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President's Corner
Hi all,
Welcome to the new RIMS New Zealand and Pacific Islands (NZ&PI) Chapter) website.
This year the Risk Management Society (RIMS) Global proudly celebrates its 75th Anniversary, marking over seven decades of advancing the art and science of risk management. Throughout this journey, RIMS has elevated the importance of risk management, proving its value to organisations worldwide.
RIMS is dedicated to fostering growth, sustainability, and resilience for a safer future, and remains focused on the evolution of risk management, ready to embrace new challenges and opportunities.
For our local Chapter 2025 has flown by and we have continued with our focus on delivering outstanding value to local risk and insurance management professionals through education and networking opportunities, which we can only do with the support of our fantastic sponsors - Marsh, KPMG and AIG.
I wanted to provide a few updates on the Chapter as we support our members’ organisational and career development goals and promote diversity, equity and inclusion within the risk and insurance profession.
Chapter Board
Our Board is made up of volunteers who dedicate their time to supporting the Chapters activities and provide appropriate oversight and strategic direction.
Currently our Board is made up of the following Directors and position holders:
- Iain Gallie - President and Director Strategic Relationships
- Kerry Bakkerus - Vice President and Treasurer with responsibility for our financial accounts, supporting the Vice President seat
- Donna Everett - Chapter Secretary, ensuring corporate governance
- Martyn Fair - managing our Insurance workstream
- Sam Kerry - taking a sabbatical to explore this beautiful country
- Kevin Gao and Katsia Zorych - leading our social media & communications presence
For more information on our Board members who represent a wide range of diverse industries please take the time to view their profiles.
If you have an interest in joining the Board in the future, please express your interest with any one of us and we can keep you updated on any vacancies. It’s a fantastic and rewarding opportunity to support the functions of the Chapter on a volunteer basis and work with an inspirational team and my personal thanks goes to all those who serve on the Board regardless of whether past, present or in the future.
Strategic focus
Our strategic focus for the coming years includes continuing to deliver quality events, providing insightful and continuous training opportunities, and ensuring the effective and sustainable financial management of the Chapter.
We’re also embracing a refreshed theme; Risk Rebalanced - with a particular focus on resilience. Our goal is to help members develop and maintain resilience, balancing both sustaining and thriving in these uncertain economic times. This year we have introduced an Insurance Risk workstream which had their inaugural session in November last year and we are also exploring opportunities for our Pacific Island members.
Membership structure
Since the inception of the RIMS NZ & PI Chapter we have been able to provide networking and education opportunities to a significant number of risk professional supported financially by our sponsors which has led to us building up a mailing list of over 700 risk and insurance professionals. The harsh economic reality is that we can no longer rely solely on our sponsors and in order to be able to maintain sustainable financial management and continued to provide value add we are excited to announce a new membership structure effective this year.
Local chapter membership classes (annual fees):
- NZ$150 Individual - for individuals working in organisations in risk management related roles.
- NZ$750 Corporate - for organisations that may have several employees (up to 10 individuals).
- NZ $450 Associate - for organisations or individuals that provide services to the risk and insurance sector (up to 5 individuals).
- NZ$35 Student- for students who have an interest in or are studying risk management.
- NZ $75 Retired - for individuals who previously worked in risk, insurance or a related field and would like to stay connected.
This annual membership grants you access to all our local events and webinars for free, providing you with even more opportunities to enhance your professional development. Please see the Join Us section for more details and keep an eye out for an e-mail from us to confirm your membership choice.
RIMS USA International Membership
Celebrate 75 Years of RIMS with $75 Off Membership! 2025 marks the 75th Anniversary of RIMS and YOU can be part of the milestone. For a limited time, new members can enjoy $75 off their first-year membership as we celebrate decades of advancing the field of risk management together. Gain access to networking, exclusive tools, preferential pricing and more. To become an RIMS USA International Member join here.
Global Certification – Certified Risk Management Professional
Global RIMS membership also offers the opportunity to gain an internationally recognised risk qualification through becoming a Certified Risk Management Professional (CRMP). More details are on the website.
Social Media
We continue to maintain a strong LinkedIn presence with updates on events and topics of interest. We welcome feedback and comments and sharing amongst your colleagues and networks. We currently have more than 1,000 followers which is fantastic so if you don’t already please follow the page to stay informed.
You may not be aware but RIMS NZ & PI also has a YouTube channel you can subscribe to watch historical and recent events that we have hosted if you wanted to refresh your memory or were not able to make it. Please take the time to visit the channel and subscribe to follow us.
Events
We kicked off this calendar year with my attendance at the RIMS Leadership forum in sunny Florida in January where it was fantastic to meet with so many Chapter Leaders and share ideas on providing quality events and services to our members.
Photos taken at the RIMS Global Leadership Forum 2025
Following that we had an insightful session on Cyber Resilience and data protection – organisational resilience hosted by KPMG in February. In March Marsh hosted a session with insights into the annually much anticipated Global Risks Report.
In April we held an online event with a session on Mastering Enterprise Risk Management: Strategies, Foundation and Tactics which was followed by the launch of our popular and engaging 2025 Lunch and Learn sessions delivered by Ross Liston from Crucible Consulting with the first one focused on From Silo to Synergy: Embedding Risk Management in Strategic Planning.
In May KPMG hosted a session on the Intersection of Risk and Diversity highlighting that a diverse workforce can lead to a more resilient and adaptable organization, which was followed by another Lunch and Learn on Resilience redefined: Integrating Strategy, Risk, Continuity and Business Sustainability.
Another Lunch and Learn session in June addressed Managing both Threats and Opportunity before a timely session in July hosted by Marsh with Jane Arnott on Guidelines and guardrails: a NZ perspective on Ethics, AI and Risk, and then we explored How Effective Controls drive Risk and Compliance Excellence. with another lunchtime session.
In August we were fortunate to invite our members to an AIG speaker series event where AI in the Real World: The Risk emerging from Opportunity was discussed by a panel from AIG, KPMG and Wotton Kearney with some fascinating insights, and in October we heard from Ross Liston again on Risk Maturity Models; Diverse Approaches, One Destination. We have one more Lunch and Learn session for 2025 coming up in November on Project Risk Management and are currently working through options for 2026 for what has proved to be a popular learning opportunity for members.
We are busy planning an exclusive event to mark the 75th Anniversary of RIMS to which we will be inviting RIMS NZ&PI Board alumni, global RIMS members and sponsors invited guests. Please follow the events page and LinkedIn posts for more details.
In summary...
It’s nearly the end of ' surviving 2025' and as we look to 'thrive' in 2026 its going to be an exciting year ahead for the Chapter, our Board, and our members filled with valuable events and opportunities for networking, gaining awareness, and education. Please make the most of the opportunities and participate wherever possible, and we heartly welcome your feedback on future topics and any areas for improvement, as your input is invaluable in helping us ensure that our events and activities continue to meet your needs and support your professional growth.
Kind regards,
Iain Gallie
President, RIMS New Zealand and Pacific Islands Chapter