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RIMScast
Hosted by The Risk and Insurance Management Society, Inc. · EN
The official podcast of RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society. Tune in for weekly discussions about risk management hot topics, interviews with leaders in the profession, and updates on RIMS events and education.
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Risk Outlook '26 with Morgan O'Rourke and Hilary Tuttle
Jan 500:42:40Tap to summarizeWelcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society. In this first episode of 2026, Justin interviews Morgan O'Rourke and Hilary Tuttle of RIMS Risk Management Magazine. They discuss major cyber events of 2025, court rulings on AI fair use, and what risk professionals should take away about AI training data and intellectual property. They discuss regulations about forever chemicals or PFAS and what to look for in 2026 and beyond as these regulations change. They discuss the U.S. government shutdown of October and its residual effects. Listen for a call for content submissions for RIMS Risk Management Magazine. Key Takeaways: [:01] About RIMS and RIMScast. [:17] About this episode of RIMScast. This is our first episode of 2026. We're going to look forward and back, and who better to do that 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. There's so much to discuss, from forever chemicals to AI! 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. This is the last call for "Intro to ERM for Senior Leaders". It will be held on January 8th, led by Joe Mayo. [1:24] On January 21st and 22nd, Chris Hansen returns to deliver the course, "Managing Worker Compensation, Employer's Liability and Employment Practices in the US". [1:35] On February 4th and 5th, Ken Baker will return to deliver the course, "Applying and Integrating ERM". [1:45] 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. [1:57] RIMS members always enjoy deep discounts on the virtual workshops. [2:06] 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. [2:19] You can enroll now for the next cohort, which will be held over 12 weeks from April 14th through June 23rd. Links to registration and enrollment are in this episode's show notes. [2:34] 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. [2:47] We're going to pick up where we left off with Morgan O'Rouke and Hilary Tuttle of RIMS Risk Management Magazine and the RIMS Publication Department. [2:54] Feel free to check out Episode 371 to get caught up as we discuss natural catastrophes and their impact on the landscape. [3:04] In this episode, we're going to talk about AI, PFAS forever chemicals, and how you can contribute to RIMS Risk Management Magazine in 2026. [3:14] Risk Management Magazine is an Azbee award winner, so you are hearing insights from the best in the business of risk management reporting. Let's get to it… [3:24] Interview! Morgan O'Rourke and Hilary Tuttle, welcome back to RIMScast! [4:01] The Year in Risk 2025 Edition of RIMS Risk Management Magazine has been on digital shelves for a few weeks now. We're going to look a little bit forward and backward. [4:34] Data Privacy Day comes up on January 20th every year. All eyes turn to cyber. At RIMS, all eyes turn to Hilary because she is the cyber guru. Hilary thinks every day of the year is Data Privacy Day. [5:15] Hilary says, in the Year in Risk edition, they talked about 2025's Amazon Web Services outage, which took about 70,000 companies offline. It's a solid example of third-party risk and vendor security risks. [5:31] The economic impact of the outage was estimated to be in the billions of dollars, in terms of lost business and business interruption. Hilary said the AWS outage lasted about 16 hours. [5:53] It's a good reminder of vendor concentration risk in cloud services. The cloud services market has three major vendors; Amazon has about 30% of the market. If Amazon goes down, that's a significant number of clients who are at risk. [6:10] Hilary says insurers are not at real risk for this outage. A lot of cyber coverage has provisions for outages with waiting periods of eight to 12 hours. Your insurer might come in for the end of that situation, but most of it is on the insured. [6:38] For insurers and reinsurers, it was a pretty mild event. It's not going to cause huge changes in capacity or rates. It is a reminder that a lot of the risk is going to be on you, depending on the factors that are involved and the vendors that you pick. [6:58] There was also the Marks & Spencer ransomware incident that impacted their stores and online services. They sell about four million Great British pounds a day of products online. Their website was down for three months because of the ransomware event and recovery process. [7:29] Marks & Spencer had to go to pen and paper for in-store sales, and they operate hundreds of stores. It also caused inventory problems. It was a huge increase in waste because they didn't have ways of tracking or selling all of their inventory of food and other goods. [7:45] The cost to Marks & Spencer was estimated to be about three hundred million Great British pounds. [7:53] 2025 was a big year for cyber. Some other British retailers had some issues that have had retailers around the world taking note. [8:04] Morgan was interested in the Jaguar Land Rover case. Since Morgan was a child, he wanted a Jaguar for the hood ornament. If they're taken offline, how is Morgan ever going to get himself a Jaguar? [8:35] Hilary says, You and a lot of other customers, because they had to take all of their very automated production offline for a while. Parts and Sales were interrupted. They saw quarterly revenues drop around 24%, year-over-year, a difference of several hundred million pounds. [8:58] Morgan says it becomes a little bit the same. It doesn't mean that it's not important. It's one of those things we encounter with perpetual risks, whether it's disasters or cyber. [9:12] When they're always happening, they tend to get overlooked until some marquee event like an Amazon Web Services outage takes down a lot of people, or a company is taken offline for months and has to go back to pen and paper. That's not easy at large volumes. [9:38] The underlying current of the risks you have to deal with still needs to be a part of your day-to-day mitigation exercises. [9:59] Hilary says The more things change, the more things stay the same. [10:18] Morgan says There is a broader perspective to everything. A risk is not just going to affect you; it's going to affect people down the line who are connected to your business. A cybersecurity event that happens over here is bound to have an impact on you, in some way. [10:35] Hilary says concentration risk is an increasing issue, and dependency is an issue. We have allowed some of the market players to become so large that the impact, if anything happens to them, is astounding. [10:50] There are advantages in having a large company as your vendor, but there's also a certain amount of instability in the lack of control you have in what's going on upstream. There's a lot that can happen downstream, to you. [11:26] Hilarity may attend a Black Hat conference this year. From that, she may see what is coming several years down the pike. [12:00] Justin says that AI is omnipresent. Regarding AI, in 2025, courts ruled on Fair Use. Multiple lawsuits were filed, and major settlements were reached. One lawsuit about scrubbing user data came from violating the Terms of Use, rather than copyright infringement. [12:44] Morgan says companies that use AI or are creating an AI should be looking at the emerging liabilities and governance challenges of AI. [12:55] There were a lot of cases. Two cases discussed in the Year in Risk 2025 were about Anthropic and Meta being sued by groups of authors. The courts ruled in both cases that if the AI made substantial changes to the material, they could use it under Fair Use. [13:32] The cases weren't definitive that you have an open free-for-all. Anthropic was guilty of using pirated materials from the authors to train its AI. Anthopic settled by paying $1.5 billion to the authors. The ruling was that you can use material that you get legally, by paying for i...
