The president of the nation’s leading risk management organization urged risk management professionals to “take the bull by the horns” to increase quality and customer service in the insurance placement process.
“Many of our service providers express great interest in better servicing their risk manager clientele,” said Michael Liebowitz, president of the Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) at the opening of the organization’s 2007 Annual Conference & Exhibition in New Orleans.
“But what they stress more than anything else is the commitment from risk managers … to command the service providers to meet your expectations. This is the risk manager’s chance to be in command.”
Liebowitz urged risk managers to give their providers all required data, along with a timeline and expectations, upfront. “Time is an issue as well. But until we can streamline this process —learn to adequately gather the data that brokers and insurers require— risk managers cannot expect that providers meet our expectations and we cannot hold providers to our timelines,” Liebowitz said.
RIMS Executive Director Mary Roth spoke to the importance of the industry’s continued move toward enterprise risk management (ERM). RIMS is providing its members with a newly-published “ERM for Dummies” guide.
Roth also announced the launch of the RIMS Legislative Action Center, which provides members with updates on key federal and state legislation that affects risk managers.
On Sunday, April 29, RIMS held the first of two events to provide support for the rebuilding efforts in New Orleans. The event attracted some 400 attendees who ascended upon City Park, an area that suffered more than $40 million in damage, with 99 percent of its facilities destroyed during Hurricane Katrina. RIMS volunteers cleared debris and weeds, and painted fences. Overall, they cleared more than 710 yards of shoreline—the equivalent of seven football fields, according to RIMS.
On Wednesday, May 2, RIMS will hold a second event aimed at helping the recovery. The RIMS Comedy Benefit, featuring award-winning comedian and television personality Dennis Miller, will gather up to 4,000 delegates at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center Auditorium. RIMS is donating $50,000 toward the event, and will match “dollar-for-dollar” individual and RIMS chapter contributions received from the conference up to an additional $50,000.
Source: RIMS
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