Q1 2025 Risks with Morgan O'Rourke

RIMScast

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Navigating Emerging Risks

This chapter highlights upcoming RIMS webinars on key topics like interconnected risks and climate change while discussing California's wildfires and their significant insurance losses. It emphasizes the need for tailored risk management strategies and effective communication with insurers to address evolving environmental risks.

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

Our guest, Morgan O'Rourke, is the Senior Director of Content & Publications of RIMS. Justin and Morgan discuss the new member-centric newsletter, RIMS Now, and review the Q1 2025 digital edition of RIMS Risk Management magazine and the marquee features. They talk about the prominent way AI is being covered in this quarter because it’s permeating all facets of risk management.

RIMS attended the TRENDY Awards on March 13 and Risk Management magazine took home the Bronze for Best Quarterly or Annual Magazine or Journal and RIMScast took the Bronze for Best Podcast. The TRENDY Awards honor the best marketing and communication pieces in the association and non-profit community.

Listen in for Morgan’s perspectives on the emerging trends in risk management.

Key Takeaways:

[:01] About RIMS and RIMScast.

[:15] Public registration is open for RISKWORLD 2025! Engage Today and Embrace Tomorrow with RIMS at RISKWORLD from May 4th through May 7th in Chicago, Illinois. Register at RIMS.org/RISKWORLD.

[:31] About this episode of RIMScast. We will be joined by RIMS Senior Director of Content and Publications, Morgan O’Rourke. We will discuss risk trends and highlights from the Q1 2025 issue of RIMS Risk Management magazine.

[1:00] RIMS-CRMP Workshops! As part of our continuing strategic partnership with Purima, we have a two-day course coming up on April 22nd and 23rd. Links to these courses can be found through the Certification page of RIMS.org and this episode’s show notes.

[1:19] Virtual Workshops! On March 26th, Pat Saporito will host “Generative AI for Risk Management”. On April 16th and 17th, Chris Hansen will lead “Managing Worker Compensation, Employer’s Liability, and Employment Practices in the U.S.”

[1:42] 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.

[1:53] RISKWORLD registration is open. Engage Today and Embrace Tomorrow, May 4th through 7th in Chicago. Register at RIMS.org/RISKWORLD. Also, remember that there will be lots of pre-conference workshops being held in Chicago just ahead of RISKWORLD.

[2:12] These courses include “Applying and Integrating ERM,” “Captives as an Alternate Risk Financing Technique,” “Contractual Risk Transfer,” “Fundamentals of Insurance,” “Fundamentals of Risk Management,” RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep, and more! The links are in the show notes.

[2:35] Our guest today, Morgan O’Rourke, is the Senior Director of Content and Publications at RIMS. We will discuss highlights from the Q1 2025 issue of RIMS Risk Management magazine.

[2:50] There’s some proud news from our camps! On March 13th, Risk Management magazine and RIMScast took home Bronze TRENDY Awards during Association Trends and CEO Updates Salute to Association Excellence. This event was in Washington, D.C.

[3:06] Risk Management magazine took home the Bronze for Best Quarterly or Annual Magazine or Journal and RIMScast took the Bronze for Best Podcast. The TRENDY Awards honor the best marketing and communication pieces in the association and non-profit community.

[3:21] We are humbled and honored to be acknowledged and want to thank our audiences worldwide.

[3:27] We’re going to talk all about the risk management trends that are populating the digital pages of RIMS Risk Management magazine and how these articles can help our audience do their jobs better.

[3:42] Interview! Morgan O’Rourke, welcome back to RIMScast!

[3:56] Morgan and Justin just won TRENDY Awards! Justin loves this recognition from his peers. It shows that the work is resonating with the readers and listeners. Hilary Tuttle accepted an award for writing on behalf of RIMS Risk Management magazine.

[5:21] Morgan has a new member publication, RIMS Now, a newsletter about RIMS and what’s going on in the society and the chapters, keeping members up to date on the RIMS community.

[5:47] The next issue should be out in early April. Morgan invites anyone interested to email him at RIMSNow@RIMS.org with any updates you have about your chapter for consideration for a future issue.

[6:28] This is not for risk management thought leadership that can go in other venues. This is for news, accomplishments, and cool stuff your chapter is doing.

[9:21] TRENDY 2025 Award-winning RIMS Risk Management magazine is a quarterly digital publication. RIMS posts articles multiple times a week on the website and compiles them into a magazine flip page format once a quarter. The first quarterly issue of 2025 came out in March.

[10:07] The next quarterly issue is planned for June. The publication will evolve as new software features are added.

[11:29] Justin gives credit to Morgan O’Rourke, Hilary Tuttle, Andrew Bass, and Jennifer Post for leaning into the digital version of RIMS Risk Management magazine. Morgan has produced print magazines for 20 years, but the trend is digital. A digital publication is more responsive to news.

[12:58] Plug Time! RIMS Webinars! On Wednesday, March 26th at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time, members of the RIMS Strategic and Enterprise Risk Management Council will extend the dialog that began in the recent RIMS Executive Report “Understanding Interconnected Risks”.