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Year In Risk 2025 with Morgan O'Rourke and Hilary Tuttle
Dec 2300:40:12Tap to summarizeWelcome 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. <p dir=...
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Year In Risk 2024 with Morgan O’Rourke and Hilary Tuttle
Dec 24, 202400:48:47Tap to summarizeWelcome 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. [...
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ERMotivation with Carrie Frandsen, RIMS-CRMP
Dec 17, 202400:25:32Tap to summarizeWelcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society. In this episode, Justin interviews Carrie Frandsen, the ERM Director of the University of California and a RIMS-CRMP Commissioner. Justin and Carrie discuss all things ERM. In particular, Carrie explains the purposes of ERM, what constitutes success in an ERM Program, and how to start an effective ERM Program in your organization. Listen for ideas on fitting ERM into your organization’s daily processes and decision-making, with resources to set you on the path to ERM success. Key Takeaways: [:01] About RIMS. [:14] Public registration for RISKWORLD 2025 is now open! 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. We will be joined by Carrie Frandsen, for some ERM motivation. She is the system-wide ERM Director for the University of California and a RIMS CRMP Commissioner. [:58] The next RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep Virtual Workshop will be held on December 17th and 18th. [1:09] 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. [1:27] 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. [1:42] 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. [1:57] We’ve got ERM on our minds. On February 26th and 27th, Elise Farnham of Illumine Consulting will lead “Applying and Integrating ERM”. “Managing Data for ERM” will be hosted by Pat Saporito, starting on March 12th, 2025. [2:18] 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. [2:29] Interview! Our guest today is one of the most enthusiastic people I know on the topic of ERM! She is Carrie Frandsen, the system-wide ERM Director of the University of California. She’s also a RIMS CRMP Commissioner. [2:48] Carrie is here to talk about all things ERM. Whether you want to build a program from the start or you want to enhance an existing program, this is the mind that you want to tap into! We are thrilled that she’s here. Let’s get to it! [3:03] Carrie Frandsen, Welcome to RIMScast! [3:13] Carrie says she is a true ERM geek! With enterprise risk management you need the ability to think organization-wide. [3:25] Not just to think organization-wide but you need to be able to think about the world and how things that are changing in the world, like politics, economics, and sociological changes, impact your organization. Then you have to get other people excited about that. [3:42] You need to be able to partner with people inside your organization, like internal audit, compliance, and health and safety, all the different groups that are second-line, and help them get excited about building an enterprise-wide view of risks across the organization. [4:03] Once you’ve got your second line of defense, you can build that risk committee to democratize risks across the organization. Everybody can see the risks in their silo and how things impact each other across different units. [4:36] Carrie says the primary goal of enterprise risk management is to enhance an organization’s ability to anticipate and mitigate risks effectively while maximizing those opportunities for value creation. [4:49] ERM helps organizations make more risk-informed decisions. It helps improve resilience and removes obstacles to achieving strategic objectives. [5:06] ERM is part of the governance and management of an organization. Know what could impact you from outside the organization as well as things that are changing in your policies, procedures, and processes. Make sure those are effective to continue achieving your objectives. [5:37] ERM can provide an early warning on risks and the effectiveness of controls. When you’re using ERM in decision-making, it can help you to challenge assumptions before decisions are made. It can help you to set the frame for the decision and help you consider the alternatives. [6:02] ERM can help you ensure that appropriate actions are taken to reduce your risks. It helps the organization to learn and adapt. [6:14] Healthcare organizations do root cause analysis, a good risk assessment technique to figure out how to make negative outcomes not happen again. There are a lot of risk assessment techniques that can help you, depending on the situation your organization is working on. [6:42] Culture is how things are done. A risk-aware culture is essential for a successful ERM implementation. It fosters an environment where risk is openly discussed and employees feel comfortable in identifying and reporting potential risks without fear of repercussions. [7:08] This allows organizations to address issues proactively before they escalate. If you have a risk-aware culture, risks and risk assessments are integrated into decision-making and risk is considered at all levels of decision-making from strategic planning to operational activities. [7:29] This helps to ensure that risk is a key factor in every management decision. Employees can take ownership of risk management. [7:38] The University of California has a motto: “ERM means Everyone’s a Risk Manager.” Individuals doing their day-to-day work in their area of expertise are the ones who know best what their risks are and how to manage their risks. [7:58] Our role as risk managers is to support these employees by giving them training in ERM, and risk assessment tools, and letting them talk to other people about risks that may impact them that aren’t in their area. That distributed approach enhances the effectiveness of ERM. [8:18] A risk-aware culture promotes continuous learning where lessons from past incidents are shared and used to improve future risk management practices. [8:36] At the top level of ERM are the board and leadership. They set the tone for the organization’s risk culture. They need to understand the dynamic risk environment in which the organization operates. They need to know of rising risks so they can make good decisions. [9:06] At the day-to-day level, where the work happens, is the risk owner. That’s the person with the accountability and authority to manage that risk. [9:18] The business unit level is where risk management and control processes take place. An organization’s risk is inseparably connected to its objectives. The responsibility for managing risk can’t lie with anyone other than the person who’s responsible for achieving those objectives. [9:36] Good risk management is everybody’s responsibility. What does the Risk Manager do? The risk leader provides the infrastructure, tools, coaching, leadership, and resources. [10:08] Resources can be anything from software to workshops to all sorts of things to help people identify, manage, monitor, and report on the risks. [10:20] Risk managers can champion a risk-intelligent culture across the organization. Risk-intelligent culture is a term coined by Deloitte in a white paper. [10:46] Risk managers are the ones who champion the integration of ERM into existing policies, structures, and processes. They get the risk committees going, they make sure that the issues get escalated to leadership, and that policies, procedures, and controls are improved. [11:07] Risk Managers facilitate proactive risk thinking. They conduct risk sensing and report on emerging risks. An ERM person is a generalist. They don’t manage a particular area but check in with everybody about rising risks and report that information. They have people tracking risks. [11:55] We have a new political landscape and changes in society. There are always new health issues arising. As long as there’s somebody in an organization paying attention to conditions, the ERM person’s role is to make sure those things get considered at the leadership level. [12:19] A Risk Manager can provide a structured discipline for the consideration of risk in decision-making. They can lead risk workshops. They can make sure a risk-assessment process is built into regular management meetings. They can support risk-mitigation activities. [12:46] Risk Managers can support mechanisms to provide timely risk information to decision-makers. [12:54] Plug Time! RIMS Webinars! Hub Internationa...
