RIMS 2024 Rising Star Chelsea Andrusiak

Apr 9, 2024

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

Justin Smulison interviews RIMS 2024 Rising Star Chelsea Andrusiak, featured in the upcoming special Awards Edition of RIMS Risk Management Magazine, available in mid-April. In this episode, Justin and Chelsea discuss her job as an Insurance and Risk Analyst for Federated Co-operatives Limited in Canada (FCL), and what they do. Chelsea started with FCL right out of school and in seven years she was able to halve the losses of the Fleet Department. She tells of changes in the Risk and Insurance Department, and what she learned from former RIMS President Nowell Seaman when he joined the Risk and Insurance Team at FCL. Justin and Chelsea talk about the RIMS 2024 Rising Star Award that will be presented at RISKWORLD 2024. Listen in to hear what this rising star has learned through RIMS and SKRIMS.

Key Takeaways:

[:01] About RIMS and RIMScast.

[:14] Public registration for RISKWORLD 2024 is now open. Explore infinite opportunities with RIMS from May 5th through May 8th, 2024, in San Diego, California. Register at RIMS.org/RISKWORLD.

[:31] About today's EPISODE of RIMScast. My guest is RIMS 2024 Rising Star Chelsea Andrusiak and we will talk about her achievements and her great honor!

[:54] As you know, RISKWORLD 2024 is coming up from May 5th through May 8th, 2024, in sunny San Diego, California. Registration is open at RIMS.org/RISKWORLD and at the link in this episode's show notes. Register today! There's a link in this episode's notes.

[1:12] In Episode 276 of RIMScast we had opening keynote Peter Diamandis join us. Check out that episode for just a taste of what's in store for RISKWORLD 2024. The full roster of keynotes has been announced! I'm so excited! We will be welcoming Academy Award-winning actress, director, and activist, Marlee Matlin!

[1:37] For our industry keynote, we will be rejoined by Evan G. Greenberg, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Chubb Limited and Chubb Group. That session will be sponsored by Chubb. Just announced, our closing keynote on May 8th will be Daymond G. John. You know him from Shark Tank. He's also the Founder of FUBU. I'm a big fan!

[2:01] I'm extremely excited about that closing keynote on May 8th! Experience all the energies of our keynotes at RISKWORLD! Register at RIMS.org/RISKWORLD. We want to see you there!

[2:15] My guest today is Chelsea Andrusiak. She is an Insurance and Risk Analyst for Federated Co-operatives Limited in Canada. She is also a Director and Vice-President, North for the Saskatchewan RIMS Chapter, or SKRIMS.

[2:32] I covered Chelsea's achievements in the Awards Issue of RIMS Risk Management Magazine, online in mid-April. In our dialog today, we will learn more about her success with captives, her risk philosophies, and words of wisdom for other rising stars! RIMS 2024 Rising Star Chelsea Andrusiak, welcome to RIMScast!

[3:04] Justin and Chelsea have known each other through RIMS for a few years and really connected at the RIMS Canada Conference 2023. Justin's favorite part was hosting the RIMS Canada version of Family Feud.

[4:45] Chelsea was behind the scenes with the script as an Executive Producer. They put on a great show! It was a team effort. The Western Canadian RIMS Presidents took home the title. It was a show worth repeating.

[6:26] Chelsea is based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and works for Federated Co-operatives Limited, a co-operative owned by 160-plus retail co-operatives that operate throughout Western Canada from the Island of BC to Western Ontario, up to the Arctic. FCL exists to serve those retail members and enable their operations.

[7:02] FCL provides wholesaling, manufacturing, and distribution services, in addition to administrative services, including insurance, marketing, and accounting, to help set up its retail co-operatives for success. FCL centralizes for efficiency and localizes for effectiveness. FCL is owned by its 160-odd independent autonomous co-operatives.

[8:08] There is a wonderful profile about Chelsea in the digital edition of RIMS Risk Management Magazine's Awards edition. It will be available in mid-April. Check for updates RIMS.org and on RIMSorg on LinkedIn.

[8:43] Chelsea graduated with a finance degree from the University of Saskatchewan Edwards School of Business in 2016. She was hired at FCL and has been there ever since. She has been in one position for eight years, but the program has changed so much since 2016 that it doesn't feel like the same job.

[9:33] Chelsea works with the same risk and exposure today as she did in 2016, but with a very different way of managing risk. Her one job has had different iterations of the role over eight years.

[10:05] Insurance at FCL used to be managed in the Legal Group. It was heavily broker-led without a lot of risk management on the insurance side. Shortly after a couple of large losses in 2011 and 2013, FCL brought the insurance out of Legal into a stand-alone department and hired an insurance manager.

