10 Sessions We’re Looking Forward to at RIMS 2023
RISKWORLD 2023 is a little more than a week away, and we’re so excited to bring our team to Atlanta for some world-class networking, education, and community time. Our booth has already been delivered (so we won’t have a repeat of last year’s fiasco), our travel plans are made, and this week we’re checking out the conference schedule and choosing the sessions that look the most interesting. Here are 10 sessions that we’re excited to try to catch — including one with our former Customer Success Director, Michelle Bennett. Which ones are at the top of your list?
Monday May 1
10am - The Future of the Insurance Industry
Featuring Mike Chang, Head of Corporate Risk and Broking, North America at WTW
As the insurance industry emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, an uncertain macroeconomic and geopolitical landscape awaits with disruptive data and technology-use underpinnings. Is your organization positioned to find creative ways to manage complex and catastrophic risks and optimize insurance costs? Discuss the importance of innovation, specialization and new ways of thinking in order to hedge risk.
11am - Coffee Chat: Understanding Dimensions of Diversity (Visible and Nonvisible)
Featuring Robert Cartwright, Jr., Retired RIMS Member
Supercharge Your Talent Strategy
· What is the value in having visible and nonvisible diverse people on our team?
· How successful have we been in bringing in and integrating both kinds of talent? What’s been your personal experience?
· How do we practice more inclusion versus kindness? What’s the difference?
12pm - State of the RMIS and RiskTech Market: Insights from the 2023 RMIS Report
Featuring Patrck O'Neill, Founder & President of Redhand Advisors
The rapid development of technology and innovation simultaneously generates risks and the key to managing them. Is your organization leveraging evolved risk management information systems (RMIS) and broader RiskTech solutions to manage these risk effectively? Find out how other risk professionals are responding. Get a comprehensive analysis of the RMIS and RiskTech marketplaces, including market trends, customer dynamics and the competitive landscape. Focus on the outlook for risk technology in 2023 and gaze beyond to prepare for the future.
2:45pm - Climate Change and Catastrophic Property Loss: From Risk to Resilience
Featuring Jim Harrington, Executive Vice President, U.S. Property Claims Officer at Aon and Christian Heinisch, Director, Insurance & Risk Management at the FMC Corporation
Get an overview of the changing nature of property risk and loss. Determine the role of climate-enhanced risk amidst the increasing frequency and severity of catastrophic property losses. See how climate-related losses impact the property insurance protection gap. Seek out opportunities to protect against catastrophic loss by enhancing your organization’s resilience.
Learning Objectives:
Decipher the data on the changing nature of catastrophic property risk and the role of climate change.
Distinguish when property insurance succeeds—and fails—regarding climate-related risk transfer and the protection gap.
Outline steps for property owners and insurance companies to protect property against climate-enhanced risk.
3:30pm - Succeeding Within a Risk-Averse Culture
Featuring Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS
Kirk Andersen, RIMS-CRMP is the risk manager for Hitachi Astemo. A native-born American, he has practiced risk in Japan for several years in various capacities. He will delve into his career experience working in companies and a country that is historically risk-averse and his strategies for meeting his Japanese counterparts halfway when it comes to risk.
Tuesday May 2
9:30am - Embracing "Yes, And" in Leadership
Featuring Mandi Bedbury, Founder / Facilitator of Bedbury Consulting
Join an interactive session to learn how the first rule of improvisational comedy can improve your ability to lead. The concept of "yes, and" can be tremendously effective in the corporate, business and leadership settings. With unique exercises based on this philosophy, build a quick-thinking, confident and growth mindset in a fun, experiential and informative way. Learn how you can say "yes" to accept the contributions added by others in your team, followed by "and" to build onto the narrative put forth and create effective brainstorming and a stronger team.
Learning Objectives:
Increase the effectiveness of your active listening skills.
Employ a collaborative model for your approach to team leadership.
Practice ease and confidence in the face of the unknown by thinking on your feet and tapping into emotional intelligence.
