How I became a risk manager
I started working as an Administrative Assistant for a risk pool right out of college. I was the first employee hired by the Executive Director, and as the pool grew, we were able to take certain functions in-house from our broker. At each stage, I was the person who learned the function, figured out how we could do it internally, and then either took on those duties or we hired someone to do them. Over time, I learned about claims handling, underwriting, rate setting, safety and loss control, pool financial management, and accounting. By the time I left the pool, I had become the Executive Director.

What are the rewards you experience professionally by being a PARMA member?
I’ve learned how diverse our public sector is and how many different ways those agencies define the role of risk management. I’ve met some of my oldest friends and colleagues through PARMA and have made so many new ones over the years. I have a network of people who understand my job and today’s crisis and have ideas to solve problems I didn’t know I had. I find all of this rewarding.

How has your professional knowledge expanded by interacting with other PARMA members?
I’ve learned that, in some ways, the function of risk management is the same at every agency, no matter what elements are housed within the work group. Insurance, claims, litigation, workers’ compensation and return to work, contract review, ERM, safety, and even security and disaster response—the agency operations and specific aspects of these risk functions will vary, but the essential elements are the same. This means a risk manager at a water district can provide great ideas to a risk manager at an airport, school district, or city. That has done more to expand my knowledge and awareness of risk management than what I’ve learned on the job.

When did you realize you wanted to move into a leadership role within PARMA?
I wanted to do this for many years, but I felt like I owed my agency all of my professional time and energy. Now that I’m established in both my career and within my agency, I have more time and bandwidth to step up.

After being a member of PARMA for some time now, how essential has PARMA membership been?
In retrospect, I believe PARMA has made me a better risk manager, a better colleague and friend, and has given me a very broad perspective on how risk affects all of us. My membership has given me local and statewide resources, ideas, and solutions that have been critical to my professional success.

How would you respond to a risk manager who says they don’t have time to participate in PARMA or move toward a leadership position?
I never had time either, but I made some. Knowledge and ideas acquired through PARMA allowed me to identify high-priority projects that would help my agency. This gave me more autonomy and saved me time, energy, and even political capital back at the office.

What do you see as one of the largest challenges for the future of risk management?
Two things: 1) too few parts of our organizations understand what we really can do, and 2) too few parts of our organizations realize how much money, time, and trouble we save them. As a former supervisor and Finance Manager once said to me, we don’t have groupies, and no one will put us on fundraising calendars. We need to raise our profile within our agencies by demonstrating our successes and showing that we can be smart, flexible, and ready to help with outside-the-box situations. If it were up to me, every risk management group would present an Annual Report to its governing body every year.

How will PARMA respond to that challenge?
We keep our ears, eyes, and hearts open. Our members know what’s of concern, and they can tell us what they’re dealing with. I think some templates for marketing the risk management function could help, but we will continue to provide the knowledge, tools, techniques, and friendly support to make us all better at this weird and wonderful job.