[13:17] On Thursday, March 27th, Descartes Underwriting will make its RIMS Webinar debut with a session about parametric insurance. On April 3rd, join Zurich for “Understanding Third-Party Litigation Funding”.

[13:30] On April 10th, Audit Board will present “What CISOs Want Risk Executives to Know About Cyber Risk in 2025”.

[13:38] Following the success of their recent webinar, HUB International returns for the next installment of their Ready for Tomorrow Series, “From Defense to Prevention: Strengthening Your Liability Risk Management Approach”. That session will be on April 17th.

[13:54] On April 24th, RiskConnect returns to deliver “Better Together: The Marriage of Insurable Risk and Business Continuity”.

[14:02] More webinars will be announced soon and added to the RIMS.org/webinars page. Go there to register. Registration is complimentary for RIMS members.

[14:13] Let’s Return to Our Interview with RIMS Senior Director of Content and Publications, Morgan O’Rourke!

[15:19] The big news in Q1 of 2025 was the wildfires in California. There were probably $30 to $50 billion in insured losses. The disasters hit places that weren’t prepared for or used to wildfires. Much of Canada caught fire. There were fires on the East Coast.

[16:09] There were convective storms stronger than ever in the Midwest and floods hitting places that weren’t prepared. The risk landscape has gotten a lot broader. It portends a larger trend you should prepare for. Morgan and Justin agree that climate risk is at the heart of this.

[17:03] Weather patterns are going to change. Disasters are going to be stronger and more frequent. Make sure that you have risk management measures in place. Make sure your coverages are adequate for your needs. Speak to your insurers about how you mitigate risks.

[17:48] Justin says business interruption losses were covered in an article by Anderson Kill. Business interruption coverage should cover smoke damage.

[18:31] An eye-opener for Justin was that AI and AI-related risks are laced throughout the feature articles. Articles cover project management and mergers and acquisitions in terms of AI. Everything we normally do now has an AI facet within different contexts.

[20:07] There is a standing policy in the magazine and RIMS not to publish anything generated by AI. Beyond generative AI, there are ways AI streamlines jobs. In risk management planning, an AI might be used to come up quickly with risk scenarios for you to consider if they apply.

[21:37] Morgan emphasizes that if you use AI, use it thoughtfully. One of the featured articles is about how to manage AI projects successfully. Decide how you will use it if it fits your business. Are you addressing data security risks? Don’t use a program that opens up vulnerabilities.

[22:23] You want to make sure that whoever is supposed to use it can do so and wants to do so. Otherwise, you’ll be spending money on something that’s not useful to you. When you use it, you’ve got to make sure you are looking at certain risks, security being a major one.

[22:54] An article on the site covers how HR departments use AI. You have to make certain the AI has no inherent bias in evaluating resumes and that the data is secure so you don’t make some personally identifiable information public.

[24:03] Justin brings up March being World Water Month. Every time you use AI, you are using water to cool the servers. You use a lot of energy, too.

[24:58] If you’re interested in contributing content to RIMS Risk Management magazine, reach out to MORourke@RIMS.org or go to RMMagazine.com and click on the Contribute link. You will see the basics of what they are looking for and how they approach articles.

[25:45] If you are a risk professional or adjacent to the risk profession, you’re a person RIMS Risk Management magazine wants to hear from. You, the risk managers, are the experts. Morgan relies on the expertise of the risk management community.

[26:25] Morgan thinks there will be content regarding the impact of the Trump administration’s policies, particularly tariffs. They will have huge implications for supply chains. A.M. Best released a statement on the impact on the insurance industry for replacement costs.

[27:17] If there are tariffs on lumber, steel, and aluminum that go into replacing your home or business, property insurance policies will have to go higher because of replacement costs.

[27:29] Morgan speaks of political risk insurance and trade credit risk insurance that are moving to the front burner because of differences in the supply chain and the risks therein. Risk professionals will want to keep informed about various policy changes.

[28:07] Special thanks again to RIMS Senior Director of Content and Publications, Morgan O’Rourke. He signs my checks and he’s never looked or sounded better! You can read the TRENDY Award-winning RIMS Risk Management magazine at RMmagazine.com.

[28:24] Check out this quarter’s digital edition and all the individual articles we mentioned. If you want to contribute to the magazine, check out rmmagazine.com/contribute. You can reach out to the editorial staff on that page as well.

[28:42] 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.

[29:11] 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.

[29:29] 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.

[29:46] 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.

[30:03] 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.

[30:17] Justin Smulison is the Business Content Manager at RIMS. You can email Justin at Content@RIMS.org.

[30:24] 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:

RISKWORLD 2025 — May 4‒7 | Register today!

Nominations for the Donald M. Stuart Award [Canada]

Spencer Educational Foundation — General Grants 2026 — Application Dates

Spencer’s RISKWORLD Events — Register or Sponsor!

RIMS-Certified Risk Management Professional (RIMS-CRMP)

RISK PAC | RIMS Advocacy

RIMS Risk Management magazine

RIMS Now

RIMS Webinars:

RIMS.org/Webinars

“Understanding Interconnected Risks” | Presented by RIMS and the Strategic and Enterprise Risk Management Council | March 26, 2025