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AI and Regulatory Risk Trends with Caroline Shleifer
Dec 10, 202400:31:46Tap to summarizeWelcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society. In this episode, Justin interviews Caroline Shleifer, Founder and CEO of RegASK about the RegASK report, “The 2025 State of Regulatory Affairs and Compliance Report.” Justin and Caroline discuss how regulatory affairs professionals see AI adding the most value in three key areas of their day-to-day activity: augmentation, automation, and acceleration. Caroline shares some examples of these areas of AI. The report highlights AI and ESG as areas of increasing regulation. Caroline shares how risk management professionals can best prepare for the unique challenges these emerging regulatory areas present. The report suggests that AI solutions could transform regulatory affairs work, particularly in summarizing and adapting requirements to specific organizational contexts. Caroline offers her thoughts on risk management roles evolving alongside this AI adoption in regulatory affairs. Listen for ideas on leveraging AI tech to stay current with the evolving regulatory landscape. Key Takeaways: [:01] About RIMS. [:14] Member registration for RISKWORLD 2025 is now open! General registration opens on December 4th. Visit RIMS.org/RISKWORLD. [:25] About this episode, coming to you from RIMS headquarters in New York. Our topic is AE adoption and regulatory risks with the Founder of RegASK, Caroline Shleifer. [:49] The next RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep Virtual Workshop will be held on December 17th and 18th. [1:00] 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. [1:18] 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. [1:34] RIMS Virtual Workshops! Elise Farnham of Illumine Consulting recently joined us here on RIMScast. On December 17th and 18th, she will host “Captives as an Alternate Risk Financing Technique”. [1:49] Gail Kiyomura of The ART of Risk Consulting, will host the “Fundamentals of Insurance” virtual workshop on February 19th and 20th, 2025. [2:00] This is the last week to sign up for “Managing Data for ERM”, hosted by Pat Saporito on December 12th. Registration closes on December 11th. [2:12] A link to the full schedule of virtual workshops can be found through RIMS.org/education/online-learning pages. A link is also in this episode’s show notes. [2:26] Interview! The adoption of Artificial Intelligence in an enterprise’s operations, workflows, and processes is on our members’ minds. AI presents its own unique set of regulatory risks. My guest today is here to discuss insights about AI adoption. [2:46] She is Caroline Shleifer, the CEO and Founder of RegASK, which recently released “The 2025 State of Regulatory Affairs and Compliance Report.” She is here to discuss some of the trends that she noticed from the surveys of senior executives and business leaders. [3:04] She shares her perspective on the upside potential of AI adoption and ways that risk professionals can work alongside regulatory professionals to ensure everything runs smoothly and above board. We’ve got data, trends, and perspectives to explore. [3:21] Caroline Shleifer, Welcome to RIMScast! [3:49] RegASK’s new report is “The 2025 State of Regulatory Affairs and Compliance Report.” [4:15] Caroline worked for years in the life science and consumer product industry, helping them scout innovation in ingredients and technology and helping them put it on the market. [4:47] Doing that, Caroline realized that many times there was a challenge in understanding which regulations applied or in being caught off guard by a regulation they were not aware of. Sometimes these regulations prevent businesses from launching a product as they plan. [5:28] It’s important to understand and catch up with the fast-moving regulatory environment. The challenge is understanding what applies to an organization well in advance so there are no delays or non-compliance. This is a recurring challenge for small and large companies. [6:00] Caroline looked at the technology used in the banking and finance systems to help with compliance. She wondered why not apply that technology to the consumer product and life science industry to develop a product to help the regulatory affairs team stay current. [6:35] About six years ago, Caroline founded RegASK, starting small with her clients in the consumer products and consumer health industry. She expanded it progressively to larger geographies and industry verticals. [7:06] Caroline respects risk professionals as they deal with challenges that are often overlooked by other business units. When the work is well done, no one sees it, as it seems seamless. No one sees the day-to-day work behind the scenes to prevent non-compliance. [8:02] Risk professional teams are usually understaffed. The risk of non-compliance can range from stopping a product from being imported to stopping a clinical trial or having a big financial impact. [8:45] Sometimes the compliance manager is the default risk manager and wears many hats. [9:33] When Caroline formed RegASK, she saw something like AI was coming. She didn’t see how quickly it would come. Things that took RegASK years to develop a few years ago, take less than a year to develop now. RegASK has accelerated its roadmap due to recent developments. [10:49] According to the RegASK report, 38% of regulatory affairs professionals feel at risk of non-compliance due to unawareness of specific regulations. That agrees with the feedback RegASK gets from its clients. [11:21] It’s very challenging to understand every regulation. RegASK provides the curation of regulatory information and helps pass the information to the right teams at the right moment with the right language, including what the impact and risk may be for different business units. [12:27] The report says 27% of senior executives expect regulatory risks to have the biggest impact on businesses in 2025. Everyone should be aware of these risks and be attentive to understanding the landscape and what is happening around them. [13:17] Monitor regulatory agencies. Learn where and how to collect information and who should get the information you collect. Get training for the regulatory affairs team and the broader company on how to collect, summarize, and convey this information. [14:04] The third point is to understand that now you have some technology that can help in this process. Understand what your needs are and adopt AI technology to some aspects of your workflow to solve some critical challenges you have. [14:34] Understand what your workflow is. If you digitalize a process that is not optimal, you end up with a suboptimal digitalization and outcome. Study your current process and challenge it to see how it could be improved. Understand where technology can be leveraged in your process. [15:10] RegASK helps companies to understand their workflow and how it can be improved. Caroline recommends picking the right partner to help you. Caroline notes that RegASK has been featured in a Gardner industry report on regulatory agencies and technology solutions. [16:18] Plug Time! RIMS Webinars! On Thursday, December 12th, our final RIMS Webinar of 2024 will be presented by OneTrust: “Staying Vigilant: 7 Practical Tips for Ongoing Third-Party Risk Monitoring”. [16:35] More webinars will be announced soon and added to the RIMS.org/webinars page. Go there to register. Registration is complimentary for RIMS members. [16:47] 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. [17:07] 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 Ris...
