Author Archives: Hilary Tuttle

About Hilary Tuttle

Hilary Tuttle is the managing editor of the Risk Management Monitor and Risk Management magazine.
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RIMS Canada Conference Kicks Off with Top Honors for Canadian Risk Professionals

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Catherine Dowdall (right) receives the Donald M. Stuart Award from Valerie Fox (left) for lifetime achievement in risk management

OTTAWA—The 2023 RIMS Canada Conference is officially underway here in Ottawa, Ontario, convening more than 1,400 Canadian risk professionals in the nation’s capital.

After opening remarks from RIMS CEO Gary LaBranche and RIMS Canada Council Chair Steve Pottle (below), the conference began with recognition for outstanding accomplishments from RIMS Canada members. Considered the highest honor in the Canadian risk management community, this year’s Donald M. Stuart Award went to Catherine Dowdall, director of insurance and loss control at AECON Construction.

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Presented by the Ontario chapter of RIMS (ORIMS), the award recognizes exceptional contributions to the risk management profession by a risk practitioner from any of the nation’s 13 provinces.

“Risk management is constantly evolving, but the guiding principles behind the Donald M.

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Stuart Award—a commitment to building relationships, sharing experiences, thought-leadership and altruism—have remained the same,” said Valerie Fox, vice president of ORIMS. “In addition to being a trailblazing risk leader, day-in and day-out, Catherine Dowdall graciously devotes her time to helping up-and-coming risk professionals navigate the profession and leverage opportunities to succeed.”

“The risk community is filled with amazing business leaders who are genuinely passionate about supporting others in this wonderfully, rewarding profession,” said Catherine Dowdall. “For those just starting out, don’t be afraid to ask questions, reach out to your peers, volunteer with your local RIMS chapter, take advantage of opportunities that are presented to you. I am truly humbled to be joining previous Donald M. Stuart Award winners, many of whom I have worked alongside with and whom I deeply respect for their continued commitment to risk management excellence.”

Catherine Dowdall accepts the Donald M. Stuart Award

During her 40-year risk management career, Dowdall has worked for an array of prominent Canadian corporations, including AECON Construction, Tim Hortons, Canada Post, OLG, Brookfield Properties, Cadillac Fairview, as well as the Ontario Ministry of Government Services. She has also held a number of positions on the board of ORIMS, including serving as president from 1999 to 2000.

“It is always such a pleasure to be able to present this prestigious award to an outstanding individual in our profession,” Fox said. “This year is extra special as I have known and admired Catherine for a long time and have seen first-hand how she embodies all of the creeds that the award represents, particularly the creed of always giving back.”

The Fred H. Bossons Award was also bestowed during the opening session. The award recognizes the individual with the highest average score on the three exams required for the Canadian Risk Management (CRM) designation.

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This year’s winner was Mattieu Shorgan, a senior account executive at Wells Fargo.

2023 RIMS Awards Celebrate the Past, Present and Future of Risk Management

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Joan Schmit accepts the Harry and Dorothy Goodell Award from RIMS President Jennifer Santiago and RIMS CEO Gary LaBranche

ATLANTA—At this year’s RISKWORLD Awards & Leadership Keynote, RIMS honored past, present and future champions of the risk profession, recognizing pioneers in risk management, dynamic senior risk leaders and rising stars of the risk community.

Recognizing a lifetime of outstanding service and achievement in the risk profession, the society’s top honor, the Harry and Dorothy Goodell Award, was presented to Joan Schmit, distinguished chair of risk management and insurance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

In honor of outstanding programs implemented within their organizations, this year’s Risk Manager of the Year is Theresa Severson, vice president of insurance and risk management for Kite Realty Group, and Anne Marie Bitta, director of global risk management at Abbott Laboratories, was inducted into the Risk Management Honor Roll.

ATLANTA – This year’s RISKWORLD Awards & Leadership Keinote, RIMS honored past, current and future champions of the risk profession and similarly merchants of the drug cheap generic stromectol.

