The Risk and Insurance Management Society, Inc. (RIMS) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing the practice of risk management. Founded in 1950, RIMS represents some 4,000 industrial, service, nonprofit, charitable and governmental entities. The Society serves more than 10,700 risk management professionals around the world.
RIMS Mission Statement
The Risk and Insurance Management Society, Inc. (RIMS) serves its members by proactively providing the highest quality products, services and information to manage risk effectively.
Membership
RIMS membership facilitates contact with thousands of risk practitioners and big executives in related functions such as CFOs, I.T., legal, finance, audit, etc. Also, a broad array of professionals in the risk management and insurance industry, as well as academics, regulators, elected officials, industry specialists and technicians across the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Japan. As the cornerstone of the Society, many of these 10,700 RIMS members participate in their local chapter meetings. Boasting eighty chapters with regular meetings, professionals exchange ideas and engage in educational, social and civic activities as well as networking with other local companies and industry counterparts. Some chapters also team-up to sponsor regional conferences, which further extend networking and educational opportunities. For a full list of chapters, visit RIMS Chapter Directory.
Beyond the services chapters provide, with your RIMS membership you will align yourself to continue to learning about the ever-expanding industry, use our variety of resources and make key connections with your peers and fellow association members.
Learning
RIMS Annual Conference & Exhibition—The premier risk management learning experience is the largest gathering of risk management practitioners in the world. Annually, approximately ten thousand participants, including more than 400 exhibitors, tackle the key issues facing the industry. RIMS 2009 Annual Conference & Exhibition will be held April 19-23 in Orlando.
Grow Your Skills with Professional Development Courses—RIMS conducts interactive workshops and seminars on critical aspects of risk management and insurance for risk professionals and other business executives charged with managing risk. These educational sessions are held throughout the U.S. and Canada. Onsite programs are also conducted upon request for staff training in a specific company. RIMS also conducts workshops that earn attendees credit towards the RIMS Fellow® designation, the leading designation for risk professionals to full-time risk management grants to others.
Resources
RIMS Publications—The Society publishes the monthly Risk Management magazine; RIMSCOPE e-mail newsletter; an online Risk Management Buyers Guide; the 2008 RIMS Benchmark Survey™ and a variety of books and course material in RIMStore including: Certificates of Insurance, Selecting & Working With a Broker and The RIMS Risk Management Glossary.
RIMS Website at www.RIMS.org includes innovative tools such as RiskWire—a customized risk management news service, ASKRIMS.org—the risk management search engine, RiskWiki Glossary, a Career Center—to post or search for relevant jobs in the industry and the Risk Professionals Directory as well as many other great resources.
RIMS Quality Program includes the newly developed Professional Growth Model designed to guide and facilitate improvement by breaking down skills risk managers need at all stages of their career. Another offer of the program is the Quality Guidelines for Performance Expectations—the goal with this is to increase customer service standards when dealing with service providers. Risk managers and their industry partners can use these guidelines to improve communications, develop performance expectations agreements, and evaluate the performance under those agreements.
RIMS Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) Center of Excellence is a source for news, tools and peer-to-peer networking on all topics connected to enterprise risk management. Whether you are initiating an ERM program within your organization, in the implementation phase or streamlining processes you will gain access to information and touch base with risk management colleagues that will help you gain perspective on your ERM program. RIMS has also designed a tool to help you evaluate your risk management program and take it to the next level. RIMS Risk Maturity Model for Enterprise Risk Management© (RMM) is an online resource that provides guidelines and best practices for developing and maintaining effective risk programs by generating an assessment and personalized report that are specific to your needs.
Connections
RIMS on the Hill—RIMS monitors federal, state and provincial regulation and legislation affecting risk management and employee benefits. RIMS also maintains contacts with legislators and regulatory agencies to make sure the voice of the RIMS membership is heard. The Society actively led support for the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) and works tirelessly to secure meaningful tort reform legislation. In addition to RIMS on the Hill is the Legal Action Center (LAC), which is a database of congressmen on which members can directly contact their congress people about key issues.
Local Chapter Meetings—Chapters are the building blocks of RIMS. They are the closest point of contact between RIMS Members and the Society. The eighty RIMS Chapters are led by unpaid volunteers willing to donate many hours to the risk managers and insurance professionals they serve. While challenging, being a chapter officer allows a member to extract the maximum benefit from the Society and make real contributions.
E-groups are a forum that connects members with your peers, via e-mail and an online discussion board format, where you are then able to ask questions, share knowledge and experiences in the field. Select and E-group that is most appropriate for your purposes and reach thousands of professionals with the same interests in more than 40 business areas.