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ADVANCING RISK MANAGEMENT. SERVING RISK PROFESSIONALS.
On Capitol Hill, in the media, in the classroom, at the Annual Conference and in the offices of risk professionals around the world, in 2004 RIMS delivered testimony, information, education, programs and services in support of its mission to advance the professional discipline of risk management that protects physical, financial and human resources. RIMS achieved its goals with the following activities:
GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS2004 Goal: Advance the interests of risk managers through lobbying and advocacy at federal, state and regulatory levels. From tort reform to Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA), contingency fees to the SMART Act, RIMS has played a critical, proactive role in promoting the issues that affect RIMS members.
Broker Contingency Fees
As the contingency fee investigations came to the forefront last year, RIMS pursued a variety of avenues to ensure that the voice of the risk manager would be heard on this important issue. RIMS Statement on Contingency Fees was released to the public in August. On November 16, 2004, RIMS Vice President for External Affairs Janice Ochenkowski testified before the Senate Subcommittee on Financial Management during a hearing focused on insurance brokerage practices including potential conflicts of interest and the adequacy of the current regulatory framework. RIMS was invited to appear alongside New York Attorney General Spitzer, Connecticut Attorney General Blumenthal, California Insurance Commissioner Garamendi, and many industry groups.
New York and Masachusetts Attorneys GeneralOn the state level, RIMS officials met with New York Insurance Superintendent Greg Serio and with the office of Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly to respond to inquiries regarding contingency fees. In December, RIMS Vice President for External Affairs Janice Ochenkowski traveled to Boston to meet with representatives from Massachusetts Attorney General Reilly’s office. This meeting was called to discuss the contingency fee issue from the risk manager’s perspective.
National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC)
In December, 2004, RIMS focused its attention on model legislation introduced by the NAIC on broker contingency fees. RIMS External Affairs Committee members dissected the proposed legislation and compiled comments that were submitted to the NAIC during a public hearing at its winter meeting in New Orleans.
TRIA
With TRIA set to expire on December 31, 2005, policyholders, brokers and insurance companies are being affected by the possibility that no federal backstop will exist to protect against exposure to terrorism risk. The Society continues to work on securing the passage of legislation that would extend the TRIA program for an additional two years through extensive lobbying and grassroots efforts.
RIMS on the HillThe Society also provided members with the opportunity to meet with House and Senate officials at RIMS on the Hill, March 10-11 in Washington, DC. With 45 risk managers in attendance, this premier legislative meeting raised RIMS’ profile nationally as RIMS members met face-to-face with congressional decision makers and had a direct impact on legislation such as class action reform, medical malpractice liability reform and asbestos litigation reform.
MEMBERSHIP AND CHAPTER SERVICES
2004 Goal: Attract new members and retain existing ones by enhancing the value of RIMS membership
RIMS is dedicated to supporting risk professionals at individual, organizational, national and international levels. Consequently, RIMS membership increased almost 5% over the year prior, RIMS closed the year serving 8,920 individuals in 2004, the highest membership number in RIMS history.
Membership growth was achieved through development of relationships with risk professionals and risk management associations around the world. In addition to meeting members at regional conferences throughout North America, RIMS leadership represented the Society at the AIRMIC Conference in Manchester, England; the ALARYS Conference in Bermuda; the RMIA Conference in Hobart, Tasmania; the ARM-J Conferences in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan; and met with AMRAE’s executives in Paris.
RIMS also added new programs created to increase the value of RIMS membership. Well received were Affinity Programs, in partnership with Working Advantage and BarnesandNoble.com, which offer RIMS members discounts on entertainment, books, theater and events, shopping and gifts. RIMS members also received quarterly Intellectual Capital Reports on relevant risk management topics.Development and support of the 81 RIMS Chapters, including the new Mexico chapter, were also key interests. RIMS continued the initiative to educate chapters on available resources developed and maintained successful programs, such as the RIMS Personal Exchange of Risk Knowledge (PERK) Program, Chapter President Calling Plan, the bi-monthly Chapter Tip E-mails, the online Chapter Tip Sheet, and the Chapter Web Site Tutorials.
New chapter resources were created; including new handbooks for Chapter Officers, Volunteer Management, Membership Directors and Chapter Formation, and a new Chapter Services Plan was designed to better serve RIMS chapters by determining their needs and goals.
CONFERENCES2004 Goal: Develop new initiatives to make attendance valuable to risk managers and encourage support from exhibitors and partners
True to its long-standing reputation as the premier event in the risk and insurance management industry, the RIMS 2004 Annual Conference and Exhibition in San Diego offered attendees the latest educational sessions, abundant networking opportunities with peers from around the world and an exhibit hall with products and services created to reduce risks to people, property, and assets.
The conference in San Diego was celebrated by the Society as well as its members as a true success. The exhibition included 459 companies and 1,040 booths, with a total of 4,931 attendees, an 11% increase over 2003. General session speaker James J. Schiro, CEO, RIMS members also had the opportunity to experience the first RIMS symposium outside North America, held in London, England. Entitled “Risk Management and the London Market,†the symposium provided an interactive forum for North American risk managers interested in learning about insurance and reinsurance solutions afforded by the London market.
TECHNOLOGY
2004 Goal: Use the powerful RIMS technology capabilities to provide membership services, streamline operations and update Web site
The Society and its members continue to build on, and benefit from, its investment into the RIMS Web site, www.RIMS.org. These benefits are not only financial but include process efficiencies. With a new design, streamlined organizational structure and innovative features launched in 2004, the RIMS Web site averaged 53,000 visitors per month.
