The traditional defense-oriented, insurance-based role of the risk manager is giving way to an opportunities-driven approach linked to corporate strategy—a trend that is pushing risk professionals to seek continuing education (CE) courses teaching the business skills they need to stay competitive in today's market.
According to a recent RIMS study analyzing the evolving role of risk professionals, today's risk experts are not only asked to protect a company's balance sheet through insurance, indemnification and loss control—but are also tasked, at least in companies with active enterprise risk management (ERM) programs, with integrating big-picture financial objectives and strategic planning into their portfolio of duties.
In order to better prepare risk managers for this ever-evolving set of responsibilities, RIMS is offering continuing-education classes geared toward strategic risk management (SRM), a way to approach organizational risk to expand business opportunities while working alongside company executives.
"The topic that most of our developing courses are currently geared to is strategic management: aligning risk-management practices within a company to its strategic vision," says Rick Roberts, RIMS' director and liaison of the society's Professional Development Advisory Council.
"Pure risk-assessment techniques and risk-handling are now considered a given," Roberts adds.
Two of RIMS' new classes centering on SRM are "Business Continuity Management: Promote and Protect Enterprise Value" (set for Nov. 1-2 in Charlotte, N.C.) and "Integrating Enterprise Risk Management and Strategic Planning" (Nov. 29-30 in Las Vegas). Each offers two CE credits, authorized by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy.
MANAGEMENT LIABILITY MENTORING
Risk managers also can take advantage of the International Risk Management Institute's Management Liability Insurance Specialist (MLIS) online continuing-education program.
According to the institute, the MLIS program was developed to make it easier for in-house risk managers to gain specialized expertise in the fundamentals of Professional Liability insurance and the nuances of Directors & Officers Liability, Employment Practices Liability and Fiduciary Liability exposures and coverage.
The program is comprised of a two-part curriculum. Part 1, which consists of three courses, covers elements common to all types of E&O, D&O and Professional liability policies, such as claims-made coverage triggers and policy conditions. The four courses in Part 2 focus specifically on D&O, Employment Practices and Fiduciary liability.
IRMI also produces a Construction Risk and Insurance Specialist (CRIS) continuing-certification program.
UNIVERSITY EDUCATION
The Academy of Risk Management and Insurance, run through the Erivan K. Haub School of Business at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, offers continuing-education classes for risk professionals that are managed by industry veteran Michael Angelina, who moved from chief risk officer and chief actuary for Endurance Specialty Holdings to the position of the academy's executive director in April 2012.
Apart from a complete risk-management major, the school offers up to three annual symposia accredited by the AACSB International Association for Management Education. And ERM is always a top-shelf topic at the school.
The Stanford University Center for Professional Development also gears a course directly toward Strategic Decision and Risk Management.
Established for those working in strategic planning, business management, risk analysis and ERM, the nonaccredited certificate class teaches industry professionals to make decisions that embrace risk for competitive business advantage.
The class teaches competency in leadership, strategy insight and planning, decision-making, innovation, and team-wide execution of business operations.
AMA'S INSURANCE OPTIONS
Risk managers might want to make some of their executive colleagues aware of courses offered by the American Management Association (AMA) designed for executives looking to beef up their insurance knowledge. (Brokers and agents might also want to alert clients that don't have full-time risk managers about these classes.)
AMA's two-day general Insurance and Risk Management Workshop, which offers 1.2 CE credits sanctioned by NASBA and the International Association for Continuing Education and Training, introduces CFOs, CEOs, controllers and treasurers to coverage-buying techniques.
Larry Geneen, who has taught the workshop for three decades and serves as director of American Safety Insurance Holdings, a company that underwrites specialty policies for small and midsize businesses that are not covered by the standard insurance market, says his students exhibit "a tremendous desire to tie risk strategy to corporate strategy and seek a risk-management program that helps rather than interferes. The trend is to expect both [RM and non-RM] parties to understand risk."
The AMA class is scheduled over four dates in the U.S. between December 2012 and April 2013.
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