RIMScast The Risk and Insurance Management Society, Inc.

Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.
 
Eloise Copland joins RIMScast to discuss the effects human bias has on all decision-making, what bias is, and working with bias by understanding how the mind uses it as a shortcut to process information. Understanding our biases about the environment will help us to direct with intention our decision-making around climate-change issues. Listen to this enlightening discussion to help inform your organization’s approach toward prioritizing the environment.
 
Key Takeaways:
[:01] About RIMScast.
[:27] About today’s episode with Principal Behavioral Scientist, Influence at Work, Eloise Copland, on the psychology of environmental bias risk.
[:37] All about upcoming RIMS webinars, and more!
[1:17] The RIMS Canada Conference 2023 has been announced for September 11th‒14th in Ottowa! Visit RIMSCanadaConference.ca for more information.
[1:34] On September 14th, the Spencer Educational Foundation returns to New York City for its Annual Funding Their Future Gala. The event will be held at the Cipriani 42nd Street. A link is on this episode’s notes. You can also visit SpencerEd.org.
[1:51] Head to the RIMS.org/Advocacy page! The RIMS Legislative Summit is returning to  Washington, D.C. on October 25th and 26th. Visit the link in the show notes.
[2:04] Be on the lookout for the call for submissions for the RIMS ERM Conference, which will be held November 2nd and 3rd in Denver, Colorado! Check your inboxes.
[2:20] RIMS is partnering with Conrad Clark Nigeria for a RIMS CRMP Exam Prep virtual workshop Saturdays in July: July 1st, 8th, and 15th. Start your RIMS CRMP journey today! The link is in the show notes.
[2:41] The “E” in ESG stands for environmental risk. It is on their minds regularly at RIMS and RIMScast. Justin introduces Eloise Copland, the Principal Behavioral Scientist for Influence at Work. Eloise joins the podcast to talk about our approach to environmental bias and environmental risk.
[3:43] Justin welcomes Eloise Copland, or Elle, to RIMScast. El is five hours ahead of New York time.
[4:25] Elle tells about her background, career, and what excites her every day about behavioral economics and addressing environmental bias.
[6:32] It takes well-funded agencies and corporations working together for change to occur. People run agencies and corporations and their biases influence decisions.
[7:10] There isn’t one simple answer to why executives prioritize short-term environmental challenges over the bigger picture. We like to think that with the right information, and with the right resources, people make rational decisions. Research shows that people’s decisions are influenced by mental shortcuts called biases.
[8:43] The four types of biases:
Present bias — we value our present selves more than our future selves.
Uncertainty aversion — we avoid unknown risks.
Optimism Bias — we are overly optimistic about the future.
Loss Aversion — we find losses to be more negative than equivalent gains are positive.
[15:49] Execs believe it’s significantly more costly to be sustainable because there’s a lot of investment and you don’t get a lot of payback. Loss aversion overpowers the potential gains an organization might get.
[16:19] RIMS plug time! Sponsor a weekly or dedicated episode of RIMScast! Contact us at pd@rims.org. The virtual workshop Managing Worker Compensation, Employer's Liability and Employment Practices in the U.S. will be June 20–21, Register by June 19! The three-part virtual workshop on data risk management will be June 15. See the link.
[17:48] The webinar "Large-Scale Risk: How Walmart Manages the Risks Unique to Large and Growing Companies" will be on June 22, 2023. Scott Fenstermaker of RIskonnect will lead the session. Scott tells about the webinar featuring Chip Hargrave of Walmart.
[20:54] Elle describes ways to

Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.
 
Joel Wood joins RIMScast to discuss the shared goals of RIMS and CIAB in 2023 in the way of cyber, NFIP, and other major risk management issues. Though many of these issues are non-partisan, he provides a pragmatic view of how much progress might be made with such a divided Congress. Joel shares his hopes for the House and the Senate to work together on important data security legislation.

Joel expresses his appreciation for RIMS, as a pure voice for insureds, and how CIAB and RIMS come together for many objectives and goals.
 
We also hear about his career and some of the members of Congress and DC players who may prove to be valuable allies for RIMS and CIAB.
 