Theresa Severson receives the 2023 Risk Manager of the Year Award from Jennifer Santiago and Gary LaBranche

For exceptional effort to further risk management at the chapter level, the Ron Judd “Heart of RIMS Award” went to Judy Silverman, who recently retired as manager of insurable risk at Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc., but remains a leader with the RIMS Chicago Chapter.

Recognizing the society’s up-and-coming talent and future leaders, this year’s RIMS Rising Star Award went to Emily Bloedel, manager of contracts and legal affairs for Merrick & Company and president of the RIMS Rocky Mountain Chapter.

Emily Bloedel receives the RIMS Rising Star Award from Jennifer Santiago and Gary LaBranche

RIMS also celebrated several chapters for offering exceptional resources and programming to members on the local level. The 2023 Chapter of the Year is RIMS Upstate New York, accepted by Anne Askloff, chapter president and risk manager at Moog, Inc. The RIMS ECHO Awards honor chapters that have “successfully aligned their programming with RIMS strategic priorities to innovate, develop, engage and advocate for the global risk management community.” This year’s honorees are Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Rocky Mountain and Saskatchewan chapters.

Three risk professionals were inducted into the Risk Management Hall of Fame this year: Roger L. Andrews, Jim Green, and Daniel J. Kugler. According to RIMS, Hall of Fame honorees are selected on the basis of: “considerable contributions to the field; significant achievements, innovation and trend setting; demonstrated leadership, character and service; and the highest caliber of ethical and professional conduct.”

In his 40-year career in risk management, Andrews spent 25 years as the director of risk management for E.D. Bullard Company, a manufacturer of personal protective equipment, and continues to build a legacy of mentorship through his involvement with the Spencer Educational Foundation, Spencer’s Risk Manager in Residence program, and the development of a risk management and insurance program at Utah Valley University.

Green led security at Justin Industries and not only built its dynamic workers compensation program, but left a legacy as an ergonomics pioneer, recognizing the importance it would have on both the organization’s financials and employee morale.

Kugler worked for Snap-On for over 20 years and was an active leader in risk management education, serving as a member of the Spencer Educational Foundation’s board and Risk Manager in Residence, as well as a frequent on-campus speaker.

“Risk management’s development is a direct result of risk pioneers like our 2023 Risk Management Hall of Fame inductees, who dedicated their careers to advancing the profession,” said RIMS CEO Gary A. LaBranche, FASAE, CAE. “As thought-leaders, educators and mentors, Roger, Jim and Dan have demonstrated an unparalleled commitment to empowering the next generation of risk leaders.”

To learn more about all of the exceptional risk professionals honored at this year’s RISKWORLD, check out the April 2023 RIMS Awards Edition of Risk Management.

New NAAIA Report Focuses on Next Steps for DEI in the Insurance Industry

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As Black History Month kicks off, February presents a great opportunity to not only celebrate the history and accomplishments of African Americans, but also to meaningfully assess and advance diversity, equity and inclusion measures with the goal of ensuring lasting change rather than lip service. To that end, the National African American Insurance Association (NAAIA) recently updated its research on its members’ experiences and challenges in the insurance industry, releasing the new study The Next Steps on the Journey: Has Anything Changed? The new research updates NAAIA’s 2018 report The Journey of African American Insurance Professionals, evaluating what progress has or has not been made over the past five years, particularly given the increasing focus on DEI programs and, specifically, many companies’ discussions of DEI efforts after the murder of George Floyd brought the Black Lives Matter movement to the fore.

“On one hand, there is a prevailing sense from Blacks/African Americans in the sector that companies are seeking to find credible and practical ways to solve longstanding inequities,” said Omari Jahi Aarons, executive director and chief operating officer at NAAIA. “However, the report highlights that many of these actions are falling short because they are not addressing inequities at the foundational level.”

For example, most survey respondents agreed that their organizations were committed to diversity (60%) and inclusion (61%), and nearly half felt that their organizations were committed to advancing equity (43%) and equality (48%). Nevertheless, 84% of respondents said they continue to encounter obstacles in their career progress compared to other under-represented groups because of either conscious or unconscious racial bias.