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Stacking Habits with Olympic Gold Medalist Jon Montgomery
Dec 3, 202400:44:21Tap to summarizeWelcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society. As the 2010 Winter Olympics gold medalist in men’s skeleton, Jonathan “Jon” Montgomery became a national icon, renowned for his spontaneous and exuberant celebration. Since 2013, Jon has hosted The Amazing Race Canada, captivating audiences nationwide. His career highlights include winning his first World Cup race in 2008 and earning two silver medals at the 2008 FIBT World Championships. Inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 2019, Jon continues to inspire through his passion for sport and community. Jon recently keynoted the RIMS Canada Conference 2024 in Vancouver, where he took the audience along on his journey to Olympic history. RIMScast Host Justin Smulison was in the audience and was inspired by Montgomery’s story, which revealed the parallels between risk management and sports and competition. To help close out 2024 and usher in the winter, Montgomery joined RIMScast to discuss his risk philosophies, highlighted by the ups and downs of training and competition. Justin and Jon discuss Jon’s victory at the 2010 Olympics followed by his failure to qualify for the 2014 Olympics. Jon reveals where he fell short and how he turned this failure into a life-changing habit of learning lessons from every setback. Jon comments on the differences between individual risk-taking, and risk professionals applying more risk-aware thinking. Jon talks about journaling his wins and losses in life. Jon credits his team for everything he achieves, from the Olympics to Amazing Race Canada. Jon shares how a misunderstood training program challenged him to his limit but built him up for the 2010 Olympics. Jon’s secret sauce is his curiosity and his desire to chase the best-informed guesses. Jon recommends stacking habits to make short-term goals become long-term commitments. Listen in to hear Jon’s take on the RIMS Canada Conference 2024 and what he experienced there. Key Takeaways: [:01] About RIMS. [:14] Member registration for RISKWORLD 2025 is now open! General registration opens on December 4th. Visit RIMS.org/RISKWORLD. [:25] About this episode, coming to you from RIMS headquarters in New York. We will be joined by Olympic Gold Medalist, Host of The Amazing Race Canada, and recent RIMS Canada Keynote, Jon Montgomery! [:49] The next RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep Virtual Workshop will be held on December 17th and 18th. The next RIMS-CRMP-FED Exam Course will be held from February 4th through the 6th, 2025. [1:08] Links to these courses can be found on the Certification page of RIMS.org and through this episode’s show notes. [1:15] RIMS Virtual Workshops! Elise Farnham of Illumine Consulting recently joined us here on RIMScast. On December 17th and 18th, she will host “Captives as an Alternate Risk Financing Technique”. [1:30] Gail Kiyomura of The ART of Risk Consulting, will host the “Fundamentals of Insurance” virtual workshop on February 19th and 20th, 2025. [1:41] This is the last week to sign up for “Managing Data for ERM”, hosted by Pat Saporito on December 12th. Registration closes on December 11th. [1:52] A link to the full schedule of virtual workshops can be found through RIMS.org/education/online-learning pages. A link is also in this episode’s show notes. [2:08] Interview! My guest today is one of my favorite RIMS Keynotes from 2024, the 2010 Winter Olympics Gold Medalist for Men’s Skeleton, Jon Montgomery. He’s an icon in Canada. He’s known since 2013 as the host of The Amazing Race Canada, captivating audiences. [2:27] He’s an all-around great guy. His keynote at the RIMS Canada Conference 2024 inspired me. We are catching up now to close out 2024 with a little extra inspirado! We will discuss his risk philosophies and how our listeners can apply these philosophies to their lives. [2:58] Jon Montgomery, welcome to RIMScast! [3:09] Jon Montgomery is an Olympic Gold Medalist. You may also know him as the recent host of the RIMS Canada Conference 2024. Jon is calling into the interview from his home office. Justin found Jon to be very personable after his keynote address at the conference. [3:49] Jon says his experience was awesome. The best part was connecting one-on-one with people, and putting a medal around folks’ necks. Not everybody is going to remember what you say but everybody will remember how you made them feel and a moment you shared. [4:27] Jon gets a charge out of meeting folks and finding out who they might know in common. He says in Canada if it’s more than a couple degrees of separation, one of them has been living under a rock. [5:13] Jon saw that folks at the conference were genuinely engaged and happy. The level of positivity was the connecting element from person to person. He could feel the energy. It felt like folks looked forward to these opportunities. People were familiar with one another, like family. [5:36] Jon saw that people look forward to these conferences to be among friends, as well as to learn and network. The level of familiarity was tangible. [6:26] Jon likes to assess risk, by whatever metrics he uses, and he loves to compete against the best, whatever he gets to be a part of. [6:51] Jon talks about measuring the risks of skeleton against the potential rewards. Whatever the perceived risks were, he pushed them to the side for the opportunity to represent my country, which carried much greater weight. He downplayed the risk in pursuit of that reward. [7:27] In hindsight, we might lie to ourselves on occasion about risky endeavors because of that proverbial dangling carrot. Jon would have played any sport that would have him. Skeleton had a shorter bench than the national team in hockey, or even speedskating, or downhill skiing. [7:55] When Jon first saw skeleton, he was compelled. Having tried it one time, he was hooked. He loved the experience of being on the sled. He didn’t think too much about what would happen to him but it seemed safer than hockey with all its variables, which he grew up playing. [8:33] In skeleton racing, you go down a frozen chute. There are no right angles and everything is pretty smooth. It just has a great deal of speed. Once Jon got his brain wrapped around that, he was comfortable in that arena. [8:55] Jon learned that the sport places incredible pressure on the brain. That was glossed over in the pursuit of representing Canada. Some of the athletes got concussions and had to work through them. Jon’s wife was profoundly affected by participation in skeleton racing. [9:18] Jon says they are where they are today because of that row to hoe and the dark days that followed after she left the sport and Jon retired four years later. [9:40] Could risk professionals push some risks to the side with a similar outcome or is there a different approach to apply in their roles? Jon suggests risk professionals not turn a blind eye to the outcomes. As an individual chasing a dream, there has to be some of that. [10:05] Jon says if he focuses solely on the risk, it might detract from his capacity to react and take advantage of a situation and opportunity. If you’re dwelling on what could go wrong, you’re missing things right in front of you that might swing the pendulum in the other direction. [10:32] As a risk professional, you work to mitigate that negative outcome. For what’s at stake as a risk professional, Jon would not advise turning a blind eye to outcomes. For the public, dwelling on what can go wrong will lead to some of those outcomes. What we focus on grows. [10:57] If you perpetually focus on the negative and what could go wrong, you will attract it. Focus instead on what you want to have happen. Justin and Jon discuss the law of attraction where thoughts become things. Justin watched it on streaming instead of reading the book. [12:40] Jon keeps track of his hits and misses, but he doesn’t do as much journaling as he thinks he should. When he does journal, he is proud that he wrote of his successes to be reminded of them later. He finds journaling to be a great tool to be leveraged. [13:32] Jon says nobody should expect not to experience disappointments. As a parent, Jon has had to realize that his reactions are natural, even if he would have preferred to react a different way. [13:58] The conversations that are had afterward are humanizing, when he admits not having had the patience the situation warranted. Jon talks of building conversation around expectations, realities, and disappointments, moving forward with purpose. [14:22] One of Jon’s most disappointing experiences was falling short of making the 2014 Olympic team. As the defending Olympic champion, he failed to qualify for the 2014 Games although he was stronger...
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Live from the ERM Conference in Boston!
