The best of the best! Here are the RIMS 2015 award winners and honorees

Victoria Nolan (center), is this year's winner of the Ron Judd "Heart of RIMS" Award. (Photo courtesy of RIMS)

The Ron Judd "Heart of RIMS" Award pays tribute to the legacy of Ron Judd, who served as the RIMS Executive Director for 22 years. 

Individuals are nominated by chapters for outstanding performance in furthering risk management at the chapter level. This year's Heart of RIMS recipient is Victoria Nolan, risk and benefits manager, Clean Water Services and an active member of RIMS Oregon Chapter.

2015 RIMS Rising Star honorees Anna Bendgen and Yelena Urcia (center). Andrew Bent not pictured. (Photo courtesy of RIMS)

The RIMS Rising Star Award honors up-and-coming risk management professionals under the age of 35 or who have seven or less years of professional experience in the industry. This year, Anna Bendgen, risk management specialist at Sedgwick, Andrew Bent, senior advisor, EH&S risk at Suncor Energy Inc., and Yelena Urcia, senior global insurance analyst at The AES Corporation were honored for demonstrating exceptional initiative, volunteerism, professional development, achievement, and leadership potential.

Honorees for the 2015 RIMS Chapter Achievement Awards. (Photo courtesy of RIMS)

The Richard W. Bland Memorial Award was presented to Richard Rabs, immediate past chair of RIMS External Affairs Committee. The award was created by RIMS Kansas City Chapter in 1974 to recognize a member's dedicated commitment in the area of legislation or regulation.

The Cristy Award was presented to Michael Grosso, risk analyst, Bimbo Bakeries USA. This award acknowledges the individual who earned the highest marks on the three exams required to earn the Associate of Risk Management designation.

RIMS and Business Insurance magazine presented the 2015 Risk Manager of the Year^® Award to Kathleen M. Ireland, vice president of global risk management, IBM Corp.

RIMS also recognized the exceptional work of its chapters for outstanding chapter programming and conferences; advancing the risk management profession; outstanding member services; as well as membership growth. 

Pictured holding trophies are the surviving wives of the 2015 Risk Management Hall of Fame inductees. (Photo courtesy of RIMS)

RIMS and AIG also announced Gary E. Bird, James D. Hinton and Reginald A. Pitchford as the 2015 inductees to the Risk Management Hall of Fame (RMHF). The RMHF serves as a means to maintain the history of the field of risk management and recognizes risk practitioners who have made significant contributions to advancing the discipline. 

Gary E. Bird was a member of the risk management and insurance community for more than 19 years. His last position was as senior vice president in Construction Risk Management at Marsh & McLennan. Previously, he was the director of risk management at Phelps Dodge Corporation where he spent most of his career. Gary lived in Tempe, Arizona from 1973 until his tragic death on September 11, 2001. 

James D. "Jim" Hinton retired in 2012, having worked for the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) and its predecessor companies for 33 years, the last 23 of which he was the Vice President of Risk & Insurance. He was also the President of Health Care Indemnity, Inc., HCA's captive insurance company. Jim Hinton passed away in 2012. 

Reginald A. "Reg" Pitchford was the most prominent mentor and advocate of risk management in Manitoba and RIMS Manitoba Chapter (MARIMS) – a risk management legacy that began even before Manitoba achieved official RIMS chapter status in 1976. Reg began his career as an underwriter with Insurance Brokers until 1954 when he was transferred to Montreal with an insurance company as an inspector.  In 1960, he transferred to Winnipeg with the same company as Prairie Manager. In 1967, Reg was offered a senior position with United Grain Growers (UGG) Insurance Department which led to a promotion as Corporate Risk Manager in 1967. He held this position until his early retirement in 1984. Reg passed away in October 2014 at the age of 92.