This morning, RIMS 2011 attendees were treated to panel discussion and Q&A that has become an annual tradition at the conference. It featured a veritable “who’s who” of insurance executives. Hosted by three former RIMS presidents, the session was divided into two separate panels. The broker side featured Neal Aton, president and CEO of Wells Fargo Insurance Services; J. Patrick Gallagher, chairman, president and CEO of Arthur J. Gallagher; Alan Garner, president and CEO of Marsh Canada and Stephen McGill, chairman and CEO at Aon Risk Solutions. The insurers were represented by John Doyle, president and CEO of Chartis U.S.; Michael Kerner, CEO global corporate, North America at Zurich; Seraina Maag, chief executive, North American P&C at XL Insurance; and Shivan Subramaniam, chairman and CEO of FM Global.

The discussion began with a presentation on the state of the commercial P&C market by David Bradford, executive vice president of Advisen. Bradford indicated that despite the first quarter’s massive catastrophe losses, the soft market would likely remain throughout 2011. The catastrophes simply haven’t yet absorbed enough capacity to affect a substantial market change. Of course, with hurricane season fast approaching things could change very quickly if a major catastrophe were to hit the United States.

From there the discussion touched on a wide range of topics, including innovation, ethics, diversity, attracting young professionals, regulatory changes, commissions, M&A activity, the impact of social media, the importance of relationships, and the overall need for risk managers to be prepared for the unexpected.