Nov 26, 202400:25:27Tap to summarizeWelcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society. The RIMS ERM Conference 2024 in Boston featured a stellar lineup of risk thought leaders who shared their experiences applying ERM practices to align risk management with strategy and showcase the value of more risk-aware corporate cultures. At the Conference, Justin spoke with two leading ERM practitioners in different primary areas to provide a range of perspectives. In this episode of RIMScast, Justin interviews Christopher Stitt about his session, which he based on the RIMS ERM Framework and the RIMS Risk Maturity Model. Justin interviews Catrina Gilbert about her position at the DFW Airport and her career in risk management and ERM, as well as current airport initiatives. Listen in for a sample of the offerings of the RIMS ERM Conference 2024 with its record-breaking full-capacity attendance. Key Takeaways: [:01] About RIMS. [:14] Member registration for RISKWORLD 2025 is now open! General registration opens on December 4th. Visit RIMS.org/RISKWORLD. [:25] About this episode. Recorded live in Boston at the RIMS ERM Conference 2024, we have interviews with two fantastic guests! [:49] The next RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep Virtual Workshop will be held on December 17th and 18th. The next RIMS-CRMP-FED Exam Course will be hosted along with George Mason University from December 3rd through the 5th. [1:07] Links to these courses can be found on the Certification page of RIMS.org and through this episode’s show notes. [1:15] RIMS Virtual Workshops! Elise Farnham of Illumine Consulting recently joined us here on RIMScast. On December 4th and 5th, she will host “Applying and Integrating ERM”. On December 17th and 18th, she will host “Captives as an Alternate Risk Financing Technique”. [1:35] Those are just two of the workshops RIMS offers; we have lots more! Other dates for the Fall and Winter are available on the Virtual Workshops calendar, RIMS.org/virtualworkshops. [1:51] First Interview! Our first guest was a featured speaker on Day 2 of the RIMS ERM Conference 2024. His name is Christopher Stitt and he is the Founder and CEO of CrisisLead, LLC. [2:01] Chris’s session was titled “The Art and Science of High-performing Enterprise Risk Management: Bridging Silos for Sustainable Success.” We’ll speak about that session and give a high-level overview for those who could not attend. [2:18] Chris has a fascinating background that led him to risk management and ERM. His career journey is an inspiration. We recorded live on-site at the Boston Hilton Plaza. Christopher Stitt, welcome to RIMScast! [2:51] This is Chris’s first ERM Conference. He’s enjoying it and likes getting a broader perspective of how the overall ERM community operates. It’s been a fantastic opportunity to network with some amazing professionals and learn from them! [3:20] Chris talks about the session he is giving, “The Art and Science of High-performing Enterprise Risk Management: Bridging Silos for Sustainable Success.” It comes down to people. What sometimes gets missed in the ERM process is the human factor. [3:51] It’s about getting the buy-in necessary and the understanding of what risk is, not just from the senior level but across the board. A new concept, the Risk Intelligence Quotient, can help your organization understand how to look at, feel about, and interact with risk. [4:26] The Risk Intelligence Quotient, along with the human-centric aspects of the risk program, can help you build a good risk culture and ultimately, a high-performing organization that can thrive during both business-as-usual and disruption. [5:03] Chris used the RIMS ERM Framework and the RIMS Risk Maturity Model as the foundation of his session. As he studied the RIMS Risk Maturity Model, he saw it was about the journey, from starting a risk program in a new business to developing a mature program. [5:37] As a business grows and a company matures, you need to be able to go through the process and say, “We need to start documenting how this works. We need to start ingraining this into our business process.” [6:01] The RIMS Risk Maturity Model gives a great overview of how to ingrain risk management into your business process, especially in a business developing as a hierarchical organization. [6:41] Chris was a U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Security Service Special Agent for over 25 years managing integrated security risks in embassies around the world. He looked at how international risks would influence U.S. operations in a given country. [7:17] Chris was also Chief of Emergency Planning for the Department of State twice. That gave him a wide view of how risks develop and how to develop response plans to those risks. [7:40] About 2014, The Department of State set up an ERM program. Chris was at the initial meeting. Senior officials were using terms he knew but with different meanings. That led Chris to investigate further into the meaning of enterprise risk and how to integrate it. [8:24] What Chris loves is helping other people understand and build ERM programs. That’s why now, since retiring from the Department of State, Chris has moved into consulting. He sees it as a great opportunity to bridge the silos for a better understanding of what we’re trying to achieve. [8:51] Chris is excited about presenting his session where he talks not only about the risks but also how you find the opportunities in those risks. It’s about building a powerful ERM program that gets buy-in from stakeholders and imbuing ERM into your organization’s culture. [9:29] Chris, it’s been a pleasure. Thank you for joining us here on RIMScast. [9:43] Plug Time! RIMS Webinars! On November 25th, Resolver returns to discuss “The Future of Risk & Compliance: 5 Key Insights for the Modern Leader”. [9:54] On December 5th, we have “Predictive Strategies to Detect Electrical and Machinery Failures”, presented by Global Risk Consultants, a TÜV SÜD company. [10:06] On Thursday, December 12th, OneTrust returns to deliver “Staying Vigilant: 7 Practical Tips for Ongoing Third-Party Risk Monitoring”. [10:16] More webinars will be announced soon and added to the RIMS.org/webinars page. Go there to register. Registration is complimentary for RIMS members. [10:28] 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. [10:48] The 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. [11:26] You can find more information about the awards through the About Us page of RIMS.org or the link in this interview’s show notes. [11:35] Final Interview! Catrina Gilbert is a previous ERM Conference speaker. Catrina is well known in ERM in Texas and the DFW RIMS Chapter. We will talk about how ERM influences aviation and some of the risk awareness campaigns she champions at the DFW Airport. [11:56] Catrina Gilbert, welcome to RIMScast! Catrina is the Vice President of Risk Management at the DFW Airport and the Treasurer of the RIMS DFW Chapter. Justin and Catrina have known each other for a few years. [12:30] Catrina is absolutely loving the RIMS ERM Conference 2024. Boston is beautiful this time of year. The speakers, the lineup, the vendors, and the food have been amazing! Every session has been standing-room-only! The Conference is at maximum capacity. [12:54] It adds to the excitement. It is beautiful to see all these great minds from different industries, states, and countries converging on Boston! Catrina had “chowda” for the first time! [13:37] Catrina states that there is never a dull moment in aviation. Airports are growing and rebounding from the pandemic, doing all sorts of construction projects. DFW has a $9B Capital I...
