RIMS 2025 Risk Manager of the Year, Jennifer Pack

May 5, 2025

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

Justin and his guest, Jennifer Pack, RIMS 2025 Risk Manager of the Year, discuss her career and achievements, including Hyatt's VP of Risk Management. Jennifer describes how her membership in the RIMS Chicago Chapter and service on the Board impacted her career.

Jennifer helped align Hyatt's risk strategies with its evolving business model to ensure resilience in today's complex environment. Leading nearly 40 professionals, Jennifer's leadership and innovative risk solutions have helped strengthen Hyatt's risk management framework, to proactively identify risks and develop strategies to address them.

Jennifer successfully redesigned and centralized Hyatt's Short-Term, Long-Term Disability, and Workers' Compensation programs, reducing manual processing by up to 80,000 hours, improving compliance, and reducing legal exposure. It is linked to millions of dollars in savings.

Under her leadership, Hyatt's risk management team is overhauling Hyatt Hotels' fire safety with the first-of-its-kind Fire Life Safety Compliance and Governance Program, setting a standard for the organization and industry. The initiative includes the implementation of new technology, as well as auditing the 1,450 Hyatt hotels in 79 countries.

Jennifer is a beloved mentor who has had an impact on many careers. She continues to demonstrate her commitment to advancing the risk management profession as an active member of the RIMS Chicago Chapter.

Jennifer's innovations may inspire your work for your organization's ERM program.

Key Takeaways:

[:01] About RIMS and RIMScast.

[:16] About this episode of RIMScast. It is one of my favorite episodes to produce, with the Risk Manager of the Year. This year's honoree is Jennifer Pack, Hyatt's Vice President of Risk Management. We will talk about her success in ERM, captives, and more.

[:48] RIMS-CRMP Workshops! RIMS is co-hosting an intensive four-day program which is your gateway to achieving two prestigious certifications, the DRI Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP) and the RIMS Certified Risk Management Professional (RIMS-CRMP).

[1:08] This workshop will be held from May 19th through the 22nd in collaboration with DRI International. Links to these courses can be found through the Certification page of RIMS.org and this episode's show notes.

[1:23] 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".

[1:40] 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.

[1:51] We're at RISKWORLD this week but preparations are already underway for the RIMS ERM Conference 2025 on November 17th and 18th in Seattle, Washington. RIMS is accepting educational session submissions through May 20th.

[2:08] 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.

[2:26] These include officers, leaders, managers, and students. The link to the submission form is in this episode's show notes.

[2:35] While you are at RISKWORLD, be sure to take away some inspirado and channel it into an educational session submission for the RIMS ERM Conference 2025. Of course, mark your calendars for November 17th and 18th and I'll be sure to alert you when registration opens.

[2:55] The RIMS Risk Manager of the Year Program aims to raise the profile of the risk profession and the outstanding programs the honorees have implemented within their organizations.

[3:04] The award was created in 1977 and the Risk Management Honor Roll was added in 1981. The 2025 RIMS Risk Manager of the Year is Jennifer Pack of Hyatt.

[3:16] As VP of Risk Management, Jennifer has transformed risk management at Hyatt, embedding a culture that has provided a launchpad for organizational success. Her innovations in captive management also earned her this award.

[3:28] Jennifer is a long-standing member of the RIMS Chicago Chapter and an all-around fantastic professional. Her profile will soon appear in the Awards Edition of RIMS Risk Management magazine.

[3:40] Jennifer will receive the award on May 5th at 4:00 p.m., on the main stage at RISKWORLD. We're going to get to know her a little bit now. We'll talk ERM, captives, Chicago RIMS, hotel and hospitality, and more.

[3:57] Interview! RIMS 2025 Risk Manager of the Year, Jennifer Pack, welcome to RIMScast!

[4:34] Jennifer has been at Hyatt, for going on 18 years. She can stay at any hotel she would like!

[5:03] Some people like to leave their jobs every few years for a new company and skills. Jennifer's career at Hyatt has been an adventure! She hasn't been doing the same thing for 18 years. Every couple of years, she gets new roles and responsibilities. She's constantly learning.

[5:24] She has a foundation of knowing whom to go to, what the systems are, and how to get things done. There's a base familiarity but with some excitement and learning opportunities.

[5:36] If the feeling of being able to learn and grow ever stops, Jennifer will think about leaving. She's enjoying her time. It seems like she's working or a new company all the time. They're transforming. They're changing. The risk landscape is changing. There's never a dull moment.

[5:56] Justin feels the same way about working at RIMS! He started as a writer but then got these responsibilities and they took on sort of a life of their own and attracted more of an audience. It's more work, but it's more fun and rewarding.

[6:25] Jennifer joined Hyatt in a group called Compliance and Controls. She was hired to set up their Sarbanes-Oxley department. In reaction to the financial crisis after the downfall of Arthur Andersen and Enron, Sarbanes-Oxley was born and Jennifer became an expert on it.

[6:58] Jennifer launched that group and then it was moved into Internal Audit where they were exposed to a lot more people and systems. Jennifer had the opportunity to backfill someone in the Risk Management department and never left. She's been in the risk function for 15 years.

[7:30] When Jennifer joined the risk group it had seven risk practitioners in the corporate office. There were five or six Occupational Health Managers in the field, helping with Workers' Compensation and occupational safety. There are over 35 full-time members now.

[8:09] They've taken on new roles in the 15 years: physical security, business resilience, fire life safety compliance, and other health and safety functions in the company. They could probably use a few more people but they're doing well.

[8:38] The risk profile of the company has changed. The geopolitical risk profile of the world has changed. Hyatt's offerings have changed. They used to be mostly business, group, and convention, and now they lean into leisure, travel, and all-inclusive, which have different risks.

[9:16] Hyatt has tripled its resort rooms and quintupled its lifestyle rooms since 2017. A lifestyle room is about meeting clientele where they are. Millennials want to travel the world and experience the environment, such as an attached nightclub in Miami or New York.

[9:55] They're unconventional hotels with the framework of a well-known brand, where guests have comfort, safety, security, cybersecurity, and loyalty points while feeling like they're in a niche hotel with great and different experiences. It feels like a boutique, attached to the brand.

[11:06] Social inflation is a risk. Liability insurance has gone up because claim payouts have gone up tremendously. Claim attorneys are targeting hospitality.

[12:12] Hyatt is thinking globally about health, safety, and security, making sure policies are locked down, training is locked down, and people know how to report an incident, and when to report it. How do you de-escalate an incident to win the guest back?

[12:36] Saying, "I'm sorry that happened to you. Here are some points. We care about you," reinforcing that, versus saying, "Let my insurance company deal with it." That's the last thing we want. If our guests had a bad incident, they had a bad experience.

[12:51] Especially if you're traveling on leisure with your family, you want to know that you'll be taken care of. There's an expectation that you're going to be safe and secure. Hyatt wants to make sure to bring the level of care to them that they deserve.

[13:07] Hyatt is working on the front end to retrain employees on ramping up safety and security measures and knowing how to respond when an incident happens.

[13:18] Then, if it gets into the claims section, the claims management team has new robust processes to manage claims to drive down exposure. On the insurance procurement side, Hyatt is leaning into its captive to take on much higher retention in-house.

[14:09] Hyatt is asking leadership in the field to bring education and awareness to the importance of risk management, what's at risk, and what the current legal environment is, and overlay that with wanting to care for people. Hyatt cares about the guest experience.

[14:43] This is a macro-level environment. If you have litigation system abuse across the country, what are insurers doing about it? What are brokers doing about it? What are corporations doing about it?

[14:56] Jennifer gets with her peers in the hospitality industry, working in their respective associations, to address these issues at the state and federal levels, change laws, and push for tort reform and disclosures of litigation funding.

[15:28] Hyatt has partnered with the American Lodging and Hospitality Association and is considering partnering with insurance companies. You can't just hope someone else will take care of the problem. It's a much bigger problem that we all need to address.

[16:06] Justin points out that third-party litigation funding is one of the top initiatives and campaigns for RIMS this year. RIMS recently had the Legislative Summit in Washington, D.C., where third-party litigation funding was a top priority. It was a top RIMS talking point on the Hill.

[16:38] Jennifer says Hyatt and the hospitality industry are in with RIMS on the issue of third-party litigation funding. If it continues, guests are going to have to pay more for a stay and for the experiences they want to have as rising risk costs are passed to the consumers.

[17:04] Plug Time! RIMS Webinars! We are back on May 22nd, with GRC, a TÜV SÜD Company, and their newest session, "Asset Valuations in 2025: Managing Tariffs, Inflation, and Rising Insurance Scrutiny".

[17:22] On May 29th, Origami Risk returns to present "Strategic Risk Financing in an Unstable Economy: Leveraging Technology for Efficiency and Cost Reduction". On June 5th, Zywave joins us to discuss "Today's Escalating Risk Trajectory: What's the Cause and What's the Solution?" [17:44] More webinars will be announced soon and added to the RIMS.org/Webinars page. Go there to register. Registration is complimentary for RIMS members.

[17:55] 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.

[18:16] 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.

[18:36] 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.

[18:46] On the 7th of October, the New Jersey RIMS Chapter will return to the beautiful Fiddler's Elbow Country Club in Bedminster, New Jersey for their Annual Charity Golf/Pickleball Event.

[18:59] Registration is open and the event proceeds are used to fund the chapter's Spencer and Kids' Chance Scholarships. It was the filming location for the upcoming movie sequel Happy Gilmore 2. For more information, and to register, please NewJersey.RIMS.org.

[19:21] Let's Return to My Interview with RIMS 2025 Risk Manager of the Year, Jennifer Pack!

[19:47] Hyatt put a captive in place in 2013. Back then, Hyatt had huge insurance cost swings year-on-year that they couldn't forecast. It created a lot of "noise" on the balance sheet. They originally put the captive in place to take away that noise and remove wild cost volatility.

[20:38] Over time, Hyatt started to see success and build up a surplus they saw the value of a captive, especially as market conditions changed. They brought in additional forms of insurance coverage with traditional deductible buy-downs with workers' compensation and GL.

[21:04] They started to see the surplus build up and they were able to give some of the surplus back to the participants and drive down their premium cost.

[21:14] In the pandemic, the hospitality business came to a halt. Before the pandemic, Hyatt's average occupancy around the world was over 75%. In April 2020, it dropped to 6%. The owners of Hyatt were under extreme pressure.

[21:43] Jennifer had an extra surplus in the captive and was able to give relief to the owners and to the company in that year and the next couple of years. Claim volume went down due to lower occupancy. Hyatt used some of that cash to fund large acquisitions.

[22:19] That's when Hyatt saw social inflation in gaps in coverage. There was no coverage for a pandemic. Through the captive, Jennifer was able to offer that coverage to the owners. She offered wages and hours insurance to the owners.

[22:48] Coming out of COVID-19, with the impact of social inflation, the captive took on larger line sizes and larger layers in its umbrella tower. They had some acquisitions in cyber. They bought the Apple Leisure Group.

[23:36] In a lot of those services, Hyatt isn't providing the service but is almost like a travel agent, connecting you to the hotel, airline, or excursion. If there is an incident, the third party has the coverage. Hyatt has exposure for connecting you to the service.

[24:01] Hyatt had to get creative with coverage for these new exposures, working with broker partners to fill those gaps. They did it largely with the captive, buying time until they could get a traditional product in place.

[24:17] With the captive, Hyatt filled gaps, helped grow the business, and used it as a business enabler, providing cash, relief to owners, and coverage that may not have been commercially available, either to buy time or permanently fill a gap. It's been fun!

[24:53] Jennifer regularly changes which hat she wears. As the captive President, she has to look at what Hyatt is doing to protect the captive and make sure it's adequately funded and complies with regulations. From a governance perspective, is Hyatt doing the right things?

[25:21] Jennifer regularly brings in third-party experts to check the captive. Jennifer's decisions as President of the captive are through the lens of the captive and as the owner of this business, what they are doing to grow revenues, manage expenses, and keep an adequate surplus.

[25:44] The captive doesn't run razor-thin. To have a forward-looking approach, it needs to have an adequate surplus, reserves, and cash in the captive. They're very conservative in protecting it.

[26:06] From a corporate risk management perspective, when Hyatt needs to buy insurance, Jennifer asks, can we buy it from the captive? She sometimes has tough conversations with Hyatt about borrowing versus driving up investment income to protect everyone's interests.

[26:37] Jennifer has to keep top-of-mind, which lens she's looking through, whether President of the Captive or Hyatt Vice President of Risk Management. She wears two hats, managing all the key stakeholders' needs and wants.

[27:17] Some of the stakeholders are Hyatt, third-party owners, the corporation itself, and guests and colleagues with short-term and long-term disability and medical, adding value for the benefits team so they don't have to go to third parties for that insurance.

[28:27] As the Captive President, Jennifer is looking at loss and expense ratios, reserve to operating ratios, surplus to premiums, and surplus to reserves, making sure that they're within the set ratios. They shoot for three to one. Anything above that number can go to participants.

[29:09] They won't go below three to one so they are capitalized for future unexpected losses or to back up future business growth. Jennifer believes Hyatt is unique in having those ratios and guards in place. Jennifer is looking forward to future needs.

[30:15] The captive evaluates from time to time whether to change the ratios to five to one or four to one. In the liability space, claims are growing. Some of the demands are wild and the settlements reached or not reached are eye-opening!

[30:46] Jennifer explains the global risk management claims software that is now also used for incident reporting to the risk department. They look at data from all incidents and are seeing a trend and looking to what could come down the pike and new coverages they may need to offer.

[31:44] The technology is supporting the department and overall risk management strategy. The captive is benefiting through better data on what's happening out there so they won't get blindsided by unusual trends that aren't yet seen in the claims.

