‘Just get stuck in’

When Nicola Harvey hands over the reins of Airmic at the annual conference in Bournemouth, she will do so knowing that organisation is in excellent health and that it remains focussed on supporting its members.

As the outgoing Airmic chair, Ms Harvey has presided over the UK’s insurance and risk managers’ association at an eventful time, with a string of devastating natural catastrophes, political unrest in the Middle East and ongoing economic uncertainty.

However, while the recent catastrophes in Australia, New Zealand and Japan have given risk managers pause for thought, they have little impact on the day-to-day focus of Airmic, said Ms Harvey.

“There is always external change—such as the recent political unrest, economic turmoil and catastrophes—but the ongoing challenge is to keep Airmic relevant, particularly from a risk management perspective,” said Ms Harvey, who is also group risk director at auction house Christie’s.

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Ms Harvey is keen to see Airmic continue to develop its risk management offering for members. “Airmic must continue to make itself relevant, particularly in risk management. It has always been strong on insurance management, and needs to be stronger on risk management,” said Ms Harvey.

“The association must appeal to members as they drive change in their organisations and work effectively with their partners,” she added.

Increasingly Airmic members are risk managers as well as insurance buyers, noted Ms Harvey. “Airmic carries out some good work in risk management—such as education and training—but there is always room to do more. Evolving corporate governance makes this more relevant today and Airmic needs to have that duel focus if it is to continue to be relevant and provide what risk managers need.”

In some respects, the big challenges for UK risk managers have not moved on in the past year, said Ms Harvey.

The difficult trading environment that was the backdrop to the start of Ms Harvey’s term as Airmic chair for one year is still very much present. And while the economy is less of an issue than in 2008/09, risk management departments and resources have shrunk and there is pressure on insurance spend and broker fees.

Airmic continues to strengthen its relationships with brokers and insurers, said Ms Harvey. There has not been any deterioration in relationships between corporate buyers and their insurers, as some might expect in a challenging trading environment.

“If anything our relations with the market are as good as ever, and continue to improve.,” she said. “Airmic has an extremely good relationship with our partner organisations, which are now more formalised, strategic and better executed than in the past.”

However the association has tackled some controversial issues with industry suppliers, such the insured’s duty of disclosure and the transparency of brokerage fees.

“Duty of disclosure is a thorny issue that cannot be fixed overnight, and in the absence of law reform it is difficult to deal with. But Airmic is working with partners and lawyers to develop wordings,” she said.

Airmic will not shy away from controversial issues like the duty of disclosure, said Ms Harvey. “These issues are relevant to members and we have to address them head on. There are divergent views on the insured’s duty of disclosure, but Airmic is working with the market to have a sensible and productive discussion that will hopefully reach an understanding that is beneficial to the membership.”

Despite the wider global backdrop of political and economic uncertainty, Ms Harvey has been able to concentrate on steering Airmic and pursuing her theme as chair of ‘embracing new horizons’.

“It has been a reasonably benign year, in many ways,” said Ms Harvey, “There have been a large number of catastrophes and this raised issues for some risk managers, but there has not been a particular dominating issue. This has been good for me and Airmic as we have not had to spend the year fire-fighting, and I have been able to focus on what I set out to do—to make AIRMIC more relevant to its members and support them in their career development.”

Ms Harvey has had a successful year at Airmic. At a time when risk managers’ jobs and resources have been cut back, Airmic membership is now in excess of 1,000, the highest in the association’s history.

This reflects the work of the full time staff led by John Hurrell and the association’s efforts to extend its appeal beyond its core risk and insurance management membership.

The increased membership may also reflect the needs of under-pressure risk managers that are seeking more help and guidance in the current trading environment, she explained.

Generally Airmic has grown into a more professional and focussed body, said Ms Harvey. The association has expanded its secretariat, which has resulted in a more effective and professional organisation, she said.

Airmic has achieved much in the past year, said Ms Harvey. The Airmic academy, career model and mentoring schemes are all going well, she said. And Airmic is making itself more relevant to those outside the core risk management membership. For example the association has engaged with the Company Secretaries Association (ICSA).

“My year as Airmic chair has solidified my view and commitment to what a fine organisation Airmic is. It has been a privilege to lead an organisation like Airmic and it has been great to have the opportunity to get involved and give something back to those starting out in their careers in risk management,” said Ms Harvey.

“I have found the experience of being Airmic chair very positive and have particularly enjoyed meeting so many new and fascinating people. We have had some great achievements and I particularly enjoyed hosting the Airmic annual lecture at my company, Christie’s. It is these types of great networking events that Airmic is all about.”

Ms Harvey’s advice to the incoming chair, Paul Taylor, is to just get stuck in. “I found that the year went very quickly. So my advice to my successor is to get stuck in and do things as soon as possible. And of course, enjoy it while it lasts.”

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