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Contract Review’s Role in Risk Management
Nov 19, 202400:32:46Tap to summarizeWelcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society. In this episode, Justin interviews Andrew Bent on risk management involvement in developing requirements for contracts, the most important thing a risk professional can do before they start drafting insurance requirements, and the types of coverages and limits to include in a contract. Andrew shares his approach to reviewing contracts received from other organizations, and his pet peeves about reviewing contracts that have requests for endorsements or policy coverages that are hard to obtain or no longer exist. He shares some general tips for negotiations. Listen in for advice on win-win strategies in contract negotiations. Key Takeaways: [:01] About RIMS. [:14] Member registration for RISKWORLD 2025 is now open! General registration opens on December 4th. Visit RIMS.org/RISKWORLD. [:26] About this episode. From RIMS headquarters in New York, we will delve into the importance of contract review in risk management with our guest today, Andrew Bent. [:47] The next RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep Virtual Workshop will be held on December 17th and 18th. The next RIMS-CRMP-FED Exam Course will be hosted along with George Mason University from December 3rd through the 5th. [1:06] Links to these courses can be found on the Certification page of RIMS.org and through this episode’s show notes. [1:13] RIMS Virtual Workshops! “Risk Appetite Management” is back by popular demand. Registration closes November 19th for the session on November 20th and 21st. That session will be led by Ken Baker. [1:28] Elise Farnham of Illumine Consulting recently joined us here on RIMScast. On December 4th and 5th, she will host “Applying and Integrating ERM”. On December 17th and 18th, she will host “Captives as an Alternate Risk Financing Technique”. [1:45] Those are just three of the workshops RIMS offers; we have lots more! Other dates for the Fall and Winter are available on the Virtual Workshops calendar, RIMS.org/virtualworkshops. [1:57] Interview! Our guest today has 20 years of experience as a risk management professional and consultant and is known for the development, implementation, and optimization of ERM frameworks. He is Andrew Bent, the Senior Engagement Lead from Marsh Advisory. [2:17] Andrew is also one of the founding members of the RIMS CRMP Commission. He’s here to talk about the importance of contract review in risk management and to provide tips and strategies for effective review. [2:28] We will also discuss how contract review can even influence business relationships. Andrew Bent, welcome to RIMScast! [2:57] Andrew started in New Zealand as a chemical engineer. He compares chemical processes with risk frameworks. He then worked in risk management with the New Zealand Customs Service. [4:11] Australia and New Zealand’s governments made drastic cuts to public service about how resources were deployed. They did this with good risk management theory, the 4360 standard. [4:48] The Customs Service applied the 4360 standard to the risks of people, crafts, and goods coming across the border. They did risk assessments on many things. It was a good way for Andrew to understand how risk works and how to either mitigate risks or live with them. [5:22] There are only so many shipping containers that can get opened every day and so many people who can be evaluated every day if you don’t want to shut down your country’s entire commerce trade and flow. [5:41] Andrew stayed there for a few years. Then he moved to Canada in 2009, a financially difficult time. He loved Canada and found the people to be similar to New Zealanders. He worked in a large municipal police agency in Western Canada. [6:55] They were forward-thinking and strategic in how they thought about risk. He was able to help set up an enterprise risk management team and help accelerate the integration of strategy and risk. [7:17] For a time, Andrew was the only chemical engineer in the world who had moved to Alberta and didn’t work for an oil and gas company. So he went to work for an oil and gas company for a while. [7:27] Andrew found RISKWORLD hugely beneficial to his work. Andrew had a challenging job working beside health and safety folk. He developed a broad range of understanding of health and safety rules and regulations and helpful insights into operations and business. [7:54] Andrew then moved back into the regulatory space with one of the provincial energy regulators. Then he met his now wife, an American. They had a long-distance commuting relationship until he moved down to the U.S. and subsequently to Washington, D.C. [8:23] Along the way, Andrew had a couple of additional jobs, including cyberspace and risk management teams and risk management functions in the gig economy. [8:51] Fundamentally, Andrew has found that risk management breaks down into understanding what you are trying to do, what your inputs are, what your risks are, and managing them as much or as little as your risk appetite needs. [9:33] Andrew says contract review usually has the deepest understanding of what is and what is not insured under current programs of insurance. That helps them inform contract owners about what are and are not acceptable levels of risk they can assume in most contracts. [9:54] Contract review helps to draw out the discussions around the organization’s risk-reward balances that they want to make sure are built into contracts. They can get overlooked in the rush to get a deal done. Contract review wants to bring that balance back to the conversation. [10:27] Contract review also provides advice on some of the types of risk controls outside of insurance risk transfer that a contract owner should be thinking about, such as cyber, IT controls, data protection, health and safety, and a host of other issues. [10:49] Contract owners should be thinking about and potentially building into their contracts as part of the negotiation with the counterparty. This is a two-way negotiation. We always want to be thinking about what each party is trying to achieve out of this contract. [11:16] As risk management professionals, part of our role is to be the grownup in the room while everyone else is rushing to get the deal done. We often have to take a step back and ask if this is the right deal to be done. [11:32] If it is, what do we need to protect and what value do we bring to the organization if the deal is done? [11:52] Andrew believes the most important thing a risk professional can do before drafting insurance requirements is to talk to the person who wants the contract. Andrew rarely sees it happen but it is the single most important thing to happen before writing any requirements. [12:15] Everyone involved needs to understand the purpose of the contract. Why are we doing this? What is being proposed here? What’s the work that needs to be done? What are the services that are going to be delivered? [12:31] What are the organizational objectives to be achieved by entering this contract? Andrew shares an example from his career of how this is discussed, with a small vendor providing a critical service but who had trouble with the standard contract. Flexibility was needed. [14:46] If you understand the work or services to be provided in a contract, you’re two-thirds of the way to understanding what risks need to be covered by insurance or another way. If someone’s digging a ditch at your building, they probably don’t need to provide cyber coverage. [15:40] In cases where you have people moving between sites, you might need to include auto coverage. Workers’ compensation coverage is always something you need to think about. You don’t want to end up being on the hook if a contractor is injured working for you. [16:19] Some things may not just need to be in our insurance provisions within a contract but also into the liability or other sections of the contract. You need to see the entire contract, not just the insurance provisions within the contract. [16:48] Plug Time! RIMS Webinars! On November 21st, HUB International returns with the fourth installment of their Ready for Tomorrow series, “From AI to the SEC: The Future of D&O Litigation and Regulatory Exposures”. [17:07] On November 25th, Resolver returns to discuss <a href= "https://w...