Key Takeaways:
[:01] About RIMScast.
[:27] About today’s episode with Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers (CIAB) President Joel Wood.
[:37] All about upcoming RIMS webinars, and more!
[1:10] The RIMS Canada Conference 2023 has been announced for September 11th‒14th in Ottowa! Visit RIMSCanadaConference.ca for more information.
[1:27] The RIMS Legislative Summit will be held October 25th and 26th in Washington, D.C. For information, visit the link in the show notes.
[1:43] The Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers is a prominent ally of RIMS.
[1:57] Joel Wood became president of CIAB in January 2023 and is well-known in the risk and insurance community, having lobbied on behalf of CIAB for thirty years.
[2:08] Justin recorded this interview with CIAB President Joel Wood prior to RISKWORLD. They discussed RIMS’s and CIAB’s common goals and visions for 2023.
[2:31] Justin welcomes Joel Wood to RIMScast.
[2:37] Joel Wood is President of CIAB after 30 years of lobbying for the organization.
[3:07] Joel went to Washington 40 years ago to work for a member of Congress from his hometown and after five-and-a-half years, he went to an insurance trade group. Joel joined CIAB 30 years ago. CIAB has about 185 members, responsible for over 90% of premiums placed in the commercial property/casualty insurance market nationally.
[4:05] CIAB members have a good chunk of premiums on the health benefits side, also, including two-thirds of all employer-sponsored group health insurance plans.
[4:30] All CIAB firms do business in all 50 states; most do international business. There is a commonality of interests among them. Joel talks of the extraordinary M&A environment over the last several years. CIAB has benefitted overall from M&A.
[5:35] The member of Congress Joel worked for was Don Sundquist, who later served for eight years as Governor of Tennessee. Joel talks about working for him.
[6:44] CIAB goes back 115 years. They host a premier event in the international commercial business insurance marketplace, at the Broadmoor, for brokers, carriers, and reinsurers to make connections. For most CIAB members, though, the one meeting that matches or surpasses it is the annual RIMS meeting.
[7:30] The relationship between CIAB and RIMS is extremely strong. Joel lists the threat of hard markets, shrinking capacity, inflation, and the rise of uninsurable events, in the eyes of the carriers. Joel comments on the chances of getting legislation passed by the divided government on Capitol Hill.
[9:34] Joel sees the most room for bipartisanship this year on data privacy legislation. Everyone in the insurance ecosystem shares frustration with 50 different standards on anything to do with data privacy. Joel explains his hope for the House and Senate to work together on data privacy legislation.
[11:33] A stretch goal is to reduce the cost of prescription drugs and enforce transparency for the PBM marketplace. Joel finds two-thirds of member firms spend two-thirds of their time on the benefits side, fighting existential threats, instead of on the property & casualty side, where two-thirds of their revenue is.
[12:42] PBMs have

Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.
 
May is Mental Health Awareness Month and it’s an event that we’ve covered here on RIMScast and something that RIMS takes very seriously. Here to talk about what risk professionals can do to help their co-workers and organizations is Michelle Drew, Manager, Corporate Insurance and BCM, The CSA Group (formerly the Canadian Standards Association); CSA is a standards organization that develops standards in 57 areas. CSA Group launched a volunteer program to increase psychological safety. Mental Health Ambassador Program (aka The Map). Michelle is one of the mental health ambassadors. These ambassadors are volunteers trained to provide discreet listening and assistance to anyone seeking mental health support and can help individuals navigate CSA's range of mental health resources.

Michelle is also the president of the ORIMS chapter so she shares a little update about what’s happening in Ontario and RIMS Canada.
 
