Recipient of prestigious Donald M. Stuart Award announced at 2010 RIMS Canada Conference in Edmonton, Alberta

New York, NY (September 27, 2010) — The Risk and Insurance Management Society, Inc. (RIMS) Ontario Chapter today presented the Donald M. Stuart Award to Tina Gardiner, CRM, CIP, manager of insurance and risk at The Regional Municipality of York. Presented at the 2010 RIMS Canada Conference in Edmonton, Alberta, the award is widely recognized as Canada’s highest honor within the risk management field. The Donald M. Stuart Award has been bestowed annually since 1979 to acknowledge those Canadians who have made outstanding contributions in the field of risk management.   

“Tina is unmistakably deserving of this great honor and it is our great pleasure to be able to bestow it upon an individual who has been a source of such value for our industry throughout her career,” says April Savchuk, president of RIMS Ontario Chapter. “Her commitment to her craft and her fellow risk managers is remarkable and we are grateful for the contributions she has brought to our community.”     

In her position with The Regional Municipality of York, Tina Gardiner oversees all insurance and risk related issues in a region with a population of over one million people in nine municipalities with many separate business units including Transit, Roads, Environmental Services, Public Health, EMS, Police, Community Services and Housing. Prior to this position, Gardiner worked as a risk manager for Thrifty Canada LTD and later Hertz Canada Limited. She was instrumental in creating the inter-company working group known as the Car Rental Anti-Fraud Coalition, an industry specific anti-fraud coalition that worked to combat insurance claim fraud.

Since joining York Region, Gardiner has streamlined the claims and certificate processes and redeveloped interdepartmental relationships and protocols. She and her team have implemented and led York’s Risk Aware program that focuses on staff training, claims and risk management feedback to all major departments. She also provides insurance and risk advice and guidance for capital projects.  

“In accepting this award, I am reminded of and deeply humbled by its namesake who embodied the values of the risk management community,” says Tina Gardiner, CRM, CIP, manager, insurance and risk, The Regional Municipality of York. “It is individuals like Don Stuart, and the members of the terrific team I am so fortunate to lead, that make our industry great. They mentor one another, they give back to their community and they do stellar work. I look forward to many more years working alongside such an impressive and altruistic group of people.”

Also presented during the conference was the Fred H. Bossons Award, which each year honors the risk management professional who earns the highest marks on the three courses required to receive the Canadian Risk Management designation. This year the winner is Walter J. Scodeller, senior vice president of Marsh Canada.

For more information about the honorees please contact Amy Benson at (212) 655-6059 or abenson@rims.org.