It is an absolute honor to deliver this first message and serve this Society as president in 2018. I’ve been a member of RIMS for over 20 years, have been an active member of my local RIMS Delaware Valley Chapter and this will be my 10th year serving on the RIMS Board.
I’m a history buff, especially when it comes to RIMS history. I love where we stand today and see great opportunities and success in this Society’s future.
RIMS was built by passionate professionals who realized just how crucial risk management is to the organization’s success; who dedicated themselves to the advancement of risk management practices; who envisioned a future where risk management would be recognized around the world as a fundamental business function; and who believed in the discipline’s potential to become a rewarding and highly-sought-after career path.
My focus for the year is Your Legacy, Our Legacy. It’s a call to action. First, in order to get to where we are going, we must recognize the past. With that understanding, individually we can work on improving ourselves. And, collectively, those individual efforts will benefit the whole.
This call to action implores risk professionals around the world to step back from their daily routines and ask themselves, “what mark will I leave on my organization, on my fellow and future colleagues, on the risk management community as a whole?”
The opportunities are abundant. Will you develop or implement new strategies that take your organization to new heights? Will you embrace a mentorship role, sharing ideas and best practices? Will your focus be altruism, giving back to your local risk management community? Maybe it will be your work on risk management advocacy efforts and changing legislation that directly impacts the profession. Or, perhaps, a commitment to engaging and connecting with your peers around the globe.
In just my first month as president, we’ve already initiated some new opportunities and resources to support our members’ professional journeys.
RIMS released two new publications this past month. A new report “Top Five Steps for Communicating with Executives” addresses soft-skills risk professionals might need to effectively deliver the right information to leadership. And, as part of RIMS ongoing advocacy efforts, RIMS External Affairs Committee issued a Legislative Review. The review explores the implications of the Base Erosion and Anti-Abuse Tax (BEAT) on insurance and reinsurance programs. Both publications can be found in RIMS Risk Knowledge library.
We also just held our first President’s Call. This initiative is designed to enhance communication between RIMS, its chapter leaders and, ultimately, RIMS members. More than 80 local chapter leaders joined the call and you should be getting an update from them soon. The next call is scheduled for March 29, 2018. Please feel free to contact RIMS Client Services to gain more information about them (cst@rims.org).
And, in just under 70 days, we will convene for the greatest risk management event in the industry. Registration for RIMS 2018 in San Antonio April 15 – 18 is well underway. The Annual Conference always offers exceptional educational programming and we are proud to welcome professionals from over 70 countries – making it truly a world-leading conference. Get ready to GO BIG! and stay tuned for new updates that only add to this can’t-miss event.
As a RIMS member, you have already taken the first step. Hopefully, you’ve realized that the career opportunities in risk management are diverse and limitless. That said, the only way to achieve greatness in this profession is to constantly enhance our capabilities.
As we all strive toward establishing our own legacy, together we will positively impact the future of the profession, building a powerful and sustainable global risk management community for years to come.
Thank you for all of your support. We are looking forward to a great year.
Sincerely,
Robert Cartwright, Jr.
RIMS 2018 President