Change is happening now - let's make the most of it
The changing business and risk landscape, the implications of the fourth industrial revolution for members and how Airmic can help them flourish in the new environment formed the backbone of June's annual conference - the biggest and best ever. A record total of more than 1,800 people attended the event including nearly 500 members.
Addressing his first annual conference as CEO, John Ludlow hailed a successful year. Member participation at just about every type of Airmic event had risen to new levels, with a revitalised Academy programme and a prolific technical output led by deputy CEO Julia Graham.
He described the title of the conference, The Future is Now, as "a call to action for all of us to recognise that we need to embrace change." The starting point, he said, was "the main driver of risk and change in our world, technology and transformation."
Airmic's technical and educational programmes, he said, were geared towards supporting members during these times, which would be challenging and full of opportunity.
Airmic chair Paul Goulding took up the theme, giving special praise to Roads to Revolution, the report produced by the City Business School for the association. It looks in depth at the implications of technological change for business models and risk landscapes.
At the end of the conference the incoming chair Lynda Lucas emphasised Airmic's role in supporting members. "Since all of this change is not going to stop, we need to embrace it and find the opportunities in it," she said.
"For our members, this means developing resilience not only for the organisations they represent, but also for themselves. Take advantage of the professional development that Airmic offers to ensure you advance your personal skill set. Use our technical output to increase the resilience in your organisations.
"'Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future'", she added, quoting President John F. Kennedy.
The conference saw the unveiling of more than ten reports and papers, ranging from cyber-governance to parametric insurance to an analysis of the impact of the Insurance Act.
New chair in call for non-risk managers to get involved as well
Lynda Lucas, new Airmic chair and risk manager and company secretary for Fujitsu
Incoming chair Lynda Lucas appealed for more types of people to get involved in Airmic's activities. Speaking as a company secretary by background, she emphasised that many different disciplines could contribute to the association's success.
"A key feature of Airmic is our diversity but are we making the most of it? I think we could do more," she said.
"Our membership as a whole includes academic institutions and SMEs, not-for-profit and some public-sector organisations as well as large corporates. Members come from a wide range of industry sectors and come from different disciplines - not just people with risk or insurance in their titles.
"Our board has a roughly 50:50 male/female mix but diversity is so much more than that. All of us have different challenges and perspectives and we all have something to offer. I believe our output will be more robust and more relevant if it derives from the contributions of a wide spectrum of our membership. So, I really encourage all of you to participate wherever you can."