Prime-Time Events: RIMS Awards

Walking into the San Diego Convention Center ballroom that hosted the RIMS annual award luncheon on Monday was a little like entering the floor of a political convention.

The table placards with their state chapter identifiers, and the sheer volume of the population in the room brought that to mind.

What that also brought to mind is how much more well qualified the various RIMS chapter members might be to elect a presidential nominee than the politicos that will find their way to the two party system’s party conventions this late summer and fall.

After all, risk managers are practical people who have some knowledge of how the world works−right? And politicians, well the jury is still out on that one and is likely to stay out for the near future.

Chapters across the country ended up doing well in the awards ceremony that followed the string of piped in Beach Boys hits and the excellent yellow string beans that accompanied the luncheon chicken, but some chapters did better than others.

In individual triumphs, Charles Magazine, the risk manager for the city of Boynton Beach, Fla., was the winner of the Richard Bland Memorial award for the chapter member who displayed the most prowess in 2007 in legislative affairs.

Margaret Accordino, the director of risk management at National Financial Partners Corporation and the vice president and director of RIMS New York chapter was awarded the Ron Judd “Heart of RIMS” award. This award is based on nominations from individual chapters who felt the nominee contributed tons to the growth of the profession in 2007.

Judd, as many might remember, was the director of RIMS for a 22-year stint.
Debra Hinton, the assistant director of risk management at the University of Virginia, also picked up the Christy Award for getting the highest marks on the three exams required to earn the Associate of Risk Management designation.

When it came to the Chapter awards. There were a handful of chapters that just dominated. That raises the question, were these particular chapters all that awe-inspiring, or were they just more organized in applying for the awards?

Whichever way the answer to that question breaks, the chapters that got all the glory on Monday were Chicago, Dallas/Ft. Worth, San Diego, Orange County and Greater Quad Cities. The only outsider to break into that hallowed circle was the Golden Gate chapter, which managed to muscle into the Outstanding Chapter Programming award with those others.
Rounding out lunch were those heroes of every classic car cruise and oldies music pig roast, The Coasters.

With tunes like “Poison Ivy” and “Love Potion No. 9,” the Coasters proved that you’re never too old to rock, even if it’s only for 15 or 20 minutes.