By Anita Z. Bourke, executive vice president of The Institutes.

We are all aware of the looming talent shortage facing the risk management and insurance industry. According to McKinsey and Co., almost 500,000 professionals out of 2.25 million will retire from the insurance industry between 2008 and 2018. By any standard, with such a significant change in the workforce, there will be major talent gaps for the industry to fill.

Many organizations have developed their own initiatives to fill these gaps. A number of firms offer internships to students or recruit on campus. The Institutes and affiliates are working together to educate high school and college students about our industry, including:

• The Griffith Insurance Education Foundation speaking to high school students about risk management and insurance
• The CPCU Society promoting RMI as a career at the university level
• The CPCU Loman Education Foundation providing internship assistance and matching students with employers
• The Institutes providing professional development content.

Although each organization's initiatives are helpful on their own, it is not enough. We need a unified, industry-wide effort to attract the best talent, such as the effort undertaken by Certified Public Accountants to secure talent for the accounting profession.