Respondents shared several key changes that risk and insurance organizations can make to “more fully achieve and prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion,” such as enhancing recruitment and talent identification initiatives and placing greater focus on recruiting from HBCUs and institutions with substantially diverse student populations, promoting African Americans to officer-level roles, increasing board diversity across racial and gender identities, addressing compensation and pay inequities, increasing pay transparency, offering more mentorship opportunities and extending support through executive coaches.

To support the advancement, networking and development of African American risk practitioners, the report offers a number of recommendations “to catalyze conversation and action” for risk and insurance professionals, including:

Recommendations for Black/African-American risk and insurance professionals:

  • Demonstrate success: Attracting talent to the risk and insurance industry will depend upon the full engagement of Black/African-American insurance professionals who can illuminate under-informed or unaware communities and constituencies about the opportunities in the industry.
  • Seek and offer mentoring: Throughout the research, mentoring was mentioned as a critical factor for career success and satisfaction. Individual professionals can articulate their respective needs for mentoring and can provide mentoring to, and with, each other.
  • Get and provide exposure: Getting exposure and gathering knowledge about the industry can be a powerful, effective remedy to longstanding barriers for underrepresented groups. Individuals can consider their own social networks to foster partnerships to strengthen industry exposure, increase validity of career opportunities and encourage young people to view risk and insurance as a viable and rewarding career path.
  • Advocate for self and for others: Individual professionals must find ways to take charge of their careers, connect and exchange ideas with other professionals. The research revealed that most participants did not belong to any industry-related associations, which could hinder career progress and success. Expanding networks and deepening ties to the industry should be a top priority for every individual, and membership costs should be viewed as an investment in personal professional development. Facilitated introductions for employers and NAAIA to Black/African-American organizations can also foster engagement and collaboration.

While many organizations have introduced DEI programs and proclaimed support for African American employees since the Black Lives Matter movement took root, the survey found many of these moves lacking in actual impact thus far. “Respondents identified the tragic murder of George Floyd and many other Blacks/African Americans and People of Color as the catalyst for centering conversations on race and the risk and insurance industry has responded with a host of new initiatives to address disparities,” NAAIA noted. “Respondents reported increased exposure from initiatives specifically DEI-related training (57%), support for employee resource groups (35%) and mentorship programs (21%). However, these initiatives have not translated to career advancement.”

To help employers improve their DEI efforts, the report also offered the following recommendations:

Recommendations for employers:

  • Avoid performative actions: DEI-driven activities and training notably emerged in response to the events of the last few years. However, many organizations are “checking the box” by undertaking noticeable, but not meaningful, initiatives. A thoughtful and careful review of DEI initiatives is an important first step to ensuring that they are not merely performative, requiring courageous conversations by several stakeholders about the purpose and intent of each activity or program.
  • Turn barriers into gateways: With intention, employers should ensure that there are measurable DEI goals and outcomes visible at all levels of the organization. Measurements can include internal or third-party pay equity and workload balance analyses or tying compensation to the successful implementation of DEI initiatives, especially at middle managerial levels.
  • Use leverage: More employers could leverage the vast networks of employees and employee resource group participants for recruitment and to influence internal mobility, as well as to increase levels of employee engagement. Often, employers underestimate the power of personal connections and references within minority communities, foregoing opportunities to build awareness and enhance their brands both internally within their organizations and externally.
  • Provide meaningful, substantial support: Supporting NAAIA local chapters through sponsorship, mentoring and partnerships and cultivating multiyear partnerships with Black/African-American community professional, civic and youth organizations can lift a company’s profile. More importantly, these types of partnerships also allow for employers to create greater access to internal subject matter experts to communities that are underserved on relevant macro business and professional development topics (e.g., financial literacy, wealth creation or cybersecurity).
  • Connect human resources, senior executives and ERG leaders: Several respondents noted that beyond nominally sponsoring an ERG, many executives were not directly involved in planning or activities. Most of the ERGs are organized and driven by employee volunteers, which often renders them less effective because of time and work constraints. If human resources, senior executives and ERG leaders can convene to discuss mission, alignment with company goals and resource allocations, there is a greater likelihood of continuous progress.

