now! Marketplace and Hospitality badges will be available starting on March 3rd. Links are in this episode's show notes.