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Wildfire Risks with Kevin Stein
Nov 12, 202400:27:07Tap to summarizeWelcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society. In this episode, Justin interviews Kevin Stein, the CEO of Delos Insurance Solutions. Kevin tells of his aerospace engineering background and how modeling led him to the insurance space. He speaks of his passion for insurance, and of co-founding Delos Insurance Solutions to fill the commercial coverage gap around California Wildfires. Kevin speaks of his optimism for the future of Wildfire control with property fire-hardening principles and new detection and deterrent technology. Listen in for advice on hardening commercial properties against wildfire risk, and how to secure coverage against this risk. Key Takeaways: [:01] About RIMS. [:15] About this episode. From RIMS headquarters in New York, our guest today is Kevin Stein, the CEO of Delos Insurance and we will discuss wildfire risk. [:39] The next RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep will be held with Purima virtually on November 14th and 15th. The next RIMS-CRMP-FED Exam Course will be hosted along with George Mason University from December 3rd through the 5th. [:58] Links to these courses can be found on the Certifications page of RIMS.org and through this episode’s show notes. [1:05] RIMS Virtual Workshops! “Risk Appetite Management” is back by popular demand. Registration closes November 19th for the session on November 20th and 21st. That session will be led by Ken Baker. [1:20] Elise Farnham of Illumine Consulting recently joined us here on RIMScast. On December 4th and 5th, she will host “Applying and Integrating ERM”. On December 17th and 18th, she will host “Captives as an Alternate Risk Financing Technique”. [1:37] Those are just three of the workshops RIMS offers; we have lots more! Other dates for the Fall and Winter are available on the Virtual Workshops calendar, RIMS.org/virtualworkshops. [1:49] This is the last call to register for the RIMS ERM Conference 2024 which will be held on November 18‒19, 2024 in Boston, Massachusetts. The agenda is live, we’ve got a great keynote, and we’ve got so many fantastic educational sessions and networking opportunities for you! [2:07] So visit the Events page of RIMS.org and register today! A link is also in this episode’s show notes. [2:14] Interview! Climate change and wildfire risks are on our minds here at RIMScast! My take is that there is no longer a wildfire season here in the U.S., it’s just wildfire year. Let’s see if our guest agrees with me, and what risk managers can do to combat and mitigate this problem. [2:39] My guest is Kevin Stein. He is the CEO of Delos Insurance Solutions and he is an aerospace engineer by training. We're going to get a fascinating perspective from him on wildfire risks and what risk professionals can do to limit their exposure. [2:56] We’re also going to talk about the trends driving wildfire reduction techniques. Let’s get to it! Kevin Stein, welcome to RIMScast! [3:21] Kevin and a Co-founder started Delos Insurance Solutions in 2017. It is a specialty MGA. They sell policies across California in areas that other insurers have vacated because of perceived wildfire exposure in those regions. [3:40] Delos Insurance Solutions is in partnership with an environment think tank made up of 100 professors, post-doc scientists, and the top wildfire researchers in the world. [99] They have co-developed the civil government models for agencies including CalFire, the Public Utilities Commission, and the U.S. Forestry Service, for 25 years. [4:04] With the think tank, Delos Insurance Solutions has developed more sophisticated wildfire underwriting internal tools and models that give a sense of a per-risk view of wildfire exposure as well as a portfolio-level view of wildfire exposure. [4:19] With that, Delos Insurance Solutions has developed a number of programs. They sell home insurance, landlord’s insurance, and vacant home insurance across California. [4:33] Kevin tells about his experience as an aerospace engineer. He did his Master’s in Aerospace Engineering at Stanford. He started on the modeling side and found his way into insurance. [4:56] Kevin finds insurance fascinating. He says that everybody in the industry understands how interesting insurance is and everybody outside the insurance industry does not. Having gone from outside the industry to inside it, Kevin says the people in the industry are correct. [5:13] Kevin says there are many different, interesting aspects of insurance and his career has been a wild ride. [5:40] Kevin says the reality of wildfire season is that wildfires can happen at any time. There need to be specific conditions for these fires to become large, destructive wildfires. Conditions need to be hot, dry, and windy and there needs to be fuel. [6:01] The seasons have been changing. In California, the wildfire seasons in 2017 and 2018 were very destructive. Historically, Northern California has a rainy season from mid-October through late March or early April. In 2017 they had sun through the end of December and rain until June. [6:43] During the Fall, Northern California has a lake effect of winds coming over the mountains out to the ocean, and it’s usually stormy. In 2017 and 2018, they had 100-degree temperatures, the vegetation had been dry for six months, and the extreme winds led to fire superstorms. [7:11] In any wildfire area, once sustained rains start, you’re in a more comfortable position. You need vegetation that’s been dried out for a while to have large fire superstorms but even in the Spring or early Summer, you can have individual or smaller fires that threaten your properties. [7:37] The antidote to smaller, individual fires is to implement property-hardening techniques on commercial properties that effectively protect structures against smaller, slower-moving fires. [8:25] Fires are spreading. The Salem, Massachusetts fires, the Eastern Canada fires, the Hawaiian fires, the fires in Oklahoma, and in San Diego show that fires can happen in a lot of geographies now that have not experienced fires before. [8:59] This has a big effect on the insurance market. Insurers and reinsurers are looking at the spread and prevalence of wildfires and getting more concerned about what that means for their average exposure and maximum exposure. [9:18] The price of re-insurance is going up significantly and the availability of re-insurance and capacity is going down significantly. [9:28] The key for folks who own properties and large buildings and who rely on risk transfer as an effective means for managing their risk, is to be more creative and find more specialty groups. [9:49] The insurance industry is morphing. The previous structure included wildfire exposure with hurricane exposure and tornado exposure. Now many of them will exclude wildfire. [10:16] Risk managers will have to find specialty groups that are underwriting wildfire exposure more effectively and capturing re-insurance capacity more effectively to provide policies for people with this exposure. [10:40] A key to understanding your fire exposure is to understand what type of fires you are potentially exposed to. There are wind-driven fire locations, moisture-driven fire locations, and vegetation-driven fire locations. [10:58] To harden your property to vegetation fires, make the area around your building either a parking lot or drought-resistant, fire-resistant landscaping. Don’t use bark or woodchips. You can have small scattered plants surrounded by concrete to avoid the risk of vegetation fire. [11:50] With wind-driven fires, your biggest risk is embers. Embers can catch a building on fire by igniting vegetation at the base of the structure, so remove all vegetation against the structure or under eaves, especially with single-story structures. [12:20] Embers can also get inside structures. Have ember-mesh screens on air intakes, such as those used by the HVAC system, and any openings in the foundation and your eaves. [13:03] Build structures out of fire-resistant materials. Shingles and siding need to be fire-resistant or fire-safe. Use double-pane windows. Single-pane windows crack in fires and embers can get in. Use ember-mesh screens. [13:59] For landscaping, make sure it is drought-resistant and fire-resistant. [13:52] Plug Time! RIMS Webinars! On November 14th, Marsh will present “Risk Perception and Management: Insights for a Changing Landscape”. [14:03] On November 21st, HUB International returns with the fourth installment of their Ready for Tomorrow series, <a href= "https://www.rims.org/education/online-learning...