[10:28] After a couple of years, they added to the department. That's when Chelsea was hired. FCL took it from a broker-led, passively managed program to using different risk-financing techniques, and program structures, finding the best way to optimize risk, own the journey, and take on some of the risk.

[11:04] The risk management department is proud of the work they've done. They've reduced losses in the last eight years. They're willing to prove it by insuring their own risk through captive insurers.

[11:29] The first thing Chelsea worked on at FCL was the Fleet Department. It was a lot to learn. An automobile is both property and liability insurance, so she learned both sides of the program quickly. FCL hadn't kept good data on their exposure: types of units, number of units, radius of operations; or their losses.

[12:18] FCL had more losses than it should have. Chelsea got in at the ground level and made a lot of fast improvements to the program. She cleaned up the data to tell the story of the risk. She worked with a Fleet Safety Group for safety initiatives. They cut claims in half from 2016 to 2023.

[13:23] Co-op trucks are driving billboards. FCL didn't want Co-op trucks to be seen in ditches or involved in incidents. It was reducing brand risk as well as safety risk. There's a lot of pride in the Fleet and the Fleet Safety Department.

[14:49] The numbers lead the dialog. FCL does many things, including food distribution, home and building supplies distribution. FCL owns a refinery, manufactures animal feed, blends fertilizer, etc. Its business lines are insured in different ways. The food distribution business is different from the refinery business.

[15:28] Data at the FCL conglomerate level needs to be understood at the individual business operations level to treat the risk at the enterprise level.

[15:57] Chelsea has to sit in front of underwriters and tell them the story from the operations level to the enterprise level so it makes sense to them. If they understand the risk control initiatives and the data she presents, it impacts the premiums and losses. She puts tangible numbers on all the work she does.

[17:29] Chelsea has two captives at FCL. She set them up from the ground level. The first was in 2019 in Barbados. The second captive was set up in Alberta in 2023. Chelsea talks about working over email and Teams with Barbados, and in building a relationship in person in Alberta.

[18:58] It took Chelsea six to eight months to finalize the captive in Barbados. She finalized the captive in Alberta in two months. By the time they set up the captive in Alberta, Nowell Seaman, with captive experience, had joined Chelsea's team.

[20:41] RIMS plug time! You can sign up now for RISKWORLD pre-conference workshops. They will all be held on May 4th and 5th at the San Diego Convention Center. The link is in this episode's show notes.

[20:54] The topics include but are not limited to Applying and Integrating ERM, Fundamentals of Insurance, and a RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep Workshop. Go to RIMS.org/RISKWORLD, go to Learn, and then Workshops and you'll find them there.

[21:09] RIMS Virtual Workshops: Visit RIMS.org/virtualworkshops to see the full calendar. Virtual workshops are in session, beginning in June, starting with Leveraging Data and Analytics for Continuous Risk Management. That's a three-part course that begins on June 6th. We've got Fundamentals of Insurance on June 11th and 12th.

[21:30] We've got Fundamentals of Risk Management on June 18th and 19th and we've got Captives as an Alternate Risk Financing Technique on June 26th and 27th.

[21:40] More information about these workshops and others is on the RIMS Virtual Workshops page and a link to the full calendar is in this episode's show notes.

[21:48] On April 11th, Clara Analytics returns to present AI's Impact on Emerging Risk Management Trends. On April 18th, Hub International returns for the second installment of its Ready For Tomorrow Series, Challenging the Status Quo: Rethinking Your Casualty Risk Strategy.

[22:09] Archer makes its RIMS Webinars debut on April 23rd at 11:00 a.m. Eastern. The session is titled Advancing RMIS: Strategies for Modern Risk Management. On April 30th, to close out Supply Chain Integrity Month, we welcome Moody's, who will present Resilience in Turbulent Times: Navigating Geopolitical Challenges in Supply Chains.

[22:37] Visit RIMS.org/Webinars to learn more about these webinars and to register! Links are in the show notes. Webinar registration is complimentary for RIMS members.

[22:50] We've got some critical reading to plug real quick. RIMS recently published its new Executive Report, "Leveraging Insurance and Risk Management to Address Political Risk". The report defines political risk while outlining key considerations that professionals should explore to effectively and proactively address political volatility.

[23:11] The report is exclusively available to RIMS members for the first 60 days. Visit the link in this episode's show notes and also the Risk Knowledge page of RIMS.org to download.

