RIMScast: Women’s Day Special: Women in Risk Management

Women’s Day Special: Women in Risk Management

Mar 5, 2019

Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Writer at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.

Today’s episode is a special one! RIMScast will be celebrating Women’s History Month in advance of International Women’s Day by inviting on three fantastic women who are risk management professionals. First up, Justin welcomes on Kathleen P. Crowe of Aon Risk Solutions. She’s also a Chair of the Rising Risk Professionals Advisory Group for RIMS. The second guest of the podcast is Cassandra R. Cole, Department Chair of Risk Management Insurance, Real Estate, and Legal Studies at Florida State University. She’s also the Director of the Master of Science in Risk Management and Insurance Program at Florida State and the William T. Hold Professor in Risk Management and Insurance. The third guest is Soraya Wright, the Founder and CEO of SMW Risk Management Consulting and who was also the Vice President of Global Risk Management and Crisis Management at The Clorox Company for more than 20 years.

In the first half of the episode, Justin and Kathleen discuss her impression of women in the industry and whether or not the playing field is level, as well as the women she looks up to in the industry. Next up, Cassandra talks about her curriculum for teaching about risk management, how she incorporates new trends in the industry to her curriculum, and her thoughts on what the industry could do as a whole to get more women to take interest in risk management. Lastly, but certainly not least, Soraya discusses how she got started in risk management, her experience working at The Clorox Company, what led her to start up her own risk consultancy, and her ideas on how to further level the playing field for women in the risk management industry.

Join RIMScast in celebrating International Women’s Day in the risk management space!

Key Takeaways:

[:16] About today’s episode.

[:50] About the RIMS 2019 Annual Conference.

[1:12] About this week’s featured guests.

[2:10] Justin welcomes Katie to the podcast and asks her what originally drew her to risk management.

[5:05] Katie shares her enthusiasm about the risk management profession!

[8:27] Does Katie feel that knowledge transfer is one of the major challenges in organizations currently?

[10:02] Katie’s impression of women in the industry and whether or not the playing field is level.

[12:13] As Chair of the Rising Risk Professionals Advisory Group for RIMS, does Katie often take time to engage with other young women in the field?

[13:49] A female presence Katie looks up to in the industry.

[17:30] Justin welcomes Cassandra on to the podcast!

[18:17] Cassandra’s background at Florida State University and how her interest in risk management came about.

[22:08] Does Cassandra miss being out in the risk management field or does she prefer working in education?

[23:45] Are there current trends in the news and industry that Cassandra has incorporated into her curriculum when she teaches?

[24:47] In the last few years, has Cassandra found that students are more drawn to the insurance component of the curriculum or more so the ERM and SRM side of things?

[25:37] Does Cassandra think that the natural catastrophes that happened down in Florida contribute to student’s interest in risk management?

[26:43] Does Cassandra keep up with students or have any cool success stories that have come out of Florida State University?

[27:47] Has Cassandra found that female students are more interested in risk management compared to when Cassandra was in school?

[29:03] Cassandra’s thoughts on what the industry could do as a whole to get more women to take interest in risk management.

[31:59] How critical is mentoring when it comes to risk management?

[33:12] Cassandra’s take on the sentiment that most risks are opportunities masked as risks.

[34:44] Justin welcomes on Soraya Wright!

[35:18] How Soraya got started in risk management.

[36:11] Soraya talks about her experience at The Clorox Company and other risk management companies.

[41:18] Soraya talks about her relationship with Laura Cisi (the current Vice President of Global Risk Management at The Clorox Company), their camaraderie, and whether or not there was any knowledge transfer.

[43:36] What led Soraya to start up her own risk consultancy.

[46:57] Does Soraya see a lot of women ending up as risk consultants?

[48:11] Does Soraya think that the playing field in the risk management industry is level right now?

[50:50] Soraya’s thoughts on her current path with SMW Risk.

[52:56] Soraya’s ideas on how to further level the playing field for women in the industry today.

[54:36] Justin closes out this week’s episode and thanks you all for listening!

Mentioned in this Episode:

RIMS Annual Conference 2019

Rising Risk Professionals Advisory Group for RIMS

SMW Risk

Risk Management Monitor

International Women’s Day | #BalanceforBetter