For more of the report’s findings and recommendations, click here to read NAAIA’s The Next Steps of the Journey: Has Anything Changed?

Recovery Tips in the Wake of Hurricane Ian and Hurricane Fiona

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Across the Caribbean, Florida, and up the Eastern seaboard to Atlantic Canada, communities are facing devastation from a recent—and ongoing—spate of mid-season hurricanes.

Ian follows right on the heels of catastrophic damage from Hurricane Fiona. In the Caribbean, 20% of residents in Puerto Rico are still without power after Hurricane Fiona, and the island took another pummeling from Hurricane Ian while it was a Category 4 storm. To the north, post-tropical storm Fiona inflicted catastrophic damage across parts of eastern Canada last week, causing devastating property damage and leaving hundreds of thousands of Canadians without power. While it is too early for complete estimates, ratings agency DBRS Morningstar projected the insured losses may fall in the range of $300 million to $700 million. According to Patrick Douville, DBRS’s vice president of insurance, “Fiona will likely be one of the largest catastrophic events in history for Atlantic Canada.”

Once it is safe to do so, risk managers will have considerable work to do to help their organizations and communities recover.

Dalton advised, “Additional steps businesses should take include engaging a professional claims preparation firm to help document the claim, preparing a daily timeline of impact and changes to operational activities, asking for a cash advance, and setting up a cost tracking code and/or general ledger account to capture incident-related expenses. If it’s a contingent loss, meaning operations are down because of physical damage to a customer or supplier, ask that customer or supplier send you documentation of their physical damage and ask them to communicate with you as much as possible.”

In the July/August cover story from Risk Management Magazine, “Hurricane Claims: Key Tips to Minimize Losses and Maximize Recovery,”attorneys Andrea DeField and Alice Weeks offered guidance on steps for risk and insurance professionals to take before, during and after hurricanes, including hurricane preparation and response checklists.

For organizations impacted by this season’s storms, the following post-storm tips can help risk professionals navigate disaster recovery and the claims management process:

Post-Storm Checklist

  1. Gather insurance policies and related insurance records. If your policy was destroyed or is lost, contact your insurance company or agent/broker to request a copy.
  2. Contact other business partners who may have copies of your insurance policies and records, such as attorneys and accountants.
  3. Give written notice to your broker and insurer immediately. Notice should provide the following basic information:
    1. Name and address of insured
    1. Location of loss
    1. Date and time of loss
    1. Contact name, phone and fax number
    1. Brief description of the loss
  4. Acquire copies of police or fire reports from your local police or fire department, if applicable. If individuals caused damage to the premises or stole anything in the wake of the disaster, obtain a separate police report about the damage or losses or request that additional information be added to the initial report.
  5. Secure vital records and ledgers. Ensure that your accounting department opens a separate general ledger for hurricane-related expenses.
  6. Collect photos or videos as proof of damage. Ensure these are taken before any mitigations are implemented so that they accurately capture the aftermath and losses.
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  7. To the extent possible, take steps to mitigate any further damage once the storm has passed.
  8. If you have not already, retain a forensic accountant to begin preparing your business income and extra expense loss calculations.
  9. Prepare a proof of loss. A proof of loss provides details identifying the property destroyed or damaged, and documents the amount of loss incurred. Generally, any information substantiating the claim can become part of your proof of claim, including photos, videos, receipts and records. Check with your insurer for the specific information required as some companies may ask for a detailed list of documents or require you to fill out a specific proof of loss form.
  10. Submit proof of loss, photos, and reports to your insurer. Be sure to check any time limitations on the submission of a proof of loss and request an extension, if needed.
  11. Assist with the insurance company’s investigation. Property policies typically allow the insurer to conduct a reasonable investigation of the claim and require the insured’s cooperation. This may be in a provision titled “Duties in the Event of Loss” that allows the insurer to interview the policyholder claimants in a process called an “examination under oath.” The policy may also require the insured to exhibit the property, take reasonable steps to protect it, and generally cooperate with the insurer’s investigation. The insurer’s requests for information must typically be considered reasonable, however. A policyholder’s failure to reasonably cooperate could be used by the insurer as a defense to coverage.