RIMS 2025 Rising Star Megan Smalter: Giving Yourself Grace

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Transitions and Celebrations in Risk Management

This chapter highlights a significant award ceremony at the RIMS 2025 event in Chicago, capturing the importance of community support during personal achievements. It delves into the speaker's career transitions within the insurance industry, reflecting on the challenges and growth associated with moving from familiar roles to new opportunities. The discussion emphasizes the spirit of mentorship and collaboration in the risk management community, showcasing past successes and future ambitions.

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Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.

Justin interviews Megan Smalter about her schooling and career path and what excites her about risk management. They discuss her winning the RIMS Rising Star Award 2025 at RISKWORLD on the main stage before the triple keynote addresses. She discloses what the honor means to her. They speak about her past role in Chicago, her participation and leadership in the Chicago RIMS Chapter, and how her career has changed by moving to New York to work at Lloyd’s in the Americas in December.

Listen to Megan’s advice for students and young risk management and insurance professionals. Give yourself the grace to learn your way in the field, reach out and connect to people around you, and learn about all the career opportunities in the industry.

Key Takeaways:

[:01] About RIMS and RIMScast.

[:17] About this episode of RIMScast. We will be joined by RIMS Rising Star Award Winner 2025, Megan Smalter of Lloyd’s.

[:42] RIMS-CRMP Workshops! The next RIMS-CRMP-FED Exam Prep will be presented in conjunction with AFERM and led by instructor Joseph Mayo. This is a two-day course, June 2nd and 3rd. Register by May 26th.

[1:03] The next RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep Workshop will be presented in conjunction with NAIT on June 10th and 11th. Register by June 9th. That course will be led by former RIMS President, Nowell Seaman.

[1:21] Links to these courses can be found on the Certification Page of RIMS.org and through this episode’s show notes.

[1:28] Virtual Workshops! On June 12th, Pat Saporito will host “Managing Data for ERM”, and she will return on June 26th to present the very popular new course, “Generative AI for Risk Management”.

[1:46] A link to the full schedule of virtual workshops can be found on the RIMS.org/education and RIMS.org/education/online-learning pages. A link is also in this episode’s show notes.

[1:57] We are already making preparations for the RIMS ERM Conference 2025 on November 17th and 18th in Seattle, Washington. RIMS is accepting educational session submissions through May 29th.

[2:14] The best submissions will address current and future challenges facing ERM practitioners as well as provide leading practices and concrete takeaways for a diverse audience of risk professionals from industries or organizations of varied sizes, disciplines, functions, and roles.

[2:30] These include officers, leaders, managers, and students. The link to the submission form is in this episode’s show notes. If you are listening on the day of this episode’s release, this is the last call for submissions, so get them in!

[2:46] We have a special new 12-week virtual workshop course, The RIMS-CRMP Advanced Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) Certificate Program, instructed by James Lam, one of the most famous Chief Risk Officers in the world!

[3:04] He will lead an intensive 12-week program, beginning July 16th, bi-weekly until September 2025. Registration closes on July 7th.

[3:17] James will join us in early June to discuss this program and his ERM philosophy. Check out the link in this episode’s show notes and the Education page of RIMS.org. Register today before we reach virtual capacity!

[3:33] On with the show! Our guest this week is Megan Smalter. She is a Market Development Executive at Lloyd’s and the former Chicago RIMS Chapter Rising Risk Professional Committee President. For her many achievements, she was named RIMS Rising Star for 2025.

[3:48] If you were at RISKWORLD 2025, you were lucky enough to see her accept the award onstage. We’re going to talk all about her contributions to the risk profession during her 9-to-5 and beyond and delve into what is a pivotal moment in her career.

[4:04] Everyone listening, especially young risk professionals with big career decisions ahead of them, will get some fresh perspective.

[4:14] Interview! Megan Smalter, welcome to RIMScast!

[4:35] Megan Smalter talks about the honor of receiving the RIMS Rising Start Award with her entire team present as well as her family. It was a super special moment for her.

[5:01] Megan grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, so she says she’s from Illinois. She lived in downtown Chicago for five years before relocating.

[6:04] The awards ceremonies were scattered throughout the RISKWORLD 2025 week. Megan’s award was presented right before the triple threat of keynotes. Megan and her parents enjoyed the keynotes.

[6:50] Megan went from being a private company management liability underwriter at CNA Insurance in Chicago to joining Lloyd’s as a Market Development Executive for the Americas and relocated to New York City in December.