Key Takeaways:
[:01] About RIMScast.
[:27] About today’s episode with ORIMS President Michelle Drew: How RIMS professionals can make an impact during Mental Health Awareness Month, also RIMS Canada news.
[:41] All about upcoming RIMS webinars, and more!
[1:17] The RIMS Canada Conference 2023 has been announced for September 11th‒14th in Ottowa! Visit RIMSCanadaConference.ca for more information.
[1:35] May is Mental Health Awareness month and it’s an event that we’ve covered here on RIMScast and something that RIMS takes very seriously.
[1:42] Some quick stats from the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI):
One in five U.S. adults experience mental illness each year. One in 20 U.S. adults experience serious mental illness each year. Fifty percent of all lifetime mental illness begins by age 14, and 75% by age 24.
[2:03] This is impacting the workplace. And here to talk about what risk professionals can do to help their co-workers and organizations against the backdrop of Mental Health Awareness Month is Michelle Drew, Manager for Corporate Insurance and BCM at The CSA Group, formerly the Canadian Standards Association.
[2:25] The CSA Group launched a volunteer program to increase psychological safety. It’s called the Mental Health Ambassador Program. Michelle is one of the mental health ambassadors.
[2:34] These mental health ambassadors are volunteers trained to provide discreet listening and assistance to anyone seeking mental health support. They offer a safe space and, when requested, can help individuals navigate CSA's range of mental health resources.
[2:48] Michelle will speak about launching the Mental Health Ambassadors. She is also the president of the ORIMS chapter so we’ll get a little update from her about what’s happening in Ontario and RIMS Canada.
[3:13] Justin met Michelle last year at some virtual events and RIMS Canada 2022 in Halifax. Justin welcomes Michelle Drew to RIMScast. This episode has been planned since January. There are risk management protocols for getting a guest on RIMScast.
[4:02] As the CSA Group Mental Health Ambassador, Michelle is there to support and help. She acts as a bridge between employees and the mental health and wellness resources that CSA has, like the Employee and Family Assistance Program. Ambassadors listen to employees and steer them toward the available resources.
[5:14] Oftentimes, the employees just don’t know where to start. The ambassadors are not mental health professionals and don’t provide treatment but they try and get the employees connected with things that will help.
[5:50] Michelle has familiarity with mental health challenges and she shares some of her family experiences with them. She says it’s important to talk about mental health and remove the stigma from it.
[6:39] Michelle believes the mental health ambassador program is a great program to help support employees. CS

Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.
 
RISKWORLD draws engagement from various areas of the risk profession around the globe. This year, in live interviews recorded onsite from the floor of the Georgia World Congress Center, host Justin Smulison met with various guests to discuss the recent banking failures and their impact on risk and insurance, disaster preparedness, and how Japanese risk professionals present information and philosophies to their leaders in government and to interested corporations.
 
Join Justin and his guests to relive the excitement of Days 1 and 2 of the world’s largest risk management event.
 
Key Takeaways:
[:01] About RIMScast.
[:27] About today’s episode with interviews recorded live from the floor of the Georgia World Congress Center during RISKWORLD 2023.
[:41] All about upcoming RIMS webinars, and more!
[1:21] The RIMS Canada Conference 2023 has been announced for September 11th‒14th in Ottowa! The call for educational session submissions is open. Visit RIMSCanadaConference.ca for more information.
[1:43] This episode’s interviews were recorded live at RISKWORLD 2023. Justin loves doing the live interviews and delving into the various perspectives of his guests.
[1:55] Justin’s first guest is Paul Larson, the President of Financial Lines at Liberty Mutual. They met on May 1st before Paul’s session, “A Banking Crisis’s Impact on the Insurance Industry.” It was perfectly timed. That day, less than two months after the collapse of SVB, it was announced that JPMorgan had bought troubled First Republic.
[2:36] Justin welcomes Paul Larson to RIMScast.
[2:51] Paul’s session is about what’s happening with respect to the banking crisis, if there is one. Paul talks to risk managers on the corporate and financial services sides about how this could impact businesses. How did the session go, Justin asks. “Oh, we killed it! Knocked it out of the park,” Paul forecasts!
[3:30] Paul’s take on the banking crisis is that it’s not at that stage yet. So far, we don’t have a significant credit issue. But will the interest rate risk become a credit risk?
[4:10] The JPMorgan purchase of First Republic doesn’t much change the dynamic of Paul’s session. The SVB and First Republic failures resulted from liquidity issues and uninsured deposits. Both firms had significant levels of uninsured deposits, as did Signature Bank.
[4:59] Banks should act as though the 2018 roll-back of Dodd-Frank had not happened. 
Paul brings up the need for banks to manage liquidity risk, regulators to ask for change, and banks to manage their interest rate risk and asset-liability matching.
[5:35] The Fed acknowledged that they saw the risk at SVB and should have been heavy-handed early on.
[6:01] Paul thinks the directors and officers of SVB are going to be held accountable for the failure and we will see litigation as a result of it. The failure emphasizes the importance of having a strong Chief Risk Officer in place to manage the process all along. For over eight months, SVB did not have a CRO.
[6:30] Justin had done an episode with the risk manager from Sterling Bank and Trust, Eleni Willis, about the failure of SVB and their lack of a CRO. She likened it to pulling your quarterback in the middle of a fourth-quarter blitz. Paul agrees it’s critical for a bank the size of SVB or First Republic to have a CRO and a succession plan if one departs!
[7:04] Paul suggests the Chief Financial Officer of a bank become the interim CRO. 
[7:21] RISKWORLD 2023 is the 21st RISKWORLD Paul has attended. Justin thanks Paul for being on RIMScast.
[7:43] It was National Hurricane Preparedness Week, April 30th through May 6th, 2023. So Justin speaks to a preparedness expert, Alexander Walton, the National Director of Client Development at Blueteam. Blueteam does restoration construction and roofing. [8

Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.
 
Today’s guest is RIMS 2023 Risk Manager of the Year Theresa Severson. Theresa Severson was already a 30-year veteran of the risk profession when her prior company was acquired by Kite Realty Group, creating one of the largest publicly traded owners and operators of open-air shopping centers and mixed-use properties. Theresa shares how she became VP of Insurance and Risk at Kite, and how her years of successful experiences helps Kite. Theresa tells about what being named RIMS 2023 Risk Manager of the Year means to her, and how her RIMS membership helps her, including having recently served as President of the RIMS Chicago Chapter. She offers an inside look at Risk Management in a large REIT, and how she uses her position to mentor the next generation of risk professionals.
 
Key Takeaways:
[:01] About RIMScast.
[:14] This episode was released May 1st, the start of RISKWORLD 2023. Use the RIMS Events App from the App Store on your mobile device to plan educational sessions.
[:30] About today’s episode with RIMS 2023 Risk Manager of the Year Theresa Severson.
[:49] All about upcoming RIMS webinars, workshops, events, and more!
[1:30] The RIMS Canada Conference 2023 has been announced for September 11th‒14th in Ottowa! The call for educational session submissions is open. Visit RIMSCanadaConference.ca for more information.
[1:51] About today’s episode. Theresa Severson was a 30-year veteran of the risk profession when her prior company was acquired by Kite Realty Group in a $7.5 billion merger. Kite is one of the largest publicly-traded owners and operators of open-air shopping centers and mixed-use properties.
[2:10] Theresa was asked to continue at Kite to lead the transition and the risk management group as hundreds of millions of square feet of gross leasable space were affected by the merger. Outside the office, she’s very well known at RIMS and in the greater risk management community.
[2:27] Theresa served as a Vice President of Chicago RIMS and more recently as President, from 2022 to 2022, a critical time for the profession and all chapter leaders. She was also named to Captive Review’s Power 50 Captive Owners for 2022.
[2:41] Her success for her organization and her ability to advance the practice of risk management earned her the title of RIMS 2023 Risk Manager of the Year! You can read more about Theresa in the Awards Edition of RIMS Risk Management Magazine.
[2:55] And if you are at RISKWORLD, join us on May 1st at the Global Studio at 2:00 p.m. for an even deeper dive into her work and career.
[3:03] RIMS 2023 Risk Manager of the Year Theresa Severson, welcome to RIMScast!
[3:35] Theresa was shocked, extremely grateful, and humbled to be selected as the RIMS 2023 Risk Manager of the Year! What meant the most to her was that her nomination was put forth by the Chicago RIMS Chapter. She greatly admires the risk professionals in that chapter.
[4:24] Theresa describes the vibe of the Chicago Chapter of RIMS. It’s one of the largest chapters; the members are very engaged and looking at ways of supporting each other, providing education on the cusp of emerging risks, and networking opportunities.
[5:19] Theresa served on the Board in 2010 for several years and then served as Vice President. The President took another position that required her to step down on the cusp of COVID-19, so Theresa became the Chapter President and held that position for almost two years. She is now the immediate Past President.
[6:05] Was being Chapter President a full-time endeavor for Theresa? There is such a great board and list of officers that everybody carries a lot of the weight. That made it an enjoyable position. Theresa hopes to continue helping the next group of officers.
[7:01] Theresa had been VP of insurance and Risk at Retail Properties of America for 12 years. In O

Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.
Today’s guest is RIMS 2023 Rising Star Emily L. Bloedel, the face of the RIMS Rocky Mountain Chapter. Emily shares highlights of her career so far, her participation in RIMS,  and her expectations as an involved risk professional.
 
Key Takeaways:
[:01] About RIMScast.
[:26] I will be joined by RIMS 2023 Rising Star Emily L. Bloedel.
[:34] All about upcoming RIMS webinars, workshops, events, and more!
[1:15] About RIMS-CRMP.
[1:28] About RIMS-CRMP-FED.
[2:03] About RISKWORLD 2023 with closing keynote speaker Danica Patrick!
[2:40] About today’s episode with Emily L. Bloedel, the manager of contracts and legal affairs and corporate counsel at Merrick & Company, an engineering and architectural firm, based in Denver, Colorado.
[2:53] Emily is the face of the RIMS Rocky Mountain Chapter where she is concluding her term as president in 2023. She contributes much to Merrick and RIMS on the local and global levels as well as the legal and risk professions, which is why she was named RIMS Rising Star for 2023.
[3:10] We’re going to learn about her risk philosophy, some of her processes, and how she maintains balance in her legal and risk roles. Read her profile in the Awards edition of RIMS Risk Management Magazine this month and she will be with me at RISKWORLD Global Studio for RIMScast Live on May 1st at 3:00 p.m. She’s omnipresent, folks!
[3:33] RIMS 2023 Rising Star Emily Bloedel, welcome to RIMScast!
[3:55] Emily was thrilled to be selected as the RIMS 2023 Rising Star! There are so many wonderful people in the profession! It made her year!
[4:14] Justin wrote an article in Risk Management magazine supplement, “Rising Star 2023: Emily L. Bloedel.” During law school, Emily interned for Merrick & Company and enjoyed it. On graduation, Emily passed the bar and spent a few years practicing law.
[5:09] Practicing law was not all Emily had hoped, so she looked for other opportunities. Her former boss at Merrick told her about an opportunity to start an in-house department. She jumped at the chance and has been at Merrick for eight years.
[6:14] Merrick reaches out to local politicians and organizations so they can help to shape legislative changes in the industry that are coming.
[7:35] Colorado has different terrains and soils. What works in one location may be unsuitable for another location. Merrick looks carefully at that and builds it into contracts to make sure that what the clients are doing in a location is done safely.
[8:21] Merrick has a water group that looks at how clients are treating water safely and ensuring that it flows. They help clients restore balance to areas that have been affected by industry.
[9:40] About Merrick’s Technology Disruptors Committee. They look at technology that may disrupt Merrick’s business or their clients. They have eight areas of focus. They have a working group looking solely at Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality. Merrick funds an initiative to use VR/AR on projects to provide value to clients.
[11:07] Emily tells how the committee developed and focused on specific areas of technology. She is no longer on the committee as her risk focus is no longer needed.
[12:16] Cyberrisk is top-of-mind now for Emily. Merrick has formed a cyber-incident response plan and cyber-incident response team. Emily continues deepening her involvement in this area. They are subject to new and different attacks every day.
[13:22] Emily looks forward to going into depth on the Merrick risk matrix when she appears in the RISKWORLD Global Studio for RIMScast Live on May 1st at 3:00 p.m. Her boss, Carter Boardman, set up a matrix to help project managers, teams, and support staff evaluate the risk of a project. Emily explains the categories of risk.
[14:51] The risks Emily finds acceptable generally go through. As an employee-owned firm, everyone ap