As the new president of the Public Risk Management Association(PRIMA), Cindy Mallett, risk manager for the City of Gainesville,Ga., says she has no shortage of issues to focus on in the comingyear.

One important goal is to reach non-traditional risk managers,“people who may not have risk anywhere in their title but areperforming some of those responsibilities,” she says.

“They may be people in human resources, the city clerk's office,public works, finance, but some of their duties touch on therisk-management field,” she says, with responsibilities forinsurance procurement, safety and/or workers' compensation.

How to reach them? One way is to partner with otherorganizations that may have them as members. Another is to haveavailable the educational offerings and products to support them,she says.

The PRIMA Cybrary, for example is a “tremendous resource for ourmembers. There are about 2,500 documents available for members oneverything from requests for proposals to policies andprocedures.”

This is important at a time when fewer employees are shoulderingmore responsibilities, Mallett says.

As PRIMA president, Mallett plans to:

â–ª Listen to stakeholders: What programs and services do theyvalue? What do they need in today's environment?

â–ª Deliver a variety of educational programming so that allmembers benefit—regardless of experience level, type of entity orcomplexity of program.

â–ª Look for ways to promote the profession and the practice ofrisk management by educating public officials, public-entity CEOsand other public-entity professionals. She also hopes to educateabout the duties of a risk manager—that it's more than justpurchasing insurance.

Helping risk managers convey that they have something importantto contribute when it comes to critical issues—such as facilitiessecurity, emergency planning and financial controls