[7:22] Megan describes changing jobs and moving. It’s been interesting. She went from being established in an insurance company where she knew everyone and knew her role to starting over, new and fresh. It’s exciting, being in a new environment and company.

[7:54] Megan says it comes with growing pains. Learning the tasks, trying to see the fun and excitement in them, and settling down in a new region has been super interesting and a great learning curve.

[8:25] Megan was previously in the retail space. Now having exposure to the E&S wholesale world and more of the international space has been fascinating. It’s a direction she wants to take her career, which inspired her to take this new role. It’s been gratifying so far.

[9:02] Megan says it has been bittersweet, leaving the Chicago RIMS Chapter. She first got involved as a student at the Katie School of Insurance at Illinois State. There, she met one of her greatest mentors, Theresa Severson. They’ve stayed in touch over the years.

[9:29] After being involved as a student, she joined Chicago RIMS as a Membership Committee member and became Education Chair, then Vice President, and then President, right before she moved. There’s a lot to say goodbye to. Starting over after being deeply involved is a switch.

[9:58] Megan’s teammates joked that she should carry the award around the RISKWORLD conference the entire time.

[10:34] Megan believes the risk profession allows for flexibility to adapt. Everyone in the industry and at Lloyd’s is keen to help and provide their experience. It’s been a great way for Megan to learn about a new company culture and a new segment of the industry.

[11:08] Justin notes that most people are not going to have one job for their entire career, although he knows one person at RIMS who has been there since 1981 and somebody at Spencer who goes back even further.

[11:29] Justin adds that risk is a profession where there is such a camaraderie among the professionals that they will give you time to adapt. They will extend that olive branch.

[11:49] Megan thinks it’s important to give yourself grace and allow yourself to recognize that you’re not going to know everything on the first day. You may jump into something new and think “I’ve got this,” but things like that take time. Give yourself grace.

[12:25] At the RIMS Chicago Chapter, the energy in the group drove Megan to get involved and come up the ranks. At the start, event attendance was low. One successful event was the Summer Mixer with the Young Risk Professionals group and the Insurance Associates group.

[13:18] There were over 250 folks who attended. Seeing the demand of young professionals to network and get together on an afternoon was an awesome experience. Megan is thankful she got to be part of it.

[14:25] A big part of the Chicago RIMS initiative was to have separate membership events, education events, and social events. It’s easy to get people to come to social events but education events can be tougher. They tried to keep them interesting.

[14:42] One educational event Megan found valuable was the MBA Information Night with a panel of four. Two represented RM&I MBA programs; two were alumni of RM&I MBA programs. To hear from them and get their experiences and advice about continuing education was great.

[15:15] They hosted Negotiation Workshops and Book Clubs. One book was Atomic Habits by James Clear. Megan has kept a few key takeaways from that in her day-to-day routine. They do a variety of events through RRP. It’s nice to see the support of that with the members.

[15:54] Plug Time! RIMS Webinars! On June 5th, Zywave joins us to discuss “Today’s Escalating Risk Trajectory: What’s the Cause and What’s the Solution?”.

[15:59] On June 17th, Origami Risk returns to present “Strategic Risk Financing in an Unstable Economy: Leveraging Technology for Efficiency and Cost Reduction”.

[16:10] More webinars will be announced soon and added to the RIMS.org/Webinars page. Go there to register. Registration is complimentary for RIMS members.

[16:21] About the Spencer Educational Foundation’s Grants program. Spencer’s goal to help build a talent pipeline of risk management and insurance professionals is achieved, in part, by its collaboration with risk management and insurance educators across the U.S. and Canada.

[16:38] Since 2010, Spencer has awarded over $3.3 million in General Grants to support over 130 student-centered experiential learning initiatives at universities and RMI non-profits. Spencer’s 2026 application process is now open through July 30th, 2025.

[16:59] General Grant awardees are typically notified at the end of October. Learn more about Spencer’s General Grants through the Programs tab of SpencerEd.org.

[17:09] Let’s Return to Our Conversation with RIMS 2025 Rising Star, Megan Smalter!

[17:18] As a Market Development Executive at Lloyd’s, Megan engages with key trading partners, whether retail or wholesale brokers in the U.S., making sure that they know how to access Lloyd’s in the London market.

[17:51] Megan engages with insurance carriers who are interested in coming onto the Lloyd’s platform, managing agents, excess lines associations in different states, and universities (one of Megan’s favorite aspects of her role).

[18:11] Since Megan was a student who studied risk management and insurance, she loves helping out with the next generation and trying to pull talent into the risk field.

