AIRMIC CEO vows to refocus on needs of members amid fast-moving risk landscape

In the UK, there could be as many as 10,000 professionals whose core role involves risk management. In fact, it could be far more. These individuals represent the front line for most companies, protecting them against everything from their premises burning down to debilitating cyber attacks to liability claims.

Many both manage risk and buy insurance. Their job is getting harder. The risk landscape has never been more complex, dynamic and fast-changing. Their boards expect more – typically for less money and with fewer resources. One might call them the unsung heroes of the corporate world – and they are in the crosshairs.

But that is precisely what attracted Diane Maxwell, the chief executive of AIRMIC since March (after a somewhat convoluted handover), to the role. Her impressive CV includes roles in behavioural economics, regulation, government and financial services. She has never worked in risk or insurance directly, though her time at the Financial Markets Authority – New Zealand, as head of stakeholder management, and the Jersey Financial Services Commission, as executive director of policy, risk and communications, would have offered insights.

“I believe AIRMIC is well placed to support the risk profession, and the insurance sector, in helping them step up and serve the economy and create financial resilience.”

She did not apply for the role; she was approached and persuaded. She eyed a disconnect between the importance of risk management, and how it was perceived. AIRMIC, she decided, has the potential to close this gap.

“I do like change; I like moving into new things. I find that stimulating,” she told AIRMIC Today. “So I was approached and I did what I do, which is then read everything I can on the subject. And I couldn’t help but think: what an extraordinary time for risk and insurance?

“The pace of change is just incredible. As a member of the public, as a mother, I care deeply about how we might mitigate and manage risks: whether that’s AI, cyber attacks, climate change or civil unrest. All these risks are growing and are hugely significant for individuals, communities and businesses.

“Then you look at the insurance sector. Consider the protection gaps. How can insurers innovate to plug them? Or is it the government’s job? These are big macro questions, which reflects much of my career. But I believe that AIRMIC is well placed to support the risk profession, and the insurance sector, in helping them step up and serve the economy and create financial resilience.

For context, of those estimated 10,000 risk professionals only just over 2,000 are members of AIRMIC. This represents an opportunity. “Ultimately, I decided AIRMIC has the potential to do extraordinary work. I believe if we sharpen up, get the right skills on board, get into a better place of efficiency, deliver digital transformation and really get closer to our members, the possibilities are significant.”

At AIRMIC’s annual conference in Birmingham this week, Maxwell will elaborate and drive home this theme. This will also be a precursor to the roll-out of wider changes. At the heart of those will be a renewed focus on the needs of the organisation’s members – as opposed to partners – as well as an investment in digitisation to make AIRMIC’s aims and objectives even more effective and transparent .

“There is no doubt that we need to be more member-focused. Our partners generate more of our income and tend to get a lot of the love. But we are here to serve and support risk managers – helping them succeed professionally, grow professionally, meet their challenges. We have to remember that and refocus on that core purpose.”

The appointment of Stephen Wilding, announced last week, as head of members and marketing represents a key step forward in this ambition. He was previously in a similar role for a UK organisation representing solar energy. “He’s a members guy through and through, and understands the scale of the opportunity,” Maxwell said. “If the 10,000 number is even roughly correct, we are only serving a fifth of that profession. Historically, we focused on risk managers who also buy insurance. But we should be broader than that.

“His focus will be on better understanding what our members want, what their challenges are. He will help deliver a new CRM system; he will drive almost 20 special interest groups; his priority will be working on how we can better communicate with our members.”

His work will take place alongside a wider digital transformation. Maxwell plans to rebuild the website and integrate it into the CRM system to make it more usable for members. “I want AIRMIC to become more efficient, more effective, more agile. In today's environment, agility and adaptability are critical.”

That list of challenges, she stresses, is lengthy. She notes that all the historic, perhaps more traditional risks, have not gone away. But there are also so many new ones, such as cyber, quantum computing and AI, which are also rapidly evolving. “The shape they will take in a year or five years is unknown and to some extent unknowable. You can’t use historical data to interpret these risks, or understand what's going to happen next. That makes it very challenging for a risk manager. To go to an executive committee or a board and offer an evidence-based analysis, but with no historical data, is really hard.”

Yet she also observes, anecdotally, that the size of risk teams is also contracting, not expanding. “I'm seeing a pattern of teams either stagnating in the face of a more complex and difficult risk landscape, or contracting. And I'm seeing people leaving the risk world and moving into the insurance world. I fear it is a result of wider cost-cutting in the face of wage inflation, broader inflation. The solution is to present risk as value creation. Good risk management can support the financial results of a business – create value for the business rather than it's just trying to stop bad things happening.”

Potentially aiding this process, is the one other area Maxwell champions is risk tech – the rise of technology designed to help risk mangers better understand and aggregate risk. I think it’s an area we’ll spend a lot more time discussing in the future.”

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