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Valerie Fox, 2024 Donald M. Stuart Award Winner
Nov 5, 202400:30:44Tap to summarizeWelcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society. In this episode, Justin interviews Valerie Fox, the 2024 Donald M. Stuart Award Winner. Valerie and Justin discuss her receiving the Donald M. Stuart Award and what this recognition means to her. Valerie tells how her journey in risk management has evolved over her 42-year career. Valerie has held prominent roles across a diverse range of industries. She shares some highlights and challenges of her career. Valerie remarks on the education opportunities, taking on leadership roles, and networking, that ORIMS and RIMS provided for her that helped her develop and advance in her risk career. She shares details of a long-term international project that stretched her and that she is proud of. Valerie offers her expectations for the future of risk management and how today’s students can prepare themselves to be tomorrow’s risk leaders. Valerie hopes to continue her student outreach and offer them the knowledge to guide their paths. Listen in for advice on resilience and lifelong learning to keep up with the evolving risk management industry. Key Takeaways: [:01] About RIMS. [:15] About this episode. From RIMS headquarters in New York, I am delighted to be joined by Valerie Fox, the 2024 Donald M. Stuart Award Winner and a RIMS-CRMP holder! [:41] The next RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep will be held with PARIMA virtually on November 14th and 15th. The next RIMS-CRMP-FED Exam Course will be hosted along with George Mason University from December 3rd through the 5th. [:57] Links to these courses can be found on the Certifications page of RIMS.org and through this episode’s show notes. [1:04] RIMS Virtual Workshops! Elise Farnham of Illumine Consulting recently joined us here on RIMScast. On December 4th and 5th, she will host Applying and Integrating ERM. On December 17th and 18th, she will host Captives as an Alternate Risk Financing Technique. [1:26] Those are just two of the workshops RIMS offers; we have lots more! Other dates for the Fall and Winter are available on the Virtual Workshops calendar, RIMS.org/virtualworkshops. We’ve got more important plugs coming during the break. Now, let’s get on with the show! [1:44] Interview! The RIMS Ontario Chapter (ORIMS) presented the Donald M. Stuart Award to our guest, Valerie Fox, at the RIMS Canada Conference 2024 in Vancouver. [1:57] Valerie is a CRM holder, a RIMS-CRMP holder, and the former Director of Risk Management and Health and Safety for NPL Canada. She has since retired. [2:14] The Donald M. Stuart Award is widely recognized as Canada’s highest honor within the risk management field and since 1979, has celebrated Canadians who have made outstanding contributions to the profession. [2:28] Throughout her 42-year career, Valerie has held prominent leadership roles in risk management for a range of multinational corporations, including Walmart and Wendy’s Restaurants of Canada. [2:44] We’ll talk a bit about her career, how she sees the risk profession evolving, and why she’s so inspired by the next generation of risk management professionals. Donald M. Stuart Award Winner, Valerie Fox, welcome to RIMScast! [3:33] Valerie notes that winning the Donald M. Stuart Award was a very special moment for her. She has a tremendous respect for the history of the Donald M. Stuart Award and the professional values it represents. [4:04] When Valerie was VP of the Ontario RIMS Chapter Board in 2017, she was responsible for the oversight of this award. She enjoyed it so much that she continued to be the presenter of the award for the last seven years. This year, she stepped down from the ORIMS Board. [4:25] When Valerie stepped down from the ORIMS board, her colleagues nominated her for the award. She couldn’t be more humbled or appreciative of their recognition and support. To be recognized alongside the people she presented the award to over the years is very special. [5:02] ORIMS accepts nominations from all over the country. It’s an award for all of Canada and is overseen by the Ontario Chapter. The nomination process has two stages. [5:21] If a nomination clears the first stage, a total nomination package is submitted with further documentation. The package goes to a panel of evaluators across the country, including risk managers, people on boards, and insurance companies and brokers. [5:44] They evaluate the nominations. The person with the top collective score wins the award. They’re looking at the nominees’ history with their companies, volunteerism, and the tenets the award represents. It’s the Canadian version of RIMS Risk Manager of the Year. [6:36] Valerie’s first role as a risk manager was Manager of Contracts and Insurance. She bought insurance, handled claims, and implemented some risk control of targeted risks. [6:56] The job description of a risk manager has evolved immensely and varies greatly from entity to entity, depending on the company’s maturity, operations, experiences, losses, and more. [7:16] You could still be hired today as Manager of Contracts and Insurance but you could also be aspiring to be a Chief Risk Officer of a major, multi-national corporation with the responsibility to help them be more resilient and grow. [7:41] Valerie saw the evolution in risk management start very slowly. It has continually ramped up and now is speeding forward. [7:50] Over her career, Valerie had to be willing to delve into new challenges and be prepared to learn and develop new skills and new mitigation strategies and develop broad-based business knowledge. Without that knowledge, it’s difficult to assess potential impacts. [8:33] Different industries have different areas of risk focus. Valerie started in the airline industry. A major focus was having a major accident response plan ready. There were challenges of jurisdictional insurance requirements and risk exposures around the world. [9:11] Valerie spent five years in the public sector as a risk manager for a municipality. The focus of public entities is protecting people in public spaces, maintaining critical services, and managing reputation. It includes presenting the right answers. [9:51] Valerie worked in the retail industry in domestic and international markets. On her first day at Walmart Canada, she realized how unprepared she was to deal with health and safety and worker’s compensation management responsibilities. Those had been under HR in Canada. [10:13] Working for American companies, she had to get up to speed quickly on those areas of risk. Valerie trained herself on the job. She met with anyone she knew in the industry who was involved in health and safety. She met with people from the boards. [10:42] Valerie spent a lot of time in the stores with the associates to see what their concerns were. She spent time with operations leaders, seeing the processes first-hand to understand the risks and put together programs that fit the culture and the environment of the companies. [11:26] Valerie says retailers today need to do a deep-dive business impact analysis, map out dependencies and processes, and have alternative options to avoid business interruption. As a risk manager, you have to understand that to help businesses come up with the right solutions. [11:55] Valerie reviews a case of having to train people quickly after a buyout. [12:52] Valerie talks about working with a new inexperienced team that she had to take under her wing and teach risk management quickly. In large corporations, you also build company-wide teams and external teams that help you. [13:17] Valerie taught CRM courses at the University of Toronto. Later, she had the pleasure of hiring one of her most enthusiastic students for a risk management position. He now works for another company she is close to and he is doing super well. [13:48] Plug Time! RIMS Webinars! On November 14th, Marsh will present “Risk Perception and Management: Insights for a Changing Landscape”. [13:58] On November 21st, HUB International returns with the fourth installment of their Ready for Tomorrow series, “From AI to the SEC: The Future of D&O Litigation and Regulatory Exposures”. [14:13] On November 25th, Resolver returns to discuss “The Future of Risk & Compliance: 5 Key Insights for the...
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