[18:19] Megan also promotes the Lloyd’s Lab and helps with the Lloyd’s Boot Camp Programs in Chicago and San Diego. She has a multi-faceted role and gets to touch a lot of aspects of Lloyd’s which has been interesting.

[18:45] Megan is part of a team representing the Americas, with people in Toronto, Canada, Miami, Florida, and Brazil.

[19:10] Justin and Megan spoke in April for the article in the Awards Edition of RIMS Risk Management magazine, which may be out now. Megan mentioned that she is a calculated risk-taker.

[19:38] Having a background in underwriting has helped Megan to think of questions to ask whenever a different situation or scenario has been proposed. She walks through the different exposures and thinks through things that the Average Joe probably wouldn’t.

[20:03] Megan says, the bigger the risk, the bigger the reward. Moving to Lloyd’s in New York is an example of a high-risk, high-reward scenario that worked for Megan. She had only been to New York City once, for a conference.

[20:30] When Megan looked for an apartment, she signed, sight-unseen, after a video call with the REALTOR® and a search of the area on Google Maps. She took a leap of faith and hoped for the best, but expected for the worst. It turned out in her favor. It’s the biggest risk she has taken.

[20:58] Megan’s career goal for now is locking into Lloyd’s and getting to know the nitty-gritty of the “Lloyd’s-isms.” Learning the niche aspects of what Lloyd’s is, the capital structure, and all the different facets of what Lloyd’s has to offer to articulate that to its trading partners.

[21:37] Megan is a success story, dating back to the Risk Manager on Campus program, which is how she got hooked. Not every school has a Risk Manager on Campus program.

[21:53] Megan advises young students who are considering the risk management and insurance industry, first to ask questions and ask for introductions. If there’s someone who has a role that you’re interested in, reach out. Everyone in the industry Megan has interacted with is so nice.

[22:30] Especially get to know folks who do jobs outside of what you’re considering. If you have an internship in property, get to know the liability folks and the cyber folks, the claims adjusters, and anyone else in the company, and learn what they do.

[22:49] The career path opportunities are what drew Megan to the risk management field and how you can always pivot into a different segment of the industry. That keeps it exciting.

[23:07] Special thanks again to RIMS 2025 Rising Star, Megan Smalter. You can read more about her in our RIMS RISKWORLD Show Daily Coverage. A link is on this page. Of course, be on the lookout for the RIMS Risk Management magazine Special Awards Edition 2025.

[23:27] More award winners will be on RIMScast soon. Be sure to check out Episode 338, featuring Risk Manager of the Year, Jennifer Pack.

[23:35] Plug Time! You can sponsor a RIMScast episode for this, our weekly show, or a dedicated episode. Links to sponsored episodes are in the show notes.

[24:03] RIMScast has a global audience of risk and insurance professionals, legal professionals, students, business leaders, C-Suite executives, and more. Let’s collaborate and help you reach them! Contact pd@rims.org for more information.

[24:21] Become a RIMS member and get access to the tools, thought leadership, and network you need to succeed. Visit RIMS.org/membership or email membershipdept@RIMS.org for more information.

[24:39] Risk Knowledge is the RIMS searchable content library that provides relevant information for today’s risk professionals. Materials include RIMS executive reports, survey findings, contributed articles, industry research, benchmarking data, and more.

[24:55] For the best reporting on the profession of risk management, read Risk Management Magazine at RMMagazine.com. It is written and published by the best minds in risk management.

[25:09] Justin Smulison is the Business Content Manager at RIMS. You can email Justin at Content@RIMS.org.

[25:17] Thank you all for your continued support and engagement on social media channels! We appreciate all your kind words. Listen every week! Stay safe!

Links:

RIMS Texas Regional 2025 — August 3‒5 | Advance registration rates now open.

ERM Conference 2025 — Call for Submissions (Through May 27)

RIMS-Certified Risk Management Professional (RIMS-CRMP)

RISK PAC | RIMS Advocacy

RIMS Risk Management magazine | RIMS 2025 Awards Edition

RIMS Now

The Strategic and Enterprise Risk Center

Spencer Educational Foundation — General Grants 2026 — Application Deadline July 30, 2025

RIMS-CRMP Advanced Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) Certificate Program — Featuring Instructor James Lamb! Register by July 7. | Bi-weekly course begins July 16.

“Career Opportunities In Insurance and Captive Industry” | Hosted by Chicago RIMS and Origami Risk | Free | July 7, 2025 in Chicago!

RIMS Webinars: