Risk Management Interview: Nowell Seaman at RIMS Canada

This is the first installment of the Risk Management Interview series on the ClearRisk blog.  Over my business trips, I’ve had the opportunity to meet many risk management thought leaders. I decided it would be a great idea to gather the opinions of various risk management and insurance professionals to share on our risk management blog, and so began this series.

From September 18 to the 21, I am attending the RIMS Canada Conference in Ottawa. This conference gathers risk management and insurance professionals together to learn more about what’s going on in the industry and to share ideas and strategies.

In this short video, I interview Nowell Seaman at the RIMS Canada Conference 2011 in Ottawa. Nowell is the risk manager of the University of Saskatchewan, and he is on the board of directors for RIMS.

I asked Nowell what was on his mind in terms of risk management this week. 
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RIMS Canada Conference: 10 Years Post 9/11

September 11, 2001 is this generation’s Kennedy assassination. It’s the day when everyone knows exactly where they were and what they were doing when they first found out about it. For risk managers in Canada, that day was spent in Ottawa at the RIMS Canada Conference.

I was walking through the exhibit hall when a friend with BI&I (the Hartford Steam Boiler -Munich Re) asked if I had heard what happened. I spent the rest of the day mesmerized and horrified in front of my hotel room TV. The rest of the conference was sombre and serious as we thought about our industry friends and colleagues that were among the victims that day.

In a few days, risk managers from across Canada and many from the US will once again gather in Ottawa, the nation’s capital. The annual RIMS Canada conference runs from September 18th through 21st. I suspect there will be a lot of reflection about what has changed in the world of risk and risk management since that dreadful day. The short answer: everything.

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How to beat the odds of survival: Risk Management for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

This week ClearRisk is proud to provide a guest post by Bert Fens of Forces Risk Management. Bert is a risk professional with 20+ years of international experience in risk management, holding several senior management positions. He is also a member of the Risk Management Consultants of Ontario (RMCO).

Small and Medium-sized Businesses (SMB’s) can benefit considerably from a simple but effective risk management program.

Consider this: more than 2 out of 5 small business owners in Canada have experienced a significant disruption to their businesses; 80% of businesses affected by a major incident have to close within 18 months, yet 62% of business owners have placed  business continuity planning low on their to-do-list and 18% of them admit that it is not even on their radar. These numbers are a clear and very scary indicator that the odds of survival for companies that have been hit by a major loss are incredibly low.

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Communicating in a Crisis Situation

A fire has destroyed your manufacturing facility that produces 80% of your products. Your staff has nowhere to work, your suppliers have nowhere to ship goods, and your customers start looking for new suppliers. Now what?
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