Attending RIMS2022 RiskWorld, the first in-person annual conference in over 2 years, was everything I thought it would be and more. I was fortunate to be sponsored by American Family Insurance, Ron and Frieda Bourne, and the Wisconsin School of Business Risk Management and Insurance Program to attend the annual RIMS conference that attracts over 10,000 risk professionals every year. I have been to smaller RIMS conferences before, like RIMS ERM which has a narrower audience, while RiskWorld brought together every risk professional imaginable in one space. Night one, we all got together at the Exploratorium, the only waterfront museum in San Francisco. The night was filled with food from across the globe, interactive science exhibits, and of course, networking. On that first night I was able to meet brokers, carriers, restoration teams, meteorologists, lawyers and more! All of these were people who want to better the lives of policyholders. Throughout the next two days, we strolled through the Marketplace and met vendors with unique ideas on how to change how we understand and interact with risk.
RiskWorld attracts the best among industry leaders, as evidenced by many of our alumni attending the events. We had an Alumni Reception sponsored by AJ Gallagher where we chatted with RMI MBA Advisory Board members Christy Kaufman and Andy Nottestad, and also met with other alumni who were attending the conference. At the reception, I noticed how spread out our alumni are across the industry both geographically and substantively, but also how closely everyone is tied together. The connections that the UW-Madison RMI program provides are far and wide, and the conference just showcased that. Leaving the conference, I felt a sense of accomplishment. I had met more people in 3 days than I have in the last year. I made lasting connections and was provided the opportunity to show who I was and what I was interested in, and to find out where and how I could keep learning.