The Risk Manager of the Year program aims to raise the profile of the risk management profession and the outstanding programs the honorees have implemented within their organizations. The program was initiated in 1977 and the Risk Management Honor Roll was added in 1981.
“Risk professionals continue to answer the call, driving innovation, strengthening strategic decision-making and paving the way for resiliency and future success,” said RIMS CEO Gary A. LaBranche, FASAE, CAE. “In addition to demonstrating the exceptional value that risk management can deliver, Theresa Severson is a leader whose commitment to advancing the profession and creating opportunities for the next generation of risk professionals is beyond admirable.
“Theresa exemplifies the very best of the risk management profession and RIMS is proud to present her with the prestigious Risk Manager of the Year honor.”
Any full-time professional who administers risk management programs for a corporation, nonprofit institution or government entity is eligible for submission in the Risk Manager of the Year program. The nominations are judged by an independent panel comprising prior honorees and other risk management and insurance industry leaders.
ABOUT THE WINNER
RISK MANAGER OF THE YEAR: Theresa Severson
Theresa Severson was already a 30-year veteran of the risk profession when her prior company was acquired by Kite Realty Group (KRG), one of the largest publicly traded owners and operators of open-air shopping centers and mixed-use properties.
Prior to the acquisition, Severson had served the vice president of insurance and risk at Retail Properties of America (RPAI) for 12 years. She was asked to continue at KRG, which at the time, owned interests in 185 open-air shopping centers and mixed-use assets in the United States, comprising more than 30 million square feet of gross leasable space.
As KRG’s vice president for insurance and risk management, Severson leads a risk team of four that is responsible for integrating the operational and corporate insurance and risk management programs to be used by 250 U.S.-based employees. Its responsibilities include managing captives, contracts, claims, enterprise risk and the business continuity program for the Indiana-based real estate investment trust (REIT), which generates annual revenues of $597.3 million.
In addition to the complexity of combining two publicly traded companies, Severson was tasked with assessing two captives and two sets of insurance programs, each built with different risk appetites. The risk group evaluated tax, audit and other considerations for the two owned captives and worked with the executive team, providing up-to-date and forecasted financial models to develop a data-driven, captive-centric approach that allowed the major corporate changes related to the merger to be seamlessly integrated. The program was recognized with the Captive Insurance Companies Association’s Outstanding Captive Award in March 2023.
Severson also implemented a number of operational risk management strategies highlighted by improved and standardized lease language for tenants, updated vendor insurance requirements, and an upgraded process for securing vendor certificates of insurance (COIs). Her team also reviewed 3,500 vendor accounts and assigned each a risk profile.
In addition, Severson was named lead on KRG’s ERM initiative and developed a risk appetite methodology and metrics to measure risk management effectiveness.
In 2010, Severson joined the Chicago RIMS chapter. She served as a vice president of Chicago RIMS and more recently as president from 2020 to 2022. She is also fully committed to ensuring the future of the risk profession, having served as a member of the RIMS Student Advisory Council from 2019 to 2022. Through an affiliation with the Spencer Educational Foundation, she hired student-interns who are now thriving in the profession.
To Learn More:
To learn more about Risk Manager of the Year Theresa Severson’s accomplishments, visit RIMS Risk Management Magazine’s 2023 Awards Issue.
About RISKWORLD®
Launched in 1963 as RIMS Annual Conference & Exhibition, the annual event attracts some 10,000 risk and insurance professionals at all experience levels, business executives with risk management interests, brokers, insurers and service providers for the ultimate learning and networking experience. The four-day RISKWORLD experience offers more than 150 learning opportunities, keynote presentations, special events, and an expansive Marketplace with hundreds of solutions providers – all with countless opportunities to engage and grow your risk network. RISKWORLD 2023 is scheduled for April 30 – May 3 in Atlanta. RISKWORLD 2024 is in San Diego from May 5-9.
About RIMS
RIMS, the risk management society®️, empowers risk professionals to make the world safer, more secure, and more sustainable. Through networking, professional development, certification, advocacy, and research, RIMS and its 80 chapters serves more than 200,000 risk practitioners and business leaders from over 75 countries. Founded in 1950, the Society publishes the award-winning Risk Management Magazine and produces RISKWORLD®️, the largest annual gathering of global risk professionals. RIMS embraces diversity, equity and inclusion and welcomes all risk professionals to connect and learn, explore the online Risk Knowledge library, tune into the RIMScast podcast series, and engage via LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. To learn more, visit www.RIMS.org.
