Tips and Insight for the New Risk Manager

This webinar will focus on helping new risk managers establish a foundation of basic risk management philosophies and strategies. Learn how to build credibility to influence operational changes you seek with leadership. Attendees will also learn how data can assist with understanding where to improve operations and the importance of establishing internal/external professional relationships with risk management.

Attendee Takeaways:

1. Know the importance of establishing a basic foundation
2. Know how to build credibility to influence operational changes for your organizations
3. Understand the importance of data to discovering the underlining causes of loss and creating programs to improve operations that cause losses
4. Know the importance of professional relationships
5. The benefits of an enterprise-wide risk management program, in good times and in bad

James Curbeam, is the risk manager for the Las Vegas Valley Water District. He holds a B.S. in finance from Creighton University and an executive MBA from the University of Nebraska Omaha. James has served in the following industry leadership roles: president, Nevada Chapter of RIMS; president, Nebraska Chapter of RIMS; and president of the Las Vegas CPCU Society. James is also a founding member of the American Association of Water Distribution & Management, which was formed as a Thought Leadership Lab for risk management in the water industry. He also was named the 2019 PRIMA Risk Manager of the Year.

Jennifer has been the director of risk management for King County, Washington since 2003. King County, which includes the Seattle-Bellevue metropolitan area, is the 13th largest county in the United States serving a population of over 2 million. King County, through its 16,000 employees, provides direct and regional services such as public health and community services, parks and recreation, wastewater treatment, and criminal justice. King County also operates the regional transportation network including bus, light rail, street car, and passenger ferry services, as well as the King County International Airport.

Jennifer is responsible for establishing a culture of balanced risk taking using a risk-value framework, implementing ERM, and managing a broad risk management program.

Jennifer received her B.A. in business from the University of Washington, and her ARM-P and CRM designations. In 2018, Jennifer was named Public Risk Manager of the Year by the Public Risk Management Association, and was named to the Risk and Insurance Management Society’s Risk Management Honor Roll.

Rodney Escobar is the director of claims and risk management for the Tennessee Department of Treasury. Rodney has been with the State of Tennessee for five years and is currently overseeing the state’s property self-insurance programs, loss control program, the processing of tort claims, workers’ compensation program, criminal injuries compensation program, sexual assault forensics examination payment program, interlock and GPS monitoring program and the Teacher’s Liability Insurance Program. Rodney and his team are dedicated to working with state departments and universities to develop risk programs that help identify opportunities of improvement to reduce work place injuries, liability exposures and the overall financial losses to the State’s risk management fund. Rodney has a master’s degree in criminology. His risk management experience began with the City of Franklin, where he served as a law enforcement officer for 11 years and then as the city’s risk manager for four years. Rodney was named the Public Risk Management Association’s 2017, Public Risk Manager of the Year.