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

 

Justin Smulison interviews RIMS General Counsel and VP of External Affairs Mark Prysock about the RIMS Advocacy, the RIMS Legislative Summit being postponed to Q1 2025 to work with a fresh Congress and Administration. Mark covers a few of the important legislative issues potentially affecting RIMS and RIMS members, including the Tomorrow’s Workforce Act, the negative impact of increasing the tax burden on 501(c)(6) non-profit organizations like RIMS, and the national security issues at stake if nothing is done to make third party litigation funding transparent.

Listen for information and inspiration to get more involved in RIMS Advocacy.

 

Key Takeaways:

[:01] About RIMS.

[:15] About this episode. Justin introduces return guest Mark Prysock, RIMS General Counsel and VP of External Affairs.

[:42] Events! We’ve got the DFW RIMS 2024 Fall Conference and Spa Event happening on September 19th in Irving, Texas. Learn more about that event in Episode 299, which features an interview with the Texas State Office of Risk Management.

[1:00 ] Also on September 19th is the RIMS Chicago Chapter’s Chicagoland Risk Forum 2024. Register at ChicagolandRiskForum.org.

[1:09 ] Registration opened for the RIMS Canada Conference 2024 which will be held from October 6th through the 9th in Vancouver. Visit RIMSCanadaConference.ca to register.

[1:21 ] Registration is also open for the RIMS Western Regional, which will be held from September 29th through October 1st at the Sun River Resort in Oregon. Register at RIMSWesternRegional.com.

[1:35 ] We want you to join us in Boston on November 18th and 19th for the RIMS ERM Conference 2024. The agenda is live. The keynote will be announced soon. We want to see you there! A link is on this page.

[1:50 ] All RIMS regional conference information can be found on the Events page at RIMS.org.

[1:57 ] If you want to present a session at RISKWORLD 2025 in Chicago, you are in luck! The deadline to submit your session has been extended to Monday, September 9th, 2024. A link is in this episode’s notes.

[2:12 ] We will be bringing out Mark Prysock in just a moment but before we get started, let’s talk RIMS Webinars! All RIMS Webinars registration pages are available through RIMS.org/webinars. [2:26 ] On September 5th, Merrill Herzog makes their RIMS Webinars debut with the Role of Insurance in Building Resilience Against an Active Assailant Attack.

[2:35 ] On September 19th, Origami Risk returns to deliver Leveraging Integrated Risk Management For Strategic Advantage. On September 26th, Archer returns to explore The Future of RMIS: Beyond Traditional Approaches. Webinars for October are also available.

[2:52 ] Justin jumped ahead a little bit, though. On September 12th, HUB International returns to deliver the third part of their Ready for Tomorrow series, Pivot and Swerve: Staying Agile During Shifting Market Dynamics.

[3:07 ] Justin is delighted to be joined by the moderator for that session, the Chief Marketing Officer for Canada at HUB International, Linda Regner Dykeman. Justin welcomes Linda to RIMScast and introduces the upcoming global webinar on staying agile that Linda will host.

[3:38 ] The webinar will be at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time on September 12th. Linda says they will be discussing current market trends and challenges. The industry has been able to produce some very strong profits over the last few years.

[3:52 ] The market needed correction after many years of unprofitability driven by weather events in the property line where rates seemed to be unsustainable. Casualty also had its issues, particularly with Directors and Officers Liability.

[4:10 ] As a result of the profitability the industry was able to achieve over the last few years, most carriers have become more competitive in growing their books of business. This competition is not being seen in all lines, segments, or geographies.

[4:27 ] Some catastrophe-prone zones such as BC and Alberta have not seen the same level of competition across the board. As the market transitions from a hard market to a competitive environment, there is some unusual and inconsistent behavior.

[4:44 ] Carriers in Canada are being more flexible with their appetite. London is looking to grow significantly over the next couple of years with goals of hitting $100 billion by 2025. Add to that NGAs who are seeing their market share change as local carriers become more competitive.

[5:02 ] As we transition out of what was considered to be a hard market, we see a lot of inconsistency in this market.

[5:11 ] Add to this the supply chain issues, which are not what they once were, the economy is flat with spending, once normalized for an increase in population, it reflects that of a market in a recession.

[5:25 ] We, as brokers, are finding competitive solutions to protect our clients. We have to pivot and swerve to discover the right opportunities.

[5:37 ] We had a significant rain event in Toronto, followed by one of the worst wildfires Jasper has ever seen, seemingly a once-in-a-hundred-year event; weather catastrophes are more severe and more frequent.

[5:50 ] How is this going to change the availability of capacity and pricing? Time will tell, as insurers try to figure out if their pricing models included the right loadings for these events.

[6:12 ] Being informed by what is happening in the market; the trends, the opportunities, what’s available, and partnering with the right broker, will help a risk manager make an informed decision, appropriate for their business.

[6:34 ] The panelists have decades of experience and expertise across North America. They work with clients, markets, and other experts and bring a much broader perspective and experience to this session.

[6:49 ] Steve Pottle is the risk manager on the panel. He’s been omnipresent in RIMS Canada for years. He’s a former RIMS VP and is currently the Director for Risk and Safety Services at Thompson Rivers University. Justin says he’s one of the best and Linda agrees.

[7:20 ] Linda will moderate. She’ll ask the panelists questions HUB International has received from its clients, based on what they are seeing happening in the environment around them. She would also like the audience to pose some questions. Audience participation is encouraged.

[7:44 ] Justin thanks Linda Regner Dykeman of HUB International, and will see her again on September 12th, 2024 for the third installment of HUB’s Ready for Tomorrow series, Pivot and Swerve: Staying Agile During Shifting Market Dynamics.

[8:02 ] Interview! Justin introduces Mark Prysock, RIMS General Counsel and VP of External Affairs. Mark will provide a RIMS Advocacy update and talk about the legislative issues on RIMS’s radar and the status of the next RIMS legislative summit. Mark, welcome to RIMScast!

[8:36 ] Mark Prysock is the hardest-working lawyer that Justin knows. Justin wants him to be on RIMScast weekly. Mark says he will try to be on at least once a quarter.

[9:13 ] The Legislative Summit has been postponed to Q1 2025 as the time Congress has left in 2024 is focused on passing continuing resolutions to keep the government open. It's not an ideal time for RIMS to come to D.C. with their legislative priorities.

[10:07 ] Q1 2025 will be great for RIMS to go to D.C. to talk about RIMS’s priorities. The new Congress will be seated with new Committee Chairs and Ranking Members. There will be a new administration, so a lot of new Executive Branch jobs will have been filled.

[10:46 ] In Q4 2024, RIMS Advocacy will announce to RIMS members the date for the Legislative Summit of Q1 2025. It will be live, in person, on Capitol Hill, similar to the 2023 event.
[11:03 ] RIMS Advocacy hopes to set up educational sessions on Wednesday in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce building, with a reception Wednesday evening with a fund-raising event for RISKPAC. On Thursday, everyone will descend on Capitol Hill and lobby RIMS’s issues.

[11:46 ] RISKPAC has been going to a lot of fund-raising events for key members of Congress who sit on committees with jurisdiction over legislative issues that matter to RIMS. They focus on the Chairs, Ranking Members, and other committee members.

[12:15 ] RISKPAC has had some good one-on-one time with members of Congress and their key staff members to talk about RIMS’s issues.

[12:31 ] Greg McKenna is the Chair of the RISKPAC Trustees Committee. He supports everything RIMS is doing on the legislative front and knows that RI