Rims names Ellen Dunkin president for 2021
Rims has named Ellen Dunkin, chief risk officer, general counsel and senior vice-president at Amalgamated Life Insurance in New York, as president for 2021.
Ms Dunkin worked at Rims for almost ten years until 2007 as general counsel and director of government affairs. The risk manager followed this with a stint as president of Rims’ New York chapter in 2015, before joining Rims’ board of directors in 2017.
She succeeds Laura Langone, head of insurance operations at San Francisco-based Airbnb Inc.
Ms Dunkin will be supported by vice-president Patrick Sterling, who is senior director at Texas Roadhouse; treasurer Jennifer Santiago, CRO at Pennsylvania State University; and secretary David Arick, assistant treasurer, global risk management for International Paper Company.
Rims has appointed three new members to its board. These are: Kevin Bates, group head of risk and insurance at Lendlease; Christy Kaufman, head of governance, risk and compliance for American Family Ventures; and Penni Nelson, assistant vice-president, risk management at Hillwood, a Perot Company.
They join existing board members Barry Dillard of Walt Disney World Resorts, Twane Duckworth from City of Garland, Tina Gardiner of the Regional Municipality of York, Gary Nesbit of Young Life, CBIZ’s Kristen Peed, Robert Zhang of INGKA China and Laura Langone of Airbnb.
“As Rims president, I want to continue what my predecessors started. With the support of an exceptional group of board directors, passionate volunteers and dedicated staff, this society will remain focused on developing resources to address evolving risks and that empower’s this professional community to demonstrate just how indispensable they really are,” said Ms Dunkin.
She added that risk took centre stage in 2020 and must continue to make progress. “Risk professionals from around the world met 2020’s challenges with fervour, delivering critical insight that allowed their organisations to adapt and emerge stronger,” said Rims’ new president.
“However, it’s up to us, as risk professionals, to go one step further. We must continue to promote the value that we add, our impact on business development and position ourselves as indispensable strategic advisers who are pivotal to future success,” she added.