[32:19] Technology helps the captive to build out platforms to manage compliance, safety, and security in the environment.

[32:28] The more data insights and comfort Jennifer has over the Health, Safety, and Security diagnostic at each property, region, and the globe, and overlays those with risk assessments Hyatt does, the more comfort she can get to take on more risks knowledgeably in the captive.

[33:15] RIMS Plug! The first of hopefully many RIMS Texas Regional Conferences will be held in San Antonio from August 4th through the 6th, 2025. This groundbreaking event is set to unite the Texas RIMS Chapters and welcome risk management professionals from around the world.

[33:34] Guess what, folks! Registration is now open! The advance rate is available through May 16th. A link is in this episode's show notes. You can also visit the Events page of RIMS.org to register. We look forward to seeing you in Texas!

[33:50] Let's Conclude Our Interview with RIMS 2025 Risk Manager of the Year, Jennifer Pack!

[34:04] Jennifer Pack is the RIMS Risk Manager of the Year 2025 and she has been such a wonderful guest. This episode is coming out the morning of the awards. We will see her onstage, for anyone who has the privilege of being there.

[34:19] Jennifer is honored, excited, and a little nervous to be onstage at RISKWORLD for the award. A lot of the RIMS Chicago members will be there. Jennifer has a wonderful Chicago-based team that will be there. Jennifer's parents and her husband are coming.

[36:26] Jennifer says moving up the ranks at Hyatt and RIMS Chicago has been a fun and wild ride! The growth in her career, switching from being a Public Accountant to Auditor to Risk Manager has been fun with a lot of learning.

[36:54] Jennifer tries to lead and grow with optimism, fun, and humor. She's been able to grow and develop a team under her. It's been a really interesting 18-year adventure.

[37:11] Once Jennifer was exposed to RIMS, it opened her eyes to the wealth of resources, friendship, collaboration, and knowledge-sharing. It's been such an excellent experience for her. She couldn't be prouder of the Chicago Chapter and the great things they do to develop talent.

[37:43] Jennifer says since COVID-19, it's been wonderful to see the number of people who attend the outings and forums. It's great to have such a great community and seeing them regularly is impactful.

[38:06] Jennifer is Risk Manager of the Year. The Rising Star is Megan Smalter, who has had a wonderful time with the Chicago Chapter before moving to New York. In her role on the RIMS Chicago Chapter Board, and when she ran the Golf Outing, Jennifer has worked with Megan.

[38:45] Julie Bean won the Heart of RIMS Award recently. Jennifer says it's great to have the bench of expertise of long-standing members in the Chicago Chapter. Jennifer learned from them personally and in professional settings. They're great for sharing ideas and working with.

[39:36] Jennifer also mentioned Theresa Severson who was RIMS 2023 Risk Manager of the Year, with Kite Realty. There's a lot of talent and deep risk knowledge in the RIMS Chicago Chapter. There's a genuine camaraderie.

[40:30] Jennifer looks ahead to see companies leaning into the concept of full risk management philosophy. Risk management is so much more than just the insurance buyers.

[40:45] Risk management is "How can we bring a risk management mindset to our enterprises? How can we be business enablers? How can we leverage the wealth of data and information that comes through our department to enable mindful growth in the business?"

[41:05] It's "How can we help with ESG efforts, especially with the reporting? How can we mitigate risks to the company and not just to our financial tools of insurance? What can we do in loss prevention or mitigation?"

[41:26] "What can we do in claims management with more expertise, as things heat up on the litigation side with social inflation and nuclear claims?" Jennifer sees Hyatt and other companies taking more risks in the captive's or balance sheet to offset what's happening."

[42:10] Risk managers are going to have to articulate that and bring solutions to the forefront of their companies. Jennifer is excited about the future. She's looking forward to launching and rolling out more technology solutions as Hyatt leverages all its data.

[42:57] Jennifer knows her team can have a lot of positive impact on the organization and she's excited about it.

[43:08] Special thanks and congratulations again to Jennifer Pack, the RIMS 2025 Risk Manager of the Year. A link to RISKWORLD coverage is in this episode's show notes via the Show Daily.

[43:20] That will update this episode's show notes with a link to the RIMS Risk Management Magazine coverage in our special Awards Edition. More honorees from RISKWORLD will join us here on RIMScast soon.

[43:35] 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.

[44:03] 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.

[44:21] 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.

[44:38] 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.

[44:55] 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.

[45:09] Justin Smulison is the Business Content Manager at RIMS. You can email Justin at Content@RIMS.org.

[45:17] 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 20)

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 Dates

Press Release: "RIMS Risk Manager of the Year Goes to Hyatt's Jennifer Pack"

RIMS Webinars:

RIMS.org/Webinars