NEW YORK (April 11, 2022) — RIMS, the risk management society®, has announced Courtney Davis Curtis, Assistant Vice President, Risk Management and Resilience Planning for University of Chicago, as the 2022 Risk Manager of the Year. The 2022 Risk Management Honor Roll inducted Jana Utter, Vice President Enterprise Risk Management for Centene Corporation.
“Courtney Davis Curtis’ risk management philosophy is spot on,” said RIMS President Patrick Sterling. “Risk professionals must make it their priority to deliver solutions and create pathways for strategic initiatives to move forward. Not only is Courtney’s tremendous success at the University of Chicago inspiring but her commitment to giving back to the global risk management community and sharing her experiences to advance this profession is beyond admirable. It is RIMS honor to present Courtney with the 2022 Risk Manager of the Year Award.”
“Collaboration is critical to risk management success and it is apparent that Jana Utter’s ability to bridge gaps across her company has created opportunities to build a strong, cross-functional program that accentuates risk management’s value at Centene,” Sterling continued. “Through her volunteer work serving on RIMS’ committees, this Society has benefited directly from her expertise and we could not be more proud than to induct Janna into RIMS Risk Management Honor Roll.”
The Risk Manager of the Year program aims to raise the profile of the risk management profession and the outstanding programs the honorees have implemented within their organizations. The program was initiated in 1977 and the Risk Management Honor Roll was added in 1981.
Any full-time professional who administers risk management programs for a corporation, nonprofit institution or government entity is eligible for submission in the Risk Manager of the Year program. The nominations are judged by an independent panel comprising prior honorees and other risk management and insurance industry leaders.
ABOUT THE WINNERS
RISK MANAGER OF THE YEAR: Courtney Davis Curtis
Courtney is a distinguished leader in the risk and insurance community and has gone to great lengths to serve as a careful steward of resources within her care, and a fiduciary of the University of Chicago. As the Assistant Vice President, Risk Management and Resilience Planning for the University, she brings a unique deliberate approach to her role, as well as an incredible track-record of success that has positioned her as a campus partner, advocate and expert who is committed to finding solutions.
Her risk management philosophy focuses on two key beliefs. The first, everyone is a risk manager, and the second, the Office of Risk Management is the office of KNOW and not NO. Together, this allows Courtney and her team to effectively support the enterprise’s academic, research and health mission.
Courtney manages over 100 individual policy placements and continues to meet annual projected targets despite the current insurance market. The portfolio of insurance that she maintains includes a complex network of hospital professional liability and physician medical malpractice coverages insured through a combination of self-insurance, trust, commercial/reinsurance markets, and a captive that she helped transition in 2020.
Additionally, her team recently took over responsibility for the University’s workers’ compensation claims. Since that transition, the team has reduced lag time of claim reporting with an improvement of 16% more claims reported to the TPA within three days of the accident; reduced the number of open claims from a TPA transition by 59% with aggressive claims strategies; and implemented a light duty program for the police department, facilities services, and the press warehouse.
Courtney collaborated with the internal audit/risk function to oversee the completion of the initial three-year ERM cycle using a risk inventory that was informed by the internal audit risk assessment process and covered 10 ERM risk topics areas. The ERM framework was critical in describing and analyzing high-level risks and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. ERM enables the University to enhance its ability to identify and manage enterprise risks and report on such impacts while using a consistent approach by all the risk assessors.
Believing in the importance of giving back and preparing future professionals, Courtney speaks annually to interns or newly hired insurance professionals at the insurance brokerage where she interned and began her career. She delivered the keynote address at the 2018 RIMS NextGen Forum, has spoken at the Gamma Iota Sigma International Conference and served as a judge for multiple student risk management competitions around the world.
She also holds a leadership role with the University Risk Management and Insurance Association (URMIA) and has spoken at several RIMS Chapter events about DE&I topics such as supplier diversity and risk management.
RISK MANAGEMENT HONOR ROLL: Jana Utter
Jana Utter is a risk management leader who has demonstrated an unrivaled commitment to increasing awareness about the profession while generously sharing her experiences to help others more effectively manage risk for their organizations.
As Centene’s Vice President, Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), Jana has direct responsibility for ERM Strategy and Program Implementation. She oversees day-to-day activities for the ERM framework that includes: engaging corporate and business unit executive leaders; leveraging subject matter experts for risk analysis and quantification; the alignment of ERM with other risk and compliance areas; partnering with corporate strategy; and supporting corporate insurance in risk analysis and annual policy renewal activities.
Jana also coordinated Centene’s Own Risk and Solvency Assessment, implements an annual Risk & Strategy Survey to inform leadership’s strategic decision-making on ‘top of mind’ and emerging risks, and has integrated ERM into underwriter presentations to guide the organization’s risk financing strategy.
Most notably, Jana has transformed the organization’s ERM program so that it also addresses Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) risks, allowing Centene to better address its present and future needs. Under her leadership, the ERM program no longer is limited to managing risks to protect value, but, instead, it is now leveraged to link ESG with strategy to create and sustain long-term value. During this transition, Centene jumped from a Fortune 186 ranking to its current position as Fortune’s 24th-ranked business with 2021 revenue of $126 billion (USD).
Throughout her career and continuing at Centene, Jana has demonstrated an innate ability to promote and integrate collaboration across the enterprise. This dynamic quality has allowed her to build cross-functional teams and lead them to successfully navigate new and unfamiliar opportunities. She continues to leverage these skills to raise awareness of potential ESG governance and reporting risks, reputational impact, and impediments to achieving the company’s performance objectives.
Jana selflessly gives back to the risk management community. She is the immediate past Chair of RIMS Strategic and Enterprise Risk Management Council, a frequent speaker at universities, RIMS and other conferences, and an accomplished author who has published numerous risk management and insurance reports, articles and contributions to books.
About RIMS
RIMS, the risk management society®, is a global professional association committed to advancing the practice of risk management throughout the world. We bring networking, professional development, certification, and education opportunities to our membership of 10,000 risk management professionals in over 60 countries. Founded in 1950, the Society represents more than 3,500 industrial, service, nonprofit, charitable and government entities throughout the world. To access RIMS Risk Knowledge resource library and for additional information about the Society, visit www.RIMS.org.