1:30pm - How to Walk Away from Your Property Renewal Feeling Peachy
Featuring Sharon Pisko Wolfe, Partner, Co-Founder, CPA at RWH Myers; Phil Ernst, Vice President, Client Solutions at Paragon Risk Consultants; Walter Becker, Vice President Risk Management at PVH Corp; Crystal Flack, Vice President, Real Estate and Hospitality Practice at McGriff; Peter Halprin, Partner at Pasich LLP
The property markets are as firm as a freshly picked peach. Decipher ways to soften these markets to maximize the outcomes of your next property renewal. Look at the issue from different perspectives to find strategies for improving outcomes. Hear about the market, the challenge it presents and proven strategies for improving the renewal process. Learn about policy wording improvements from the perspective of an insurance coverage lawyer. Familiarize yourself with strategies to better protect your organization’s physical assets and the reasons underwriters seek them. Gain insights from a forensic accountant into the benefits of accurate business interruption values. Take part in this interactive discussion through polling, live surveys and direct questions. This session is hosted by RIMS Dallas Fort Worth Chapter.
Learning Objectives:
Link minor policy wording edits to their significant impact on performance.
Adopt property engineering strategies that effectively mitigate losses and look good to underwriters.
Assess easier and more accurate reporting of business interruption values.
1:30pm - Pivotal Career Moments: A Guide for the Next Generation of Risk and Insurance Management Professionals
Featuring Tandeka Nomvete, Director, External Engagement at Spencer Educational Foundation; Chris Sullivan, 3M; Allen Kwan, Head Customer & Distribution Management, North America at Swiss Re Corporate Solutions; Megan Miller, Executive Director of the Spencer Educational Foundation at Spencer Educational Foundation
Most pivotal moments in your career will be fleeting. Follow three industry leaders who started on the same team but seized different opportunities to end up at three different career destinations. Each of them recognized a chance to successfully navigate their careers toward a desired direction: a risk manager for a Fortune 500 company; a leader of the industry’s premier nonprofit organization; and a leader for the team where the journey began on the carrier side. Share in their insights into how you can effectively take control of your career by anticipating key moments and revealing new career opportunities. Learn how to make imperative decisions that will change the trajectory of your career. This session is hosted by Spencer Educational Foundation.
Learning Objectives:
Prepare to identify pivotal career opportunities and effectively navigate such moments.
Devise effective approaches to building the career that you desire within the risk management and insurance industry.
Isolate the tangible actions that young professionals can take now to improve the trajectory of their careers.
Wednesday May 3
9:30am - Inclusive Mentoring 101
Featuring Victoria Dinh, Director of Risk Management at Anschutz Entertainment Group, Inc.; Aliyah Abdullah, Risk Management Coordinator at University of Hartford; Tara Lessard-Webb, Director | Corporate Governance | Specialty Solutions at Intact Insurance; Cameron Alford, Manager, Insurance at CSL
What will mentorship look like for the next generation of risk management and insurance professionals? Seek out ways you can help actively promote a more diverse and inclusive risk management community through different aspects of mentorship. Debate what the risk management community can do to create accessible, effective, and inclusive mentorship pathways for the next generation. Explore what it means to show up as a mentor in an unprecedented workplace environment where professionals are reassessing expectations of what they want out of their careers. This session is hosted by RIMS Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Council.
Learning Objectives:
Follow the new pathways in the mentor/mentee relationship affected by remote workplace models and student expectations.
Consider what the mentor can learn from the mentee.
Recognize where risk professionals can engage in mentorships, including the potential for RIMS program development.
10:45am - Storytelling for Risk Management Professionals
Featuring Michelle Bennett, Director, Insurance Risk at Goodwill of Central and Northern AZ; Scott Ritto, Vice President, Risk Management at Kilroy Realty Corporation
Risk professionals can often be seen as just the insurance buyers, even when they have the potential to offer insight with high quality risk data. To underscore your strategic value beyond that function, take a look at the bigger picture and cultivate storytelling skills to communicate that broader view. Hear from a veteran risk professional about how to develop communication methods, increase the impact of the data you present and build organizational leadership. In a data-rich industry, be ready to share the story of your data with skills like empathy, self-awareness, trust building, tactfully delivering bad news and responding to pushback without getting defensive. This session is hosted by RIMS Los Angeles Chapter.
Learning Objectives:
· Practice storytelling skills that effectively communicate data, trends and strategies.
· Employ tips for building crossfunctional relationships.
· Step into a results-oriented mindset, which can drive success even in challenging economic conditions.