New Web site features developed in 2004 include a re-engineered Conference Program Suggestion Form process that offers a more streamlined approach to the end-user, as well as new chapter tools that allow officers to search the RIMS database and add or remove member and non-member names to their chapter roster. The online member application has gone through several iterations, to improve both RIMS and chapter response times to new member inquiries. A demographics tool has been added to the chapter websites, allowing chapter to measure and record activity. A new registration management system has been developed, allowing staff to offer more timely and accurate reporting for both the Annual Conference and professional development. The web server operating system has undergone a major upgrade this year, improving the overall performance of the site. An entire hospitality management system has also been built, to more effectively manage room and hospitality allocations.
The Technology Advisory Council (TAC) has also been instrumental in providing feedback and input on various projects throughout the year, such as technology upgrades that allowed RIMS to improve overall network and server performance, improve backup results and most importantly, maintain a high level of security around RIMS data.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT/EDUCATION
2004 Goal: Focus on organizing, implementing and promoting RIMS Fellow workshops and professional development courses
It has been an outstanding year for education at RIMS, as the Society continues to offer top quality education to members with new types of educational offerings such as symposiums and online courses. Registrations in RIMS Fellow workshops and professional development courses were at an all-time high, as the risk management community recognized the value of RIMS professional development programs. Attendance at RIMS professional development courses increased 22% over the same period last year, from 500 registrants in 2003 to 655 registrants in 2004. These educational events are held throughout the The RIMS Fellow program had a full cadre of 12 RIMS Fellow workshops. The Society focused on increasing accessibility of courses needed to achieve the designation by providing a blended learning approach that combined in-class workshops with online courses, and by implementing the workshops in conjunction with RIMS Regional Conferences, the RIMS Canada Conference and the RIMS Annual Conference.
A central theme for our industry in the past year has been the increasing importance of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM). In October 2004, senior risk managers had the opportunity to share their ERM programs and the lessons learned at a successful ERM Forum held in the RIMS Office in New York. RIMS also created an ERM Task Force that will create a report to provide the basis for RIMS strategic direction on ERM.While helping practicing risk managers grow in their fields, the Society also invests in the education of future risk professionals. Since 1978, RIMS has provided funding for students to attend its annual conference under the Anita Benedetti Student Involvement Program (ABSIP). In 2004, RIMS sponsored 30 ABSIP scholars to attend RIMS Annual Conference & Exhibition in San Diego.
PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
2004 Goal: Develop competitive tools that directly respond to the growth and advancement needs of the risk management community
Benchmark SurveyRIMS has partnered with Advisen Ltd. to provide risk management executives with a tool to record current risk financing programs, compare against previous programs and convert data into real-time benchmarking graphs and policy charts. In 2004, RIMS and Advisen Ltd. continued to add value to the online survey and produced the 2003 RIMS Benchmark SurveyTM book.
Compensation Survey
RIMS partnered with Mercer Human Resources Consulting, a leading compensation data provider, to develop and produce the 2004 RIMS/Mercer Risk Management Compensation Survey. The survey supplied RIMS members with exclusive risk management compensation data on nine risk management positions.
RIMS QIP Underwriter and Risk Manager Partnership ToolAdded in 2004, the RIMS QIP Underwriter and Risk Manager Partnership Tool, a part of the RIMS Quality Improvement Process, is a practical tool that risk professionals and underwriters can use to improve quality in the industry by developing performance expectations agreements and determining the degree to which agreed-upon metrics are met during the course of the partnership.
MEDIA RELATIONS
2004 Goal: Raise the profile of risk management in trade and mainstream media
The voice of RIMS continued to expand its reach throughout industry and general interest press in 2004, as the Society was featured in the media over 600 times. In a continuing effort to raise the profile of the risk management profession, contact with industry and general publications was strengthened through strategic relationships with key reporters from leading mainstream media, such as the Financial Times, New York Post, New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer and Wall Street Journal.
Coverage from industry publications included Best Week, Business Finance, Business Insurance, Canadian Underwriter, Canadian Insurance, Captive & ART Review, Claims, Enterprise Risk, Insurance International, Crain’s New York Business, Global Reinsurance, Insurance Advocate, Insurance Day, Insurance Networking News, National Underwriter, Reinsurance Magazine, San Diego/Seattle/Louisville/Las Vegas Business Journals and Risk and Insurance, among others.
RISK MANAGEMENT MAGAZINE2004 Goal: Provide readership with compelling content that combines a risk management focus with a general interest appeal
In 2004, Risk Management Magazine consistently produced top-quality content that addressed the industry information needs of risk managers, which in turn helped drive readership and advertising. In an effort to forge a stronger brand recognition between the magazine and RIMS, the April 2004 issue tied itself directly into the RIMS conference, a first for the magazine.
The magazine’s August cover story, "Ready or Not: Terrorism and the Olympics" was publicized nationwide, garnering much press from major newspapers such as the Boston Globe, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. The publicity push also resulted in two live radio interviews on National Public Radio and KNX NewsRadio in
Risk Management Magazine increased its visibility among potential new subscribers, advertisers and prospects by exhibiting at the World Insurance Forum in Bermuda in June and the Vermont Captive Conference in
GOVERNANCE
2004 Goal: Create and approve new governance structure in keeping with current corporate governance practices
In 2004, under the leadership of RIMS president Nancy L. Chambers, the House of Delegates shaped and approved a new governance structure. By consolidating the Board of Directors and Executive Council in 2005, the new governance structure will provide for a more effective Board of Directors and additional resources to the varied portfolios, which include Membership, Professional Development, Communications & Technology and External Affairs.
Preparation for EC and BOD Consolidation
The number one objective was to have a smooth transition as RIMS amalgamated the Executive Council and Board of Directors. In October, 2004, a joint planning session was held to discuss plans for the transition, and to brainstorm RIMS vision for the future.