[23:34] Nowell Seaman is a former RIMS President. He's been a wonderful supporter of RIMS and his coworkers. He came out of retirement to join FCL. Chelsea had been leading Insurance and Risk by herself when he joined. Chelsea says Nowell calls his time at FCL his victory lap and she agrees.

[24:34] Chelsea had known of Nowell through SKRIMS but had not worked with him before FCL. Chelsea was intimidated at first by him. Then Nowell told her she needed to learn to speak up more! He had been brought in to mentor Chelsea so she could be ready to take over the program. It worked.

[26:52] Chelsea is the second SKRIMS member in four years to win the Rising Star Award. The last Rising Star from SKRIMS was Katherine Dawal, now SKRIMS President. Justin predicts that every Leap Year, we'll have a member of the SKRIMS Chapter win the Rising Star Award. Saskatchewan produces risk managers as well as NHL players!

[27:56] Chelsea says the SKRIMS board and membership are some of the best people she has ever met. They are engaged, enthusiastic, and down-to-earth. She enjoys hanging out with them. It's like hanging out with friends. It's a good group of people.

[28:22] They have fun running the chapter and it shows. They won an ECHO Award this year for the second year in a row. They're seeing results and it doesn't feel like work. They're just having fun along the way and doing good things.

[29:22] Katherine Dawal never got to walk the stage when she won the RIMS Rising Star 2020 Award because of COVID-19. She will walk the stage to pick up the ECHO Award for SKRIMS and Chelsea feels like she is walking the stage for both of them in picking up her RIMS 2024 Rising Star Award.

[29:45] Justin recommends joining the SKRIMS people if you see them at a Karaoke bar at RISKWORLD; they know how to cheer on the singers and get a crowd going!

[30:24] Chelsea felt a big shift in her career when she started to get involved with RIMS in 2019 for the RIMS Canada 2021 Conference in Saskatchewan, which unfortunately was canceled due to COVID-19. She started networking and meeting people with experience in the risk profession. She translated textbook knowledge into application.

[32:27] Chelsea wants to maintain success now that she is known as a Rising Star. Justin notes some of her current work accomplishments.

[33:35] Chelsea's advice to college students or new employees considering risk: "Be prepared. It's nothing like you think it's going to be! I moved from a business analyst role at FCL to the insurance team. I thought I knew what I was getting into and it ended up being entirely different, which is, I think, why I'm still here! It's exciting!"

[33:57] "Every day, you show up and something new happens! There's a new crisis to solve! It's dynamic and interesting and you never live the same day twice. You need to be able to think on your feet and manage the uncertainty of this profession but once you're in it and you find your foothold, it's unlike any other type of job. Hold on!"

[34:40] Justin thinks more great things are going to come from Chelsea's work! Chelsea, congratulations, and thank you so much for being a friend and joining us on RIMScast!

[34:56] Special thanks to RIMS 2024 Rising Star Chelsea Andrusiak. She will receive her award at RISKWORLD 2024. You can read her profile in the special Awards Edition of RIMS Risk Management Magazine which will be available mid-April 2024. Maybe we'll see her again on stage one day, receiving the award for Risk Manager of the Year.

[35:22] Go to the App Store and download the RIMS App. This is an exclusive members-only benefit with all sorts of RIMS resources and coverage. Everybody loves the RIMS App!

[35:50] You can sponsor a RIMScast episode for this, our weekly show, or a dedicated episode. Links to sponsored episodes are in our show notes. RIMScast has a global audience of risk professionals, legal professionals, students, business leaders, C-Suite executives, and more. Let's collaborate! Contact pd@rims.org for more information.

[36:34] 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.

[36:52] 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.

[37:08] For the best reporting on the profession of risk management, read Risk Management Magazine at RMMagazine.com, and check out the blog at RiskManagementMonitor.com. Justin Smulison is the Business Content Manager at RIMS. You can email Justin at Content@RIMS.org.

[37:30] Thank you for your continued support and engagement on social media channels! We appreciate all your kind words. Listen every week! Stay safe!

Mentioned in this Episode:

RISKWORLD 2024 — San Diego, CA | May 5–8, 2024

RISKWORLD Pre-Conference Workshops

RISKWORLD Speakers

NEW FOR MEMBERS! RIMS Mobile App

RIMS DEI Council

Spencer Educational Foundation — Grants Page

RIMS-Certified Risk Management Professional (RIMS-CRMP)

RIMS-CRMP Virtual Workshops

"Leveraging Insurance and Risk Management to Address Political Risk" — RIMS Executive Report

RIMS Canada 2024 | Vancouver, BC | Oct. 6–9, 2024

RIMS Webinars: